Second Floor Walkup

Dickson's Farmstand - The Whole Beast - Part 1

2013-02-26T14:55:00.000-05:00

Dickson's Farmstand Meats, in Chelsea Market has a wide variety of locally-sourced meats. For Christmas, my parents got me two "Whole Beast" gift cards, one for beef and one for pork, which entitle me to a TON of FREE MEAT. Woohoo! See the results, after the jump...

The first time I used the beef card, I walked into the store, showed them my card, and 1 minute later, was waltzing out with 4lbs of short ribs. The second trip was for a pork shoulder - the card entitled me to 3lbs, but the shoulder they had came up a bit short -- to make up the difference they threw in some slab bacon. I felt like a meat celebrity. It was awesome. You know what else was awesome? The meals I made with this bounty of meat.

Below are the results of each card's first punch.

Red-Wine Braised Short Ribs with Wilted Spinach and Cauliflower Puree

Recipes adapted from Cooks Illustrated

Since there was so much of this leftover, on the second night I made some into a ragu, served over farfalle, and third night I made the last remnants into chili (which we noshed on at cookbook club).

Pork Shoulder Carnitas with Homemade Corn Tortillas and Pickled Onions

Recipes adapted from Cooks Illustrated, Rick Bayless, and David Lebovitz

Bake: Pear-Ginger Hand Pies

2012-11-21T21:15:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving 2012 is upon us already. This year has flown by, and we at 2FW certainly have a lot to be thankful for - my solo law practice has surpassed its 1-year mark, this blog passed its 3-year mark, we were basically unaffected by Hurricane Sandy, and our family and friends are all happy and (despite ups and downs) healthy.

Tomorrow, I'll be cooking up some rib steaks from Grazin' Angus Acres (I hate cooking turkey) and brussels sprouts with bacon (cooked in duck fat). The wine, bread, salad, potato gratin, and a chocolate dessert will come courtesy of our friends J^2. For my dessert, I decided to make pear and ginger hand pies. The pears at the farmers market looked amazing, and I wanted to stray from the classic apple and cinnamon flavorings. I've also made a number of pies recently and felt like branching out to the hand-pie arena.

This recipe can be made with store-bought roll-out crust, if you must. I had some Food Emporium brand crust that I attempted to use, but it was bland and lifeless, so I went back to the store mid-recipe to pick up ingredients for my cream cheese dough. Definitely worth the trip and extra effort.

Pear-Ginger Hand Pies
Yield: 10-20 (depending on size)

Crust:
16 oz cream cheese
16 tbsp butter, somewhat soft
3 tbsp sugar
1.66 c pastry flour
1 tsp salt
all-purpose flour for rolling

Filling:
16 tbsp butter, unsalted
1 medium piece ginger
6 bosc pears
0.5 lemon
2 tsp quick tapioca
1 tsp vanilla
0.25 c sugar
0.25 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
1 egg
1 tbsp kosher salt
2 tbsp pearl sugar (optional)

(1) Melt butter in a medium saucepan over med-low heat
(2) Peel and dice ginger (about 1/2 c yield) and add to butter

(3) Peel, core, and shred one of the pears; add to butter/ginger mix

(4) Peel, core, and dice remaining pears, tossing with lemon juice after each one (to reduce browning)

(5) Add pears, sugar, tapioca, vanilla, and nutmeg to pan, stir and simmer on low for 30-45 minutes until thickened

(6) Meanwhile, prep the crust as in the Mixed Berry Pie recipe, steps 1-3
(7) Chill dough for about 10 mins
(8) Taking a small piece at a time, roll out dough to about 1/8" thick and cut into approx. 5" circles (I used the lid of a Trader Joe's coffee can)

(9) Place dough circles on parchment-paper lined baking sheets (once filled, they will be difficult to move)

(10) Check on progress of filling - the pears and ginger should be al dente to soft when biting into them (the ginger takes longer to soften) -- cook for more time if not soft enough yet

(11) Preheat oven to 375 degrees

(12) Spoon approximately 1 tbsp of filling into center of each circle

(13) Beat egg with a dash of water

(14) Dip your finger in the egg wash and trace along the edge of each dough circle

(15) Fold the circles in half to form half-moon shapes; press the edges closed

(16) With a flour-dusted fork, seal the edges

(17) Make 2 slits in the top of each pie

(18) Brush the top of each pie generously with the egg wash and sprinkle with salt and pearl sugar

(19) Bake for 15 minutes, rotate the pan, then bake for another 20-30 minutes until golden brown

(20) Move parchment sheet to wire rack to cool completely

(21) Reheat in 250 degree oven, if desired

Notes: It's ok if some of the pies explode when assembling, just make sure there is enough of a dough rim so that the filling doesn't spill out, and brush the whole top w/ egg wash. They still turn out ok and I can confirm are still delicious. 5" dough circles should yield about 18 pies.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

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What was cooking this time last year? Two years ago? Three?

Hurricane Day 1: Brown Butter Sugar Cookies

2012-10-29T13:42:00.002-04:00

Not much in the apartment besides butter, sugar, flour, and eggs, and the last remaining grocery store has a line out the door. Stranded inside, with train service suspended, tunnels closed, and flood waters rising, what's a girl to do? Bake!

Brown Butter Sugar Cookies

(sorry for lack of step-by-step pics!)

2.25 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
0.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 stick butter
1.5 tsp vanilla
1 c sugar
.5 c brown sugar
2 medium eggs (or 1 jumbo egg), room temperature

1. Brown butter in saute pan over low heat, allow to cool
2. Beat butter with sugars until blended
3. Add egg(s) and vanilla, beat until combined
4. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt
5. Add flour mix to butter mix and beat until combined
6. Cover and chill 20 mins
7. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
8. Roll dough into 1" balls and roll through granulated sugar to coat
9. Bake on parchment paper lined baking sheet for 5 mins, then press each down with a fork
10. Bake for another 8-10 mins until beginning to brown
11. Cool on wire rack

The World's Best Wedding Cake

2012-09-18T20:48:00.001-04:00

I am delighted to announce that on August 10, 2012, we (M & J of Second Floor Walkup) got married at NYC's city hall! It was an immediately-family-only gathering with a casual "backyard" (read: 1BR apartment terrace) BBQ afterward. As an avid baker, I decided to take on the challenge of making our wedding cake - a two-tiered gluten free chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream. It shall henceforth be known as The World's Best Wedding Cake.

I used the gluten free chocolate cupcake recipe I posted a few months ago as well as the frosting recipe from that post (though I made about 20x the quantity of frosting, and doubled the amount of salt). I started on a Wednesday by making two 8" round cakes and one 6" round cake - the 8" cakes came out to about 2" thick and the 6" cake was about 4" thick. Since cake mixes can sometimes get wonky if multiplied, I made it 3 separate times rather than one triple-sized batch.

(Due to the craziness of the wedding week, I didn't get as many pics as I should have of the process, so use your imagination.)

My 8" pans have removable bottoms and the 6" pan is springform. Each pan was lined with parchment paper, which was sprayed with nonstick cooking spray and dusted with (gluten-free) flour. The 8" cakes cooked for about 40 minutes and the 6" cake cooked for about 1 hour at 350 degrees. The cakes are done when a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean - start checking around 30 minutes, to ensure you don't overbake.

Allow the cakes to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, wrap the cakes securely in plastic wrap and freeze until the day before your event. On the day before the event, move to the refrigerator to thaw.

After cakes have thawed for a few hours, whip up large batch of frosting (approx. 16 oz powdered sugar and 16 tbsp butter, plus generous vanilla and salt). Slice each of the cakes in half; frost the bottom of each sliced section generously, in a continuous swiping motion, so that all of the cake surface is covered and frosting hangs over the edge. Stack the cakes back together, and then frost the top section of one 8" cake and stack the other 8" cake on top. Squish together slightly to secure the cakes and spread the extra frosting around the outside. At this point, you should have one 4-layer 8" round and one 2-layer 6" round; place each cake tier on the correctly-sized cardboard cake circle, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until the morning of the event.

On the morning of the event, make a large batch of frosting (32oz/32 tbsp). Remove the cakes from the refrigerator. Frost each tier by placing a giant blob of frosting in the middle of the top of the cake; slowly smooth out the frosting, being careful not to pick up any cake chunks, with the excess being pushed over the edge of the cake. Frost the sides by smoothing out and pushing down this excess, adding more blobs on the top of the cake as needed. It's a tedious job, but is an easier way to ensure you don't end up with cake pieces all over the place. Refrigerate the frosted layers for at least 30 minutes to harden up the frosting.

Remove the layers from the refrigerator and get ready to stack! Measure the required height of the cake dowels by sticking one into the center of the 8" layer and marking where it is flush with the cake top. Cut 6 dowels to this length; insert one into the center and place the other 5 in a circle around the center dowel about 3" from the edge of the cake. Carefully place the 6" tier (on its cardboard round) on top of the dowels. Hope that your cake doesn't collapse at this point.

Using a pastry bag with a large circular tip, fill the gap where the tiers meet with frosting, and smooth with a spatula. At this point you should have a tiered cake more or less covered in enough frosting so that the cake and structural elements are not visible.

Chill the cake in the refrigerator for at least 1 hr to harden this layer of frosting - yes, NYC fridges are small, so make sure your cake is not within the blast radius of your precariously-stacked jars of pickles and jam. Remove the cake after chilling, and decorate to your heart's content.

First, I smoothed the edges using a bench scraper. Then, I used a small plain pastry tip to make little dots circling the bottom of the bottom layer (and hide where it meets the cake stand).

I used a star tip in a spiral motion to create flowers along the edge between the bottom and top layers, a cheese knife in an upward motion to "decorate" the sides of the top layer, the back of a spoon around the bottom layer, and then added another round of the plain-pastry-tip dots to the edge of the top layer. Voila! Delicious cake!

The fam easily devoured the top layer on the night of the wedding, and we spent the next 5 days eating the bottom layer (surprisingly, we did not hit cake overload, it was just too delicious to stop eating).

What was cooking this time last year? Two years ago?

Bake: Mixed Berry Pie

2012-07-04T19:36:00.001-04:00

Ok, so, it's been a long time since my last post, and even longer since my last recipe post. Summer is a busy time! In honor of Independence Day, I baked up a mixed berry pie. Recipe after the jump...

Mixed Berry Pie

Crust:

8oz butter, cut into small piece

8oz cream cheese

3 tbsp sugar

1.66 c pastry flour

1 tsp salt

All-purpose flour for dusting

Filling:

1 pint strawberries, hulled and sliced

0.5 pint raspberries

0.5 pint blueberries

0.5 c sugar

3 tbsp quick tapioca

dash of vanilla extract

juice and zest of one lemon

2 tbsp butter, sliced into thin pats

(1) Mix butter, cream cheese, and 3tbsp sugar together until combined

(2) Add pastry flour and salt

(3) Mix until just combined - don't overmix!

(4) Turn dough out onto a floured surface; cut in half

(5) Flatten each half into a round disc, cover in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes

(6) Preheat oven to 375 degrees

(7) Remove one dough disc from the refrigerator and roll out to approximately 11" round

(8) Place dough into 9" pie pan and cut so no dough hangs over the edge

(9) Cover with foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans

(10) Bake 25 minutes until crust begins to brown

(11) Remove foil and weights, bake for another 10-15 minutes until fully browned (you should be able to remove the crust from the pan completely - if it sticks, bake it longer)

(12) Let crust cool completely

(13) Once crust is cool, preheat oven to 375 degrees again

(14) Make the filling by combining berries, lemon juice, lemon zest, tapioca, vanilla, and sugar in a bowl and letting sit for 15 minutes

(15) Meanwhile, roll out second disc of dough and cut into shapes (I used a star cookie cutter)

(16) Place dough cutouts on parchment and refrigerate while filling is stewing

(17) Pour filling into crust

(18) Layer the butter pats over the filling

(19) Top with the star cutouts

(20) Bake for 45-60 minutes, until stars are fully browned and filling is bubbling; cover edges with foil if they're getting too brown

(21) Let cool at room temperature before eating.

Happy 4th Everyone!

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What was cooking this time last year? Two years ago?

Cookbook Club: Homemade

2012-05-17T12:56:00.000-04:00

So, I’ve been a bit delinquent with reviewing the latest CBC reviews... We're actually having a Cookbook Club meeting tonight, so I figured I should catch up on the two past-due posts. Back in January we had a very well-attended Cookbook Club meeting featuring the book Homemade by Yvette Van Boven , released in English in 2011 (originally in Dutch) and voted one of the best cookbooks of the year. Full review after the jump…

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Homemade

Overall Rating: 2 stars

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Ever wanted to know how to make a terrine? How about 10 different types of terrine and terrine-like items (“TLIs”)? Then Homemade is the book for you! While the book has a number of gems and is a feast for the eyes, it is definitely not a book you should pick up if you are at all hesitant about eating meat and fish.

Our CBC meeting included pizza bianca with chickpea and sage flatbreads, goat yogurt hangop with thyme and olives, lavash crackers, cauliflower soup with stilton, lots and lots of terrines/pate, Irish soda bread, herring salad with beetroot and vodka, sardine salad, long leek pie, panettone and custard pudding, winter squash buns, – all very good, but so rich. There were so many rich, meaty foods that we ended up going vegetarian for the following month’s meeting (the post for which will be posted later today).

The recipes are, as promised by the title, made at home from scratch. It’s a nice change from NY’s first girlfriend’s Semi-Homemade nonsense. We enjoyed the aesthetics of the book and the food that resulted. While some balked at the difficulty level (read: time commitment) of some of the recipes, there is definitely a time and place for the type of recipes found in this book. For a home cook who is starting to experiment with different ingredients and techniques, this would be an excellent gift to help them break out of their comfort zone.

Cookbook Club Rating System:
-3 stars: This cookbook is essential, buy it now
-2 stars: Good overall, a nice addition, but not an urgent buy
-1 star: Meh; one or two good ideas, but not worth the money
-0 stars: Would work better as kindling than a cookbook

Bake: Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes

2012-03-19T22:22:00.003-04:00

You've probably seen a lot of hubbub over "gluten free" products recently and might be wondering - Is it a fad diet? Is gluten bad for you? What the heck is this gluten stuff anyway?

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Gluten is "an extensive network of coiled proteins"* found in many grains including wheat, barley, and rye. It has a hand in many of the items you probably eat throughout the day - from your breakfast cereal, to a sandwich for lunch, pasta for dinner, and a beer (or two). So, if gluten is so important to so many foods, why does it have a bad rep? Unfortunately, as awesome as gluten is for making your bread rise, it can cause some pretty nasty damage to your body if you suffer from Celiac disease or its clinically-less-recognized-cousin gluten sensitivity.

Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition whereupon gluten causes the body to damage the villi in the lining of the small intestine, making it difficult or impossible for the body to absorb nutrients from food. The cause of the disease is unknown, and there is no cure, other than a gluten-free diet. Celiac disease doesn't have one single calling card, and can manifest in numerous symptoms, or none at all. Afflicted individuals may be underweight, overweight, have GI problems, a rash, thyroid issues, or simply just fatigue. A clinical diagnosis is made after a blood test (which tests for the presence certain antibodies, and is notoriously unreliable), an initial intestinal biopsy showing damage, and a second biopsy after a gluten-free diet is adopted to see if the intestine is repairing itself. Currently, many GPs in the United States are slow to suggest Celiac disease as a potential cause of a patient's problems, but awareness is steadily increasing. Don't be afraid to be your own health advocate and request a blood test for Celiac disease. Even if results are inconclusive or do not indicate the presence of Celiac disease, a gluten free diet may help alleviate your symptoms - try it for two weeks and see what happens.

So, with all of that medical business out of the way, I bring you my recipe for gluten free chocolate cupcakes. A friend of mine recently went gluten free, and as her birthday was approaching, I figured I'd test out my gluten free baking skills on some bday treats. But first, I had to delve into some baking science.

The role of gluten in baking is primarily to create a stong, but elastic, structure in the baked goods. Its most prominent role is in bread, where kneading helps to develop the strength of the gluten. In cupcakes, however, one wants to limit the development of the gluten, lest you end up with chocolate-flavored dinner rolls. Cake flour contains slightly less gluten than an all-purpose flour and substantially less than a bread flour; the high fat and sugar content further inhibits gluten development. But, removing gluten all together doesn't necessarily result in the best cake you've ever made.

The ingredients used to replace the flour in the recipe will make or break your cupcakes. I use Mr. Ritt's Gluten Free Flour Mix, which generally can be used 1:1 in place of glutinous flour.

The mix contains a proprietary blend of rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, and xanthan gum. Rice flour is about 90% starch, whereas regular flour is about 70% starch. This is actually good for all cake baking, glutinous and not, as a cake's structure comes largely from starch, rather than the dispersed gluten. BUT, starch creates this structure by absorbing water (which later evaporates out of the cake leaving a network of holes). To compensate for the extra-starchiness of this gluten free flour, you must modify an all-purpose flour recipe to provide more moisture than specified, or your cupcakes may come out dry and lifeless.

A few more points:

(1) Be conscious of cross-contamination - thrououghly clean all work surfaces and utensils before embarking on a gluten free adventure; if you've dipped a measuring cup in flour and then into your sugar canister, open a new bag of sugar - otherwise your "happy birthday cupcakes" can turn into an evening of agony.

(2) The recipe is done by weight - why? Because that's how you should be baking. Buy a scale. You can thank me later.

(3) Not all chocolate, cocoa powder, sour cream, etc. is gluten free, so be sure to do your homework before shopping.

So, without further ado, the recipe:

Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 12 cupcakes

Cupcakes:
8 tbsp unsalted butter
2 oz dark chocolate
1.5 oz cocoa powder (not dutch-processed)
3.75oz Mr. Ritt's Gluten Free Flour Mix
0.5 tsp baking soda
0.75 tsp baking powder
2 extra large eggs, room temperature
5.25 oz sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
5 oz sour cream

Frosting:
10 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
5 oz powdered sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla

(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees

(2) Melt butter, chocolate, and cocoa powder in a double boiler until smooth, set aside to cool

(3) In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder

(4) Whip eggs until frothy

(5) Add sugar, vanilla, and salt, whip on high for 30 seconds

(6) Add the cooled chocolate to the egg mixture until combined

(7) Mix in one third of the flour mixture

(8) Add the sour cream and mix to combine

(9) Add the remaining flour and mix until combined, scraping down the bowl edges with a spatula

(10) Place liners in each cup of a 12-cavity standard muffin tin

(11) Scoop batter into each liner as evenly as possible

(12) Bake for 18 minutes; tops should spring back when lightly pressed with your finger

(13) Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely

(14) Meanwhile, combine all frosting ingredients in a clean mixer bowl and whip until smooth. Adjust the sugar and salt to your taste preference.

(15) When completely cooled, frost each cupcake by placing a large dollop on top and spreading out to the edge, being careful not to pick up any crumbs along the way.

(16) Store covered at room temperature.

*Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking (Scribner 2004). Many of the food facts in this post are taken from this book.

What was cooking this time last year? Two years ago?

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Cookbook Club: Martha Stewart's Cookies

2012-02-05T14:16:00.005-05:00

Back in December, we held a Cookbook Club cookie exchange and each baked several varieties from Martha Stewart's Cookies. I originally picked up the book a few years ago, when I ran out of ideas for different types of cookies to make. Despite repeatedly using the book for inspiration, I had never actually baked any of the recipes as written.

There are 175 cookie recipes in the book, grouped into categories like "light and delicate" and "chunky and nutty." The reason I initially bought the book is the unique layout on pages 7-17 - each of the 175 cookies, grouped by category, is photographed from above with the name and page number of the recipe below. It's an excellent way to browse the many recipes in the book, and even better for deciding exactly which kind of cookie you're craving.

So, good friends, lots of cookies, and recipes from the woman Oprah calls "America's Homemaking Queen" - what could go wrong?

The recipes don't work. She may be able to make a centerpiece, and lay out a beautiful cookbook, but the lady does not know how to write cookie recipes. In her defense, the recipes were likely written by ghostwriters. But, she puts her name (and face) on the book, so she's endorsed whatever lies within.

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Martha Stewart's Cookies

Overall Rating: 1 star

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We made over 10 different recipes from the book and each had the same complaint - the baking time and temperature is waaaaaay off. The book should be renamed Mile-High Cookies: Recipes for Baking at Altitude, because it's the only way the times and temps would start to make sense. This was not baker error or faulty equipment - this was a problem found among six bakers in six different kitchens.

(sorry for the low-res pic, in my cookie-dough-induced psychosis, I forgot my good camera)

When we modified the time and temperature for our second batches, they baked properly. But, I still wouldn't use the recipes in this book. Many of the recipes are based on a standard shortbread dough, with spices and such mixed in to change up the flavor. I get it, if I had to come up with 175 recipes by a publishing deadline, I'd probably phone it in too. But if I'm going to be making a glorified shortbread cookie, then I'll be using my own recipe.

If you can find this book used or on sale, then pick it up, rip out and save pages 7-17, and recycle the rest.

Cookbook Club Rating System:
-3 stars: This cookbook is essential, buy it now
-2 stars: Good overall, a nice addition, but not an urgent buy
-1 star: Meh; one or two good ideas, but not worth the money
-0 stars: Would work better as kindling than a cookbook

What was cooking this time last year? Two years ago?

Cinnamon Sandwich Cookies with Orange Cream

2012-01-07T23:11:00.001-05:00

Winter means baking with two of my favorite ingredients - cinnamon and citrus. I started this recipe planning to fill the cinnamon shortbread squares with orange curd. That led to a gooey mess that was less "sandwich cookie" and more "cookie dunked in syrup". So, I improvised, whipped some cream, and stirred it into the curd. The resulting filling was thick enough to maintain structural integrity, and tasted like a creamsicle. Make sure you leave time to chill these for an hour or so before serving, as it further thickens the cream.

Cinnamon Sandwich Cookies with Orange Cream

Prep Time: 1.5 hours
Total Time: 3 hours (mostly waiting time)
Yield: About 45 bite-sized cookies

2 c flour plus extra for rolling
1.5 tbsp cinnamon
20 tbsp butter (split 16 tbsp and 4 tbsp)
2 c plus 2 tbsp sugar (split 1.25 c, 0.75 c, and 2 tbsp)
0.5 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
3 large eggs
0.5 c fresh orange juice (about 1.5 naval oranges)
1 tbsp orange zest
2 c heavy cream

(1) Mix 16 tbsp butter, 1.25 c sugar, and vanilla until creamy

(2) Add flour, cinnamon, and salt, mix until just combined

(3) Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 10 minutes

(4) Preheat oven to 350 degrees

(5) Remove dough from refrigerator and roll out to 1/8 inch thick

(6) Cut into bite-sized squares or other shape and place on parchment-paper lined baking sheets

(7) Bake each sheet of cookies for 7 minutes, or just until edges begin to brown

(8) Cool on a wire rack

(9) Meanwhile, stir eggs, 0.75 c sugar, and orange juice together

(10) Heat in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly

(11) When mixture begins to thicken so that the spoon leaves a trail that is quickly filled in (about 170 degrees, see picture at step 10), remove from heat and whisk in orange zest and remaining butter

(12) Strain through a fine mesh strainer and allow to cool

(13) Whip cream and 2 tbsp sugar until it thickens and sticks to the whisk

(14) Stir cooled orange curd into whipped cream

(15) Place a dollop of orange cream on half of the cookies

(16) Place another cookie on top of the cream dollops to form a sandwich

(17) Chill for at least 1 hr prior to serving

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What was cooking this time last year? Two years ago?

Happy New Year from Xerox and Salty!

Epic Dinner by Iron Chef Morimoto

2011-12-21T10:11:00.000-05:00

Cookbook Club: Breakfast, Brunch, and Beyond

2011-12-18T12:21:00.004-05:00

At the November Cookbook Club meeting, we reviewed Clinton St. Baking Company Cookbook: Breakfast, Brunch, and Beyond. Clinton St. Baking Company is a restaurant in New York City's Lower East Side, famous for its Sunday brunch. The restaurant came out with its first cookbook late last year. As they don't take reservations, and the Sunday brunch waiting list can be hours long, this cookbook is closest many will come to experiencing the "Best Brunch Spot in the Whole Damn Country."

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Clinton St. Baking Company Cookbook:

Breakfast, Brunch, and Beyond

Overall Rating: 2.5 stars

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In addition to the dishes pictured below, we also made spring pea puree soup, tomato zucchini bisque, the farmer's plate and sugar-cured bacon (we made this with duck "bacon" so we can't really comment on the real recipe, although the stuff we made was quite tasty).

Buttermilk biscuits (whole wheat and regular) - pretty good, but definitely not a southern-style, flaky biscuit.

Sunshine yogurt muffins - AMAZING - but let's be serious, these are cupcakes

Baked truffled grits - delicious (but when it's 50% grits and 50% cheese, it's bound to be pretty tasty)

Jalapeno cornbread

Goat cheese and herb muffins

French toast - this was pretty freakin' fantastic

and, of course, booze: hot buttered cider, bloody marys, bellinis, and mimosas

Overall, the recipes are delicious and easy to make. We found two problems with the cookbook: (1) there are noticeably few egg recipes (several "scrambled eggs with different sides" recipes, but no quiche recipe? blasphemy to breakfasts everywhere!); and (2) some of the recipes seem like cop-outs. Yes, we want recipes that don't require hours of prep and crazy ingredients. But, when two pages are devoted to buttermilk biscuits and another two to whole wheat buttermilk biscuits (where the only change is subbing whole wheat flour for half of the all-purpose flour), you have to wonder if the writers were just looking for filler.

That said, the book has a few stand-out gems, and would be a great addition to your cookbookshelf. A must-read for those who want to serve a knock-out carb-based brunch.

Stay tuned for December's Cookbook Club where we review:

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What was cooking this time last year? Two years ago?

Bake: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

2011-11-23T21:45:00.002-05:00

The whoopie pie has a contentious past. Maine, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania all lay claim to (what I describe as) the cupcake sandwich. Some historians claim the treat originated with the Pennsylvania Dutch, where housewives would place the snack in their husbands' lunchboxes; at lunchtime, the men would pull out the pies and exclaim "Whoopie!" Maine contends that it was invented in their state by a commercial bakery employee attempting to use up leftover cake batter. Maine is so certain it originated the whoopie pie that it designated the pie as official state treat. Others assert that the pie was invented in Boston as a way to sell more marshmallow Fluff. We may never know the true history of the whoopie pie. What we do know is that they're delicious. My fall-inspired recipe after the jump...

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Yield: 6 large or 12 mini

13 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 c brown sugar
0.5 of 15oz can pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1.5 c flour
0.5 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp baking soda
0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp salt
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 oz confectioner's sugar

(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees

(2) Cream 8 tbsp butter and brown sugar

(3) Add egg, mix until combined

(4) Mix in pumpkin puree and vanilla

(5) In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and 1 tsp salt

(6) Slowly add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, just until combined

(7) Place mounds of batter on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet - 2" diameter for large, 1" for mini - leaving 2" between mounds

(8) Bake for 15 minutes

(9) Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely

(10) In a clean mixer bowl, whisk together remaining butter and cream cheese

(11) Add in confectioners sugar and mix until combined

(12) Spread a generous amount of frosting on one cake; top with another cake; repeat until finished

(13) Enjoy! (delicious for breakfast also...)

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Notes: I made these a second time using gluten free flour. If you do that, press down the batter mounds so that they are flatter before they go in the oven - the gluten free version does not spread as flat as the glutinous one. Store in refrigerator, but remove 30 mins prior to eating to soften frosting. Use leftover pumpkin puree to make a half batch of my Pumpkin Dog Biscuits as holiday gifts for the dogs on your list.

Xerox and Salty hunting their Thanksgiving duck

Cookbook Club: Pinxtos

2011-11-01T09:43:00.003-04:00

What was on the menu for October's Cookbook Club? Apparently, disappointment. Pintxos: Small Plates in the Basque Tradition, is a beautiful book written about one of my favorite niches of one of my favorite cuisines. Having visited the epicenter of pintxos last year (Hondarribia and San Sebastian), I was excited to whip up some of my own. I'm still excited to try making my own, because Pintxos (the cookbook) somehow does not show you how to make pintxos (the food).

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Pintxos: Small Plates in the Basque Tradition

Overall Rating: 1.5 stars

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Table full of deliciousness

D. making Pork Medallions Confit w/
Curried Apple and Celery Root Salad

First of many bottles of wine

I have to admit, the book is beautiful and all of the food looks delicious. And you know what? The food was delicious. It just was not what it advertised to be.

These are pintxos: Small plates, 2-3 bites each, prepared simply with few ingredients, expected to be eaten in a casual atmosphere over a beer.

What this book requires: Fly to Spain, buy specialty ingredients, somehow import them into the US, use a pinch of said ingredients, slave over your stove for 5 hours. Serves 2.

Anchovies w/ Tomatoes and Parsley-Dusted Garlic

Ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration. But, when recipe after recipe calls for specialty ingredients that must be ordered online - for example piment d'espelette, which is used in nearly half of the recipes - I start to lose interest. The author acknowledges the "rare in the US" ingredients, but thinks that online ordering is a fine solution. Not only are these ingredients expensive, but they require a significant amount of planning ahead (select recipe, compare prices on Amazon, order ingredients, wait 5 days, make recipe). And he insists that every single specialty ingredient "has no substitute."

Chicken Thighs w/ Spicy Basque "Ketchup"

I can understand that there really is no substitute to Jamon Iberico de Bellota, but as a cookbook writer, you should provide several alternatives that approximate the flavor/texture that are more reasonably priced and easier to obtain. Piment d'espelette is used many of the recipes, is nearly $10/oz on Amazon, and can easily be substituted with paprika. Does he say you can use paprika in a bind? No. "There is no substitute." When I bought Pinxtos: Small Plates in the Basque Tradition, I didn't realize I'd actually have to be in Basque Country to make the recipes.

Spicy and Sweet Chicken Wings (I used legs b/c TJ's didn't have wings)

Then there's the recipes out of left field like Spicy and Sweet Chicken Wings. I made it. It was delicious. It just wasn't "in the Basque Tradition." Last time I checked, Vietnamese fish sauce is not commonly used by the abuelas in Northern Spain.

Braised Lamb Shoulder with Fideo Pasta in Parmesan Crust

Overall, the recipes were delicious, and a few were even easy to make and Basque in tradition. In addition to the dishes pictured in this post, we also made tomato and watermelon salad, potato and chorizo brandade, and fava beans with creme fraiche and mint.

No need to run out and buy this book immediately. But, if you're looking for a gift for that cook-who-has-everything (who also appreciates beautiful food photos), then Pintxos is a good choice.

Stay tuned for next month's CBC when we review:

*Cookbook Club Rating System:
-3 stars: This cookbook is essential, buy it now
-2 stars: Good overall, a nice addition, but not an urgent buy
-1 star: Meh; one or two good ideas, but not worth the money
-0 stars: Would work better as kindling than a cookbook

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K's Cat

Cook: Eggplant Pizza -- An Illustration!

2011-10-14T09:30:00.014-04:00

The other night I made an eggplant pizza that was super tasty. The problem? I didn't photograph it as I made it. The solution? Illustration!

Full post after the jump...

Cook: Corn and Bacon Risotto

2011-09-30T16:27:00.003-04:00

Leaving a stable job to start a new venture, while exciting (and going quite well, actually), has left us with a smaller food budget. My usual cooking process is to decide what I want to make, scan some recipes for basic ideas, then hit up the store and buy the best of the best ingredients. Having a smaller budget threw a wrench into this little plan, and it's taken me a few weeks to adjust (hence the lack of posting recently). While ramen is delicious, and will suffice for a few meals per week, eating it for every meal I'm pretty sure will lead to a mental breakdown. In order to re-ignite my desire to make delicious food, I decided to hit up the farmers' market. I picked up some sweet corn, and made a plan to use it in a tasty, yet economical, way: with bacon, onions, garlic, and rice. Slab bacon, purchased from the meat counter, is about $4.50 per pound, while the pre-packed sliced stuff is closer to $8. Since I was going to be dicing it anyway, I didn't need the thin-cut strips (total cost? $0.87).

Corn and Bacon Risotto
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

3 ears fresh sweet corn, husked
2 strips slab bacon (about 0.2lbs), diced
0.5 tbsp olive oil
0.5 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic
2 c arborio rice
juice of 1 lemon
5-6 c chicken stock
0.25 c grated Parmigiano-reggiano
salt and pepper to taste
2 scallions, sliced, green parts only

(1) Fill a large pot with water; bring to a boil

(2) Boil corn for 8-10 minutes; remove and let cool slightly

(3) Heat oil in deep saute pan over medium heat

(4) Add bacon, and saute for about 10 minutes, stirring as needed

(5) Add onion and saute for 3-4 minutes until translucent

(6) Add garlic and saute for 1 minute

(7) Add rice, stirring to coat in oil, and saute for another minute

(8) Squeeze in lemon juice, scraping all of the brown bits from the bottom of the pan

(9) Add 2 c stock, stirring occasionally

(10) When absorbed, add another 2 c stock

(11) Meanwhile, using a sharp knife, scrape the kernels of corn off of the cob

(11) When the 2nd round of stock is absorbed, taste rice to check doneness, if still very al dente, add another 2 c stock, if only slightly al dente, add only 1 c stock

(12) Add corn and stir, breaking up any kernel-clumps as you go

(13) If rice is still not done, continue adding stock in 1 c increments until done

(14) Remove from heat and stir in parmegiano-reggiano, and salt and pepper to taste

(15) Serve topped with scallions and additional cheese

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Notes: I make my risotto the lazy way - adding liquid faster than you're supposed to, not stirring the whole time, and not pre-heating the liquid. Sure, there are subtle differences, but if you're not making it for a special occasion, I really don't think it's worth the extra effort.

Travel: Southern Vermont

2011-08-21T09:59:00.002-04:00

Aaaaaaaaaand I'm back! My small business consulting company is well on its way, so I finally have time to post about our trip to Vermont in June. You're probably thinking "Vermont in June? There's no beach there! Don't people only go there to ski?" Well, all of those skiers are missing out on the local culinary amazing-ness that is summer in Vermont.

We found a small bed and breakfast in Perkinsville, VT that happens to share our love of food. The Inn at Weathersfield is just a short 4.5 hour drive from Manhattan. We booked the trip for 4 (me, J, and our friends J-squared) in about 15 minutes over the phone. The Inn is owned and run by Jane and Dave, who are friendly and helpful, and their little pup Lucy, who runs around the inn on occasion, is a sweetheart. After deciding on the Inn due to its location, TripAdvisor reviews, and appearance, we found out that it has been rated one of the "7 great eats in Vermont" by Saveur and one of the "Hot 10 Culinary Inns in America" by Bon Appetit. We had accidentally chosen the best possible lodging for our stay.

We arrived late on a Thursday night and had a casual dinner in the Tavern. Although "casual" in atmosphere, the food was seriously good. Chef Jason Trosup has worked at Jean Georges and Thomas Keller restaurants, and it shows.

On Friday, we took advantage of the Inn's GPS system, which you can rent for $8/day. Jane, Dave, and Jason took the time to add all of the local farms, cheese makers, sugarhouses, and other points of interest to the GPS. An accompanying notebook describes each location and maps out sample day trips. The Inn sources much of its food locally, and many of the farms we visited were familiar with Jason. We hit up farms, a sugar house, a glass blowing workshop, King Arthur Flour, and Harpoon Brewery - all located within 45 minutes of the Inn. Here are just a few of our pics, see the whole Vermont GPS slideshow here.

Maple syrup grading - Grade B, the maple-iest on the left, through Fancy on the right

Highland cattle at Black Watch Farms (they were adorable AND delicious)

Feeding chickens at Taylor Farms

Vermont Scale Museum @ the Vermont Country Store

Vermont Country Store

Hanging out under a covered bridge

Simon Pearce glassblowing

A snack from the King Arthur Flour Baker's Store

A flight of beers at Harpoon

Our room rate included breakfast each morning in the tavern. The coffee was strong, and the ingredients were locally sourced. Fresh muffins, fresh fruit, french toast, eggs, sausage, and more.

Also as part of our package, we had a custom tasting menu in the Inn's wine cellar. Jason contacted me a few weeks before our trip to ask what we liked, didn't like, etc. Half of J-squared is allergic to nuts so the prior-arranging was key. We asked him to highlight as many local ingredients as possible, and we were not disappointed.

The wine cellar was set up beautifully and lit by candlelight. Earlier in the day we had worked out wine pairings with Jane (who is super knowledgeable about wines).

The full set of pics from the tasting menu can be found below. This was my favorite dish of the evening:

A plate of tempura asparagus, toasted bread crumbs and herbed salt arrived on the table

Jason arrived with a tray of steaming cast iron dishes. He cooked the duck eggs tableside in the pre-heated dishes.

It really was the coolest presentation.

We topped it with wild mustard pesto, truffle foam, and the asparagus/breadcrumbs/salt.

Absolute perfection.

At the end of our 3-night trip, we all wished we had scheduled more time in Vermont. The state has so much to offer, especially if you're a foodie. We highly recommend the Inn at Weathersfield, and enjoyed all of the places we visited, including: Simon Pearce, Taylor Farm, Grafton Village Cheese, Black Watch Farm, Harpoon, King Arthur, The Vermont Country Store, and Woods Cider Mill. Next year - Northern Vermont!

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HIATUS

2011-08-07T15:55:00.000-04:00

Blog is on hiatus for a while -- quit my job to start my own business!

Don't worry, I'll be cooking, baking, and traveling again soon and you'll hear all about it on 2FW!

In the meantime...everyone should go to Mykonos.

Cookbook Club: At Home with Madhur Jaffrey

2011-06-15T07:03:00.008-04:00

To those who know me, it should come as no shock that I'm not really into reading books. You will probably never see me on the beach reading the latest release from Emily Giffin (who happened to work at my firm before leaving to become a writer). My Amazon wishlist rarely, if ever, contains a non-food-related book. For the most part, the no-book policy works out pretty well for me - except for one thing: book clubs. The thing about book clubs is that there's generally some "reading of books" involved. I wanted to enjoy the camaraderie of my friends (and lots of wine), but without having to actually read a book. The solution? Cookbook Club.

Cookbook Club is pretty simple - every month a few friends and I choose a cookbook to review; we meet at someone's apartment, make or bring a dish or two from the cookbook, along with a bottle of wine; we eat the food, drink the wine, chat for a bit about the cookbook (what did you like? dislike? did you modify your recipe?), then drink more wine and relax.

For the June meeting of the Cookbook Club, we chose:

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At Home with Madhur Jaffrey: Simple, Delectable Dishes from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka

Overall Rating: 2 stars

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Chicken Curry with Cardamom

The book is a great intro to Indian cuisine, as most of the recipes do not use "weird" spices. A lot of the recipes can be made with cumin, coriander, and paprika, with only a few requiring the less-frequently-used garam masala or asafetida.

Seasoned Radishes

We ended up making way too much food, but what was leftover was still delicious the next day. Dishes included: seasoned radishes, eggplants in a north-south peanut sauce, coconut rice, chicken curry w/ cardamom, Kerala lamb stew, Sri Lankan rice with cilantro and lemongrass, and cilantro chutney. Everything was pretty simple to make - despite varying levels of culinary ability, all of the dishes had excellently layered flavors. This book makes Indian cuisine accessible to the busy American home cook, without breaking the bank by shelling out for specialty ingredients.

Eggplants in North-South Peanut Sauce

Our only complaint (mainly from the girls cooking the lamb and chicken) is that the recipes state "reduce until thickened" but leave no estimated time for this to occur. The lamb and chicken sauces were each reduced for over an hour, with minimal thickening. Some indication that a recipe is going to take, say, 4 hours, rather than 1 hour, would have been appreciated. That said, even without the full thickening time, the flavors were spot-on.

Sri Lankan Rice

Overall, the book is a great addition to your cookbook collection, and would be an excellent gift for any home cook. It's available in hardcover or Kindle edition for about $20.

Coconut Rice

Vanilla Frozen Yogurt & Granola

2011-06-02T11:17:00.004-04:00

My parents gave me an ice cream maker for my birthday last year, but, seeing as how it was November, it stayed in the box for months. With temperatures finally breaking 80 degrees, I decided to dust off the box, and put the ice cream maker to use. I flipped through The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz and found that frozen yogurt seemed to be the easiest to make (no heating a custard on the stove and waiting for it to cool, no chopping and macerating of fruit). The recipe below is based on his recipe for creamy vanilla frozen yogurt, which uses Greek yogurt in place of normal. I added some fresh vanilla for taste and appearance. The granola was also really simple to make and turned out to be awesome; I ate it for breakfast with non-frozen yogurt every day last week. While the recipe only takes about 30 minutes to make, your ice cream maker bowl usually needs to freeze overnight before it can be used. I store mine in the freezer so I don't have to plan ahead.

Vanilla Frozen Yogurt & Granola
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 3 cups of each

3 c full-fat Greek yogurt
1 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean
2 c rolled oats
0.5 c puffed rice
0.25 c slivered almonds
0.25 c raw sunflower seeds (not in shell)

5 tbsp honey

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

0.25 c dried cherries
0.25 c golden raisins

(1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees
(2) Slice the vanilla bean down the center and scrape out the seeds (save the bean! see notes below)

(3) Mix vanilla seeds with yogurt, vanilla extract, and sugar until combined

(4) Cover and refrigerate

(5) Melt butter and honey in a small saucepan over low heat

(6) Mix together oats, rice, almonds, sunflower seeds, salt and cinnamon

(7) Pour melted honey-butter mixture over oat mixture and toss until well-coated

(8) Spread on a parchment paper lined baking sheet

(9) Bake for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until crisp and beginning to brown

(10) When granola goes in the oven, remove the yogurt from the fridge and freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions (mine basically says "pour into frozen bowl; turn on")

(11) When yogurt is done, transfer to a seal-able container and freeze until granola is ready (my yogurt took about 20 minutes until it was too stiff for the machine to keep stirring)

(12) Remove granola from oven and toss with cherries and raisins

(13) Scoop a generous helping of frozen yogurt into a bowl and top with granola

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Notes: When frozen for a while, the yogurt got really hard and dry. I removed it from the freezer, let it sit for about 15 minutes, and then it was back to the right consistency. Place your spent vanilla bean in a jar full of sugar to make vanilla sugar - great for cookies, coffee, and pretty much anywhere you would want the deliciousness of sugar and vanilla at the same time.

Xerox - 4 weeks old & 4 years old

Tangy Potato Salad

2011-05-23T07:18:00.002-04:00

Potato salad is one of those summer sides that, in theory, should be delicious. Yet, in practice, it usually ends up mushy, over-mayo'd, and flavorless. I wanted to make a potato salad that still tasted like it had potatoes in it, lightly dressed with a tangy dressing. The first step was to find the right potato. To keep the potatoes from getting mushy and falling apart, I needed to pick a variety with low starch - enter the red potato. I added a bit of vinegar to the potato-boiling water to keep the starches from releasing to the surface of the cut potato slices. As to the dressing, ditch the jar of mayo and pull out your blender. The extra 30 seconds it takes to throw a few ingredients in the blender or food processor and press "on" really make a world of difference.

Tangy Potato Salad
Prep Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour
Yield: Serves 4 (as a side)

1.5 lbs red potatoes, cut into 1" dice
2 large egg yolks
0.5 c peanut or canola oil
3 tbsp white wine vinegar, plus an extra splash
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp lemon zest
1 tbsp fresh dill
1 tbsp scallions, chopped
3 radishes, roughly chopped
salt and pepper

(1) Fill a large pot with generously-salted water, add potatoes and a splash of vinegar

(2) Bring to a boil, and boil until potatoes are fork-tender

(3) Fill a large bowl with ice water; remove potatoes and dunk in ice water bowl until cool to the touch.

(4) In a blender or food processor, blend egg yolks, oil, white wine vinegar, garlic, mustard, sugar, and 1 tbsp salt

(5) Toss potatoes, radishes, and scallions with the egg yolk emulsion, fresh dill, and salt and pepper to taste

(6) Enjoy!

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Notes: I put my steamer basket in the bottom of the potato pot so that I could easily remove the potatoes and rinse under water. While not necessary, it certainly does make the process simpler; a pasta insert would also work. If your egg yolks are on the smaller side, use three instead of two in the emulsion, adjusting the spices to your taste. Since this contains raw eggs, please be sure to keep it at a safe temperature: 40 degrees Fahrenheit or lower (but not freezing); do not keep at room temperature for more than 2 hours; best eaten the same day, but can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

M&M Cookies

2011-05-11T09:40:00.001-04:00

M&Ms were invented in the 1940s by Forrest Mars, who got the idea for the candy-covered chocolates after witnessing soldiers in the Spanish Civil War eating chocolates covered with a hard tempered-chocolate coating. He patented the idea and started manufacturing in New Jersey in 1941. The original colors were red, yellow, brown, green, and violet. Red was replaced with orange in the 1970s due to the Red #2 scare, but was added back in the late '80s. The current colors are brown, yellow, green, red, orange, and blue. Dark chocolate M&Ms - the ones used in this recipe - were first introduced in April of 2005. This recipe would also be delicious with the pretzel, peanut butter, or original varieties.

M&M Cookies
Yield: 24 cookies

2.5 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
0.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp and 1 tbsp salt
0.5 lbs unsalted butter, room temperature
1.5 tsp vanilla
1 c plus 1 tbsp sugar
0.5 c light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, room temperature
0.5 c dark chocolate M&Ms (approx)
0.25 c cocoa powder

(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees

(2) Cream butter, 1 c sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla

(3) Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg

(4) In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and 1 tsp salt

(5) Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture, just until incorporated

(6) Scoop 1" diameter balls of dough onto parchment paper lined baking sheets, leaving at least 2" in between cookies

(7) Press 4-5 M&Ms into the tops of the cookies

(8) Mix together 0.25 c cocoa powder, 1 tbsp salt, and 1 tbsp sugar

(9) Sprinkle cocoa mixture over the cookies

(10) Bake for 10 minutes

(11) Let cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely

(12) Enjoy! - careful, they're addicting...

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Notes: It is important to really mix the wet ingredients well and to fully whisk together the dry ingredients; once the dry and wet ingredients are mixed together, however, be careful not to overmix.

Guacamole and Micheladas

2011-05-05T10:06:00.003-04:00

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Cinco de Mayo celebrates the Mexican army's victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. It's celebrated mostly in the United States and, other than Puebla, is pretty much ignored in Mexico (or so I've been told). To commemorate the day, I whipped up my oft-requested guacamole and my favorite Mexican beverage, the Michelada, a cerveza preparada with beer, lime juice, and chile paste. ¡A comer!

Guacamole and Micheladas
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Yield: Serves 2

4 avocados
1 plum tomato, peeled, cored, seeded, and diced
0.5 small onion, diced
0.25 c cilantro, chopped
0.5 jalapeño, diced (see notes)
3 limes
2 tsp salt, plus extra the rim of the glass
2 bottles Tecate
1 tsp chile paste

(1) Prep tomato, onion, cilantro, and jalapeño before slicing the avocados

(2) Mash 2 avocados with the tomato, onion, cilantro, jalapeño, 2 tsp salt, and juice of 1 lime

(3) Cube the other 2 avocados and fold into the above mixture

(4) Serve with tortilla chips

(5) Rub the rim of two highball glasses with lime

(6) Coat the rims with salt

(7) Fill the glasses with ice

(8) Add juice of 1 lime to each glass

(9) Add 0.5 tsp chile paste to each glass

(10) Pour a bottle of Tecate over the ice

(11) Stir and enjoy!

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Notes: Use the jalapeño to adjust the spiciness of the guac - add more stems and seeds for spicier guac and remove all stems and seeds for mild guac. I've always had micheladas with Tecate, but feel free to try it with different beers to change the flavor profile (Negra Modelo, Corona, Bohemia, Modelo Especial, etc.).

Cook: Poached Eggs with Ramps, Bacon, and Beans

2011-05-02T09:50:00.002-04:00

Ramps are wild leeks, found only in spring and usually only at farmers markets. I picked some up at the Union Square Greenmarket on Saturday and decided to saute them with bacon and butter beans, topped with a poached egg, over toasted sourdough bread (also from the Greenmarket). The result was a complex layering of flavors, perfect for a hearty Sunday brunch (but the recipe only takes 15 minutes to make!).

Poached Eggs with Ramps, Bacon, and Beans

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: Serves 2

4 eggs (freshness is key - see notes)

Sourdough bread

1 bunch ramps

3 strips bacon, diced

1 cup butter beans (about 0.5 of a 15oz can, drained and rinsed)

olive oil

salt and pepper

(1) Fill a wide, shallow pot with about 2" of water, add 1 tbsp salt and set over medium heat - do not boil

(2) Crack each egg into a separate small bowl or coffee cup

(3) Saute bacon over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally

(4) Slice the bread into four 1" thick slices

(5) Prep the ramps: thoroughly wash, cut off the bottoms, cut the non-leafy parts into a small dice and the leafy parts into 1" long pieces

(6) After bacon sautes for about 4-5 minutes add the non-leafy parts of the ramps

(7) When water is just below a boil (about 190 degrees), slowly slide each egg into the water; gently scoop the egg white to cover the yolk of each egg - do not let water boil

(8) Brush bread with olive oil and broil, turning as needed to toast evenly

(9) Add beans and green sections of ramps to bacon along with 1 tbsp olive oil, saute until ramps are wilted, stirring frequently

(10) After eggs have simmered for about 4 minutes, remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel

(11) Cut a hole in the center of each piece of bread

(12) Fill with ramp mixture, top with an egg, and generously sprinkle with salt and pepper

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Notes: When poaching eggs, the freshness of the egg is key, since fresher eggs have a stronger yolk membrane and a thicker white, so they maintain their shape better in the water. When looking for fresh eggs at the supermarket, don't pay attention to the sell by date - look at the number printed on the side of the carton (between 1 and 365) - this is the day of the year that the hen laid the eggs. The higher the number, the fresher the eggs - for example, today is day 122 of the year, so the closer the carton number is to 122, the fresher the eggs will be. It is important to not boil the egg-poaching water; boiling water is too turbulent and will break up the egg.

Bake: Chocolate Meringues

2011-04-24T15:38:00.001-04:00

I was looking for something to bake that would be Easter-y, kosher for Passover (ish - my kitchen is full of chametz), quick to make, and not completely ruin my diet (only 40 calories each!). I decided on chocolate meringues: whip egg whites, add sugar and chocolate, bake. Done. I decided to dot a few of the meringues with chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, or dried cherries, just to mix it up a bit. Enjoy!

Chocolate Meringues

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 1.75 hours

Yield: 36 cookies

8 eggs
2 c sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
0.5 c cocoa powder (not dutch-processed)

Optional Toppings:
Scharffen Berger 70% cacao baking chunks
Dried cherries (or other dried fruit)
Peanut butter chips

(1) Preheat oven to 250 degrees
(2) Separate egg whites from yolks (put those yolks to use - see the notes below)

(3) Whip egg whites until they form stiff peaks (about 10 minutes on medium-high speed)

(4) Add 0.5c of the sugar, a little at a time, whip for an additional 30 seconds

(5) Fold in the remaining sugar

(6) Sift the chocolate over the meringue and fold until combined

(7) Spoon golf-ball-sized scoops of the chocolate meringue onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet, with about 1 inch between cookies; if using, press a piece of topping into the center of each meringue

(8) Sprinkle the tops with sugar

(9) Bake each sheet of cookies for 30 minutes

(10) Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely

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Notes: To use your yolks, combine in a blender with 2 cups peanut or vegetable oil, juice of 1 lemon, salt and pepper; blend and you have homemade mayonnaise! Flavor with garlic, sriracha, or dijon mustard, if desired. I had a little extra meringue, so I put it in a buttered and sugared souffle cup and baked it along with the last cookie sheet (see here).

April Showers bring May...Veggies!

2011-04-04T08:02:00.003-04:00

With our first full spring/summer in the new apartment, I was excited to start planting vegetables and herbs on our patio. Then, I realized I knew nothing about starting a garden! For expert help, I went to my friend Kate Mason Kraszewski, of Mason's Heritage in Maryland. In her guest post, she answers some frequently asked questions about starting a garden, with an emphasis on urban gardening, and offers her tips of the trade.

Kate's post after the jump...

Gardening 101
Kate Mason Kraszewski

My husband and I love to cook together, and one of the best ways to create the perfect meal is to use fresh, local ingredients. In my opinion, one of the few ways to guarantee this is to grow the ingredients yourself. While this might seem like a daunting task in New York City, you’d be surprised at what you can do with a small space.

Here are some typical questions you might ask if you want to start your own garden:

When should I start planting?

If you’re living in the city and interested in growing your own vegetables and herbs, now’s the time to start thinking about what you want to plant. According to Cornell University’s Department of Horticulture, the average day for the last frost in NYC is April 10-20. If you want to start your plants outside, you should wait until this time so that the new seedlings don’t freeze. Or, if you’re really eager, you can always cover the plants with a sheet or tarp until they start growing. If you have good windowsill space, you can start your seeds inside before then and simply move them outside after the last frost.

Where should I get my seeds?

You have a couple of options when it comes to purchasing your seeds. For one, you can purchase them through a catalog. I would recommend doing this only if you are a more experienced gardener. Seed books are very extensive and going through the thousands of possibilities can be a bit confusing. You can also go to your local garden center or nursery for seed packets. This is a better option for beginning gardeners because you’ll have the ability to ask questions and learn more about their various products.

Or, if you want to bypass starting your seeds from scratch, you can visit your local farmers’ market to buy transplants. This has become a very popular option in recent years. Many farmers have transplants for sale (usually starting in April or May), and it’s a great way to learn more about specific varieties, get your questions answered, and build a relationship with that grower. When selecting transplants, they should be mid-sized and have a healthy, green appearance. It’s best if they are not yet flowering, since this tends to stress plants following transplanting. Also make sure that the transplants have no insects or diseases on them, as this will create more problems for you down the road. It’s fairly simply to spot diseased plants; just look for pale or yellowing leaves, dead spots, or a deteriorating odor.

What should I grow and how do I start?

If you’re growing food in an urban setting, one of your best options is to have a box and/or container garden. The greatest part about having a container garden is having the ability to move the containers around. If your plants aren’t getting enough light in one area you can shift them around, or, if a big storm is coming you can move them indoors. For those who don’t have space to move their plants indoors during a storm (torrential downpour, strong winds), you can place small stakes around the inside of the container, then cover your plants with a piece of tarp or plastic, fastening it with tape or staples. You could even take a plastic grocery bag and put it over the container, then just set the containers as close to a wall as possible.

Plants grown in containers are also less likely to have disease issues. Although I can’t guarantee you’ll never have any disease in your plants, the risk is greatly reduced by using containers (potting soils, for the most part, are free of disease-causing organisms). For proper drainage, containers must have holes in the bottom. Because you’re planting in such a small space, you have to make sure you water and fertilizer your plants regularly (but do not over water them, as this can lead to disease). Also, choose clay pots instead of plastic because they will not dry out as quickly.

One of my first suggestions about what to plant? Leafy greens. These plants are great choices for city gardens because there are dozens of varieties with different textures and tastes, the plants remain relatively small, and you can get many cuttings off of them. Generally speaking, vegetables usually need 6-8 hours of sun a day to thrive. However, greens can flourish in a semi-shady environment. They do not grow quite as quickly without full sun, but they still do well. If they are exposed to too much heat the plants will “bolt,” meaning they will go back to seed, thus reducing the number of cuttings you will get. Since greens can be harvested at almost any stage, you won’t have to wait long to enjoy your first crop.

Another great way to create new flavors in your meals is to use herbs, which are also perfect for growing in the city. Like greens, herbs don’t take up much space, but they can add that much needed “punch” to what you’re serving for dinner. Since I haven’t grown a huge variety of herbs myself, I did a little research on their requirements. According to Charlotte Kidd of In the Garden Design, there are basically two kinds of herbs: those that need a lot of moisture and those that don’t. Herbs that prefer moisture-rich soil include basil, cilantro, tarragon, and parsley, while herbs that don’t need as much water, or “Mediterranean herbs,” include chives, oregano, sage, rosemary, thyme, bay, marjoram, and lavender. Moisture-loving herbs will need watering twice a week. If kept in the sun, water once a week, or every 10-12 days for herbs that like drier conditions. For the best results, the two different types of herbs should be planted separately. You can, however, plant various moisture-loving herbs in a larger box container and vice versa.

Even though they are normally larger plants, you can grow vegetables such as tomatoes, squash and peppers in the city too. Most varieties of the these vegetables will do well in containers, although sometimes it helps to get the bush variety of certain plants, such as squash (which are usually large in diameter and take up a lot of space once they’re full grown). For these larger plants, you’ll need a container at least 12 inches wide. Depending on what type of plant you choose, especially for tomatoes, you might want to stake it once it gets larger. We always stake our tomatoes on the farm. It gives the plant support and allows the tomatoes more room to grow, plus it leaves off the ground which helps prevent disease (less stress on the plant in general). You can purchase small rods at your local garden center, or even craft store, to stake your plants with. Always plant seeds in the center of your pot and approximately ½ inch below the soil, then cover with an additional thin layer of soil.

Although I have never tried it, you can also plant your tomato plants upside down if you have a place to hang them. For this approach you need a 5-gallon bucket with a lid and handle – drill a hole about 3-inches wide in the bottom of the bucket, then hang from a place where you can easily access the plant and it will get enough sun. Take your transplant and place it in the hole so that the plant is sticking out towards the ground. Holding the plant in place, loosely pack peat moss around the stem and roots until it’s about 2 inches deep, then fill the remainder of the bucket so it’s about ¾ full. The plant will grow quite large, up to 5 feet, so make sure you have enough space for it. And like all of the other plants, make sure it gets enough fertilizer.

Of course, this is only the beginning. I could go on and on! So if you’d like more specific information on plant varieties, planting techniques, harvesting, or just have questions in general, please email me at info@masonsheritage.com. Follow Mason's Heritage on Twitter and like us on Facebook!