tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66339738986287993002024-03-05T02:16:07.524-05:00Transported Tastes-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-61638582373313815902016-09-10T21:17:00.000-04:002016-09-10T22:09:28.975-04:00Seared Caesar Salad with Blackberries and Pepitas<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBPSv9RooY37_JrQF1VWwfB_xmMct-AZy3nseK4euoeVWgXY2TmqMsdSHwzNcdYcKZnbEV0XUvapda5SRnIXwpmi5yfh0Ruoq-6386n5A9shQZeY8QnbLbWbVDWdxjzZNNyTsLPstCjfU/s640/blogger-image-2021364809.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBPSv9RooY37_JrQF1VWwfB_xmMct-AZy3nseK4euoeVWgXY2TmqMsdSHwzNcdYcKZnbEV0XUvapda5SRnIXwpmi5yfh0Ruoq-6386n5A9shQZeY8QnbLbWbVDWdxjzZNNyTsLPstCjfU/s640/blogger-image-2021364809.jpg"></a></div><br></div>Grilled Caesar salads are very in right now. The first one I tasted was at Flatbush Farm in Brooklyn. It is a dish that combines three of my eating goals: foods that taste good, foods that help you poop, and foods cooked with fire (which is actually a sub-category of foods that taste good). While most people would agree everything tastes better grilled, most people also don't whip out the grill for a quick weeknight meal. I own a charcoal grill, which commits me to at least an hour of figuring out every single thing in my house that I have that I can throw on the grill while the coals are still hot in order to maximize their utility.<br>
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One thing I do own which I am never hesitant to pull out for a quick meal is my cast iron griddle. I had made kale Caesar salad before with kale from my garden and <a href="http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/tuscan-kale-caesar-slaw-366450" target="_blank">this recipe</a> with some adaptations, so I made the same dressing and sliced some Romaine hearts longitudinally. The changes I made to the salad dressing were to use anchovy paste instead of anchovy fillets and Asiago cheese instead of the traditional Parmesan. Anchovy paste is easier to find where I live, but anchovy fillets are definitely worth the splurge. I do plan on buying a jar when next given the opportunity. I changed the cheese only because that's what I keep in the drawer. With my trusty jar of duck fat, I was able to achieve a great sear on my salad with a greater depth of flavor than a simple Caesar. Even my husband liked this salad. Because we are still able to get gorgeous local blackberries, I threw some of those on there too to balance the anchovies. Another bonus? I don't have to clean the grill afterwards!<div><br></div><div>I served this salad with oven roasted cauliflower. To make the cauliflower, preheat the oven to 375 F, cut the florets from the cauliflower, and toss the florets with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast for about an hour, stirring with a spatula halfway through. <br>
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<b>Seared Caesar Salad with Blackberries and Pepitas</b><br>
Dressing makes enough for 4-5 salads<br>
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1 Romaine lettuce heart<br>
Duck fat/coconut oil/bacon fat/preferred cooking fat<br>
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Juice of 1 lemon<br>
1 teaspoon anchovy paste or 2-3 anchovy fillets<br>
3 garlic cloves<br>
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard<br>
1/2 cup olive oil<br>
3 tablespoons grated Asiago or Parmesan cheese<br>
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Blackberries<br>
Pepitas<br>
Grated Asiago cheese<br>
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1. Heat a few spoonfuls of cooking fat on cast iron skillet or griddle over medium-high heat. While the pan is heating, slice the Romaine hearts in half longitudinally. Once the pan is hot, place the Romaine hearts cut side down onto the pan. Allow to sear for 8-10 minutes or until desired level of browning has occurred. I also cheat and put each lettuce half on the uncut sides for a couple minutes to increase the duck fat char surface area.<br>
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2. While the lettuce is cooking, combine the lemon juice, anchovy, garlic, mustard, olive oil, and cheese in a food processor or blender and then process until smooth. Add/subtract/salt/pepper to taste<br>
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3. Once the lettuce has achieved the desired level of sear, place on serving plates and cover with a couple tablespoons of the dressing. Sprinkle on some blackberries, pepitas, and additional cheese as desired.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4o1WzigBnQM9HMJAk8iSMkoSKSgIo4jgKpQUjPQzeVZHEDzEA0N1XB9FQtmH5ONA6_lcFuCZR2eiCy4vXstk_dLx5r3i7iMPzzzPTAnKPCYoM2BpCwhHuWgiItTtxAqSf6ODCsGdSBBQ/s640/blogger-image-515111320.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4o1WzigBnQM9HMJAk8iSMkoSKSgIo4jgKpQUjPQzeVZHEDzEA0N1XB9FQtmH5ONA6_lcFuCZR2eiCy4vXstk_dLx5r3i7iMPzzzPTAnKPCYoM2BpCwhHuWgiItTtxAqSf6ODCsGdSBBQ/s640/blogger-image-515111320.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The Romaine halves searing on the griddle</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTI3y4qzxi4cPDbw770R-bx8Ll4MD73J73qzJ2OmHCDQUSxxZZPoQ5Kdz5HDBClqYgFW5IHmI4AgHtGtH2wlS_MbVwRf9_NH1k_zr5HZY5XA45RIWlCOy1YNpopQeJ2XKUPhdvg8pHpRU/s640/blogger-image-763791297.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTI3y4qzxi4cPDbw770R-bx8Ll4MD73J73qzJ2OmHCDQUSxxZZPoQ5Kdz5HDBClqYgFW5IHmI4AgHtGtH2wlS_MbVwRf9_NH1k_zr5HZY5XA45RIWlCOy1YNpopQeJ2XKUPhdvg8pHpRU/s640/blogger-image-763791297.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Salad closeup to show the sear beneath the blackberries</div><br></div><br></div>-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-90736790026382664762016-08-28T10:29:00.001-04:002016-08-28T10:33:45.458-04:00My First Attempt at Skillet Pizza<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCgGJm_F3XsZrZUm2N0nVfi-uccPBM4vOeCusQXYcuXwQ5j7OQ6HMSA9vyc65X-XH-aXpwKSVRZ553KQwrY85ThpY9zIfgz0SNNcYsU3QLMQh4ezgNKnTyERVz-Vq9ILSswPI0Up3KolU/s640/blogger-image--1515871501.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCgGJm_F3XsZrZUm2N0nVfi-uccPBM4vOeCusQXYcuXwQ5j7OQ6HMSA9vyc65X-XH-aXpwKSVRZ553KQwrY85ThpY9zIfgz0SNNcYsU3QLMQh4ezgNKnTyERVz-Vq9ILSswPI0Up3KolU/s640/blogger-image--1515871501.jpg"></a></div><br>
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I don't know if anyone else has read about this, but apparently using cast iron instead of a pizza stone is a thing. As most of my cast iron has been lovingly seasoned in duck fat, I figured this would be a thing worth trying that melds my love of duck fat with my husband's love of pizza. Okay. I like pizza too, but not as much as I love duck fat. I used to work with yeast and bake bread fairly regularly, but haven't delved back into it since I started residency, partially due to time constraints and partially because we just don't eat that much bread. Living with less than 5 people has put a total cramp on my baking style.<br>
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I used <a href="http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/pizza-dough-237338">this pizza dough recipe</a> which I made a couple of days in advance and kept in the fridge. When we had our actual pizza night, I stuck my griddle directly in the oven and pumped it to 400 F. For my 10" griddle, I used half the amount of pizza dough in the recipe. Then I rolled the dough out to a round approximately the size of the griddle, which took about 10-15 minutes. I'm sure I will become more facile at dough rolling with more practice. After I had a reasonable dough round, I removed the griddle from the oven, plopped the dough on, and put it back in.<br>
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While the dough was pre-cooking, I made a pizza sauce by blending a can of crushed tomatoes with salt, crushed red pepper, oregano, and dried basil. Then I cut rounds from a block of fresh mozzarella, sliced some oyster mushrooms and fresh garlic, and picked some kale from our vegetable garden. Once I had prepared my sauce and toppings, I pulled my baking crust from the oven and topped it in this order: sauce, cheese, mushrooms, kale, garlic slices. Then I popped it back in the oven, still at 400 F, and baked it for about another 30-40 minutes until the cheese was bubbly and starting to brown.<br>
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I'm a thin crust girl, and this resulted in a crisp, thin crust pizza. I don't think pre-baking the dough was actually necessary, so I may leave that step out next time to see how it goes. We had the right amount for two people and could have easily supplemented with a side salad if we had wanted to. The best part is that we still have enough dough, cheese, sauce, and toppings for another pizza night! We could also make one pizza in the griddle and another pizza in the skillet if we wanted to make pizzas simultaneously for guests. <div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzzt-3sZV0RdpRmGo30d2QfYJ8Wl_Lbn5s5Yi2LygpNc-xO5MN0FBQAGV50n5GVDJFOycjAMAu4GfW1fuBRD087mAgacmEIdzq5PSlUa2QbU4dxWrNL55rVOCg2EG78ncCdXb0cJ0Pw_E/s640/blogger-image-1472768944.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzzt-3sZV0RdpRmGo30d2QfYJ8Wl_Lbn5s5Yi2LygpNc-xO5MN0FBQAGV50n5GVDJFOycjAMAu4GfW1fuBRD087mAgacmEIdzq5PSlUa2QbU4dxWrNL55rVOCg2EG78ncCdXb0cJ0Pw_E/s640/blogger-image-1472768944.jpg"></a></div><br></div>-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-90357126678086248682016-08-14T19:09:00.000-04:002016-08-14T19:18:48.624-04:00When NYC gives you grapefruits: Grapefruit Sage Chicken<div>This is actually a post I started when I still lived in New York. The grapefruits in Ohio are much better, but this is still a great dish worth sharing. </div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkrkNbw3B9lEFzPVJe0x5ZMilLPNjR23CC4Ni88o-zGTaCJ7DLS5o4lQhuaKpE988tBl7z1nUdVk7llXHs9chv109XoG2_LTVzwIrBJ2N7eNR2ejasRm4FI5PmX379TPyLAacumSb3HP8/s640/blogger-image-113572354.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkrkNbw3B9lEFzPVJe0x5ZMilLPNjR23CC4Ni88o-zGTaCJ7DLS5o4lQhuaKpE988tBl7z1nUdVk7llXHs9chv109XoG2_LTVzwIrBJ2N7eNR2ejasRm4FI5PmX379TPyLAacumSb3HP8/s640/blogger-image-113572354.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div>I am from Texas. The state fruit is the ruby red grapefruit. I grew up eating big juicy RED grapefruits, and I liked them. NYC has a serious dearth of red grapefruits. And even if they are around, they are hardly recognizable. When I sent my boyfriend to the store to get grapefruits, he came back with this. I immediately thought that he had gotten a yellow grapefruit instead of a red grapefruit due to the color of the peel. This is what I saw when I cut open the fruit.<br>
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If someone handed me a precious gem of the color depicted above and told me it was a ruby, I would laugh. The flavor of said ruby red grapefruit was also a faded version of the grapefruits of my youth. So what does one do with specimens of this quality?</div>
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I was inspired by a post on Simply Recipes for lemon mustard chicken. Although I love lemons, I'm not actually crazy about them with chicken. However, grapefruit has a toned down tartness that I thought would appeal more to my palate. I also happened to have some fresh sage sitting in my fridge which I think might be the savory superhero of herbs. The result, delicious grapefruit sage chicken! I've made this using a whole broiler chicken and put half of a grapefruit inside of the chicken along with a few sprigs of sage. I have also made this with chicken quarter legs similar to how Elise suggests in her lemon chicken recipe by arranging the legs on top of chopped potatoes so that the potatoes roast in the chicken juices. Both ways are tasty. The leftovers do make good chicken salad too, and the sage grapefruit flavor does not affect the flavor of the stock made with the leftover bones. </div>
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<b>Grapefruit Sage Chicken</b></div>
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<i>Inspired by <a href="http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/honey_mustard_chicken/">Simply Recipes</a></i></div>
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3-4 lb broiler or 4 lbs of chicken quarter legs</div>
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1 red grapefruit</div>
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3 cloves garlic</div>
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2 tablespoons Dijon mustard</div>
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1 tablespoon honey</div>
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3-5 fresh sage leaves</div>
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Salt and pepper to taste</div>
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1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Chop garlic and sage leaves. Cut grapefruit in half and juice one half of the grapefruit. Combine grapefruit juice, garlic, mustard, honey, salt and pepper by either whisking together or mixing with a fork. </div>
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2. If using a broiler chicken, place the second grapefruit half in the cavity along with some sage sprigs. If using quarter legs, arrange in a casserole dish or on a broiler sheet. Slather the marinade over the chicken. <i>Optional:</i> you can arrange the chicken pieces on top of a bed of chopped potatoes and coarsely chopped onions or shallots. </div>
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3. Place the chicken in the oven and bake for approximately 45 minutes. I like to brush the chicken with a repeat dose of marinade about 20 minutes into baking. <span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">A whole chicken is done when a fork poked in the joint between the thigh and the body causes clear liquid to come out. There is an internal temperature criterion as well, but I don't own a meat thermometer. </span></div>
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4. When the chicken is done, remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving. I like to serve this with roasted potatoes or cauliflower and a salad. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ8F23udMkmpmATKptt4LVsy_P_JFKpwTBIRYxG4vH4FElXeVw94Xbb_toVIe1BbtN-O1MJjhuy5TSEFsh3S4pM_XpT2I6AWHsdsdix6cgmB-3k_aEPH-n9BFY_C076aKpn7yldAuRT7I/s640/blogger-image-987588702.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ8F23udMkmpmATKptt4LVsy_P_JFKpwTBIRYxG4vH4FElXeVw94Xbb_toVIe1BbtN-O1MJjhuy5TSEFsh3S4pM_XpT2I6AWHsdsdix6cgmB-3k_aEPH-n9BFY_C076aKpn7yldAuRT7I/s640/blogger-image-987588702.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The marinade</div><br></div>
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-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-86787110689633389072014-05-19T00:33:00.001-04:002014-05-19T00:33:21.638-04:00Unexpected Reactions: How my Medical School Graduation is the Worst Thing to Ever Happen to my BrotherFor many, graduation is a time to celebrate the results of hard work and accomplishment. Especially graduation from medical school. It is no secret that becoming a doctor requires many sleepless nights and hours of hard work. Medicine is a field where reform means limiting the work week to 80 hours for trainees, and the work required for medical school does help prepare young doctors for these types of schedules.<br />
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As a woman going into general surgery, I've gotten my fair share of admonitions in addition to the congratulations. People whom I barely know have warned me that my partner will leave me and I will end up childless and alone. (I have yet to hear of any male future surgeons being warned that all of their children will be fathered by the milk man.) However, for the most part, I have received mostly support and some very unexpected You Go Girl type comments from female physicians. <br />
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The reaction to my impending doctor-hood that has caught me most off guard is my brother's. To give you some background, my brother failed out of college, has lived with my father for the past three years, and is going to cosmetology school to become an esthetician. An esthetician is like a cosmetologist to the max. He will be licensed to give Botox injections. Anyways, he has shown no desire to return to college to get a bachelor's degree, which also means he has shown no desire/intention/plan to go to graduate school. My brother works part time at Starbucks (around 25 hours per week) and attends night school two nights a week for all his beauty license stuff. He feels that because I have worked single shifts longer than his entire week of paid work, no one feels that he is working too hard. This is so offensive to him that he has cut off all communication with me, including blocking me on Facebook. The ex-communication occurred after he made sure to let me know that I am a horrible person and will be a horrible doctor because I think a 40 hour work week is reasonable. I do suppose a 40 hour work week is a little much to ask of someone who doesn't pay for rent or auto insurance. This whole situation is pretty silly, and the casual observer would probably believe my brother is jealous. The concept that my brother is jealous about me accomplishing something that he has never attempted is ridiculous to me.<br />
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Although my brother is not communicating with me directly, he will be attending my graduation. However, he decided to call my mother to have her ask me to find him a place to stay for free as he cannot afford a hotel room in New York City. This is the next level of how silly the situation is. My mother is pretty worried about my brother. She thinks that my graduation is too emotionally stressful for him, and that I should be more understanding and supportive. She also is telling my relatives that if they are planning to give me a graduation present, they should be giving a present to my brother as well. I guess it takes a lot to live on your sister's couch for free for a month because you're too embarrassed to tell your parents that you flunked out of school. It's as impressive of an accomplishment as successfully completing medical school and matching into a categorical spot in general surgery.<br />
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This whole situation makes me more amazed at what I've accomplished. This relationship dynamic in my family isn't new. It's just the most pronounced expression of it in recent years. If I experience success, my mother treats it as a potential trauma for my brother. My responsibility should be to protect my brother instead of celebrating. I have no idea what it feels like to be upset by the success of others, especially if they have succeeded in something that I have never attempted. There are many more things that I have not tried than things that I have tried. I would probably have a debilitating depression if this type of thing upset me. I don't know what it's like to have someone defend me and advocate for me. I have no idea how my brother and I came out of the same living circumstances. I am actually glad that my mother focused all of these strange ideas on my brother and left me to fend for myself. Although the official shut off of communication only occurred recently, I obviously did not know my brother well at all since I was so blind-sided by his self-centered reaction to what should be a celebration.<br />
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At the beginning of medical school, one of our professors told us that becoming a doctor would change our relationships with people around us. I didn't realize that this could include such intense lashing out. Medical advice is not the only thing my family wants from me now that I will be a physician. They also want me to be an impartial observer of my own life, allowing them to make all of the decisions without any moral or emotional input. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure this is bullshit.-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-87631978061876766682014-04-16T21:21:00.001-04:002014-04-16T21:21:58.782-04:00Lessons from my First Duck<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Duck has been my favorite food since I was a child. Before I was in school, I was asking my mom if we could go get either Peking duck or roast duck. I had rather atypical tastes as a child. For this reason, I have had a fear of cooking ducks. I was afraid that I would ruin them and wouldn't be able to forgive myself for ruining something so delicious. I've undertaken some pretty intense home cooking projects, like my summer of jams (which I don't recommend when it's 103 degrees), homemade pasta and ravioli, and my <a href="http://transportedtastes.blogspot.com/2011/04/sourdough-croissant-adventure.html">sourdough croissants</a>. This year, I decided that I would conquer my fear of cooking my favorite food: duck.<br />
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I used a recipe from the Silver Palate cookbook. I did everything wrong. The recipe involved roasting a whole duck, carving the breast, and serving this breast over a salad of green beans. After being a little confused as to the small amount of breast meat on the duck I had roasted, I realized that I had cooked the duck breast side down, and had actually made the salad with the back meat. Even though I wasn't crazy about the salad, I realized that cooking duck is the same as cooking any other high quality piece of meat. Cooking meat isn't about being a good cook. Cooking meat is about not fucking up something that is inherently delicious. Even though I had roasted the duck upside down and only seasoned with salt and pepper, it was still a delicious piece of meat because I had not worked nearly hard enough to fuck up the inherent deliciousness of duck meat.<br />
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I also referenced <i>Duck, Duck, Goose</i> to make rendered duck fat, and I saved the pan drippings. Hank Shaw is right. Duck fat <i>is</i> God's gift to potatoes. Plus, I already knew that I liked cracklings. My grandfather's sister owned a butcher shop and used to make me cracklings out of all of the non-pig animals because no one would buy them, and I loved eating them so much. But I didn't know that cracklings are the by product of rendering fat. Homemade duck cracklings? I feel like I wasted the first 27 years of my life by not eating homemade duck cracklings.<br />
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Another thing I learned that has changed my culinary life is that duck stock makes way better beans than chicken stock or beef stock. I've been making lentils with onions caramelized in duck fat, mushrooms, and duck stock. I realized that I just don't like lentils that aren't cooked with meat juices, and duck juices are PERFECT!<br />
*Disclaimer: I may feel this way because I have loved eating ducks longer than I have loved eating pizza. You may not feel the same way about beans cooked in duck juice.<br />
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Now after a few more ducks under my belt, I feel much more comfortable cooking one of my favorite meats at home. Ducks are super expensive in restaurants, and I don't even get to keep the liver to make pate or make stock or keep the fat for potatoes and beans. In hindsight, I don't know why I waited so long.-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-12886539103890625162014-03-29T16:22:00.002-04:002014-03-29T16:27:01.935-04:00Sardine Banh Mi Salad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Banh Mi is one of my favorite foods. For those of you that don't know, banh mi are French-style Vietnamese sandwiches that have grilled meat, sweet pickled radish and carrots, jalapeno, cilantro, pate, and mayonnaise on a big crusty baguette. If I had to pick favorite parts, it would be the daikon and carrot pickles followed by the pate, but really the sandwich is all about the combination of flavors. If you don't get any jalapeno on your banh mi, then you don't know what banh mi is supposed to taste like. My least favorite part of banh mi is the bread. The traditional baguette is very crusty, so it creates a lot of crumbs. <br />
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When I was growing up in Fort Worth, there were a few places in Dallas where we would always stock up on banh mi while visiting my grandparents. One was Bale, a French-style Vietnamese bakery that is known for their banh mi. They used to have a special where you could get 6 sandwiches for $2, and my brother and I would eat all 6 in one day. Another place was a pho restaurant (I don't think I ever knew the name) that didn't have banh mi on the menu. You had to order it for takeout (while you were eating in at their restaurant) and they'd hand it to you in a black plastic bag. The whole affair felt very naughty and exciting. The banh mi here was $6 per sandwich, but it was <i>so good</i>. One of my uncles was friendly with the owner, so he was able to order the sandwiches for takeout <i>without actually eating in the restaurant!</i> This was a big deal. If you met this uncle, you would completely understand though. He was a competitive soccer player in Laos, but still looks like a competitive soccer player. He is someone you just want to feed, and you don't even have to feel bad about it because he can't get fat.<br />
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So recently, I was diagnosed with PCOS, and I have mildly elevated cholesterol. I have always suspected that I have PCOS, but waited several years before actually having someone confirm my suspicion. And in my defense, the whole month before I got my blood levels drawn, I was on my internal medicine sub-internship. For some reason, I am unable to eat as healthily as usual while on internal medicine. I end up eating cheap takeout every day, either given to me by my team or purchased on my way home. This is one of the reasons I did not apply to internal medicine. While the oligarche of PCOS doesn't really bother me, the increased susceptibility to diabetes and wonky cholesterol do. This means that I have to be more selective about what I eat and more disciplined about daily exercise. <br />
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One of the dietary changes I have been trying to make is to incorporate more fatty fish into my meals. Salmon is easy. You just add some salt and pepper and slap that slab on a skillet. Like a good steak, a salmon fillet does not take skill to cook. All you have to do is not ruin it. Sardines are another fatty fish that are cheaper and more environmentally friendly to catch since they live in rivers. I've tried cooking sardines in the past using different French styles. The taste was a little too strong for me. Then I remembered that banh mi can also be made with sardines, and I hoped the tomatoes and spice would balance the strong sardine flavor. I also wanted to convert the meal into a cabbage salad because cabbage is cheap, sturdy, and can be left in the fridge for days. In this recipe, I pickled the cabbage with carrots in the same style as the traditional daikon and carrot. This creates a tasty salad that can be packed several days in advance, which makes easy weekday lunches.<br />
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<b>Sardine Banh Mi Salad</b><br />
<i>Adapted from <a href="http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/" target="_blank">Viet World Kitchen</a>, makes enough for 5 packed lunches</i><br />
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1 small head cabbage<br />
2-4 carrots<br />
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1/2 cup sugar</div>
1 cup hot water<br />
1 1/4 cups white vinegar<br />
1-2 tablespoons oil<br />
1 large onion or 2-3 large shallots, sliced<br />
3 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped<br />
1 jalapeno, diced with as much ribs removed as you want<br />
1 15-oz can sardines in tomato sauce<br />
oyster sauce and sugar to taste<br />
1 bunch cilantro, chopped<br />
2 cucumbers, sliced and quartered (you can peel if you like)<br />
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1. Shred the cabbage and carrots. A food processor makes life so much easier here.<br />
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2. Dissolve the 1/2 cup sugar in the hot water and combine with the white vinegar. Place the shredded cabbage and carrots in this brine in a large bowl, cover, and let sit in the fridge for 4-6 hours. Do not let this sit overnight, as the cabbage will get too limp.<br />
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3. Heat the oil over medium heat in a sauce pan. Saute the onion in the olive oil until it becomes translucent and golden. Add the diced tomatoes and jalapeno and saute until the tomatoes fall apart. You can add a tablespoon or so of oyster sauce at this point. If you taste it now, it will be too spicy. Don't worry. The fish will tone down the spice. If the sauce is too salty from the oyster sauce, add some sugar. Add the whole can of sardines, and mash and combine them with the sauce using a wooden spoon. Taste and adjust oyster sauce/sugar ratio. Lower heat, cover, and allow to simmer for 15 minutes to allow the flavors to combine. Shut off heat, let cool, and mix in chopped cilantro.<br />
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4. After 4-6 hours, drain the cabbage and carrot mixture. You don't need to spin it completely dry or anything, just dump it in a colander. Divide the mixture evenly amongst 5-6 plates/containers. There will be about 1.5-2 cups of cabbage mixture per serving.<br />
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5. Divide the cucumber slices evenly amongst the cabbage servings, and divide the sardine mixture evenly amongst the servings. When you actually eat the salad, the sauce from the sardines and the brine on the cabbage combine to make a pretty good dressing.<br />
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<br />-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-74616421141222963522013-11-05T20:51:00.000-05:002013-11-05T20:51:16.887-05:00Preparing for a General Surgery ResidencyDuring my year off before medical school, I worked as an AmeriCorp volunteer. Basically, I was broke living in New York City. I decided to spend my free time cooking. That's when I started this blog. I'm not the kind of person who goes to exotic restaurants because I want to try a certain dish. I usually look up a recipe that sounds tasty and try to make it myself. A huge part of this is because I am cheap. My mother fed our family of 3 on $20 a week, so cooking and budgeting have always been intertwined in my eyes. During my year with AmeriCorps, I decided that I wanted to learn to make jam. There was a cheap vegetable market nearby that had fresh berries and accepted my food stamps. I checked out cookbooks from the New York Public Library. I got pretty comfortable with my jam making skills during that year, and I'm glad I took the time and effort to develop them.<br />
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For the past year, I have not had many opportunities to experiment in my kitchen. I have been busy with my clinical clerkships, preparing for and taking USMLE Step 2, my sub-internships in surgery and medicine, and presenting at meetings for the Association of Surgical Education and the American College of Surgeons. It has been a busy year. Early in my third year of medical school, I realized that I wanted to apply to General Surgery for residency. I have been panicked with the idea that I might not match. At this point, I have 16 interviews scheduled for residency positions, and the prospect of matching does not seem so far flung. I only have 1 pass/fail exam left to study for, and my schedule will be nowhere near as grueling as it was during my two months of surgery sub-internship.<br />
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For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Match and the residency application process, here is my simplified version. You (applicant) apply to a bunch of programs. Those programs choose whether or not to interview you. You rank a list of programs, and each program ranks a list of applicants. All these rank lists go into a super computer, and the super computer spits out a list of who goes to which program. Unlike any other application process, you do not get to choose where you go. You can rank programs based on where you would like to go, but you either accept what the super computer tells you, or you turn down a residency position. With this in mind, there are certain things I do and do not know about my life in July. I do not know where I will live. I have a list based on places where I will interview, but I do not know for certain. I do know that I will be working long hours, at least 12 hours a day (or night), six days a week. And when I say 12 hours, I mean more like 16 hours. I know that I will be about $200,000 in debt with my combined loans from college and medical school. Most of my loans will be eligible for deferment, but the interest rate on my loans from my last two years of medical school is at 8%. The federal government also stopped providing subsidized loans for medical students after my first year of medical school. I think they might be trying to increase student debt so that programs like National Health Service Corps attract more professionals to primary care fields. Or just trying to make becoming a doctor even more cost prohibitive so that people of lower socioeconomic status will not be able to provide care to their own communities, which is one of the central philosophies behind community-based healthcare. But I digress.<br />
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So basically, what I do know about my life starting in July is that I will be busy, and I will be broke. There are things that I will not have time to do adequately myself, such as walk my dog enough or clean my house. I may also decide to start paying off some of my educational debt. These are things I cannot control. However, there are things I can do to prepare. I know that I feel better eating food I cooked myself. It's healthier, cheaper, and produces less waste from packaging. As preparation for residency, I am working on finding and tinkering with recipes that are fast (or little effort i.e. slow cooker), freeze well, and transport well. I will also be working on snacks that can fit in a scrub pocket. I've searched a little for tips on life during residency, but nothing really hits home for me, so I decided I would document my journey myself. I'm sure I'm not the only food obsessed aspiring general surgeon on the web.-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-41204593291802820942012-04-04T18:20:00.000-04:002012-04-05T15:33:46.884-04:00The Best Almond Croissant in Prospect HeightsSo when I say "The Best Almond Croissant in Prospect Heights," I really mean "The Best Almond Croissant Along my Usual 1.5 Mile Dog Walking Route." G Maxx and I usually walk down Vanderbilt from Sterling to St. Marks, take St. Marks to Washington, and then walk back towards the park on Washington. On Saturday mornings, we walk past our street to the farmers' market at Grand Army Plaza. Our Saturday morning tradition is to buy eggs, animal organs, and honey or vegetables if they look good that day. The only reliable things we get are food for the dog. Go figure. We generally beat the crowds, which is nice. G Maxx has made friends with the Turkey Lady and the Egg Lady. I also get an almond croissant. Overall, it's a nice Saturday morning tradition.
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So, on this route, there are five possible places to acquire breakfast pastries:<br />
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1) Joyce Bakeshop on Vanderbilt near Sterling, but I don't remember the cross street<br />
2) Sit & Wonder on Washington and St. Marks<br />
3) Penny House Cafe on Washington between Prospect and Park<br />
4) Coffee Bites on Washington between St. Johns and Lincoln<br />
5) Farmers Market, specifically Bread Alone<br />
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The first two do not have almond croissants. If I go to Joyce, I like to get lemon bars, and if I go to Sit & Wonder, I am most definitely getting a donut. They carry donuts from Dough, and they are excellent. Penny House Cafe has the cheapest almond croissant at $2, and they are tasty. The owner is nice and cares about customer opinion. I feel that this coffee shop best reflects the feel of the neighborhood. You just have to get there early because they run out of my desired pastry by noon at the latest. The almond croissants from Bread Alone and Penny House Cafe are comparable. Bread Alone is slightly more expensive at $2.50. You also don't get to chat with the merchants, and if you're me, you have to balance a dozen eggs, 5 lbs of turkey giblets, and your wallet while your dog tries to eat all of the baked goods. This is another reason we go to the market in the morning before it gets crowded. <br />
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My one issue with these is that they are not authentically made. Almond croissants are supposed to be a way to use the previous day's croissants that didn't sell. These "stale" croissants get revived by being sliced open, filled with buttery-sugary-almond goodness, and re-baked. So how do you tell if your almond croissant is legit? It should have a slice all the way through it where the filling goes. The croissants from Penny House Cafe and Bread Alone do not have slices through them. They are made with some alternatively constructed almond filling that is probably slightly healthier for you. I will say that if you aren't sure if you want sweets or savories, go to Penny House Cafe. They have excellent bagels and breakfast sandwiches. They also prepare bagels better than Ye Olde Bagel Shoppe or whatever that place is called on Vanderbilt. That place will put cucumber on my bagel, but put it all on one side. It's strange. Penny House Cafe prepares your food with love and care. Also, if you aren't familiar with almond croissants, they are the ones with powdered sugar and sliced almonds on top, so you can check the pastry case before you enter the shop to see if there are any left. Or you can enter and order something else.<br />
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So the best almond croissant in Prospect Heights? Most definitely Coffee Bites. This is the red coffee shop that is currently underneath an awning on the same block as the laundromat that burned down last year. They are often playing the Beatles. They have <i>proper</i> almond croissants. The croissants here are the priciest at $3, but they are bigger and more delicious and totally worth it. I usually go to Penny House, but they had run out of almond croissants super early one morning, so I walked into Coffee Bites, as it is on my way home from Penny House. The moment I checked their pastry case, I saw what I had been looking for: the slit down the middle of the croissant. The proper place for the filling to go. The slit can also hold more creamy almond filling than whatever roll method the other places are using. I'm not going to lie, I change it up. I like all of these businesses, as they are all local and friendly. I frequent Bread Alone the least and Penny House Cafe the most. This hierarchy is based entirely on almond croissants.-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-19797670530166646992012-03-24T22:50:00.007-04:002012-03-24T23:12:01.589-04:00Asparagus with Chicken and Lemon Cream Sauce<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilvWndhnLMoKiEvepMCT-7Q6cqMaK-QYRWO9PWA2YHTrZsKwhOeGXUVOSv2DYfKzs2mjGDYYG3NqzOpfaKBqqXpZhm5GuUYvUo23Fc40mio1wB9D4FFEAb0MnAlyNWtXf8nV9EYRh0JXI/s640/blogger-image-378129772.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilvWndhnLMoKiEvepMCT-7Q6cqMaK-QYRWO9PWA2YHTrZsKwhOeGXUVOSv2DYfKzs2mjGDYYG3NqzOpfaKBqqXpZhm5GuUYvUo23Fc40mio1wB9D4FFEAb0MnAlyNWtXf8nV9EYRh0JXI/s640/blogger-image-378129772.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br />I am obsessed with making this lately. I don't when exactly it started. I don't know how. I don't know why. All I know is that asparagus has been on sale, and this is the way I want to eat it. Cream sauces are not something I grew up eating. My mother is very conscientious about her weight, so we only had heavy cream in the house for Thanksgiving when she would always make quiche and cheesecake. Heavy cream was basically forbidden, which is why I always feel a bit naughty when I cook with it. I've been very naughty the past few weeks. This pasta is the culmination of decadent foods that I can guiltlessly enjoy while I'm single. No one around to complain if my pee smells funny from asparagus. I can put handfuls of garlic in with no complaints. I get to use my favorite pasta shapes (medium shells or rotini, if they are reachable on the grocery store shelf). It also travels well. You can add other vegetables as well. I think this would be good with mushrooms and parsley too. Maybe peas also.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Asparagus with Chicken and Lemon Cream Sauce</span><br />Makes about 6 servings<br /><br />1 lb pasta<br />6 Tbs butter, separated<br />4-5 large cloves of garlic, minced<br />about 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, chopped into small pieces<br />1 bunch asparagus, chopped into 1" pieces<br />about 1/4 cup flour<br />1 pint heavy cream<br />juice of 1 lemon<br />salt and pepper<br /><br />1. Boil water for the pasta and cook it while you're doing everything else.<br /><br />2. Heat 2 Tbs butter over low-medium heat in a large skillet. Once the butter melts, add the garlic and gently saute until the garlic starts releasing its delicious smells.<br /><br />3. Add the chicken boobs and increase the heat to medium. Once the chicken is cooked (white not pink), add the asparagus stemmy parts. Saute until they turn a deeper green. (I err on the side of less cooked than more cooked for my veggies.) Add the asparagus crowns. Turn off heat.<br /><br />4. Heat 4 Tbs (half a stick) of butter in a saucepan over low-medium heat. Once the butter is melted, add the flour. You can increase the heat some here if you get impatient. Stir the flour in the butter and keep stirring. You are making a roux. Every food made with roux is decadent. Stir until the roux gets slightly golden. Slowly add the cream while stirring or whisking to prevent lumps. At this point, your pasta is probably cooked and ready to be drained.<br /><br />5. Heat and stir the cream mixture until smooth. Slowly add the lemon juice while stirring. Add salt and pepper to taste. My palate favors lots of garlic with lots of pepper and not so much salt. Add chicken and asparagus mixture. Stir together your saucy bits and adjust spices. Now stir the saucy bits with the pasta bits.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM-j3pk6BMQB__-hrBZdKvldyJ18bn55e2sHprj76E4X-FCG7D1YRlnUj9eUddMFDptmN_cU5CsOQ-VusxUq_iVa69XmPuOe92bNq11dp93YWG7VC3jqp_WCa_kY8hEqPI1RL2-UARvU8/s640/blogger-image-1040430955.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM-j3pk6BMQB__-hrBZdKvldyJ18bn55e2sHprj76E4X-FCG7D1YRlnUj9eUddMFDptmN_cU5CsOQ-VusxUq_iVa69XmPuOe92bNq11dp93YWG7VC3jqp_WCa_kY8hEqPI1RL2-UARvU8/s640/blogger-image-1040430955.jpg" /></a></div>-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-50229613126375618322012-03-12T21:28:00.010-04:002012-03-25T12:42:13.938-04:00Trijaminal: A Quest for Mulled Wine Marmalade<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeIs9czxjaI9qA_sdLjdMa-3VfaGbC7DClyivJ9zNBdt23VCH8mpfdmwqmdsujMlnCbE3HM4VH7bN6H2VwlTwI8v1vN4XlnJ9u3dVS0RItfz-_XhXWXo8FaLhvG_XZNWOERoLhG15JYvU/s640/blogger-image-1595358572.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeIs9czxjaI9qA_sdLjdMa-3VfaGbC7DClyivJ9zNBdt23VCH8mpfdmwqmdsujMlnCbE3HM4VH7bN6H2VwlTwI8v1vN4XlnJ9u3dVS0RItfz-_XhXWXo8FaLhvG_XZNWOERoLhG15JYvU/s640/blogger-image-1595358572.jpg" />Left to Right: V1, V2, V3</a></div><br /><br />I've been making a lot of marmalade this "winter." Part of it is because I visited my mother for the first time in two years. We spent most of the time between visits not speaking, so my visit over the holidays was one of making amends. My mother has two very specific comfort items when it comes to food. Those things are orange marmalade and green tea. Naturally, when I visited, I took the time to make large quantities of marmalade in her kitchen. Another part of it is that citrus is cheap, and winter is actually a much more comfortable time to be making jam in a New York City apartment. Stirring jam in front of a hot stove in the summer heat is almost unbearable. I have also perfected my non-cheese cloth technique for marmalade, for those of you who also try to minimize the amount of equipment you use.<br /><br />Then all this winter jamming got me thinking. I wanted to capture the flavor of mulled wine in a jam. Marmalade is the natural choice, since it already contains two of the ingredients in mulled wine: oranges and sugar. The only missing flavors are spices and booze. First, I experimented with wine and spices. The spices in the first version were good, but subtle. Then I increased the spices, but I wanted to know if the wine actually made a difference, so I made one with all water and one with all wine. After three versions, I discovered the following things:<br /><br />(1) You cannot capture the flavor of alcohol in jam because it cooks for so long that the alcohol all cooks off.<br />(2) Wine does special things to food. I found that it toned down the sweetness but brought out the bitterness of the peel in a satisfying way.<br />(3) It tastes good no matter what, with or without booze. Without booze is cheaper, but with booze is a good way to use up refrigerator wine that you might not want to drink.<br /><br />In our unofficial taste test officially titled the Trijaminal<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigeminal_nerve">(in case you aren't in medical school and would like to understand the pun)</a>, tasters were split. Some didn't think the wine made a difference. Some liked the less spiced version. My favorite was the all wine and more spiced version.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEita4s0zdNZcIuqYH-0qEnIxGcfWD4ubUJXHpEfXgmjkUCnKZClfgZVoImUHTD4_ibuR1h58mBzPECi6bqc7wEG8ybO247c9DX_4qPu8Rlxe6FTjOeb9WOoZ0dINuEebeRraVO7nLxj098/s1600/IMG_0660.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEita4s0zdNZcIuqYH-0qEnIxGcfWD4ubUJXHpEfXgmjkUCnKZClfgZVoImUHTD4_ibuR1h58mBzPECi6bqc7wEG8ybO247c9DX_4qPu8Rlxe6FTjOeb9WOoZ0dINuEebeRraVO7nLxj098/s400/IMG_0660.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5723875761719569250" /></a><br /><br /><div><br /><div><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Basic Orange Marmalade Recipe</span><br />I think this makes about 4 pints, but it could be less. I don't can all of my jam. I use old jars and refrigerate, so I never get an exact idea of how much I made. I filled two peanut butter jars and canned 1-9 oz jar.<br /><br />3 navel oranges<br />1 lemon<br />sugar<br />water<br /><br />1. Wash the citrus. Thinly slice the lemon and 1 navel orange. Put all the slices into one container.<br /><br />2. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the zest from the remaining two oranges. Place the zest with the lemon and orange slices. Remove the pith from the two zested oranges. Thinly slice the orange sections and add to the other sliced citrus.<br /><br />3. Eyeball the volume of the citrus. You will use this same volume of sugar and water to make the marmalade. You could put the slices into a large measuring cup. I usually use a pyrex bowl because I like the idea of measuring without measuring. Place the citrus in a large pot. I like to use an enamel one.<br /><br />4. Add an equal volume of water to the pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Shut off heat, cover, and let sit for several hours to overnight. This step extracts the natural pectin from the citrus peels and membranes.<br /><br />5. Place a saucer in the freezer. This is so you can check the set of your jam later. Wash and sterilize any jars you are using. I wash my jars with antibacterial dish soap, place them in a 9x13" baking dish, and place this in a 200 F oven. The oven heat will keep the jars clean, and they won't crack when you pour hot jam into them. I clean the lids by washing them with soap and water, placing them in a heatproof dish, and pouring boiling water over them when I think my jam is about to be finished.<br /><br />6. Measure the appropriate volume of sugar (same as your volume of citrus slices). Bring the citrus mixture back to a boil. Add sugar about 1/2 cup at a time. Stir after each addition. Adding the sugar in a stepwise fashion keeps your jam from boiling over.<br /><br />7. Continue to heat with stirring until the jam starts to thicken. This will probably take about 45 minutes. Check the set by removing the saucer from the freezer, smearing some jam on it, and letting that sit for about a minute. Push on your jam streak. If it wrinkles when you push on it, the jam is ready to be canned. If not, put the saucer back in the freezer and keep stirring. This is the earliest time when you can taste your jam.<br /><br />8. After your jam passes the cold plate test, fill jars up to 1/4" of the rim, wipe down rims, and place lids on. If you are canning, completely submerge the jars in boiling water for 10 minutes. Let all jars sit at room temperature overnight before you refrigerate. This allows the jam to set properly.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Mulled Variations:</span><br />Use Basic Orange Marmalade Recipe with the following changes:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">V1:</span> Add 5 cloves, 3 cardamom pods, and 1 cinnamon stick in Step 4. Replace half of the water with Madeira wine. Remove the cinnamon stick before proceeding to Step 6.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">V2:</span> Add 10 cloves and 1 cinnamon stick in Step 4. Remove the cinnamon stick before proceeding to Step 6.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">V3:</span> Add 10 cloves and 1 cinnamon stick in Step 4. Use Cabernet Sauvignon instead of water. Remove the cinnamon stick before proceeding to Step 6.</div></div>-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-9605603645594216012012-02-26T13:30:00.006-05:002012-02-26T14:05:22.594-05:00My Favorite Omelette Turned Frittata<div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWqrvDmMUR2_ZUcwTOhapOw16S-mnw9RC8Ao9pCd19kSm73Eu8ZUZFrchcP5M1A6d2pX_4DI_xuyLP5QH5xBTdxIAwPg_OCr-apjYmvckETZWuj8GBYsPrtYJKTapUANgeDdwn2QnaQfM/s640/blogger-image-276098896.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWqrvDmMUR2_ZUcwTOhapOw16S-mnw9RC8Ao9pCd19kSm73Eu8ZUZFrchcP5M1A6d2pX_4DI_xuyLP5QH5xBTdxIAwPg_OCr-apjYmvckETZWuj8GBYsPrtYJKTapUANgeDdwn2QnaQfM/s640/blogger-image-276098896.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br />So, my favorite omelette isn't something I tasted in a restaurant or at a friend's house. It isn't something I found on the internet. It is something I made up by mixing some of my favorite things. Swiss chard. I first had swiss chard at my friend <a href="http://bigsislittledish.wordpress.com">Erin's</a> apartment. I met Erin when I was 15 and a wardrobe intern at <a href="http://www.hippocket.org">the Hip Pocket Theatre</a> in Lake Worth. If you are in the area in the summer months, you should definitely see a show there. It is a magical place. When I moved to Boston to attend college, I would spend long weekends and Spring Breaks at Erin's apartment in Brooklyn. Erin and my mother are the two people who have most influenced my cooking, mostly because they let me cook with them. Erin introduced me to the kinds of green leafy vegetables that are best sauteed with onions and whatever savory spices you love. Swiss chard was the first one. I love it because it is tasty and has pretty colors. It was also exotic to me because I grew up eating Laotian food. The next part: lox. My ex-boyfriend/practice fiance was a New York Jew. That means he loved lox. I ate lox growing up, but I never thought you could buy it and have it at your house. Because we were students, we experimented with buying lox chips. Lox chips are the end bits that aren't quite large enough to make slices that are nice for putting on bagels. They are cheaper because they aren't quite large enough to make slices that are nice for putting on bagels. The problem with lox chips is that they are greasier than the normal lox you buy. I think it might be the increased surface area to volume ratio. These are the kinds of thoughts that sometimes keep me up at night. Anyways, they are too greasy for bagels, but they are great in eggs. Gouda. It is my favorite cheese. I didn't really try new cheeses until college because I grew up eating Laotian food. Laotians don't eat cheese. We eat delicious grilled meats, sticky rice, and lots of cucumber, carrots, and lettuce. We also eat more fish sauce than is socially acceptable. None of those things are cheese. So, back to my favorite omelette. These three items are things that I like to have in my refrigerator. It doesn't happen as often as it used to, but it's nice when it does. For the omelette, I would beat one egg, put it in my omelette pan, and then sprinkle the three previously mentioned items on top when it was almost ready to be closed. It is a very fast omelette, and it does not contain the obscene amount of eggs that diners expect you to eat in an omelette. Making an omelette for yourself before work or school feels very fancy, and it's totally doable if you're someone who likes to eat breakfast on weekdays. The frittata version happened because I invited people over for brunch. Omelettes are an awful food to make if you have guests. Frittata is the fancy European version. I've never been a huge frittata fan. I think because many places use too many eggs and not enough delicious fillings. I liked this frittata. I liked it so much I made it again. Fun fact: all of the ingredients for this come in packages that contain enough stuff to make two frittatas.<br /><br /><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht30XYEoE5XqybiF9SQBBJPE0F7CfhW1lio-tzFwa5L3oqfELXoNl62f3bXd6Y8WjpsCozluGpqAZSfOOMZpTAfvGCLFUTQaqOle1Ct1dWgDWdteY6K9w8A3JIox7SCZPXyJpGpYd4upI/s640/blogger-image-1836626990.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht30XYEoE5XqybiF9SQBBJPE0F7CfhW1lio-tzFwa5L3oqfELXoNl62f3bXd6Y8WjpsCozluGpqAZSfOOMZpTAfvGCLFUTQaqOle1Ct1dWgDWdteY6K9w8A3JIox7SCZPXyJpGpYd4upI/s640/blogger-image-1836626990.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Swiss Chard, Lox, and Gouda Frittata</span><br />Serves 6-10, depending on your gluttony and availability of other side items<br /><br />1 bunch Swiss Chard<br />1 medium onion<br />olive oil<br />salt and pepper to taste<br />6 eggs<br />a heavy dash of heavy cream<br />6 oz smoked lox, chopped into small bits<br />4 oz smoked gouda, grated<br /><br />1. Wash and chop the chard. You should try and keep the stems separate, but you don't have to go all out and remove the leaves from the stems before chopping them. Little bits of stem that get thrown in when the leaves get thrown in are fine because this will cook longer in the frittata anyways.<br /><br />2. Dice the onion. Fine dicing is not my forte, so I wouldn't worry about getting a professionally miniscule dice.<br /><br />3. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onions until they become translucent. Throw in the chopped chard stems and saute until they begin to soften a little bit. Throw in the chard leaves and saute until they lose volume. Season with salt and pepper to taste.<br /><br />4. Preheat oven to 400 F. Butter an 8" round pie pan. I like pyrex, mostly because I fear nonstick. Beat six eggs with a heavy dash of cream. Pour into pie pan. Fun fact: if you have the chard already prepared, you could probably do the rest of this while drunk. Then you will have less inhibition and will add a heavier dash of cream. You will also feel super awesome for having made fancy food while drunk.<br /><br />5. Add half of the sauteed chard and the lox bits. Mix them around in the eggs so they get distributed evenly. Sprinkle the top with the grated gouda. Don't mix the gouda in. It tastes better on top.<br /><br />6. Bake for about half an hour. I test for doneness the way I test bread: by tapping it. Doctors love tapping and listening to things. I just poke it to see if it feels solid. Remove from oven, let cool, and serve.<br /><br />Again, I loved this so much I used the rest of my sauteed swiss chard to make it again two days later. The lox was in a 12 oz container, and the gouda in an 8 oz block. Eggs come in a dozen. Exactly the right packaging for 2 frittatas.-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-36567961402916385632011-07-16T18:02:00.000-04:002011-07-16T18:20:34.814-04:00Mac and Cheese with Veggies and Carrot Greens<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipVmmgzVCxkc1X3YgbjnKiYMN9yLPF-hp_cHeWAaMAdRAt6IBloAzE-KZe2_G2-cW8Q5MUV6t4glbXT1EJYCZhIM2vbTcLI07mT_G7usA0Nk3ULPD8C1qNQlNoDqVB12ml2D2XbF13IL8/s1600/IMG_0448.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipVmmgzVCxkc1X3YgbjnKiYMN9yLPF-hp_cHeWAaMAdRAt6IBloAzE-KZe2_G2-cW8Q5MUV6t4glbXT1EJYCZhIM2vbTcLI07mT_G7usA0Nk3ULPD8C1qNQlNoDqVB12ml2D2XbF13IL8/s320/IMG_0448.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5630075456051544130" /></a><br /><br />Every now and then, I like to make mac and cheese. I guess it isn't really mac and cheese because I like to use Barilla Plus medium shells instead of macaroni or elbows. I use my friend <a href="http://bigsislittledish.wordpress.com/2010/08/07/macaroni-and-cheese/">Erin's recipe</a> and add whatever flavors I feel like. Erin is one of my oldest friends, and she and my mother have been the two biggest influences on how I cook. Her blog is definitely worth a gander. Back to mac and cheese: one of my favorite flavor combinations has been black beans and salsa for a Mexican style mac and cheese. Today, I decided to use some refrigerator leftovers and CSA veggies that I wasn't sure what to do with. I will say, my favorite part of this rendition is the carrot greens. I even put a sausage in there, but I like the flavor of the carrot greens more than anything else I put in there. I also really loved the shells on top that got really crispy. Since this isn't my recipe, I'll just list my additions here.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgAXFdQSPVNqTKSUtmLopAd-5wa9w2ob7OkfqVKCeXWPU7wCWsuoDBYVvEZA3wktFOoSBvkjDYdGL4WdxpKVRb-vqYAsHYQDPFq3QJBp92M6xM-X-hdhoRdF_N4kNvc6Z-tdKahbbmsXc/s1600/IMG_0446.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgAXFdQSPVNqTKSUtmLopAd-5wa9w2ob7OkfqVKCeXWPU7wCWsuoDBYVvEZA3wktFOoSBvkjDYdGL4WdxpKVRb-vqYAsHYQDPFq3QJBp92M6xM-X-hdhoRdF_N4kNvc6Z-tdKahbbmsXc/s320/IMG_0446.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5630075452911944834" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Mac and Cheese Add Ins</span><br /><br />1 large onion, diced<br />one zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced crosswise<br />1 bunch beet greens and stems, stems chopped finely, greens chopped coarsely<br />1 bunch carrot greens, chopped<br />cheese: 8 oz grated sharp cheddar, a few oz grated smoked cheddar, 4 oz shredded oaxaca<br />generous dash of cayenne<br /><br />1. Preheat oven to 350 F.<br /><br />2. Saute onion in olive oil. When onion is translucent, add zucchini. When zucchini is soft, add beet greens. Season to taste with salt and pepper. When beet greens have wilted, shut off heat and stir in carrot greens.<br /><br />3. Boil 1 box pasta until it's as soft as you like it. Drain and set aside.<br /><br />4. When you're making the cheese sauce according to Erin's instructions, add a good shake or two of cayenne after adding the milk to the golden roux.<br /><br />5. Mix the pasta and the cooked greens in a 9 x 13" or other appropriately sized baking dish. Pour the cheesy milk sauce over this and give it another good stir. Sprinkle the top with whatever cheese you have left.<br /><br />6. Bake for about 30 minutes until the top gets crusty and the juice gets bubbly.-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-44216002296593328882011-06-30T16:09:00.001-04:002012-02-26T14:14:10.530-05:00Sourdough Wheat Bread<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI9wjLh7AUDB1ZIPIdKgRCmUQkd6h1hyy3s-sMV-zoEYdr668nGXgXQ5dZj624hvWLyxMEs42dz_aQ9uOKnEO8t8a9Ixt4B06_HnjWmeCEKRmr0qScETEdagDaJ3DOFmajv66yf577Tow/s1600/IMG_0300.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI9wjLh7AUDB1ZIPIdKgRCmUQkd6h1hyy3s-sMV-zoEYdr668nGXgXQ5dZj624hvWLyxMEs42dz_aQ9uOKnEO8t8a9Ixt4B06_HnjWmeCEKRmr0qScETEdagDaJ3DOFmajv66yf577Tow/s320/IMG_0300.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5624112136190080226" /></a><br /><br />This is a recipe I adapted from the "Seriously Wheaty Sandwich Bread" in Cooks' Illustrated a few months back. My favorite part of the recipe was where the author referred to most home made wheat loaves as "white bread in drag." It's TOTALLY TRUE! In my college days of bread experimentation, it was hard for me to make a loaf that was more than 50% whole wheat flour. However, this recipe works! I couldn't get my dough to rise appropriately in a loaf pan, so I stuck with free form loaves. Maybe some day I'll figure out sourdough and loaf pans, but that day has not yet arrived. I never measure salt, but I believe the original recipe calls for something like 1/4 teaspoon. While this version has steps, I've also dumped everything together, kneaded it into a dough, shaped my loaves, and allowed those to rise for several hours before baking. Sourdough is very forgiving in terms of only doing one rise. Another nice thing about sourdough is that the bread keeps longer. I usually keep my loaves uncovered in the oven for several days. The oven protects it from buggies and doggies.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sourdough Wheat Bread</span><br /><br />2 cups milk<br />3 cups whole wheat flour<br />~1 cup sourdough starter, fed at a ratio of 1 cup flour to 1 cup water (this is about half of my starter)<br />1 cup white flour<br />6 Tbs butter, melted<br />2 Tbs olive oil<br />salt<br />milk and sugar for glaze<br /><br />1. Knead wheat flour and milk together to form a dough ball. Cover and refrigerate overnight.<br /><br />2. Knead the white flour into the sourdough starter to create a yeasty dough ball. Cover and allow the yeast to be fruitful and multiply, also overnight.<br /><br />3. Mix the two dough balls together. Add butter, olive oil, and salt. Knead to your heart's content. Shape into loaves. Once mixed, this is a very loose dough and can be a little tough to shape until you get used to it. I pat the dough into a large rectangle, and roll the edge nearest me towards the opposite edge. While rolling, I try to pull the dough back a little bit to stretch and tighten it. I then pinch the seams together, pinch each end, and roll the ends over the lengthwise seam. Place the loaves on the baking sheet seam side down. Allow to rise for several hours.<br /><br />4. Place a baking tin full of water in the bottom of the oven, and preheat to 400 F. I tried pouring boiling water into my pyrex baking dish once the oven was preheated, and my pyrex shattered like a movie prop. While 212 F and 400 F both feel hot to me, it IS a substantial temperature difference for pyrex. It was quite entertaining, but not something I would like to repeat. I feel safest placing a tin of water in the oven while the oven is still cool.<br /><br />5. While the oven is preheating, slash the loaves, and then glaze them with the mixture of sugar and honey. I use a pastry brush, but in my college days, I would sprinkle some on the loaves and rub it all over with my hands. Once the oven has reached 400 F, pop in the loaves, sprinkle some water in the bottom of the oven to create more steam, and shut the door. Immediately lower the temperature to 350 F.<br /><br />6. Bake for about 50 minutes. The loaves are done when they make a hollow sound when tapped. Remove from the oven and allow to rest and cool down.<br /><br />When I'm not being lazy and take the full time to make this bread, I make the dough balls in the evening, shape the loaves the next morning, and bake after I come home from school. This sequence works pretty well, and only requires minimal planning. Then I get freshly baked bread with my dinner, and on a school night no less.-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-15787901503439924202011-06-27T21:09:00.001-04:002012-02-26T14:14:42.691-05:00Green and White Lasagna<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3EpcFjI70f3ao2SO8ESbvwLWF_dqGFL8l8mNsOqhyKprpkr5HhZz353QULdv4HpYhoa0xUAIyVsezk5ZvA_gnmaX73QR9SfX1PbBH2_D-OKCitn81XfMLV19o99TUVjFilvgNCH9Y_QU/s1600/IMG_0418.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3EpcFjI70f3ao2SO8ESbvwLWF_dqGFL8l8mNsOqhyKprpkr5HhZz353QULdv4HpYhoa0xUAIyVsezk5ZvA_gnmaX73QR9SfX1PbBH2_D-OKCitn81XfMLV19o99TUVjFilvgNCH9Y_QU/s320/IMG_0418.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5623075548505841410" /></a><br /><br />I will not lie, I thought this effort was going to crash and burn. Basically, the CSA has put me in clean out the fridge mode in terms of cooking. I not only try to cook with what I have, but I also avoid buying things that I don't. The inspiration for this endeavor came from a beet green and white bean ravioli that I used to make in college. Our CSA then was beet and kale central, even in the peak of summer. It was not a very satisfying CSA to be a part of. Anyways, I had a bunch of beet greens and wanted to make a similar recipe with less work. My parsley pasta attempt was sub par, so for a more structured lasagna, I would stick with straight pasta. I also made my own ricotta for this "lasagna," which turned out more like a casserole. Anyways, the smells coming out of my oven were superb, and the taste definitely matched. None of these measurements are exact, since I was cooking this for myself and experimenting. I'm sharing this anyways because it used up a lot of my veggies and turned out to be quite delicious despite my initial fears.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Green and White Lasagna</span><br /><br />butter/olive oil<br />about 1/3 cup flour<br />about 3 cups milk<br />parmesan (I used the cheap stuff)<br />salt and pepper<br />1 cup whole wheat flour<br />1 egg<br />2 Tb olive oil<br />olive oil<br />1 onion, chopped<br />1 bunch beet greens/swiss chard/kale<br />salt and pepper<br />about 2 cups ricotta cheese<br />2 zucchini, sliced<br />1 head cauliflower, chopped into small bits<br /><br />1. Melt butter or heat olive oil in pan. Add flour and stir to make a golden roux. When you are sick of stirring your roux, add milk and stir until thickened. Once thickened, add parmesan, salt, and pepper to taste. Shut off the heat. This is the white sauce that you will use instead of a traditional tomato based sauce.<br /><br />2. This step is only necessary if you are making your own pasta. Otherwise, cook your lasagna noodles and skip this. First, mix whole wheat flour, egg, and 2 Tbs olive oil. This should make a firm dough. Knead until it forms a ball. If you need to, you can add a little water. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Roll into sheets on pasta machine. Rolling pasta by hand sucks. I suggest you don't do it.<br /><br />3. Heat olive oil in a pan. Saute chopped onion until translucent. Add stems of greens and saute until they start to soften a little. Add the greens themselves and saute until wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste. Take your sauteed greens and run them through a food processor. Mix this with the ricotta. You could also add garlic and leftover pesto or herbs.<br /><br />4. Spread some sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Put down a layer of noodles. Cover with a layer of zucchini slices. Cover with ricotta/greens mixture. Repeat.<br /><br />5. When you've used all of your noodles and ricotta/greens mixture, you should have some white sauce and zucchini left. Chop the zucchini into small cubes and mix with the cauliflower and remaining sauce. I added more salt and pepper to this mixture. Use this to cover the lasagna. Bake at 375 degrees for about an hour.-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-2144884046347192352011-05-21T08:45:00.000-04:002011-05-21T09:51:03.485-04:00Oatmeal experimentsSo, my last yogurt failed. I used a different (cheaper and thinner bottomed) pot than I usually use, and I overheated the milk. Since I'm waiting for my farm milk that I ordered with my CSA, I've been using this failed yogurt to make oatmeal. I usually reserve oatmeal for winter breakfasts because that's when I want to fill my tummy with warm mushy things. I had also already purchased a bunch of fruits for putting into my yogurt. This has led me to discover two new oatmeal combinations that I would like to share.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Bethany's Go-To Oatmeal</span><br /><br />frozen blueberries<br />almond butter (or any other nut butter)<br />maple syrup<br /><br />1. Add about 1/3 cup frozen blueberries to oatmeal and milk/water before heating it. If you're using the microwave, heat for a full three minutes.<br /><br />2. Stir in about 2 tsp almond butter to the warm oatmeal. I use the spoon I plan on eating with.<br /><br />3. Add maple syrup to taste.<br /><br />I use frozen blueberries here because they are much cheaper in the winter than regular blueberries. Frozen fruits and vegetables also can be more nutritious than their fresh counterparts because they are frozen soon after they are picked. This prevents their vitamins and other good stuff from degrading during transportation.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Cherry Orange Oatmeal</span><br /><br />pitted fresh cherries<br />cup/can mandarin oranges with juice<br />almond butter<br /><br />1. Cook oatmeal with milk/water.<br /><br />2. Stir in about 2 tsp almond butter.<br /><br />3. Stir in cherries and about 1 cup of mandarin oranges with their juice. I used a single serving Dole fruit cup left over from an event.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Blueberry Lemon Oatmeal</span><br /><br />blueberries<br /><a href="http://transportedtastes.blogspot.com/2011/02/lemon-party-blueberry-lemon-marmalade.html">lemon curd or lemon blueberry marmalade</a><br />almond butter<br /><br />1. Cook oatmeal with milk/water.<br /><br />2. Stir in about 2 tsp almond butter.<br /><br />3. Add blueberries. Add lemon curd or other lemony sweetener to taste.<br /><br />I really like this oatmeal. I like the combination of blueberries and lemon. It would probably work with cherries too. I also like being able to use lemon curd or marmalade on something other than toast. If you have the option, use lemon curd. You can taste the richness of the custard in the oatmeal. You'll also notice that I pretty much always put nut butter in my oatmeal. It adds protein and keeps me full longer. Plus, it adds variety to what I'm eating. I feel that eating a variety of foods is healthier, so this is one way I incorporate that philosophy into my diet.-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-49017616306132524572011-05-19T17:57:00.000-04:002011-05-19T18:10:21.859-04:00Southeast Asian Cluster Love Bok SlawYou can hate the name, but you can't hate the dish. Best thing I made with last week's CSA. No pictures because I was too hungry, and it was too delicious. Why Southeast Asian Cluster Love? Because I included Thai, Vietnamese, and Lao influences. Napa cabbage would work instead of bok choy. It would probably keep better too. In my everyday cooking, I don't use measurements. I cook by smell, taste, sound, and texture. Salads don't make important sounds.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">SE Asian Cluster Love Salad</span><br /><br />2 chicken quarter legs/4 chicken thighs<br />fish sauce<br />lemon grass<br />garlic<br />sugar<br />lime juice<br />nut butter<br />sesame oil<br />1 bunch bok choy or half a Napa cabbage (those things are huge!)<br />1 bunch mint<br />carrots, cucumber, radishes, green onions, other salad veggies<br /><br />1. Mix fish sauce, lemon grass, chopped garlic, and sugar. Marinate the chicken in this at least overnight.<br /><br />2. Bake chicken at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. You can leave the skin on or off. I took the skin off and fried it separately in a pan to make some Vietnamese style chicken rinds. They were delicious.<br /><br />3. Cut chicken into bite size pieces. I cut using my bare hands. Bones go to soup stock or the trash. Cooked chicken bones do NOT go to the dog.<br /><br />4. Chiffonade bok choy and mint. Slice the other veggies. Crunchy salad vegetables work best. I wouldn't use tomato in this. The mint works REALLY well with this Thai/Lao fusion dressing because it counteracts the heaviness of the nut butter and umami of the fish sauce. Do NOT skimp on the mint.<br /><br />5. Combine nut butter, fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, and sesame oil in a food processor. Taste and adjust as necessary. You won't need too much sesame oil because the nut butter is fatty. The fish sauce flavor is best balanced with lime juice or sugar. Sriracha would be good if you want something spicy.<br /><br />6. Combine veggies, chicken, and nut butter dressing. Best eaten the day it's made. If you want to make it ahead of time, wait until a few hours before serving to dress the salad.<br /><br />On another note, it's my second CSA pick up, and I already have kale. I've been bracing myself for kale since I was considering getting a CSA. I also have some excellent salad greens.-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-59566802462019622302011-05-14T05:08:00.000-04:002011-05-14T05:20:26.456-04:00CSA!This week was the first pick up for my CSA (Lancaster Fresh Farms, Prospect Heights pick up at Ortine Cafe). I've had a not-so-great CSA experience in the past. While living in Boston, my CSA made me feel like I was getting farmers' market rejects. Rarely did we get tomatoes. We were blasted with beets and kale during summer's peak (too soon). I spent just as much money at the grocery store as I did previously. However, I decided to give it another go. One of the things that attracted me to buy into this farm was that I couldn't find any evidence of them selling to farmers' markets. In my superficial research, it seems that this farm ONLY does wholesale and CSA. I'm hoping I've found my local and seasonal veggie match. It's a little soon to tell, but in this first week, I am pretty satisfied with my options.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN6gL1m9c5DKxctoIIKljFjmO2cFgqfQNU150A4xO605H0tTFALnraTRR4JjvFVUH09qXoKyvNnhAwAzFtNsOt3RTpMvqbSp7tPic4QJML579prSNovdgmtPns3ASIOh82lhx91ypqIbQ/s1600/IMG_0312.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN6gL1m9c5DKxctoIIKljFjmO2cFgqfQNU150A4xO605H0tTFALnraTRR4JjvFVUH09qXoKyvNnhAwAzFtNsOt3RTpMvqbSp7tPic4QJML579prSNovdgmtPns3ASIOh82lhx91ypqIbQ/s320/IMG_0312.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606497376989208850" /></a><br /><br />The players are mint, green leaf lettuce, scallions, baby bella mushrooms, radishes, asparagus, baby bok choy, and grown up bok choy. I actually traded rhubarb for the asparagus. I'm allergic to rhubarb, but I hope those red stalks make someone very happy. CSA is a very different cooking beast than most of us are used to. It's cooking based on restriction, or cooking based on what you have. We're not used to cooking what we have instead of cooking what we want. Instead of planning my meals and then getting groceries, I now have to get my groceries and then plan my meals. I find this to be an exciting game. It's almost a puzzle. How can I cook and eat all these wonderful things while minimizing what I buy at the grocery store? Asparagus and lettuce are easy, since they pretty much stand alone with the right meal. Baby bok choy I stir fried with shrimp, scallions, oyster sauce, and sugar. I got a little more creative with the other stuff.-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-29801158112974975722011-05-11T20:36:00.000-04:002011-05-19T18:15:00.005-04:00Hazelnut Milk JamI am surprised that I have no pictures of the hazelnut milk jam making process. I am not surprised that I have no hazelnut milk jam pictures. I adapted this recipe from Christine Ferber's in her book <span style="font-style:italic;">Mes Confitures</span>. In English, we usually use the term sweetened condensed milk. In French, the term is confiture du lait, which literally translates into milk jam. Since hazelnut sweetened condensed milk was too much of a mouthful, I stuck with the literal translation. While Ms. Ferber's recipe was quite tasty, the product wasn't very versatile. She leaves the nut pieces in the final jam. I will say, it is a decadent jam. However, I like this version because I can also put it into coffee or tea. It's also great over cakes or baked into apples. I basically adjusted the recipe using a gelato making technique to infuse the hazelnut flavor into the milk before sweetening it and condensing it. This is one of my favorite (and signature) recipes in my jam making arsenal.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Hazelnut Milk Jam</span><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">adapted from Mes Confiture</span><br /><br />1 cup hazelnuts, toasted if you like<br />6 cups whole milk<br />4 cups sugar<br /><br />1. Place hazelnut in a saucepan. Add enough of the milk to cover. Heat milk until it is steamy and really foamy. Cover, shut off heat, and let sit for at least one hour.<br /><br />2. Strain milk into a measuring cup. Add enough whole milk to bring volume up to six cups. Pour milk into double boiler. (My double boiler is a big metal mixing bowl on top of a pot of simmering water.)<br /><br />3. Add 4 cups of sugar to the milk. Stir to dissolve. Allow mixture to sit on top of simmering water, stirring occasionally, for about 4 hours. The milk will turn a lovely tan color. The jam won't be terribly thick while it's heating. Once it has cooled, it will thicken some, but still be pourable.<br /><br />4. When the jam is finished cooking (turned lovely tan but not yet cooled), you can can it. I usually just put it into clean jars and put them in the refrigerator. However, it does can and keep just like any fruit based jam would.<br /><br />What to do with your leftover milky nuts? I put them into cinnamon raisin bread. The most recent batch turned into pesto with parsley, radish greens, olive oil, and some really cheap parmesan.-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-74486889289731997732011-05-04T10:15:00.001-04:002011-05-04T10:20:13.921-04:00Freezer Croissant VerdictSo, I toasted and thawed all of the croissants in my freezer. I rebake them in the toaster oven at around 250 degrees. It isn't an exact science. The results are in:<br /><br />Regular croissants: I was surprised, but the baked ones reheat better than the raw ones! The raw ones were perfectly toasted on the outside, but then steamy and slightly gooey on the inside. They take longer to bake than the already baked frozen croissants. Duh. They were still delicious. The moral of the story is bake all of your croissants.<br /><br />Almond croissants: Pre-baked all of the way. I actually like the frozen pre-baked almond croissants slightly more than the freshly baked almond croissants. Because the filling is frozen when you pop it into the toaster oven, more of it stays inside of the croissant. Yes! The post-baked almond croissants were fine, but I found that they were dryer and got a little burnt on the outside.<br /><br />The FINAL final verdict: croissants are delicious. I may keep a constant supply of almond croissants, since they make a quick breakfast when I'm out of yogurt.-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-30465482138750776052011-04-28T14:51:00.000-04:002011-04-28T15:14:18.303-04:00Making Yogurt Without a Special Machine<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGKP0zEz48gFdG_chr0ukJ5ugR6yqXtyW8nF5-1ITyGbKwpCIVA_FEBuyvk0f9xF60fwjy9B1eczO1N8MImF23l6z1617y-OftsTcfEsIw2yA0F6bU3E5D4k_fU9c3ET4Xzk0lDvDfGao/s1600/IMG_0191.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGKP0zEz48gFdG_chr0ukJ5ugR6yqXtyW8nF5-1ITyGbKwpCIVA_FEBuyvk0f9xF60fwjy9B1eczO1N8MImF23l6z1617y-OftsTcfEsIw2yA0F6bU3E5D4k_fU9c3ET4Xzk0lDvDfGao/s320/IMG_0191.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600709568340219410" />My yogurt making set up</a><br /><br />I really love yogurt. My usual breakfasts are plain yogurt and fresh fruit in the spring, summer, and fall, and oatmeal with almond butter, frozen blueberries, and maple syrup in the winter. Even though I live on a student budget, I like to buy organic animal products as often as possible. Except meat. I really can't afford organic meat. Organic yogurt is not cheap. Milk isn't that cheap either, but it's cheaper than yogurt. I decided to try making my own yogurt because (a) I love cooking, and (b) I would save some money. After reading through a ton of recipes, I thought about getting a yogurt maker. Then I decided to give it a go with my toaster oven. I use Ikea mason jars that happen to fit perfectly inside when I move the toaster oven rack below the little metal thingies that hold it. I also put my toaster oven temperature to the mark below the 150 degree mark. So far, all of my yogurt has turned out nicely. At first, I just heated the milk and mixed it with a starter culture i.e. store bought plain yogurt (Brown Cow full fat, in case you were wondering). I thought this was a little too runny. I didn't want to buy any specialty ingredients like powdered milk, which is an option for yogurt thickening. The yogurt does thicken while it's sitting in the fridge, but this wasn't good enough for me. While I was flipping through <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Know-How-Cook-Ginette-Mathiot/dp/071485736X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304017122&sr=8-1">I Know How to Cook</a> (or <span style="font-style:italic;">Je Sais Cuisinier</span>, which has a more clever rhyme and rhythm), I found a French housewife recipe for yogurt. In this version, you start with 6 cups of milk and heat it down to 4 cups of milk. This has worked great for me. I also don't really drink milk, so this keeps that extra milk from hanging out in the refrigerator for too long. While I find the yogurt turns out a little thicker and smoother if you stir it while it is reducing, it also turns out fine if left alone to reduce. You'll just have to take off the milk skin that forms. When I choose to hang out with it and stir, I bring a chair and some study materials into the kitchen so I can read and mark texts with one hand and stir with the other. I have tried this with whole, 2%, and 1%, all with fantastic results.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Homemade Yogurt</span><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Adapted from I Know How to Cook</span><br /><br />6 cups milk (any fat content is fine)<br />about 2 Tbs plain yogurt<br /><br />1. Heat milk on the stove top to the point where it is foamy, slightly steamy, and not boiling. Allow the milk to reduce to about 4 cups. This will take about an hour. (I pour in 4 cups of milk first to see about where on my pot it is and then eye ball it to see when it's finished. It's not a finicky or especially important process.)<br /><br />2. Allow milk to cool to slightly above body temperature. You should be able to stick your finger in it without discomfort. Pour about 1 cup (or less) of the milk into a cup and stir in the yogurt until smooth.<br /><br />3. Pour the milk-yogurt mixture back into the pot of milk and give it a good stir. Pour this milk into glass containers that fit into your toaster oven.<br /><br />4. Place glass containers into toaster oven. Set temperature to 100-110 degrees F. I use the mark that is below the 150 degree mark. Allow to culture for about 4 hours. The longer you culture, the thicker and more tart your yogurt will be.<br /><br />5. Cover and refrigerate until use.<br /><br />I like my homemade yogurt because it has a slightly rich and buttery flavor. It takes sweeteners like maple syrup or honey well, which don't mix that great with store bought yogurt. It is also something that does not require that much attention. I've started using it instead of sour cream, which allows me to reduce the amount of stuff I keep in my refrigerator and cut down on packaging that I have to throw out. The mason jars are great too because I just close them and put them away. Once I tried it, I found yogurt making to be much less daunting than it appeared.-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-88492892007747516052011-04-22T16:57:00.000-04:002011-05-04T10:22:31.446-04:00Sourdough Croissant AdventureLast year, I lived in a basement in the Bronx. I tried to catch a good sourdough starter. All of my bread tasted like feet. In February, I caught a new beasty yeasty in my current Brooklyn apartment. Ground level. This starter is great. The sour flavor is mild, which is good for me because I don't actually like sourness. I do like the idea of never having to purchase yeast again though. So for the past month, I've been experimenting with the totally wheaty sandwich bread in last month's <span style="font-style:italic;">Cook's Illustrated</span>. I don't know if my starter has enough rising power for a good sandwich loaf, but I do make a mean honey wheat loaf now. I'll post that recipe once I feel that I have it down 100%. Then over Spring Break, I decided to try adapting a regular cinnamon roll recipe to fit my sourdough starter. That was a success. Even more recently, I was in Williamsburg and given an almond croissant. Every now and then, I eat a pastry that opens a door. A door to indulgence (and non-stop fatness) and kitchen experimentation. This almond croissant opened that door. <br /><br />In college, I had tried making croissants with traditional yeast. I just remember it being tough work with satisfying results. Now, forty croissants into my baking rampage, I realized I had made several mistakes. I didn't roll the butter out separately before adding it to the dough. This really helps achieve proper lamination. I also chilled my dough too cold. It really only needs to be in the refrigerator, not the freezer. Anyways, before running blindly into my sourdough croissant creating adventure, I decided to do a quick google search.<a href="http://sourdough.com/recipes/sourdough-croissant">This is the recipe</a> I settled on. However, I do science and precise measurements all day at school. I don't like to do them in my kitchen. I don't weigh my baking ingredients. I have no idea what hydration level my dough is at. And I don't think I want to. I like the idea of leaving the science at work. Well, not completely. I am still pretty much a nerd. But I do draw some lines. Like weighing flour. Or buying special bread flour.<br /><br />Anyways, first I will walk you through the process. Then I will list a shortened version of the recipe that minimizes my witty commentary. So, I made my starter with 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of water. When I bake with my starter, I pour off the hooch and then use half of whatever is leftover. I feed my yeast baby one cup of flour and one cup of water, give her a good stir, and put her back in the fridge. To start the croissant dough, I took half of my yeast baby and kneaded in 1 cup of all purpose flour. This makes a firm dough ball, and it takes a little bit of work to work all of the flour in. My idea here was that I wanted my yeasts to "be fruitful and multiply," in the Biblical sense. They've been sitting in the fridge. Why not give them a whole bunch of food and some warm time to themselves? So I leave the yeasty dough ball, covered in plastic wrap, at room temperature overnight.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8qTSMAieczPwyP3Nwa_9GeZ3BNELfFwMXWt9DNt8zCBqdghSQEsplpaYrPLrFxVoxnRs4mgTu57_ipnHuCqBuAI6mvimlGrAY5dkgE3_P0Rpb-4DDyfneSOwdK_rUFJRN05QYVcuwcoc/s1600/IMG_0242.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8qTSMAieczPwyP3Nwa_9GeZ3BNELfFwMXWt9DNt8zCBqdghSQEsplpaYrPLrFxVoxnRs4mgTu57_ipnHuCqBuAI6mvimlGrAY5dkgE3_P0Rpb-4DDyfneSOwdK_rUFJRN05QYVcuwcoc/s320/IMG_0242.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598518975739705794" />Yeasty Dough Ball</a><br /><br />When I wake up, I remove the plastic wrap from the yeasty dough ball. It's slightly warm, and there are some bubbles in it. These are good signs. This means the yeasties have been getting busy while I was sleeping. Again, be fruitful and multiply. That was my plan the WHOLE TIME! Then I add the rest of the flour, some sugar, salt, milk, and half of a stick of butter to the ball and work it into a dough with my hands. This dough will be softer and stickier than the yeast ball was. I actually used 3/4 cups of whole wheat flour because I ran out of all purpose flour. These were my "healthy" croissants. This dough then gets covered in plastic wrap and stuck into the fridge. For at least an hour. Maybe a few hours, or overnight, depending on your schedule.<br /><br />While the dough is chilling, take out two and a half sticks of butter. Take out a lot of plastic wrap, and lay a big sheet of it down on your counter. Arrange the butter on the plastic wrap, and fold the plastic wrap over it. Take your rolling pin (my rolling pin is an empty wine bottle) and start pounding that butter. The idea is to create a butter slab, so pound and roll. When you've created a beautiful sheet of cold butter, put the sheet in the refrigerator and pull out your dough. Now flour your surface and roll your dough out. You want to create a sheet about twice as large as your butter sheet. My dough sheet fell a bit short. Then remove your butter from the fridge and place it on your rolled dough.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLS9mUzL-0bIGqfRKsOoXOnlDIuYbwtqDpxwTLqg804T19wplw0oOKsB52sn9BXpa2kzY928zIEBdHr6zcU3kVeJPcbDboqSTvkdRHDlRyQk7p-M3YOEtS1GQazpZ_Y5t86rWWi4M7brA/s1600/IMG_0243.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLS9mUzL-0bIGqfRKsOoXOnlDIuYbwtqDpxwTLqg804T19wplw0oOKsB52sn9BXpa2kzY928zIEBdHr6zcU3kVeJPcbDboqSTvkdRHDlRyQk7p-M3YOEtS1GQazpZ_Y5t86rWWi4M7brA/s320/IMG_0243.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598522425662937490" />The beginning of something beautiful</a><br /><br />Next, you want to fold your dough over your butter. I fell short on this, but it's okay.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiejPOP8wTWM7DsNd22HqmrkwkeX2Cz0OS2z1t2C8zB18t5Xk3MvijIRz5R3ysNpwzXvotScRVytHDUqpTP7kZdp8LXWtZmH4jG9aVGmUz_uJyFkXnPpbru49BFlPS1AiC7tXdvu4eiieA/s1600/IMG_0246.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiejPOP8wTWM7DsNd22HqmrkwkeX2Cz0OS2z1t2C8zB18t5Xk3MvijIRz5R3ysNpwzXvotScRVytHDUqpTP7kZdp8LXWtZmH4jG9aVGmUz_uJyFkXnPpbru49BFlPS1AiC7tXdvu4eiieA/s320/IMG_0246.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598522742699888818" />I convinced my dough that size doesn't matter</a><br /><br />You may have noticed that my dough is still sitting on top of plastic wrap. I cheated and rolled it out on plastic wrap the entire time. It helps with folding the dough. Folding the dough? So, croissants are nice and flaky because of lamination. Lamination is basically thin layering of dough and butter. Butter really does make everything better. Except maybe bacon. Anyways, fold one third of the dough in, and then repeat on the other side. It's like folding an envelope.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCFxg6UGBSmV6FjXGDNe9pQXgCk_jf0Z0hGGIv-sOIyWkupZP1oorIv2BRHGn2M1CrIR7Q9xuaNcp-eVxPsHg6l7ttWUE4I1TnWyrqNnNMdwDvUdjybr5ZTp99UIgF3VapvD24ukwkdLQ/s1600/IMG_0247.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCFxg6UGBSmV6FjXGDNe9pQXgCk_jf0Z0hGGIv-sOIyWkupZP1oorIv2BRHGn2M1CrIR7Q9xuaNcp-eVxPsHg6l7ttWUE4I1TnWyrqNnNMdwDvUdjybr5ZTp99UIgF3VapvD24ukwkdLQ/s320/IMG_0247.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598523819881736018" />imperfect envelope</a><br /><br />If your dough is still cold enough, you can roll it flat again and then fold it into an envelope again. If your dough isn't cold enough, it will get sticky and difficult to work with. At this point, cover it in plastic wrap and stick it back into the fridge for at least an hour. Repeat this 4-5 times. After the final hour+ chill, you are ready for the final roll and shaping. I cut my dough in half and work with it one piece at a time while the other piece stays chilled in the fridge. Cutting the dough in half also allows you to see the results of all of your folding and rolling.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVYAIg4tgP4ekZVio60ZY0-Kv8b9SiwSL445SEl0wSs9cFtXRMRwuNGG7O-1w3ra-Eq-uIsca44tuffDYlKYO0JbqpU4lrWiMHbL44aasElnkxPH9vc7P82jYwYPiBA_5c5VLrksAhePI/s1600/IMG_0258.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVYAIg4tgP4ekZVio60ZY0-Kv8b9SiwSL445SEl0wSs9cFtXRMRwuNGG7O-1w3ra-Eq-uIsca44tuffDYlKYO0JbqpU4lrWiMHbL44aasElnkxPH9vc7P82jYwYPiBA_5c5VLrksAhePI/s320/IMG_0258.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598524818457655746" />Hot lamination</a><br /><br />Here is where you need to be on your rolling game. This is not the time to be nice. Look at the dough. Now think about that douche bag. The one who gets the girl. And then breaks her heart. By cheating on her...with her mother. Then breaks her mother's heart. By cheating on her...with YOUR mother. After running this or another equally infuriating scenario through your head, you are ready to roll the dough. You want to roll this thin, like half a centimeter thin. You can do it. I did it with a wine bottle. After your dough has been rolled and you've relieved yourself of some pent up rage, cut the dough into squares. Then diagonally cut those squares into triangles. I should have taken pictures of this part, but I didn't. I guess I was still a little pissed off. Take each triangle and roll up, from base to tip. It's like putting on an anti-condom. You can curl them into crescent shapes if you'd like. I don't because I'm lazy and find it offensive towards Muslims (this is a true, fun history fact). Lay your shaped croissants on your prepared cookie sheet. You can use parchment paper. I use foil because it's recyclable, and I'm a hippy like that. Let the shaped croissants rise for a few hours. I let mine rise overnight, and I had freshly baked croissants for breakfast.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTzldjYlBiMKsvd3euiuiZ3Y9ArqLJCznlo1j9p9iWehxscYtRVNQd76Flg9LxEe1qdtFtmmW3pMDKjwpQKe9pDu07LK30i7tMPLGK5zml0N-jerxh8pdeddJsdLfL6Zhik4_stiduw3U/s1600/IMG_0264.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTzldjYlBiMKsvd3euiuiZ3Y9ArqLJCznlo1j9p9iWehxscYtRVNQd76Flg9LxEe1qdtFtmmW3pMDKjwpQKe9pDu07LK30i7tMPLGK5zml0N-jerxh8pdeddJsdLfL6Zhik4_stiduw3U/s320/IMG_0264.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598526524157320834" />raw, shaped croissants</a><br /><br />The croissants didn't look like they had risen much overnight, but when I poked them, they were squishy, which indicates air bubbles. They do rise more when being baked. Right before baking, I brushed them all with an egg/milk wash while the oven pre-heated. I got a good crumb and some layery flakiness. I did a second batch using all all-purpose flour, and the flaky layers were much more noticeable. I do not have pictures, as I used all of those to make <a href="http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2006/03/almond_croissants.php">almond croissants</a> using one cup of almond meal from Trader Joe's in the filling. I like the Chocolate and Zucchini version because it does not require any specialty ingredients like almond paste. I do not have pictures of those because I ate them all. I suggest using all all-purpose flour. Croissants are not health food.<br /><br /><a href="http://transportedtastes.blogspot.com/2011/05/freezer-croissant-verdict.html">Frozen Croissant Results!</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQruVIiTT9pHwwdZpKtwvct8xxE86Oqr7WlIoJ1F_ekhTom93zK9SjsiHnwin_FAIEiCq8lsetkTS_WOVr8DQ-0MNahfEaS8qLBYqKr22ojXR7IOwaD4o64PPuMYFf2a5LaNxd6SRqKOY/s1600/IMG_0269.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQruVIiTT9pHwwdZpKtwvct8xxE86Oqr7WlIoJ1F_ekhTom93zK9SjsiHnwin_FAIEiCq8lsetkTS_WOVr8DQ-0MNahfEaS8qLBYqKr22ojXR7IOwaD4o64PPuMYFf2a5LaNxd6SRqKOY/s320/IMG_0269.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598874285356408434" />A peek through my oven door</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD6Uww1m9GG07oJpwGpz9xOKQqQe6keBxirRVZlKtorc0bEqtq8OFeDJSRDraA5mEKz3sYiV8MGhD4EcofWJSlOfUWJxWYyzOvAHFcXa2vL7FEzmn-E1xmal-ea4KOnTxzN-GbxYyCFL8/s1600/IMG_0286.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD6Uww1m9GG07oJpwGpz9xOKQqQe6keBxirRVZlKtorc0bEqtq8OFeDJSRDraA5mEKz3sYiV8MGhD4EcofWJSlOfUWJxWYyzOvAHFcXa2vL7FEzmn-E1xmal-ea4KOnTxzN-GbxYyCFL8/s320/IMG_0286.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598874493019719090" />Crumb and finished croissants</a><br /><br />Now for the recipe<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sourdough Croissants</span><br />Makes 16-24 croissants, depending on size<br /><br />Dough:<br />half of sourdough starter, hooch poured off, fed at a ratio of 1 cup flour and 1 cup water<br />3 3/4 cups all purpose flour, separated<br />2 tsp salt<br />1 1/4 cups whole milk<br />3 sticks unsalted butter, separated<br />1 Tbs sugar<br /><br />Egg wash:<br />1 egg<br />1 Tbs whole milk<br />1 tsp sugar<br /><br />1. Knead 1 cup flour into the sourdough starter. This will make a firm dough ball. Cover in plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature for several hours to overnight.<br /><br />2. Add salt, milk, 1/2 stick of softened butter, and sugar to the starter ball. Mix this until smooth and gloopy. Add and knead in the remaining 2 3/4 cups flour. This dough will be quite wet and sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Can chill overnight if necessary.<br /><br />3. Arrange the remaining 2 1/2 sticks of cold butter onto plastic wrap and cover in plastic wrap. Beat then roll with a rolling pin to make a sheet of cold butter. Chill in the refrigerator.<br /><br />4. Roll chilled dough to a 1 cm thickness. If you can't roll it that thinly, it's not too important at this point. Place the chilled butter sheet on the chilled dough sheet. Fold the dough over the butter and pinch to seal if possible. Fold one third of the dough butter sheet in, then fold the opposite third over the part you just folded in. You now have a dough butter sheet envelope. Roll this sheet flat. Try to get to a 1 cm thickness. Fold into thirds again. Chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour.<br /><br />5. Remove dough butter envelope from the refrigerator and roll out to 1 cm thickness. Fold into thirds and chill for at least one hour. Repeat this step 4-5 times.<br /><br />6. Roll dough butter envelope to 1 cm thickness. This time, it's important to roll the dough as thinly as possible. If you can get it to half a centimeter, you're a rock star. Cut the dough into rectangles, and cut these rectangles in half to form triangles. Roll the triangles from base to tip to form croissants.<br /><br />7. Arrange formed croissants on a baking sheet and allow to rise at room temperature for several hours to overnight.<br /><br />8. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Make the egg wash by beating together egg, milk, and sugar. Brush egg wash over each croissant before baking. Bake for approximately 30 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool. Eat, but don't eat them all!<br /><br />There you have it. My non-hardcore-sourdough-baker's version of sourdough croissants. I am also experimenting on freezing pre-baked and post-baked croissants and almond croissants. I will let you know the verdict once I have recovered enough to eat more croissants. Also, if you are in the Brooklyn area, I would be willing to share my sourdough starter. I really enjoy its mild flavor, and I've had pretty good luck with it. I've also heard you can dry starter and then rehydrate it later. I would be willing to try this if someone would like to trade starters by mail.-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-46232162308109401422011-04-19T18:42:00.000-04:002011-04-19T18:48:10.372-04:00Taking a Different Way HomeLast night, Maxx and I decided to walk a friend to the train station as part of our evening walk. In New York City, sometimes it's worth it to walk a mile to the desired subway line instead of taking one train (sometimes into Manhattan) just to switch to another train going back into Brooklyn. Especially at night when the trains aren't running as often. As we walked home, we took Underhill south from Atlantic. We usually don't walk this far up Underhill, as our usual 1.5 mile route includes Vanderbilt and Washington. On our way back, we passed by a dumpster full of goodies. It must be behind a uniform making store or something, because we found tons of different patches and bolts of unused fabric. It titillated my former costumer. If I wasn't so busy with medical school or hadn't been using one of my hands to walk the dog, I may have brought home some fabric for crafting purposes. If it hadn't been raining today, I might have made a second trip back to said dumpster to re-peruse some of its treasures. This is the humble bounty I brought back with me.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu831yoQ1uXqLd8Q4n-HB-gvBZ6IBH9_O9h0I0OkwkcNfLQRQT_r4SgQicHIKdh9UO5brJLYVvOKX2XvpW69Hvu4umNaeSuHMA70IoOpl0v2e5bjptML9si6KACOszgn5okUlBpNx_JPo/s1600/IMG_0249.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu831yoQ1uXqLd8Q4n-HB-gvBZ6IBH9_O9h0I0OkwkcNfLQRQT_r4SgQicHIKdh9UO5brJLYVvOKX2XvpW69Hvu4umNaeSuHMA70IoOpl0v2e5bjptML9si6KACOszgn5okUlBpNx_JPo/s320/IMG_0249.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5597430024677351618" /></a>-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-59157258969077965752011-04-16T13:42:00.001-04:002011-04-16T13:45:59.262-04:00Driving at Night<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcOVRs8y46cxxLTUr8gqQYBqGIc4k3iPDtKrjCafW9t_W5Q1tH9ehUQvaWOP8TT5ivdzPYsisD8fPpGhx8Pa9FgjGmf1o6QGzJE0w49QnEq_We7pa5kSlLSiSgee4eeaSLbypBuUQ8Oo4/s1600/IMG_0232.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcOVRs8y46cxxLTUr8gqQYBqGIc4k3iPDtKrjCafW9t_W5Q1tH9ehUQvaWOP8TT5ivdzPYsisD8fPpGhx8Pa9FgjGmf1o6QGzJE0w49QnEq_We7pa5kSlLSiSgee4eeaSLbypBuUQ8Oo4/s320/IMG_0232.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596238266050583106" /></a><br /><br />So, our Spring Break trip was concluded several weeks ago, but I thought I would say a little about road trips and driving at night. While road trips and company are definitely fun and relaxing, I had no idea how much I would enjoy driving back to New York alone at night. Night time driving is a different beast. I really appreciated being able to blast music as loudly as I wanted in order to keep myself engaged and awake. Maxx is really great in the car and pretty much just slept the whole time. We took a few stops to stretch our legs and walk around. We were stuck in traffic in New Jersey for over two hours. The stopping and starting really interfered with Maxx's sleeping and probably confused him for a bit. But somehow, the freedom to do the drive as I wanted to with no concern for someone else made the whole thing bearable. It was refreshing to again be in the glass and steel bubble that is a car and have the experience to myself. I probably would not have appreciated it as much if I drove a car regularly.-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-40405275129841166562011-03-30T19:05:00.000-04:002011-04-16T13:42:01.765-04:00City Dog, Country DogSo this week is Max's first trip out of the state of New York. I would say it's his first journey out of New York City, but he's been to Westchester. We are staying at my dad's house in lovely and historic Fredericksburg, Virginia. I wasn't sure what to expect since my dad has a pug (Frank). I've actually been quite shocked at how well the dogs get along, and how well my family gets along with my dog. Call me old fashioned, but I generally don't expect country folk to be gushing over a pitbull, even if he is mixed with some breed that is awesome at cuddling and spooning. He has actually taken to the country quite well. He loves being let off leash to run and relieve himself in the yard. He still enjoys his walks. Making efforts to train him while in the city have definitely paid off for his country behavior as well. In Brooklyn, he must behave during walks because of traffic, other dogs, and pedestrians. In Fredericksburg, we are generally alone, but he can show that rare country dog how to act like a gentleman when we come across one. I've noticed that the country dogs show much more dog aggression than the city dogs, probably because they aren't forced to interact with others on a daily basis. Max has also been great with Frank. I know that pitbulls don't always get along well with others. Frank is several years older than Max too. However, Max is still a puppy at heart and runs away when Frank growls at him for getting too close. They both will chase the same toys in the yard and definitely team up to beg for food. The only thing they won't do together is sleep on the same couch. I'm hoping by the end of the week, they'll overcome that barrier. I actually enjoy traveling with the dog because taking him on walks allows me to see the sights at a slower pace and really enjoy the atmosphere. I have not been using our play time in the yard as a replacement for walking. I view our walks as a time to reinforce our training and owner-dog relationship. I don't know if it's the air, or the change of scenery, or the attention, but Maxx is definitely enjoying his first vacation away from NYC.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJQ_ZPgaBa7d7teVIXzhUZ4gRaOhzg83M6c8NvZQsyBZdgthoBKlsC4_6oe9BM9Vo0rMpPZGUzEu8JK_AMbaNh5qJH1eN531mvSkck-dM7wZhJk3x1JOxZX2YHKUbVesyFaSmEt5kVjGY/s1600/IMG_0214.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJQ_ZPgaBa7d7teVIXzhUZ4gRaOhzg83M6c8NvZQsyBZdgthoBKlsC4_6oe9BM9Vo0rMpPZGUzEu8JK_AMbaNh5qJH1eN531mvSkck-dM7wZhJk3x1JOxZX2YHKUbVesyFaSmEt5kVjGY/s320/IMG_0214.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596237996692694482" />Maxx running freely</a>-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6633973898628799300.post-88777310060865964682011-03-20T22:23:00.000-04:002011-03-20T22:54:15.014-04:00Bacon Hamantaschen for a Purim BirthdayToday is Purim. Last night for the eve of Purim, I hosted a little Purim/birthday party for the Silverback. His birthday happened to fall on the day before an exam. To make up for it, our group decided to throw a holiday party complete with costumes. As Silverback figured out, we all decided to dress up like him in honor of his trip around the sun. It may turn into a birthday tradition in these parts. It will take someone else's trip around the sun before we know for sure.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHPMb-uhLgpB2dZKap5-_pjyU_dZPAB1WBUJsEfpbEm6rc-8QF2s1aWpL1SqlSUJWa0IeKjiIXqMiE9dQon8i7TNiLK-5YbxpM-o-_f6WOTDcDXyEvnHXN8H0pqymoglt4fg6zsn1DyyE/s1600/IMG_0204.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHPMb-uhLgpB2dZKap5-_pjyU_dZPAB1WBUJsEfpbEm6rc-8QF2s1aWpL1SqlSUJWa0IeKjiIXqMiE9dQon8i7TNiLK-5YbxpM-o-_f6WOTDcDXyEvnHXN8H0pqymoglt4fg6zsn1DyyE/s320/IMG_0204.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586356911602497138" />Max's best Silverback impression</a><br /><br />I actually have very fond memories of making hamantaschen. At my synagogue, the Ladies' Auxiliary would host a hamantaschen making event every year after Sunday school. Kids and women were invited to make hamantaschen that would then be sold to benefit our congregation. It was always a lot of fun. The dough came in giant freezer bags. The fillings were all canned. I learned some neat tips from the grandmothers about working with dough, which was really helpful since my Asian family could tell me nothing about European style baking. This was the first time I made hamantaschen outside of that synagogue kitchen. While I was rolling and cutting the dough, I kept thinking of those Southern grandmothers, all made up, teaching their grand kids how to make hamantaschen. To keep up with my shul's tradition, I also ate the ugliest ones before the batch was presented to my guests.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7U-OAEM1XDCyvjE7LDIy9yn7fiD7DC9mWU1j_0-eorZOjqlUuLkf9nJyU5hTtQTfXbMzvZpvOGrx5NDdS9E2C3X3vFsFeYzBfS5ius38f2iXlTR4yyHti-OcOp8y2jo9YOw3qCOBQKNg/s1600/IMG_0210.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7U-OAEM1XDCyvjE7LDIy9yn7fiD7DC9mWU1j_0-eorZOjqlUuLkf9nJyU5hTtQTfXbMzvZpvOGrx5NDdS9E2C3X3vFsFeYzBfS5ius38f2iXlTR4yyHti-OcOp8y2jo9YOw3qCOBQKNg/s320/IMG_0210.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586356916674264082" />Our festive spread of food and alcohol</a><br /><br />Of course, my brother calls these blasphemous hamantaschen, since they are filled with bacon. For the dough, I used a New York Times recipe, which I will reprint here since we only have a week left of unlimited access to articles. I made up the bacon filling recipe and filled the remainder with my blueberry lemon marmalade.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sylvia Lav's Perfect Hamantaschen Dough</span><span style="font-style:italic;">taken from New York Times</span><br />Makes enough for about 36 hamantaschen<br /><br />4 cups flour<br />4 eggs<br />1 teaspoon baking powder<br />A pinch of salt<br />1 cup of oil<br />3 tablespoons of warm water (I didn't add this. I have an aversion to adding water because of its effects on pasta dough)<br />Zest of 2 lemons (I forgot to put this in, but I bet it's a swell contribution)<br />1 cup sugar<br /><br />1. Mix together the flour, baking powder, lemon zest, sugar, and salt. Make a mountain out of the flour mixture, and make a well at the top of the mountain.<br /><br />2. Add one egg into the well. Work it into the flour to make a dough without destroying the walls. Add 1/4 cup oil and do the same. Repeat until you've added all of the fluids and have a nice dough.<br /><br />3. Knead the dough on a floured surface for a little bit. It should be sticky fun.<br /><br />4. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight. It should be clean fun.<br /><br />5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/8" thickness. I can never do this in real life, so I just roll it out as thin as I can. Using an old wine bottle since I'm too cheap to buy a proper rolling pin. Using a cookie cutter or a glass dipped in flour (cheap), cut 2-3" circles. These are the hamantaschen bases! Here, the original recipe says to paint an X of melted butter across each circle. I did not do this as I have no idea why you would. Anyone with more kitchen knowledge, please enlighten me. Fill each circle with about a tablespoon of filling and pinch into a triangle shape. Traditional fillings are prune, poppy seed, or apricot. You can also use any jam you want.<br /><br />6. Bake in preheated oven for about 12 minutes. Mine took more like 20 minutes. They should be slightly golden and yummy looking. Remove from oven and cool on a a rack.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sweet Bacon Filling</span><br />Makes enough to fill 12 hamantaschen<br /><br />4 strips thick cut bacon<br />1/4 cup brown sugar<br />1 Tb flour<br /><br />1. Cut bacon strips into slightly smaller chunks. Throw chunks in food processor and process until smooth. Add brown sugar and process until mixed.<br /><br />2. Mix flour in with a fork. This is so the fat doesn't get to oozy and spill out. You want the fat to stay in the cookie so that you can eat it later and not clean it out of your oven.<br /><br />3. The filling is ready to go into pastry.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk_ROoH4z8VWDtduiienSHv96tbTFQtw3m8RxTobRb9oADHMQcsQBVcOPrLLyOfZ8LAbNOO6AD3lckrjPPRo054I7hapUdfbm-gC_T1gJ6-C_lRqNFo0DqpGpHGdGEo8sSy_rPJ8M16OM/s1600/188563_594412226133_16205498_33193739_41074_n.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk_ROoH4z8VWDtduiienSHv96tbTFQtw3m8RxTobRb9oADHMQcsQBVcOPrLLyOfZ8LAbNOO6AD3lckrjPPRo054I7hapUdfbm-gC_T1gJ6-C_lRqNFo0DqpGpHGdGEo8sSy_rPJ8M16OM/s320/188563_594412226133_16205498_33193739_41074_n.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586356916791497810" />Silverback blowing out the candles on his birthday bacon hamantashen</a>-Bethany-http://www.blogger.com/profile/09238093239414902719noreply@blogger.com0