The Scenic Route

There’s a lot of writing yet to be done by the Minimalist Cook, and more ebooks, but I’m moving the operation over to the Mothership, The Minimalist Woman. The mailing list will be maintained, and all the posts will be archived. This is to simplify my writing life and also to reflect reality, where food and cooking are one part of a mindful life. There have been so many times I had a food-related theme I wanted to explore on Minimalist Woman, but didn’t in order to save the topic for this blog. Likewise there have been topics I thought too heavy or philosophical for this blog, and posted them “over there.”

The duality does not suit me and is not how I actually live my life, nor do most people. More than a cook, I am a writer who is following a minimalist path and it encompasses all aspects of life. Food is more than recipes; it relates to nourishment, health, budget, ecology, culture, and politics. I just happen to have a lot of first-hand experience with it.

So I want you to know that I’m working on another cooking ebook and will continue to write about sustainability in the kitchen and beyond. Thanks in advance  for following me over to the other blog and updating your feeds.

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Put Your Feet Up and Read Awhile!

Let’s welcome 2011 with some link love to recent articles and posts which deal with food and cooking. I hope you find them an enjoyable change of pace!

Civil Eats has republished an important article: New FDA Numbers Reveal Food Animals Consume Lion’s Share of Antibiotics. Whether you eat meat or not, the antibiotics fed to food animals puts all of us at risk. Overuse of antibiotics contributes to the strains of super-bacteria which are resistant to antibiotics. You can help by encouraging your Congressperson to pass legislation curbing the use of antibiotics in food animal production. I’d think that one outcome could be returning to cleaner, more natural ways of raising cattle, chickens, etc.

New York Times food writer Mark Bittman has a brief but clear and heartfelt manifesto: Chop, Fry, Boil: Eating for One, or 6 Billion. As always, he is amazed that Americans spend more time watching television (including cooking shows!) than they do cooking decent and healthful meals, and points out that knowing just three recipes is enough to make one a real cook. His conclusion makes a motto worth taking to heart:

By becoming a cook, you can leave processed foods behind, creating more healthful, less expensive and better-tasting food that requires less energy, water and land per calorie and reduces our carbon footprint. Not a bad result for us — or the planet.

The Washington Post had a recent editorial by Fred Hiatt: How did obesity become a partisan fight? Hiatt addresses the grief Michelle Obama has gotten for making childhood obesity her pet cause, especially considering it is actually a continuation of something that began under George W. Bush:

That’s why obesity is not a Democratic or Republican issue. Obama has merely extended and amplified a campaign that began under President George W. Bush; Bush’s last acting surgeon general, Steven K. Galson, made obesity a signature issue, calling it “a national health crisis . . . [that] is driving up healthcare costs and crippling the fabric of our communities.”

Commondreams.org announces that student activism is alive, well, and zeroed in on better food: Student Food Co-op Revolution on Campus: Going National in 2011! A group called CoFed is organizing a national training program for student food activists this month, and will turn them loose on both coasts and in the southwest. They’ve got some serious organizational know-how and sharp thinkers on board, so I look for this one to have some real impact.

Foie gras is unethical, right? Who in their right mind would eat the result of force-fed ducks? Ah, but before you dismiss it it further, read this incredibly informative article by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt of Serious Eats: The Physiology of Foie: Why Foie Gras is Not Unethical. He begins from an anti-foie gras stance. It may or may not change your mind, but the information is presented in a clear and fair way.

Carolyn Cope at Serious Eats gives us some practical help with lettuce prep: The Crisper Whisperer: Big Bag of Salad. Read the comments, too, for further advice.

Finally, Kenji Lopez-Alt puts out his list of Equipment: The 7 Most Essential Pots and Pans. His budget runs a little higher than mine, but I heartily agree with the kinds of pots and pans he recommends.

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Seconds, Anyone? Still Warm From the Oven...

Lots of us are trying to moderate our carbohydrate intake, particularly flour and sugar. Oatmeal/porridge is highly recommended for breakfast, but my problem is eating it without adding loads of sweetener, usually brown sugar. I’ve seen baked oatmeal recipes which looked intriguing, but those, too usually have sugar as well as flour and fat.

Here’s something I came up with the day before yesterday when faced with bananas intended for banana bread but I didn’t want anything with either flour or sugar in it. I haven’t experimented with other variations, including leaving out the eggs, so if you give it a go, let me know what you did differently and how it turned out

Wheat-Free and Sugar-Free Breakfast Oat Cakes

Oven 350F

Combine in mixing bowl:

• 2 ripe bananas, smashed
• 2 eggs, beaten

Add:

• 1 1/2 c old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/4 tsp salt (optional)
• 1/4 c raisins
• 1/4 c milk

Pour into a 9 x 9 or 8 x 8 lightly oiled or sprayed baking dish and bake for @25 minutes or until the center is firm to the touch. Cut into quarters.  Keeps well for a day if wrapped and refrigerated, and reheats nicely in the microwave.

Options: pinch of nutmeg or cinnamon, other dried fruit, nuts, applesauce or chopped apples

You can also try it without eggs and see what happens. Your goal is a batter that is the consistency of milky oatmeal. The finished texture will vary widely depending on how much milk you add to the batter. This is one of those recipes that you can do by feel, throwing together whatever you have on hand or feel like eating–have fun with it!

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Coming Your Way in a Blaze of Glory

My husband Steve is an Englishman, and at Christmastime I like to treat him to some of his favorites like Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding, Stilton cheese with a nice port, etc. Yorkshire Pudding is very much like a savory turnover, the batter is poured into the sizzling hot beef drippings and then it puffs up dramatically in a very hot oven. Then there is the goody known as Plum Pudding, which is a spice cake full of dried fruits that is steamed instead of baked, then set ablaze by pouring brandy lit with a match over the whole thing. I first made it last Christmas and loved every bite, so I’ve given it some thought and simplified the recipe as much as I could for the parameters of The Minimalist Cook.

Here’s the nutshell process:

• Mix up the batter
• Pour it into a greased pot/mold
• Cover with a tight waterproof lid
• Set into a pot deep and wide enough to hold the mold
• Steam the pudding for five hours or so
• Let the pudding sit a bit, then unmold
• Heat up brandy, light with a match, and pour over the pudding when ready to serve

First you need to line up the equipment to do it right, which is the bowl or mold, a tight-fitting lid, and a lidded pot big enough to encase the mold while it steams. There are pudding molds, which are generally metal with tight-fitting lids, and there are pudding basins, which are ceramic and a bit like clay flower pots in shape with the wide rim around the top. The rim is useful for tying a string around the foil and parchment paper you place on top of the basin as a lid.

I actually own a pudding mold and learned the hard way to distinguish between 2 litres and 2 quarts. In true American fashion my recipe doesn’t just make a pudding, it makes a BIG pudding. You want your pudding mold to have about 2″ of extra room at the top because it expands while it cooks. My recipe filled my pudding mold almost to the top. About halfway through the steaming process, the lid blew off and it was a challenge to keep the pudding covered in the steaming pot so that it wouldn’t get waterlogged. Live and learn.

Note that the pudding mold lid has a ring at the top–that is to help set in or remove the pot without having to burn your hands in the steam. A sturdy wire coat hanger is ideal for catching the ring. Otherwise you might have to plan on creating some kind of lift such as a long thick strip of aluminum foil. Or you can do what I did and set the mold in the pasta strainer basket of a big pasta/stock pot.

This year I did not use the pudding mold, but instead used a 2-quart stainless steel mixing bowl (a smaller version of this one). It fit inside my pasta pot, it had enough room at the top for the pudding to expand, and it wasn’t going to react badly with the port-soaked raisins. It also had a rim around the top, which provided some way to tightly tie on the parchment and foil cover. This is considered a perfectly acceptable way to steam a Christmas Pud, and I heartily recommend it as a way to prevent accumulating single-task gadgets.

There are a zillion great  Christmas pudding recipes. Some take days to prepare, some are like fruitcakes, made far in advanced and intentionally aged. I like this recipe because it can be made the day you want to serve it or can be made a week in advance, and the raisins are plumped up in port, which really goes well with the warm and tawny spices and citrus zest.

Flaming Christmas Plum Pudding

First, combine:

• 1 c raisins
• 1 c port (regular, tawny, ruby, whaddever you got, or even sherry)

–and warm up for a minute in the microwave. Let this sit for about an hour. Longer doesn’t hurt.

Cream together in a large bowl:

• 2 sticks softened butter
• 1 c sugar

Now add:

• 1 c flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

–and mix in thoroughly, then mix in:

• 4 lightly beaten eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 c dark brown sugar

That makes the batter that holds everything together. Now for the fun stuff, which you can mix in one at a time or all at once, whichever way works for you:

• the port-soaked raisins and the remaining port
• 1 c grated carrots (two medium carrots)
• 1 1/2 c chopped pecans (or walnuts, as you prefer)
• 2 c chopped mixed dried fruit (prunes, apricots, pears, apples, dates, etc.–use the good ready to eat kind, not hard and dried out ones)
• zest of 1 orange
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or some combination of nutmeg, cloves, etc.)
• 1 c breadcrumbs

Now spray or butter the bowl you want to use for the mold, and pour in the pudding batter. Cover it with a sheet of parchment paper, and cover the paper with a sheet of aluminum foil. Tie it tightly under the rim with cooking or cotton twine, and trim off the excess paper and foil, leaving about an inch below the twine.

If you are using a pasta pot, set the pudding mold in the strainer basket. Add enough water to the pot so that it comes halfway up the pudding mold. Bring the water to a boil, set in the strainer with the pudding mold, put the lid on the pot, and turn the heat down to low. Let it steam for 5 hours, occasionally checking to make sure the water doesn’t evaporate and wreck your pot.

After five hours, remove the pudding mold from the water and let it rest for 30-40 minutes. Uncover, gently run a spatula around the edges, and unmold the pudding onto the serving plate. It’ll probably release very quickly. Leave the mold on the pudding while it cools, to retain its wonderful moistness. When it is completely cool, wrap it up and keep in the refrigerator until you need it. The unmolded pudding will look like this:

Ho Ho Ho! Naked Plum Pudding

Plum puddings are traditionally served with some sort of Hard Sauce. There are about a zillion good Hard Sauce recipes, too, but Steve prefers a simple white sauce flavored with vanilla:

Hard Sauce for Christmas Pudding

Cream together:

• 1 stick softened butter
• 1 c sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 Tb brandy (optional)

Beat well and add a little milk if needed. It should be light and of of whipped-cream consistency. Put a dollop of it on the top of the pudding when it is warm and after its been “fired.”

Plum puddings are reheated by steaming them again for about an hour, so if you need to make yours in advance, plan ahead as well for the reheating time. This is a rich concoction, so it is best to serve it in very small slices as opposed to big wedges.

When you’re ready to serve, heat up @ 1/4 cup of brandy in a glass measuring cup (30 seconds in the microwave), and light it with a match. You’ll have a measuring cup full of blue flames! Darken the room as much as you can and pour the flaming brandy over the top of the cake. It is traditional to applaud its approach to the dinner table. This is so cool:

Not a Waste of Perfectly Good Brandy

Happy Holidays From Meg & Steve

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Festive and Yummy and Easy Pecan Toffee Bars

Pecan Toffee Bars are one of the easiest and tastiest and most portable of cookie/dessert type treats. If you have a food processor, this recipe takes no time at all and you can make the crust and the filling without washing out the bowl, which saves time and mess. They are good plain, but if you want to give them a little extra pizzazz, drizzle them with rapid zigzags of dark chocolate and white chocolate glazes.

One nice thing about this sweet is that none of the ingredients contain high fructose corn syrup, as unlikely as it may be. Another nice thing is that they can be made in a large rimmed cookie sheet or in a jelly roll pan. Just remember that the thicker they are (in a smaller pan) the longer they take to bake, but just by a couple of minutes.

Easy Pecan Toffee Bars

Oven 350F

Combine in a food processor fitted with the chopping blade:
1 1/2 c flour
1/3 c powdered sugar

Add:
1 1/2 sticks butter, cut in pieces
Process to coarse crumb texture.
Press into rimmed cookie sheet and bake until golden, 15-20 minutes. Be careful not to overbake.

Meanwhile, reassemble the food processor bowl and blade, and lightly chop:
1 1/2 c whole pecans

Add:
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
8 oz Heath toffee bits

Pulse a few times until the ingredients are mixed together.

When the crust has finished prebaking, take it out and pour the filling onto the crust, gently spreading it all the way to the rim of the pan. Bake until golden, 20-23 minutes. Cool to room temperature or refrigerate before cutting.

For a fancier look, melt 1/4 c chocolate chips, stir until smooth, and pour into a sandwich-size baggie. Snip a tiny bit off one corner of the bag, and squeeze out a drizzle of chocolate over the pecan bars. Do the same thing with 1/4 cup of white chocolate chips. You can make designs or Jackson Pollock squiggles, whatever your heart desires. Be sure to briefly freeze the bars after the chocolate glaze, so it sets and doesn’t smear when you cut or transport it.

I’ve just made some this afternoon and they go so well with a good cuppa coffee. Keep them in a sealed container in the refrigerator (use waxed paper between layers if you stack them) for up to a week. They also freeze well.

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