EllenFork

Simple is the New Complicated

2010-03-11T00:19:13-05:00

There are some things in life that are both blissfully simple and completely satisfying at the same time. For instance, Spaghetti with Braised Kale. Everything about it is hearty and flavorful, but so simple to concoct. In fact, the reason for concocting it was that I happened to have very little left in my pantry before my trip to San Francisco (which you will all hear about later!).

I came across this recipe months ago in Molly Wizenberg's Cooking Life column in Bon Appetit mag. Her dishes are so simple (often consisting of only a handful of ingredients) but always so elegant and purposeful. This one was no different. However, I am a meat-eater by nature, and this dish is a bit lacking in the protein department... I began to hunt the wild jungle of my cupboard. What canned beast awaited me, in the shadows of the hot sauce? What elusive creature sat dustily in a forgotten crevice, between the rice vinegar and liquid smoke?!

Ah HA! What do we have here, lurking within? Garbanzo beans, of course. I buy a can at least every other time I go to the store, as I devour these little guys like popcorn...and ironically, this is almost what they became during the course of this dish. Fried chickpeas are SO EASY and SO CRAVEABLE, it's ridiculous. So without stalling any longer, I will tell you how to make Spaghetti with Braised Kale and Fried Chickpeas.

Spaghetti with Braised Kale original recipe by Molly Wizenberg, Bon Appetit October 2009

Ingredients:

1 lb kale, large center ribs and stems removed, cut crosswise into 1/2 slices
3 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
8 garlic cloves
1/2 lb spaghetti (I used whole wheat)
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
Finely grated Parmesan Cheese

So, Molly recommends lacinto kale, but that is not always readily available. I used regular curly kale, which was totally fine. Whatever kale you can get your paws on, rinse it well. Drain and transfer to a bowl, with water still clinging to the leaves.

In a large heavy pot, heat 2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add chopped onion, cooking until translucent and stirring occasionally. Add sliced garlic and sprinkle with salt. Cook until onion turns golden brown, continuing to stir occasionally. Add kale and the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil, using tongs to toss until wilted. Cover pot and reduce heat to medium-low. Feel free to cook this kale into submission, until extremely tender. Stir occasionally and add water by teaspoonfuls if it becomes dry.

In the meantime, boil a medium pot of salted water. Cook spaghetti until tender, but slightly firm when you chomp it. Using tongs, transfer pasta directly into the kale pot. Add lemon juice and a splash or two of the reserved pasta water. Toss to combine and add more liquid to your liking. Sprinkle spaghetti with grated parmesan cheese, fried chickpeas (see below), a grind of fresh black pepper and serve immediately.

Fried Chickpeas

Ingredients

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and painstakingly patted dry
olive oil
lemon zest
sea salt

Rinse and drain the garbanzo beans. The really key step here is to make sure the garbanzo beans are VERY dry; this is what gives them the all-important crisp factor. I spin mine in a salad spinner, then lay them out on a paper towel to dry off. If you like, you may remove some of the translucent shells, though they often come off during this process anyway. If you are feeling lazy (and not dedicated to ultimate crispness, cough cough), just make sure they are not wet to the touch and get on with it.

In a skillet (I used my cast iron), generously pour olive oil, enough to thickly coat the bottom of the pan. heat on medium heat. When oil is hot, pour in chick peas, making sure to avoid splattering yourself with the oil. At this point I added salt and just let them do their thing, making sure to stir frequently. Let them get nice and browned- about 15 minutes. Don't forget about them, or you'll have unpleasantly charred chickpeas.

When the garbanzos have sufficiently browned, transfer them to a bowl. Sprinkle with a bit more sea salt, to taste and add the zest of a lemon. Stir, and snack. Add them to all kinds of dishes in need of crunch, like the above pasta dish, or just inhale them on their own. ADDICTIVE!!

Enjoy the simplicity and bright flavors (thanks, lemon!) of these two items separately or together... you won't regret it!

Frecklize the World - Party inspiration, menu ideas, decorations and recipes: You're Invited -- Frecklize the World Hosts Birthday Giveaway

2010-02-25T15:38:02-05:00

via www.frecklizetheworld.com

My dear real life and blog friend Anne of Frecklize the World is having a 1st blog birthday giveaway! Enter to win a Barefoot Contessa book!

TIME IS RUNNING OUT!!!

2010-02-17T13:42:28-05:00

Check out the latest Stick a Fork In It post!

¡Bienvenido a Miami!

http://www.ellenfork.com/stick_a_fork_in_it_/2010/02/miami.html

A Throne Fit for a Cake

2010-02-01T00:23:21-05:00

It's January. It's cold. It's the perfect time of year to hole up in your cozy apartment and just make things, food things. It's the time of year when braising, baking and roasting are the perfect methods of cooking, since it is really too cold to go out and do anything. Might as well lurk around with a myriad of cooking magazines, books and websites, plotting the next culinary foray.

This weekend I had planned my culinary entertainment around two very important and very new additions to my kitchen arsenal. First, the lovely red Le Creuset 5 1/2 quart dutch oven I received for Christmas. That fiery red siren has been calling my name since it's arrival in December, but I had yet to properly utilize it. Second, the absolutely lovely glass cake dome given to me by my friend Becca as a hostess gift. I've been prowling around in search of such a vessel for a while, until this baby just landed, literally, on my doorstep. When I saw the package outside my door, I was afraid I had sleep-ordered something off the internet.

Anyway, something had to be done to fill these two items with delectable foods. Little did I know that a winter snowstorm would leave me cozy and captive for all of Saturday! Perfect conditions for a baking, stewing bonanza.

I'll go ahead and tell you that the dutch oven was used for a Cassoulet, but I'm not blogging that one til later, since it has so many damn ingredients and I'm just not up for it at the moment. So instead I will tell you all about the lovely cake that I enthroned in the dome! Enthroned in the dome, enthroned in the dome, enthroned in the dome... say that one ten times fast.

I used a recipe from Cooks Illustrated for the cake itself. Have I mentioned how much I love Cook's Illustrated? My mother gave me a subscription, and I fell for it, hard. I think it's the side by side comparison of appliances that truly speaks to me...and the step-by-step illustrated directions for dummies. For the icing I improvised on recipe from the Kitchen-Aid booklet that came with my stand mixer. Sometimes the best recipes are found in random places, like the instruction manual of an appliance or the back of a box. If you are dying to use a specific ingredient, I recommend looking on the maker's website or the back of the package for a recipe that is totally based around it.

Here is a truly delicious, moist and totally perfected cake recipe:

Rich and Tender Yellow Cake

Makes two 9-inch cakes. Published March 1, 1999 in Cook's Illustrated.

To quickly bring the eggs and milk to room temperature (65°F), submerge them in a bowl of warm water for about 10 minutes after mixing them together. Adding the butter pieces to the mixing bowl one at a time prevents the dry ingredients from flying up and out of the bowl.

4	large eggs , room temperature
1/2	cup whole milk , room temperature
2	teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4	cups sifted cake flour (or if you only have all purpose, subtract 2 tbsp from each sifted cup)

1 1/2	cups granulated sugar
2	teaspoons baking powder
3/4	teaspoon table salt
1/2	pound unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened, each stick cut into 8 pieces

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease two 9-by-1 1/2-inch cake pans with vegetable shortening and cover pan bottoms with rounds of parchment paper or wax paper. Grease parchment rounds, dust cake pans with flour, and tap out excess.
2. Beat eggs, milk, and vanilla with fork in small bowl; measure out 1 cup of this mixture and set aside. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment; mix on lowest speed to blend, about 30 seconds. With mixer still running at lowest speed, add butter one piece at a time; mix until butter and flour begin to clump together and look sandy and pebbly, with pieces about the size of peas, 30 to 40 seconds after all butter is added. Add reserved 1 cup of egg mixture and mix at lowest speed until incorporated, 5 to 10 seconds. Increase speed to medium-high (setting 6 on KitchenAid) and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add remaining egg mixture (about 1/2 cup) in slow steady stream, about 30 seconds. Stop mixer and thoroughly scrape sides and bottom of bowl. Beat on medium-high until thoroughly combined and batter looks slightly curdled, about 15 seconds longer. (To mix using hand mixer, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in large bowl. Add butter pieces and cut into the flour mixture with a pastry blender. Add reserved 1 cup of egg mixture; beat with hand mixer at lowest speed until incorporated, 20 to 30 seconds. Increase speed to high, add remaining egg mixture, and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Stop mixer and thoroughly scrape sides and bottom of bowl. Beat at high speed 15 seconds longer.)
3. Divide batter equally between prepared cake pans; spread to sides of pan and smooth with rubber spatula. Bake until cake tops are light golden and skewer inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. (Cakes may mound slightly but will level when cooled.) Cool on rack 10 minutes. Run a knife around pan perimeter to loosen. Invert cake onto large plate, peel off parchment, and re-invert onto lightly greased rack. Cool completely before icing.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (adapted from Kitchen-Aid manual)

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup cream or evap. milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 splash almond extract, if you like

1/4 tsp salt

4 cups powdered sugar, divided

low-fat milk, if necessary

Place butter in mixer bowl. Attach bowl and flat beater to mixer. Turn to Speed 4 (see what I mean, I love how this recipe has the exact speeds, since it is made by KA!) and beat about 1 minute, or until creamy. Stop and scrape bowl. Add cream, vanilla, almond, salt and 1 cup powdered sugar. Turn to Stir Speed and mix about 30 seconds. Stop and scrape bowl. Stick your finger in and lick it. Turn to Speed 2 and mix about 1 1/2 minutes, or until well blended. Stop and scrape bowl.

Turn to stir speed. Gradually add remaining 3 cups powdered sugar and mix until blended. Stop and scrap bowl if necessary. Add milk, 1 tsp at a time, if necessary (I did). Turn to Speed 4 and beat about 1 minute or until smooth.

This makes enough for a two layer cake. Oh yeah, and I sprinkled PECANS all over the top!! Yum!

Make this for people you want to like you. After they eat it, they won't care what you said about their mother anymore. They'll like you. It's THAT kind of cake.

New Year, New Whatever

2010-01-11T00:18:10-05:00

Well well well, here we are again at the beginning of a new year. I had just started to get used to the last one and now 2010 just comes out of nowhere, the jerk. Much like the rest of the populace, I am vowing to quit wallowing around in my own filth (figuratively of course). Naturally I am trying to eat healthier and exercise more, but I think everyone feels that way after swimming through the veritable pools of butter, wine and lard that come along with the holidays. Seriously, I'm on a lean meat, cruciferous veggie, cheese-reduced lifestyle bender and so far I feel way less sluggish. Additionally, two more realistic goals for this year are to BE POSITIVE!!!! and to TAKE ACTION!!! You know, do what I say I am going to do... kind of like the millions of times I swear up and down that I'm going to write a blog post (even going to far as to make and photograph something! There are many lovely posts waiting to debut in 2010...) and get distracted by something shiny. Shiny like my brand new RED KITCHEN AID ARTISAN MIXER! Boyfriend S. has scored major brownie points. And yes, that's a pun because I'm totally gonna make him BROWNIES WITH IT! God, I'm hilarious.

ANYWAY, who cares about my personal trials and tribulations. This post is about COOKIES, y'all. Yeah, yeah, I know I just said that I'm cutting down on the crap, but these cookies are actually good for you(ish). Cooking Light magazine says so. (PS- Has anyone noticed how much better that mag has gotten lately?? The pictures, the recipes, the columnists, it's all so much more readable. Many less Mom-ish articles (sorry moms) and ads for incontinence drugs)

The following recipe is one I snagged from this month's Cooking Light, but I've used various other oatmeal cookie recipes through the years to create chocolate-cherry oatmeal cookies. So, if you have your fave oatmeal cookie recipe, just throw in some cherries and chocolate and you're in biz. The actual title of these cookies is "Chocolate-Cherry Heart Smart Cookies", but I don't want to sound too healthy. I'm renaming them to...

Choco-Cherry Oatmeal Chompers

(by Marcie Dixon, featured in the Jan/Feb 2010 issue)

Ingredients:

1.5 oz (or 1/3 cup) all-purpose flour

1.5 oz (or 1/3 cup) whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

6 tbsp unsalted butter

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1 cup dried cherries (I used Bing)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg, lightly beaten

3 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used semisweet chunks)

Cooking spray

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine flours and the next three ingredients (through salt) in a mixing bowl (the bowl of your pretty red stand mixer, if that's what you're using...). Stir with a whisk.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a small saucepan until melted. Remove from heat and add brown sugar, stirring until it becomes smooth. For me, they never fulling incorporated, but that doesn't seem to matter. Then add sugar mixture to the flour mixture and beat with a mixer at medium speed, until well blended.

Add cherries, vanilla and egg, beating until combined. Fold in chocolate. Drop the dough onto a silpat or greased cookie sheet by the tablespoon, 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Remove pans from oven and let sit for 3 minutes; then remove cookies from pans and cool on wire racks.

Yield: 30 cookies (although for some reason I only got 22...not sure why)

And because this is Cooking Light, here is the nutritional info!

Serving size: 1 cookie Calories:94 Fat: 3.2g Protein: 1.5 g Carb: 15.7g annnnd who cares about the other values, these are enough. And, they're not so bad! So enjoy one of these lil cookies for breakfast or a quick snack during the day without feeling like a slob. You deserve it.

Happy New Year!

2009-12-24T23:43:41-05:00

Merry Christmas to all!!! Hope you're all feasting and enjoying good family and friends. Have a wonderful holiday!

Fork It Over: Momofuku Noodle Bar

2009-12-01T16:50:33-05:00

Check out my experience at Momofuku Noodle Bar over on Stick a Fork In It. Nomnomnomnom!

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: A 1964 Thanksgiving

2009-11-29T22:53:08-05:00

Happy Week After Thanksgiving, y’all!

I hope all of you had wonderful and feasty Thanksgivings. I have just returned to my lair from NYC, and I am fully prepared to share this years Thanksgiving menu with you. This year was my 2nd Annual Brooklyn Thanksgiving (remember last years?), in which I decamp from DC to NYC to make an insane amount of food with my twin, Alice. This year, however, had a bit of a twist.

Foodbuzz is a "social network for foodies" that helps create a community for food bloggers all over the world. Each month they sponsor Foodbuzz 24,24,24 (24 meals, 24 blogs, 24 hours). Bloggers submit a proposal for a unique meal/experience/whatever that will be featured by Foodbuzz. This month, mine was selected!

I proposed a Thanksgiving menu comprised of recipes from the 1964 Nashville Junior League Cookbook. My mother gave me this cookbook one year for Christmas, both for the fun of looking back at how people ate in 1964 and for the presence of many of my relatives and their included recipes. The dishes from this cookbook run the gamut from delicious to perplexing (Grape and olive salad? Tuna Princess? Congealed beet salad?).

The menu I ended up with was based on assumed level of tastiness and our ability to find the ingredients. They are also mostly from the kitchens of my relatives. Per usual, this year's gathering would be taking place in my sister's spacey Bushwick apartment in Brooklyn, NY. It is a fourth floor walk up in an old belt factory, and filled with artists and a plethora of young people– the perfect place to mix up with the civilized '60s of the South with modern day living and eating.

Here are few examples of some of the menus from the book. They are categorized by season, and all the recipes (and more) come after. How fun do either of these parties sound? I'm positive the women in attendance were were wearing white gloves. (If any family reading this knows more, tell me!)

This meal was unique because of the dishes themselves. They are from another era, a time when cooking from cans was all the rage. The way we eat, cook and think about food has changed so drastically since then. Back then it was the era of convenience- now it is all about eating fresh, local and trumping each new fad as it comes along. I love that these recipes came from the kitchens of the ladies of Nashville, in a time when restaurants were not the temples of gourmet food that they have now become, and the Food Network was inconceivable. This book is a marker of times past, but also a treasure trove of Southern favorites; I often turn to it for something new (and old) to make.

The following recipes were taken verbatim from the book. Naturally there were modifications, but only in lieu of ingredients that could not be found at the Key Foods in Brooklyn (such as substituting a wild rice blend for the canned rice…). I think the hits were the Baked Apples and the country ham and beaten biscuits. I ordered the ham special from the Loveless Cafe in Nashville, TN, the best ham in town! When it was fried up and placed atop a beaten biscuit with some honey mustard and mayo…so good! My mouth is watering again just thinking about it! There is nothing better than a salty slab of country ham and a dense, crackery beaten biscuit. As for the least favorite... Wild Rice Supreme was hands down winner. Canned mushrooms will not be gracing the counters of my kitchen again anytime soon...

Baked Apples Filled with Spiked Sweet Potatoes

Wash and core, without cutting all the way through, the required number of Winesap apples. Pare apples, making certain to leave some skin around the bottom. Place apples in a baking dish, preferably one in which apples can be served. Fill each center with sugar, lemon rind (grated), and a lump of butter. Pour into dish one tablespoon of water for each apple. Cook uncovered in a hot oven until they are tender, basting often. Test with straw after 35 minutes. Do not overcook. Mash cooked and peeled sweet potatoes. Beat potatoes until fluffy. Beat in butter, salt, a little nutmeg, cinnamon, cream or sherry, molasses orr brown sugar. Fold in chopped pecans and raisins. Fill apple with sweet potato mixture, leaving a tablespoon or so of the mixture on top of apple. Place marshmallow on each apple. Bake again in moderate oven until hot. Turn on broiler to toast marshmallows the last thing.

Mrs. Livingfield More (My second cousin, Aggie)

Fruit Compote

10 winesap apples
1 small can of apricot halves
2 tbsp crushed pineapple
2 tbsp seedless raisins
½ cup water
½ cup sugar
juice of one lemon
grated nutmeg

Peel, core and quarter apples in a casserole dish. Add apricot halves, crushed pineapple, seedless raisins and simply syrup (water and sugar cooked together until it thickens). Sprinkle with grated nutmeg and bake in moderate over for about 30 minutes or until apples are tender. Serves 8. May be prepared in advance.

Mrs. Rufus E. Fort, Jr. (Great-Aunt)

Wild Rice Supreme

3- 12 ounce cans of pre-cooked Nokomis all-purpose wild rice
2 small cans button mushrooms
1 medium can water chestnuts
3 tbsp butter

Combine wild rice, mushrooms, water chestnuts and butter. Put into pyrex dish and bake just until it’s piping hot, or heat in double boiler. Light topping of grated cheese if desired. Serves 8.

Can be done in advance and reheated. Unbelievably good to be so simple.

Mrs. Rufus Fort, Jr. (Great-Aunt)

Beaten Biscuit (served with fried Loveless Cafe Country Ham)

4 cups flour, sifted
2/3 cups lard
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup cream
½ cup milk

Mix together and roll until dough blisters and pops. Dough should be slick like marble. Cut out biscuits, prick twice with fork on tops and place on the middle rack of a 300 degree oven, preheated. When biscuits begin to brown on the bottom, turn oven to 250 degrees and continue to cook until a little color appears on the top of the biscuits…slightly pinkish. Turn off oven, open door but leave biscuits in to continue to dry out. This is not an original recipe but is very good. Makes about 4 dozen.

Mrs. Walter Stokes, Jr. (No relation, just a good recipe!)

Caviar Sour Cream Egg Halves

Caviar (we used paddlefish caviar)
½ pt sour cream
1 tbsp chives
1 dozen small eggs, hard-boiled

This is to be served in a frozen mold. To make mold, fill large silver bowl with water, place in center of bowl a plastic bowl for the sour cream and one for the caviar, or use a divided container. Weight the container and freeze. When ready to serve loosen the container and replace with caviar and sour cream. Place on silver tray with glass liner if possible. Put halved eggs around the edge and garnish with parsley. Spread sour cream and caviar on eggs and eat.

Mrs. Louise Fort Linton (Second cousin)

In addition to these retro treats, friends brought lots of goodies, such as turkey marinated in duck fat, green beans and lots of yummy desserts. All in all, I had a great time making family dishes, and reexamining the recipes from 1964 Nashville. And no matter where you are and what the year is, the combination of food, family and friends is always in style.