Sep
11
Last year one of my birthday goals was to make pretzels. I didn’t make it happen, so I carried the goal over. As I looked this year’s goals, the 33 things I want to accomplish by my 33rd birthday, I couldn’t bear the thought of having another year go by without completing this simple task, so I busted out the mixer and the yeast and went at it. A while ago, I bought a cookbook that is explicitly dedicated to the pretzel. But the base recipe in that book required an overnight proofing, so I decided to look elsewhere. Hello Internet. So, I followed a recipe I found on CHOW.
It was a pretty simple recipe.
Trying to figure out how to twist the pretzels was the biggest challenge. You can see that some are a better shape than others. This experience makes me want to go to the mall and observe the pretzel twisters there.
Next time, I think that I will try to make the pretzels a bit bigger, but I will also try to roll the dough out into thinner strips. I had a hard time with the rolling the strips. I kept trying to make them thinner hoping it would help me get a better pretzel shape, but then my strip would break before I could even twist the dough, much less get it into the pot for boiling. I thought about making ring shaped pretzels, but I thought that they might turn out too much like bagels. I hadn’t known that the alkaline water would make such a difference in how these turned out.
I baked my pretzels in two batches. The first I baked a bit longer than the second (more than the 10 minutes the recipe called for). I think that these turned out better than the other ones.
I’m pretty satisfied with this experience, but I want to go at it again. Besides, making a second batch of pretzels would go perfectly with goal 22, which is to make homemade mustard.
Apr
06
I found myself with a bunch of carrots hanging out in the back of the fridge threatening to be forgotten. I am really, really trying to waste less and use more of the things that I buy. Problem is is that I change my mind between grocery shopping and actual cooking. The by product of this, this week, was about two pounds of carrots.
I usually like carrots either raw or cooked as a part of a vegetable soup. I have tried carrot soups over the years and never liked them. I decided to save myself from yet another disappointment.
How? I decided to make carrot butter. I based this preserve on this recipe. I tasted it, and found that I did like it after all. For once, I think I will get to the bottom of the carrots! I imagine this on oatmeal. Throw in some raisins, and it’ll be like carrot cake-flavored breakfast.
Mar
11
I have been meaning to make harissa for years. Literally. I came across the recipe around 5-6 years ago on this blog.
Then Alex got sick, I had to go to the store for some things for him and I remembered the recipe. So I bought the things that I needed.
This is one of those things that you’re like, “I waited years to do this thing that was so easy.” Maybe you don’t have those experiences. But I do.
Basically you soak dried chiles in water.
Then you blend the chiles with the other ingredients.
This. Is. Delicious.
I have some plans for this and a chicken that lies waiting innocently in the fridge.
Oh little birdy, I am going to massage the fragrant paste into your skin then stuff your cavity with aromatics. I am going to roast you and your juices will drip onto a bed of sweet potatoes.
Can’t. Wait.
But there’s the little issue of a sink that isn’t draining. At all. Though my desire for this roasted chicken swells by the moment, I am not cooking chicken under circumstances that involve sitting water.
Guess I’ll be waiting after all.
Dec
23
There is one thing that I consistently feel bad about in my cooking life. Wasted food. It is such a disgusting habit. So, I am actively trying to work on it. These are the conditions under which tonight’s dinner was born.
I opened the fridge to find a flaccid bunch of swiss chard that was still this side of edible. So I pulled it out, determined to not let it have the less than valiant exit that more vegetables that I care to admit have had. I have a bag of potatoes that I bought because a bajillion pounds cost less than the quantity of potatoes that I needed when I bought them. And I had a half bunch of green onions left over from an earlier cooking project.
So I made potato pancakes. Easy and flling. And the chard got put in tummies not the trash.
Potato pancakes:
4 potatoes, shredded
1 bunch of flaccid swiss chard, thinly sliced
1 half bunch of green onions, thinly sliced
3 eggs, beaten
Olive oil for the pan
Mix all of the above, salting for taste.
Oil a skillet. Cook over medium heat until browned on both sides.
Eat with hot sauce.
Feel better about not wasting so much food.
Dec
23
It seems like everywhere I go, I encounter some sort of recipe about greens. I love greens all sorts of green. I actually love most vegetables, but greens, mmm. The November issue of Saveur did an article about greens that made me want to try all 6 of the recipes associated with it. The January Bon Appetit did a spread called “The Greens Party.” That hardly qualifies as everywhere but it was enough to make me take notice and to make me want greens. I am inspired to try all of these recipes, actually. Well with a couple of modifications because some of the recipes (two) call for mayonnaise, and I just can’t bring myself to that.
So, again, I find myself turning to Bon Appetit. I made their Mixed-Greens and Sausage Soup with Cornmeal Dumplings. I had to make a couple of substitutions. I used a chicken sausage instead of the andoullie that the recipe asked for. I also used dried thyme. I was a bit slapdash with the hot sauce, but all-in-all it turned out well. If I were the sort to do this kind of thing, this soup could inspire me to eat some of it directly over the pot with the very spoon I used to make the soup. But that would be uncivilized. This soup tastes like hearty comfort. Who can’t use a little hearty comfort?
Dec
21
I usually go through bananas like water. (Hey, sometimes writers are prone to hyperbole). However, last week I wasn’t feeling well and my normal morning habits were thrown off a bit. And I forgot about a bunch of bananas that I had bought. Not only did I forget about them, but they were hanging out in the plastic bag I brought them home in. Needless to say, they were not the firm specimens that I prefer.
So, I decided to make banana bread. I also had some buttermilk in the fridge so my original plan involved using it as well. But did I remember that when it was time to stand before the mixer? Noooo. So I used the recipe from one of the first cookbooks I owned. I used walnuts in the bread but also cranberries. And I had about two tablespoons of mini chocolate chip hanging around so I threw them in there too.
The bananas were turned into something edible. Yay!
Dec
20
Oh looky here. I have some vacation time on my hands and here I come crawling back to the oft-neglected blog. But, hey, I have time to cook!
Alex loves meatballs. I don’t know that he has met a meatball that he won’t eat. Considering that cooking is one of the primary ways that I show my love, and I am off work for a bit, I decided to make some meatballs. Oh no, son, when mama has the time, you don’t have to sit around wishing that we could go to Ikea so that you can have meatballs.
Now on the other side of things, I love to try new recipes. So, I set out to find a meatball recipe that I haven’t made yet. I remember seeing one not too long ago in Bon Appetit so I ventured on down to Epicurious (as if I jauntily strolled down the street) to look. That’s when I found the recipe.
Yes, when I can, I will procure three different types of ground meat to make meatballs for the Young Mister. I try not to wonder whether this is sick.
I though these were the best meatballs I ever tasted. Young Mister, however, didn’t appear to be convinced. He ate one of them. Then again, he can be a light eater. I’ll know the true verdict when the topic of leftovers come up. I guess that if the next time he has a hankering for meatballs he just says, “Mama, can we go to Ikea?” that would suffice as a verdict. If he doesn’t eat them, I think I know a person or two who will.
Sep
06
About 2 weeks ago I completed one of my more ambitious birthday goals: try 100 new recipes!!
I learned a lot about the things that I like and the things that I don’t like. I also learned a lot about foisting things upon other people!
This is a Cardamom Crumb Cake from the latest Everyday Food. It seems right that I finished this project off with an ingredient that I explicitly bought for another recipe in the project.
The other thing I learned this year is that I love the idea of cake, but don’t really love cake so much. I like to bake them and make them pretty and take pictures of them and smell their wonderful cakey smells, but then I think, “Crap, what am I going to do with all of this cake.” The grapevine said that folks at the workplace were glad to get it.
Jul
24
I always go on and on about how much I love Bon Appetit magazine. The quiet, unsung magazine in my collection, though is Cooking Light. These are tasty, yet reasonable recipes. You pretty much know when you peruse the pages that you won’t be in a situation where you feel like you want to slice open your stomach, scrape out the contents, and try again, this time being far less naughty.
Thank you, Cooking Light, for this recipe.
Jul
15
One of the things that happens when you’re always trying new recipes and you have a household of limited members is the accumulation of ingredients. Sometimes.
So there I was with a big chunk of red onion, and feta cheese. I tend to keep things like rye-berries on hand, and nuts in the freezer. Already, an idea was coming together. For some reason I can’t even remember, I had a half lemon in the fridge and I had (and still have some) snow peas and sugar snap peas from my CSA share. I also had a bunch of cilantro. Always there is olive oil and honey in the pantry. That and salt and pepper. So, I put all the parts together and got this great salad.
Hearty lunch for the hungry.
