Rookie Cookery

Sausages and Potatoes

Most of my weekday cooking has to bring a satisfying, healthful meal to the family dinner table within a half hour or or less. So the promise of Mark Bittman's new cook book "Kitchen Express: 404 Inspired Seasonal Dishes You Can Make In 20 Minutes Or Less"  made me eager to purchase the book and see if it delivers the goods.

    Kitchen Express is not a book for the novice; there are no ingredient lists or step by step instructions. The book is devoid of photographs of food, relying instead on the working knowledge of a competent family cook to use the dishes described as a springboard to assemble the meal. From where I stand in my own culinary education, that suits me just fine.

    My favorite part of the book is the division of the recipes into four seasonal groupings, each with a brief introduction about the kinds of produce available and cooking styles that highlight that season's offerings.

    One of my favorite quick meals is sausages and peppers. So despite the fact that I was cooking in summer, the first dish I cooked from Kitchen Express came from the Winter chapter: Sausages and Potatoes.

    The recipe is the height of simplicity: Peel, cut up and boil some potatoes. Meanwhile, broil some chopped onions with cut up sausages. Drain the potatoes, mix them with the sausages and onions, then season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the bowl with olive oil, toss gently and garnish with fresh herbs such as basil or parsley. NOTE: Although Bittman suggests you broil the sausages and onions, you can just as easily saute them on the stovetop in a small amount of olive oil.

    I was truly surprised at how warming and comforting this bowl of sausages and potatoes was. My husband devoured it.  This is a welcome variation that takes a classic into new territory, and I know I will cook it often.

    I can hardly wait to cook more from this deceptively simple book.  I rate Kitchen Express highly for the competent home cook. 

Snickerdoodle Recipe

Snickerdoodles are my son Ethan's favorite cookie. Deceptively simple sugar cookies with a dusting of cinnamon sugar, these are best eaten warm from the oven.

I have tried three different recipes for Snickerdoodles, and while I have not yet found the ultimate recipe, my favorite so far is this one from James Beard's American Cookery. Beard tells us that this popular and classic cookie was originally called Schnecken Noodles, or in some regions Snipdoodles. The name morphed into Snickerdoodles in the lower Midwest states.

I call them irresistible.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup soft butter
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
3 cups sifted alll purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
TOPPING:
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

In stand mixer, beat  the butter until a little fluffy, then cream in the sugar and vanilla. Add the eggs and beat them until incorporated. Then mix in the milk.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour with the other dry ingredients.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing until smooth but not over-mixing. The dough will be very soft.

Place a large sheet of waxed paper on your work surface, and create a long roll of dough. Using the paper, shape the dough into a roll, wrap and refrigerate for an hour or more. You will probably need two rolls for all the dough.

When it is time to bake, pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a small shallow dish, mix together the topping, which is the cinnamon-sugar combination.

Remove the dough from the fridge and cut it into small knobs of dough, then roll into a little ball with your hands. Roll the ball around the cinnamon-sugar until the surface is coated. Place on cookie sheets about two inches apart. The cookies will spread out as they cook.

Bake for ten to twelve minutes, or until the edges of the cookies begin to brown a little. Don't over bake.  After a few minutes, gently transfer the cookies to a rack to cool.

Warning: The aroma of cinnamon cookies baking is a siren call to the kitchen that is powerful and seductive.  Prepare for company.

Caper Berries

Look what I found at Whole Foods this week: Caper Berries. They were in among the olives, with their stems attached and looking nonchalant, but I could tell they were not really olives. They were pretending. One taste and their unique, almost grainy texture and vinegar-eucalyptus flavor let me know this would make an interesting addition to the appetizer tray.

Caper berries are simply the larger, more mature version of the tiny pickled caperberries that many of us have seen and used before. Caperberries grow wild all throughout the Meditteranean area, are picked and brined in vinegar. They add a zesty tang to salads and fresh sauces over fish, or wherever a little piquancy is welcome. Caperberries combine nicely with olive oil, lemon juice, anchovies and garlic.

A common way to use the smaller capers is in chicken piccata.  The same sauce could easily finish your favorite seafood. The larger caper berry, pictured above, is more often eaten as an appetizer, like an olive. 

What's your favorite way to use caperberries? Let me know in the comments.

Cream Puff Recipe

This is how easy it is to make cream puffs: Last Sunday morning I was up early, charged with energy to get things done.  The rest of the household was still in bed,  and the oven was still hot from roasting a pan of vegetables.  I wondered: What else can I bake that doesn't take time a lot of time for mixing, or for yeast to rise the dough?

Cabbage paste,  I thought.  Only I thought this as the French say: Pâte à choux. 

Pâte à choux is a moist, soft, egg rich dough that forms the basic structure of dozens of pastrys such as profiteroles, chocolate clairs, and, when fried, a donut-like beingnet. Because the dough is so moist, steam makes it puff up while baking, creating a light and airy structure that can be exploited with the use of fillings such as puddings or whipped cream as in these cream puffs.  With a little less sugar and a little more salt in the mix, a savory version can be filled with roasted or sauteed vegetables and meats for an elegant dinner or simple lunch.  In short: Pâte à choux is my favorite kind of recipe: easy to make with ingredients commonly on hand, and extremely versatile.

INGREDIENTS:

one cup of water
6  tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 tsp salt
one and 1/8 cup flour (all purpose)
4 large eggs

FOR THE CREAM FILLING AND CHOCOLATE TOPPING:
one cup heavy whipping cream
a few tablespoons sugar
vanilla (a dash)
1/3 cup (approx) chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees F., and place the oven rack in the lower (but not lowest) postiion in the oven.  Cover two large cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Combine the wet ingredients (water, butter, sugar) plus salt in a saucepan over medium heat and bring it to a boil, stirring to blend the ingredients. Remove it from the heat.

Add the flour all at once, and mix as it quickly comes together into a very soft dough.  It will pull away from the sides of the pan and form a ball.

Transfer the dough to a mixer and allow it to cool for a few minutes. Meanwhile, crack the eggs into a small cup.

Mix the dough on low speed, and add the eggs one at a time and continue mixing until they are well incorporated. You should have a very smooth soft dough.

Using a pastry bag, or a large plastic bag with a corner cut off and a pastry tip inserted, pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in golf-ball size portions, two inches apart.

Bake for ten minutes at 425 degrees, then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another ten minutes.

Remove the golden brown puffs from the oven and set aside to cool.  Using a sharp paring knife, immediately pierce a small hole into the side of each puff, allowing steam to escape.

FILLING:

When the pastries are completely cool, fill as desired with chocolate or lemon pudding, or whipped cream for cream puffs as below:

For the filling,  whip a cup of heavy cream sweetened with a tablespoon or two of sugar and a small dash of vanilla.
Using another pastry bag, gently insert the piping tip into the hole you created to allow the steam to escape while cooling. Fill each pastry with cream.

CHOCOLATE TOPPING

Melt one third cup of bittersweet chocolate chips until melted. Stir until very smooth. Before it cools, lightly drizzle the chocolate across the tops of the cream puffs. Allow it to set, and serve immediately. Refridgerate any leftovers.

Add this to your bag of tricks and it will make you feel like a rock star in the kitchen.

Fried Eggplant and Frankenstein sauce dinner

Notes on an improvised dinner: See those dark bits under the fork? Those were egg-battered, floured and fried slices of eggplant, previously marinated in some kind of Frankenstein sauce my husband devised: soy sauce, mustard, wasabi and whatnot. Some of the rust-colored sauce was there for dipping in that little bowl off to the right. I will admit I was not at all sure the eggplant would cook through enough. But it worked rather nicely, and now we have a new way to enjoy the aubergine.

That's all.

Giant Spun Sugar Dessert Recipe

Photo:  "Soleil Sucre: A Giant Spun Sugar Confection"

Recently I wanted to create a really WOW dessert for a special occasion.  What better way to do it than create a fabulous sculpture out of crystallized sugar? (see photo) With a little planning ahead and ingenuity, and a fundamental knowledge of physics, a simple sugar solution can be spun and formed into limitless shapes, like this giant sunburst created for a wedding reception of a dear friend. That's my husband Jim, on the right, and our two sons Evan (far left) and Ethan (in the middle). Note: you will want to have help with sugar scuptures of any significant size.

INGREDIENTS: (and equipment)

256 pounds of sugar (organic)
5 cups food coloring (I used yellow!)
three copies Sunday section of New York Times
25 pounds organic beeswax (or parrafin)

METHOD:

First, begin your sugar solution by heating the 256 pounds of sugar in about 26 quarts of water, in large vat until it dissolves completely. Remove from stove.  In a separate bowl, melt all the beeswax (or parrafin).

Meanwhile, taking five sheets of the newspaper at a time, create your desired shapes, like the twisted spirals used here.  Tape the paper to keep its shape.

Take the melted beeswax (or parrafin) and slowly pour it into the paper cone spirals, taking care that the wax coats the entire interior of the form. Set aside and let harden.

Now for the fun part! Add food dye to your sugar solution and stir until well blended.  Now very carefully, pour the sugar into the cone shapes so that it coats the interior. (Careful! It will be hot!) Allow to harden.

The next day, remove the paper forms from your brilliant crystalline shapes. Who knew sugar could be so fanciful?

Finally, assemble your sugar "stalagtites"  into pleasing shapes and use a blow torch to fuse into place. Allow to cool completely before moving into display position.

Now stand back and watch the stunned faces of your guests as they wonder if it is, indeed, edible!

Sadly, the above sugar scupture was dissolved in rain soon after the photo was taken, shown here at the California Palace of Legion of Super Heroes museum, San Francisco.

Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating by Mark Bittman. A Rookie Review

When I saw that Mark Bittman, one of my favorite food writers, had come out with a new book called "Food Matters; A Guide To Conscious Eating", I was frankly a little skeptical. Hasn't Michael Pollan pretty much said it all? Do we really need another socio-political look at diet that tells us to "eat food, mostly plants, not too much?"

Turns out, there is quite a bit more to say about the medical, socio-political and especially the environmental effects of the standard American diet, and, more importantly, what a large-scale change in that diet could mean both personally and to the world at large. And Mark Bittman, with his straightforward, very readable and instructive style of writing, is just the writer to do the job. This is a timely book for the masses, and hopefully the coming generations.

In Food Matters, Mark Bittman finally tells us specifically what to eat, and with 75 recipes, how to prepare it. He does it without dogma, self righteous proclamations or notions on what constitutes "good vs. bad" food. NO food is banned from the diet, although he shows a distinct preference for the wholesome and natural instead of processed foods.  And he suggests a way of eating that is reasonable, logical, healthful, satisfying, much more ecologically sustainable, and above all-- achievable by anyone with even a modicum of self-control.

Not bad. In fact, if ever there was a diet recommendation for the modern world, this book is it.

The first few chapters lay out the relevant facts about what the standard American diet has become, and how it got there through marketing and governmental collusion with agribusiness and "big food". In particular, Bittman does the math for us when it comes to the beef industry, and other industrial food production methods that are gigantically wasteful of natural resources even as these meat-centric foods provide less calories and more health challenges for the effort. Of particular interest, Bittman connects the dots between ubiquitous hamburgers and global warming.We ignore these basic facts at our peril.

One might assume that Bittman preaches a vegetarian and sugar-free lifestyle as the only viable alternative. But that's the genius of Mark Bittman: He knows that human beings, himself included, are not inclined to give up foods they love. This man is a food writer, remember. He knows what is delicious and what people want to eat. So rather than presenting an either-or scenario, he takes a moderate and much more workable approach that he calls "less-meatarian." Instead of giving up meat entirely, what would happen if one simply consumed a statistically significant proportion less of the meat and processed flour and sugar that dominates the typical diet?

Bittman's method is this: as a general rule, eat only whole grains and vegetables during the day, and consume what you want (meat, fish, refined flours or sugar) at night, and be moderate about it. His personal result eating this way was a significant reduction in weight, lowered blood pressure and other important markers of increased health and vitality. All without a depriving himself of any particular food. He also greatly reduced his food bill. Sounds good to me.

I happen to know this method works for me, because I have used a variation on this program myself in the past with success. This was during a time when I was cutting back on refined grains, specifically bread. My personal rule was, to substitute either vegetables or (more rarely)  fruit wherever I might normally eat a piece of bread.  I did this until dinner, when I would allow myself to eat some kind of carbohydrate with the meal-- whether that be a slice of bread, a roll, or pasta. And not too much. That simple dietary adjustment had me feeling very healthy in no time. For lunch, instead of a sandwich I had a salad with pieces of meat in it, and an egg with vegetables for breakfast.

For several years, I simply gave up cooking pasta altogether. Now, my family enjoys the occasional pasta meal, with the amount of pasta on the plate much more of a side dish than the main attraction. Coincidentally Mark Bittman also recommends reversing the proportions of pasta and sauce compared to the standard pasta-dominant dish. (Less pasta, more sauce). Over and over, I find that Bittman's approach to food is eerily similar to my own, only he is a much more knowledgeable and experienced cook. No doubt this is why I find him to be my favorite teacher when it comes to food.

Just as Mark Bittman noted in his book, this pattern of eating flouts (and reverses) the usual recommendation that the heavier meal be eaten in the morning, while the lighter (perhaps meatless) meal be eaten at night. But the fact is, I find it much easier to be disciplined about my diet during the day. At night, after work, I like to relax and indulge myself a bit. This usually includes my one glass of wine with dinner, and that one glass is just enough to weaken any resolve I have about dietary abstinence.  And I like to have some dessert after dinner, usually a home made baked item such as a cookie or two, or a slice of cake. (If I have to bake it, and don't buy it, I don't eat so much sweet stuff.).  Thus: it worked for ME to be disciplined with diet all day, and less so at night.  To heck with common wisdom, I did what worked!

It looks to me like Mr. Bittman found the same routine true for him, only he includes avoiding meat in his day-time regimen. He  has convinced me that cutting back on meat is not only healthful and wise, it is good for the environment and for industrially raised animals as well.

What if the entire population of the the United States suddenly reduced their meat consumption to one third, and replaced it with vegetables? The social, medical, environmental and economic changes would be enormous, and for the better. This is what is required for a sane way of eating, as Mark Bittman has outlined so well in his book. And with 75 recipes to get you started, you can begin immediately.

Because Food Matters. A lot more than we will ever know.

Savory Oatmeal with Olive Tapenade

Readers of this blog know, I love my oatmeal. Typically I enjoy it with a sprinkle of brown sugar and some milk. I admit that as delicious as it is, I always feel a bit decadent eating brown sugar for breakfast, even on a whole grain.

Mark Bittman opened my eyes to a whole new way of enjoying oatmeal as a savory dish.    In particular, I heard him utter the words "oatmeal with tapenade". What?

I was immediately intrigued. I knew I had to try it. So last night I fired up my crockpot and the filled it with one cup of steel head oats and four cups of water. The oatmeal was waiting for me this morning for breakfast.

First I whipped up some olive tapenade by pulsing some kalamata olives in the food processor with a couple tablespoons of sun dried tomatoes that had been packed in oil. The oil on the tomatoes was enough to make a  tapenade out of the olives.

I started cautiously. Would I miss the brown sugar? Would it taste odd? I put about a third of a cup of oats in my bowl, and stirred in a little of the tapenade. I took a bite. It was a revelation: tasty, hearty, and satisfying. Success!

I added more oatmeal to my bowl, more tapenade, and then I stirred in a tablespoon of red pepper tapenade I had in the fridge. It only made it more complex and flavorful.  I look forward to testing out many more savory breakfast grain combinations.

I have known for a long time that I need to convert more of my carbohydrate intake into more complex and whole grains. I have resisted that, preferring instead to focus on vegetables (which I love). Sure, I cooked the occasional dish with barley or quinoa or brown rice, but I confess these have not been part of my standard fare in the kitchen. Mark Bittman has inspired me to investigate whole grains with renewed interest. Maybe I will wonder what took me so long (other than a serious love of bread and pasta).

Coming up: a review of Bittman's new book, Food Matters.

Attack of the Bubble Gum Cards

Many of you might be familiar with the awesome and hilarious movie Mars Attacks. God how I love that movie. Imagine my surprise when, surfing the internet one day, I ran across a set of 1962 bubble gum cards published by the TOPPS company (under the name "Bubble, Inc") that included these astonishing images. Clearly, they suggested a virtual movie storyboard, and the rest is movie history. I love that the shocking and weird emotional impact of the original gum cards was somehow captured by the movie.

One day my son Evan introduced me to the amazing Flaming Lips, and I can imagine no better soundtrack to the bubble gum cards than their "Yoshimi Battle The Pink Robots, Part 2".  So I fired up iMovie and made the little homage to all the artists that follows.

PS-- Mars Attacks movie trailer here.

NOTE: re: potential copyright violation. It is unclear to me whether my movie constitues fair use. I tried to contact Flaming Lips for permission to use their song, but could not find a contact link on their web site. If you represent them, please let me know.