susan-cooks! (teaches, reads cookbooks)

Remember Madhur Jaffrey's Garlicky Cranberry Chutney

2022-11-04T14:01:00.002-05:00

Madhur Jaffrey's Garlicky Cranberry Chutney -- for Thanksgiving and beyond

I wrote this post in 2008, and as Thanksgiving is looming (go to any store and you'll see Christmas food and decorations-- a sure sign of impending Thanksgiving), it's time to revisit it...

Adding insult to the injury of COVID and everything else nasty and disappointing for the past two years, there have been repeated reports of a turkey shortage in 2022. Even if you don't have turkey, you'll need this super-simple cranberry chutney. Thank you forever, Madhur Jaffrey.

This deserves an honored place in your year-round Hot Stuff shelf. You have one, don't you?

***

In my Mother's kitchen, an honored Thanksgiving tradition was to find the unopened can of cranberry sauce on Friday morning -- in time for sandwiches.

Now I never forget the cranberries. In my house, garlic and ginger go with almost everything, and for years my Thanksgiving table, and any Thanksgiving table to which I've been invited has had Madhur Jaffrey's Garlicky Cranberry Chutney. I first heard her recite it on an NPR Thanksgiving morning program and it was reproduced with Susan Stamberg's Mother-in-law's recipe on the NPR website. It took two or three years to get it right -- that is, to get a pen and paper while she was on the radio.

Two years ago, I tracked down the original in Jaffrey's very excellent Madhur Jaffrey's Cookbook: Easy East/West Menus for Family and Friends (1987, Harper & Row.) This is embarrassingly easy, and everyone will ask "Why don't you make this more often?" While it will spark up your post-Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches, like its cousin Hot Pepper Jam, it is also a friend to cream cheese, you can use it to glaze fish or chicken, and zip it in a blender with yogurt for a dip for vegetables. Unlike Pepper Jam, however, you don't have to retrieve your canning equipment from the pantry -- you can whip this up in under half an hour.

Ginger Garlic Cranberry Sauce (adapted from Madhur Jaffrey)

A thumb-sized knob of ginger, cut in tiny tiny julienne
3-5 cloves of garlic, crushed through a garlic pressed or very finely chopped
1/2 cup very good quality cider vinegar
4 T white sugar
1/4 tsp very fresh cayenne (or any other chili from your Hot Stuff Shelf)
1 can of jellied cranberry sauce
1/2 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper

1. Combine the ginger, garlic, vinegar, sugar and cayenne in a small saucepan. Simmer until it is reduced to a syrup -- between 4 and 6 tablespoons, depending on the amount of ginger and garlic you begin with.
2. Add the cranberry sauce, salt and pepper, and let everything melt together. Simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes.

That's it!

Cooking Under the Influence: Post-surgical culinary adventures

2013-12-31T13:48:00.000-06:00

Tomato Forks
Standing at
Attention

I ripped my rotator cuff in very late October 2013, and had surgery two weeks later. For the two weeks after surgery, I was well-medicated but functional, depending on your definition of "functional."

I have forgotten almost everything from that time, however, I was able to discover one new Rule of Life:

Morphine Makes You Stupid, impairing culinary judgment

It will never be a good idea to poach beautiful fresh figs in diet ginger ale.
Before putting a load of Chinese leftovers into the food processor to make little fry-able patties, consider that not every flavor is a good match for every other.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

Nina Simonds' Chinese Peanut Dressing - Huzzah!

2013-05-11T23:44:00.001-05:00

Should be on your bookshelf

Wil Haygood interviewed Nina Simonds on WHYY's Fresh Air about her new book, Asian Noodles: Deliciously Simple Dishes to Twirl, Slurp and Savor, on April 2, 1997.

I bought it the next day, and it remains on my "absolute favorite" shelf.

Why I love this book (beyond the recipes)

Remember, this was 1997, before you could buy rice noodles and Sriracha in every grocery store in America. The first few pages has beautiful, clearly-labeled photographs of almost every noodle you would ever want to cook, and it follows on with exacting instructions for cooking each one.

I went from the bookstore to a Chinese market on University Avenue in Saint Paul, walked the aisles, filled my shopping cart, went home to cook, and never looked back.

The recipes

Asking for a list of "favorites" is a lot like asking a parent to name The Favorite Child. Some have become my staples: Chile Noodles (p.28), Ginger-Scallion Noodles (P. 30), Curried Vegetarian Noodles (a version of Singapore Noodles) (p. 34), Singapore Fried Rice Noodles (with shrimp) (p. 93) and the door-opener to my favorite recipe of all, Rainbow Peanut Noodles (p.82).

The backbone of Rainbow Peanut Noodles is Chinese Peanut Dressing (p. 122) which reminds me that a pantry with a very large jar of peanut butter, some ginger and garlic, and spaghetti can feed five people for 10 days or 10 people for five days.

Simonds says:

She writes "My refrigerator would seem empty without a batch of this all-purpose peanut butter-based sauce. I serve it with vegetable and noodle salads, and as a go-with-anything dipping sauce."

But there's more: spread it on toast, bagels, or matzoh; two-three tablespoons will zip up any stir fry; add a bit to any coconut-based stir fry sauce and swoon. This dressing/sauce/dip is a friend to chicken, shrimp, and crispy tofu. I have seen people grab spoons and eat it straight from the bowl.

Chinese Peanut Dressing (adapted from Asian Noodles)

Notes:

This can be multiplied to the limit of your food processor's capacity.
I buy fresh ginger by the pound and then freeze about half in 1-inch cuts. Frozen ginger isn't great for stir fry, but it works in this recipe, and it makes dandy ginger tea.
Adding fresh chili gives this a real kick.
Simonds suggests Worcestershire sauce as a substitute for Chinese Black Vinegar. I have never done that, so I have no idea how it would taste. I use Chinkiang brand black vinegar. Buy a few bottles. This vinegar lasts forever.
No, I don't make my own chicken broth. I use 1T Penzey's Chicken Soup Base and 1/4 cup of water.
Simonds says that this keeps in the fridge for two to three weeks. I have never made enough for that to be a possibility.

1 inch chunk of fresh ginger (or frozen ginger from your ginger stash)
8 cloves of fresh garlic, peeled
1-2 tsp fresh jalapeno or serrano chili, finely chopped (optional)
1 tsp of Sriracha or any other hot chili sauce (or more)
1/4 cup soy sauce
4 T sugar
4 T Chinese Black vinegar
4 T toasted sesame oil
3 T Chicken broth or water
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (or more)

Finely chop the ginger, garlic and fresh chili (if using) in a food processor. Add all remaining ingredients except peanut butter and blend until smooth.
Add the peanut butter and blend. Taste. Taste again.
Thicken with peanut butter; thin with chicken broth. Taste again.
For a dressing: the sauce should be like thick heavy cream.
For a dip: the sauce should be like thick yogurt.
For a spread: Slightly thinner than plain peanut butter.

Grocery surprises: frozen cheese sandwiches & oatmeal in packets

2013-05-01T15:17:00.000-05:00

I have always loved grocery stores.

Grocery shopping pattern set by Mom

The pattern for my shopping was set when I was a tiny child. Once a week until I left home, I walked with my Mom up and down every aisle in the Giant Food Store in Mt. Rainier, Maryland. She always had a list, but she also knew exactly what she needed to keep her pantry stocked. She taught me to shop the whole store, and to remember the shopping list.

Delicious & Requires measuring equipment

Years in grocery stores

I spent all day every day in grocery and drug stores in the 1970s when I worked for a San Francisco food broker and a national manufacturer. With retail and wholesale accounts from Santa Rosa to Santa Cruz, I got to see the differences between chain and independent stores in their approaches to sales and marketing, and the differences among stores within chains as their managers tweaked their shelf facing plans based on their customers' needs. It was endlessly interesting.

I walk all of the aisles today, and like to keep track of new products and new categories. Sometimes, I'm surprised.

Frozen Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Except for peanut butter and jelly, no sandwich is easier to make than grilled cheese. I was surprised to see Chef MJ Brando American and Cheddar Grilled Cheese Sandwiches in the freezer section at Rainbow Foods in Saint Paul. As in Star Wars, there is another: you can find Frozen Swiss Grilled Cheese Sandwiches on the Brando website.

Still reeling from cheese sandwich shock, I had a bad feeling, and Googled "frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwich." I am apparently the last person in America to discover that PBandJ can also be found in the freezer aisle, in Smucker's Uncrustables.

When did "packet" become the measure of oatmeal?

True confessions: I own seven sets of measuring spoons, three sets of measuring cups, and I am not afraid to use them.

Wandering in the oatmeal aisle, I found 21 products that required measuring cups or spoons, and 47 with twice as many facings with products that use "packet" as the unit of measure.

When did this happen? How hard is it to measure a quarter of a cup of dry oatmeal? Has America lost its measuring cups and spoons? Has anyone noticed that the cost per serving of oatmeal-in-packets is ridiculously high?

This may be related to the rise of the single-cup coffee maker, which, in addition to generating tons of plastic trash, may have deprived several generations of the technical skills required to use a measuring tablespoon.

Growing food in straw bales: Thank you, Ruth Stout

2013-04-17T11:22:00.003-05:00

Everything old is new again.

A headline in the April 16, 2013 Pioneer Press caught my eye: New garden technique grows plants in straw bales. The story introduced readers to Minnesota native and Ohio gardener Joel Karsten who is promoting a wonderful and smart technique of growing vegetables in straw bales. He lines them up vertically, waters and fertilizes them, and offers instructions.

If I were still gardening, I would use this method in a minute.

New? Not so fast.

Ruth Stout was on to "no-till gardening" by 1961 when she published Gardening Without Work: For the Aging, the Busy, and the Indolent (1961). How can you not love a book with "indolent" in the title?

She followed up with The Ruth Stout No-Work Garden Book: Secrets of Year-Round Mulching (1971), and How to have a green thumb without an aching back (1974).

I found her books in the late 60s when I my San Francisco house overflowed with plants and I had a well-developed case of gardening envy. By the time I bought my tiny Baltimore house (800 square feet on three levels) with its tiny yard (26x92 feet) I was ready for straw, and began regularly carting two bales at a time in my Honda hatchback.

That garden had a motto, for flowers with scent, herbs, and tiny vegetables, "Start with wretched excess and scale up!" During its six-year run, it benefited enormously from her methods. While it may have been something of an eyesore to my more conventional gardening neighbors, straw mulch turned Maryland clay into fertile ground in less than two years.

Thanks, Ruth.

Chili Spiced Mango for Sick Person's Pantry Chicken Soup

2013-02-17T10:47:00.000-06:00

Trader Joe's Chile Spiced Mango

When I am sick but just able to get out of bed, Sick Person's Pantry Chicken Soup is my food of choice. Trader Joe's Chile Spiced Mango is the best addition to this that I've found in ages.

Trader Joe's Uncrystallized
Candied Ginger

I do exuberant impulse shopping at Trader Joe's. A month ago, I discovered Trader Joe's Uncrystallized Candied Ginger, which I put into the green tea that I drink all day, every day. When I went back to stock up, the Chile Spiced Mango jumped into my shopping cart.

Yesterday, as I was fighting a head cold, I made a version of Sick Person's Pantry Chicken Soup. While I had a rotisserie chicken in the fridge, I could have easily used frozen shrimp or tofu for the protein. Precise measurements are neither available nor required for people who are stumbling around in a kitchen with one eye open. Use what you have and don't fret.

Penzey's Chicken Soup Base
and Seasoning

Chicken stock or not?

When you are well, you can make stock, otherwise use the can or box in your pantry. I always have Penzey's Chicken Soup Base and Seasoning in my refrigerator.

Rice or rice noodles? Or other noodles?

Adding a starch to this soup will depend on how you feel about eating more than clear soup. Only you can decide where in the continuum of not-well-at-all to healed-and-hungry you are.

Pantry Chicken Soup

Liquids (water, canned or boxed soup or stock).

Additions:

1-inch knob of fresh ginger (or a piece of ginger from your freezer stash), cut into 1/2-inch slices
Carrot: 1/2 grated (eat the rest)
A whole jalapeno or serrano chile, cut in half with the seeds in if you like spicy soup
Trader Joe's Chili Spiced Mango: One or two cut into 1/2-inch strips, and then into 1/2-inch pieces
Fresh onion: Three or four 1/2-inch slices cut into inch-long pieces
1/2 tsp cinnamon (a nod to Pho)
A few grinds of fresh ground pepper
Rice, rice noodles, other noodles (optional)
Protein: Cooked Chicken, Frozen Shrimp, Tofu cut into squares

Fill a saucepan with a lid to two inches from the top with fresh, cold water and 1 heaping tablespoon of Penzeys' Chicken Soup Base, canned or boxed chicken broth or stock. Vegetarians: use vegetable stock.
Add the grated carrot, ginger slices, jalapeno or serrano, mango, onion, cinnamon, and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes. (If you have pre-cooked chicken, add a few pieces in this step. It will boost the flavor and add some chicken fat, which all Jewish Mothers know is the key to chicken soup;s curative powers.)
Optional starch: After the soup has simmered for 20 or 30 minutes, add the rice or noodles. Cook them in the soup to absorb the flavors. Do not use another pan. You will have to wash it.
After the rice and noodles are cooked, add the protein. Cooked chicken and tofu need just to warm through. Watch shrimp carefully. Rubbery shrimp will not make you feel better.
Ladle into bowls.

More options:

1/4 cup dried cherries added in Step 2 (for sweetness)
A dash of sesame oil to finish each bowl

Chubby Vegetarian's Jalapeno Poppers

2012-12-31T06:00:00.000-06:00

Baked Poppers: Made at home

The first time I had a Jalapeno Popper in a restaurant, I said "Ah ha! This should be Minnesota State Fair Food!" They are perfect little bites of spicy and cheesy fried deliciousness. Not being a fry-at-home person, I never imagined that I would ever make them. Bloggers at The Chubby Vegetarian fixed that for me with baked Better Jalapeno Poppers. The crunchy crust comes from an egg-and-Panko mixture.

While I would never prevent anyone from diving head-first into making an excellent recipe, there are some important popper considerations:

How will you serve them?

If you want a single-bite popper, select bite-sized peppers. Bigger peppers will require knives and forks, possibly complicating an appetizer buffet where guests will need to balance knives, forks, plates, and drinks.

How committed to hot peppers are your guests?

I live in Minnesota, and pepper tolerance ranges from less than zero to top of the Scoville scale. If you are unsure about your guests' Scoville prefernces, take extra care to remove both the seeds and the ribs in the peppers.

How many people do you plan to serve?

These are fun-to-make-but-slightly-finicky, and making them for a crowd could require a sous chef. If you are serving dozens, make sure that the cheese mixture is soft enough to pipe into the peppers.

Flat top

Can you adjust the spices?

Of course. The cheese choice is flexible and the open pepper is a blank canvas for your favorite flavors. Consider adding tiny bits of shrimp, crab or smoked fish, too.

Baked Jalapeno Poppers
Adapted from The Chubby Vegetarian

4 to 6 firm, ripe Jalapeno peppers, selected for either bite-sized or knife-and-fork portions, halved, seeded, and ribs removed
2 ounces light cream cheese or Neufchatel, softened
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
1/4 tsp granulated garlic
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground chipotle or smoked paprika
Zest of half a lime
1 large egg beaten with a fork
3/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
1/2 tsp fresh lime juice
Salt and Pepper
1 tsp olive oil
Optional sour cream and chives or scallions for garnish.

Unbaked

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a small flat baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.
Place the peppers, cut site up, on the baking sheet.
Mix the cheeses, garlic, cumin, chipotle or paprika and lime zest in a small bowl. Fill each pepper to the rim with the mixture. A tiny offset spatula is a good tool for making flat cheese tops.
Add the Panko, lime juice, pinch of salt, and a few grinds of fine-ground fresh pepper into the beaten egg. Mix well.
Beginning with a teaspoon and finishing with your fingers, cover each pepper with the Panko mixture. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over each popper.
Check the poppers after 20 minutes. The peppers will begin to sizzle, and will probably need an additional five minutes to achieve a golden brown and crispy top and a cooked pepper. Take care to make sure that the peppers are softened. Your guests may not be keen on eating raw Jalapenos.

Spicy Lamb and Beef Meatballs with Crispy Onions

2012-10-30T14:28:00.000-05:00

Lamb and Beef Meatballs with Crispy Onions

Who doesn't love a meatball?

So many cultures have meatballs. Wikipedia helpfully lists meatballs from 28 countries alphabetically from Afghanistan to Vietnam.

So many families have their favorite meatball. My Mother's best meatball used a powder called Spatini, and leftover meatball sandwiches were treasured lunches.

My tastes have changed, and I went on a decades-long search for the secret of really spicy meatballs, which I learned by trial-and-error.

The road to spicy meatballs:

1. Italian Grandmothers have known this forever: Cooking the raw meatball in sauce is good for the sauce and bad for the meatball. The sauce gets the flavor and the meatball becomes texture.
2. Really spicy meatballs require aggressively spicy ingredients: hot sausage, pepperoni, tiny dice of fried very hot peppers, cayenne, chili paste, etc.

New to my meatball repertoire: lamb meatballs

Which came first? Lamb at the supermarket or a lamb meatball recipe in my nighttime reading? Don't know. This is a very flexible recipe that can be made with all lamb or 2/3 ground lamb and 1/3 ground beef. These meatballs freeze well and make great sandwiches (especially in pita). They are wonderful additions to salads and good friends to pizza. Use them in onion/garlic/hot pepper/meatball/spaghetti stir fries or (I live in Minnesota) your favorite hot dish.

Cook's Notes:

1. Fry the onions first. By the time you have made the meatballs they should be caramelized, and can be moved aside for the meatballs. If you have so many onions that the meatballs won't fit in the pan, remove half and serve them with cooked meatballs.
2. If you have only whole spices, measure them out and grind them with some of the Panko in a coffee grinder. A mini-food processor won't get them to a fine grind.
3. Makes 16 golf ball sized meatballs.

Lamb Meatballs With Crispy Onions

1 onion, thin sliced
2T neutral oil (Canola)

2 t ground cumin
2 t ground coriander
2 t ground caraway
1/2 t ground fennel seed
1/4 t cinnamon
1/2 t cayenne
2 scallions finely chopped
1 c fresh parsley finely chopped (or 1/3 cup dried parsley)
1-1/2 t harissa or Siracha
3 cloves of garlic finely minced
1 egg
1 c Panko
1-1/2 # lamb or 1# lamb & 1/2 # ground beef

1. Heat the oil in a large oven-proof skillet. Fry the onions on medium heat. Turn on the oven to 375 or 350 in a convection oven.
2. Mix the spices, scallions, parsley, harissa or Siracha, garlic, and egg in a large bowl. Add the Panko and mix well.
3. Add the meat or meats to the bowl and mix well with your hands. Using your hands or an ice cream scoop, make 16 golf-ball sized meatballs.
4. Add the meatballs to the pan with the caramelized onions. Brown on all sides.
5. Bake for 15 minutes in the oven.

*#*#*#*
Through Pass the Baton llc, Susan Gainen lectures to law students on Professionalism, Second-Career Law Students, Alternative Careers, Job Search Outside of OCI, and Job Search Skills = Business Development Skills. As Painter and Chief Whimsy Officer of nanoscapes & other visions llc, she paints geometric abstractions, whimsical creatures called small friends, and The Lost Cave Paintings of Saint Paul. She also teaches "Knife Skills," her favorite cooking class.

Pepper Relish Kicks Off 2012 Canning Season

2012-05-29T17:02:00.002-05:00

Red Pepper Relish

After 9/11, I made jam.

Everyone coped with the aftermath of 9/11 in different ways. I made jam. I learned from Laurie Colwin's exquisite essays about Plum Jam and Corn Relish (both in More Home Cooking), and acquired at least three dozen more books about modern and historical canning and preserving.

It would be fair to say that between October 2001 and September 2006 that I was obsessed.I kept an annotated jam log, and those were the years when I had six cases of empty jars in my car "just in case." I won ribbons at the Minnesota State Fair for jams, relish and, of all things, Barbecue Sauce in 2004. Odd indeed, because I don't grill.

Another distraction/obsession

I got distracted from canning in 2006, when I began to paint with watercolor, acquiring an obsession which has taken over my life with nanoscapes (geometric abstractions) and small friends (whimsical creatures who have a show at Hopkins Center for the Arts between June 24 and July 13, 2012. Opening reception June 24 from 4-6 pm, if you're in town).

After 2006, I made just a few things including the memorably rock-hard Carrot Marmalade, Amazing Spiced Cherries (best preserved thing ever), deeply weird Jamaican Banana Jam (all in July 2007), and Ginger-Chili-Jelly (May 2010), which I loved, but the Minnesota State Fair judges found wanting.

My jam chops are rusty, but I'm ready to get back to it.

First up for 2012 is Red Pepper Relish, an ideal beginning preserving project because it doesn't have to set up like jelly or jam (no pectin), and it imposes the important discipline of soaking and rinsing the vegetables to preserve their crunch. It was also ideal for me because it requires just one cup of sugar, which was all that I had. My version is hot and sweet and crunchy.

Granite Ware 21-1/2 Qt Canner

TOOLS YOU NEED:

Preservation is chemistry, which can cure you of all sorts of ailments or kill you if instead of creating a healthy atmosphere for deliciousness, you make a stew of botulism. Read the directions. Read them again. Follow them to the letter.

A 20+ quart kettle with a rack. The Columbian Home 0707-1 Granite Ware 21-1/2-Quart Steel/Porcelain Water-Bath Canner with Rack is less than $20 and is available from Amazon and hardware stores everywhere.
An 8-to-16-quart pan with a lid in which to boil the vegetables. You can spend a little or a lot on this pan, or you can use whatever pan you use to make spaghetti sauce.
Labels for your jars. If you like doing preserving, your kitchen will fill up with jars that look quite beautiful but will bring you grief when you can't distinguish between Blueberry-Ginger-Double-Chili (which you like) and Black Raspberry (which you are not too keen on and want to give away.)
Tools you need and MUST STERILIZE by boiling in the big canning kettle:.

jars, lids, and bands, which you MUST sterilize according to package directions
a wide-mouth funnel
a large ladle to pour the preserves into the jars
a knife to use to pop out the air bubbles
a jar lifter which is the right tool for getting hot jars out of boiling water
a magnetic lifter for getting jar bands out of hot water (not strictly necessary, but fun to use)

RED PEPPER RELISH (freely adapted from Linda J. Amendt's Blue Ribbon Preserves)

8 large bell peppers
8 large red fresno peppers*
2 dried habenero peppers**
2 medium red onions
1-1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 cup sugar
1T Kosher salt

*If red fresnos are unavailable and you don't mind mixing your pepper colors, use a combination of jalapeno and serrano, depending on how much heat you can bear. Otherwise, use a few more sweet red peppers and some reconstituted hot peppers in addition to the habeneros.

** I found Mariposa Farms Dehydrated Habenero in my local grocery. Very handy.

1. Soak the habenero peppers in hot water for 30 minutes. Drain.

Handy Habeneros

2. Chop the fresh peppers and onions quite fine. (NOTE: When I chopped by hand in 2003, I wrote "Either wear gloves or never do this again.") Use the food processor on "pulse" and stop before you get to pepper soup. Don't fret if everything isn't the exact, precise, same size. This is preserving, not creating mosaics.

3. Cover the fresh peppers, onions, and soaked habanero peppers with boiling water. Let stand for 10 minutes. Drain. Cover again with hot (not necessarily boiling) water. Let stand for 5 minutes. Drain in a sieve for one hour.

4. In the 8-to-16 quart pan, heat the vinegars, sugar and salt. Bring to a rolling boil. Add the drained vegetables and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the habanero peppers. EITHER cut up fine and return to the pot or discard. These are very very hot.

5. Ladle into sterilized jars, leaving 1/2 inch of head space, and process for 15 minutes. Cool cool overnight.

Sumo Citrus® - size matters

2012-04-01T12:17:00.001-05:00

I read about Sumo Citrus^® in the NY Times in February, which helpfully shared that it was available in the NY metro area for between $2.99 and $5.00 a pound. What's in New York, gets to Minnesota in a wink of an eye, and I bought one yesterday for $3.99 a pound at Byerly's.

It was worth every dime. Great flavor, no seeds. Get 'em while there here. I suspect that the season will be incredibly short.

A polite word about cayenne pepper

2012-03-28T15:03:00.001-05:00

When I returned from nearly back-to-back Pass the Baton trips to Texas and Georgia, states well into full-on Spring, I brought back a wicked sore throat, a stentorian cough, and laryngitis.

I attributed it to pollen. During my last day in Georgia, pollenologists tallied record-setting pollen levels of 9,369 particles of pollen per cubic meter of air, smashing the previous day's record of 8,164 particles. The previous high was recorded in August of 1999. To put that in perspective,15 particles per cubic foot can cause sniffling and sneezing in people with bad allergies.

Teabags travel well

Pollen or not, I had a sore throat. Time healed it, of course, but it got an assist from gallons of green tea, honey, and cayenne pepper inspired by the first clickable choice from Sore Throat Cures. More than 400 people had weighed in on this topic, more than three times the second choice (apple cider vinegar with 131).

For one cup of tea

( I now drink this all day, every day, using Bigelow Green Tea With Lemon and Green Tea Decaffeinated with Lemon.)

Fill a microwave safe cup with water. Heat for 2 minutes. Steep green tea (decaffeinated for nighttime), 1/2 tsp honey and 1/16 tsp cayenne for three minutes. Drink.

For a kick-starter gargle:

Fill a microwave safe cup with hot water. Heat for one minute. Add 1/8 - 1/4 tsp cayenne and 1/2 tsp honey. Gargle every 15 minutes for two hours.

Cayenne Shortbread: a kickstarter appetizer

2011-11-24T07:39:00.001-06:00

Cayenne & Chili Shortbread

The challenge for a Thanksgiving appetizer is to bring a big flavor but not to be an appetite-killer. Cayenne Shortbread fills the bill.

Truth in recipe writing: this shortbread has two kinds of chili, cayenne and red (Ancho preferred) and might also be called Double-Chili Shortbread.

Shortbread has an undeserved reputation for being fussy, requiring cutting and rolling, and obsessive pursuit of symmetry. Not so. It can be treated like a refrigerator cookie, giving it many of the characteristics of the Easy Peasy Food Group:

SOME EASY-PEASY FOOD GROUP CHARACTERISTICS

easy to mix from pantry ingredients (sugar, salt, vanilla, flour, spices);
simple to roll into logs for the freezer;
can be baked frozen if your knife can cut the fully-frozen log; and
can look "rustic," as perfection (perfectly round, obsessively even in height, exactly the same color) is not required.

Cayenne Shortbread

3/4 pound unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne

1/2 tsp red chili powder (Ancho, not the stuff you put into a pot of chili)

1/2 tsp salt

3-1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted

Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla, cayenne, chili, and salt for five minutes in a stand mixer.
With the mixer on low, add the flour half a cup at a time. When all of the flour has been added, turn up the speed for about 10 seconds to incorporate as much flour as possible.
Dump the mixture onto a board or a silicone mat. If you have some dry ingredients that weren't completely mixed in, knead the dough for a minute or two and then roll into logs that are between 1-1/2 and 2 inches in diameter. Six-inch logs are easy to handle, but don't fret about the log's length. They will be cut into cookies.
Wrap the logs in plastic and freeze for at least an hour.
Pre-heat the oven to 350.
When the logs are soft enough for your knife, cut the logs into cookies that are (more or less) 1/4 inch wide.
Place on parchment or on a silicone mat on a cookie sheet or rimmed baking sheet turned upside down. Bake for between 20 and 25 minutes. Check them at 20 minutes.

NOTES:

Dry into wet? Usually dry ingredients like spices and salt are sifted with flour. "Why," I asked, "couldn't I add them to the creamed butter and sugar to give them a head start at mixing?" As the Boss of My Kitchen, I did it, and it worked out fine.
Uniform sizing? True, the more even they are sized, the more uniform they will look when fully baked. No fretting required, however, because these are forgiving and are delicious anywhere from pale yellow to light brown. Anyone who complains that they are not uniformly round, should be immediately assigned to wash all of the dishes.

Trifecta of Bad Baking: Mistakes were made

2011-09-25T15:14:00.000-05:00

Not nearly ripe enough to be
Screaming Ripe Bananas

The four ripe bananas on the counter screamed “Banana Bread!!” I should have roasted them and stuck them into the freezer for another day.

Mistakes were made. Learn from them.

1. Don't bake when you are very very tired;
2. Don't do discretionary baking when you aren't super-double-keen on the recipe or the intended result;
3. Don't re-read the instructions. Rely on your memory. It's always great when you are tired.

4. Don't set out a mis-en-place. Grabbing ingredients on the fly is so adventurous.

5. When substituting butter for shortening:
(a) If you must thaw frozen butter, slice the precise amount that you need because:
(1) if you aren't paying attention, you will use one cup instead of 2/3 cup, and;
(2) you may then try to adjust the ingredients without doing math so that you:
(i) forget to add more sugar, and;
(ii) forget to add more salt, baking powder and spices;

(b) Don't be surprised that the result achieves a Trifecta of Bad Baking:
(1) Flat (not enough salt);
(2) Dull (not enough sugar); and
(3) Bland (not enough spices).

6. Don't bother with the usual fixes:
(a) Toast: Even toasting, which you might expect could sharpen up the candied ginger and crisp up the almonds that you added instead of walnuts, will only make boring, bland, flavorless, heavy, and scary toast; or
(b) Bread Pudding: This would be an insult to the custard, which, unless it contains an overwhelming amount of your best bourbon (a waste, which might then create its own problems), will never make up for the underlying failure of Bad Bland Banana Bread.

Last tomatoes: roast 'em

2011-09-19T07:20:00.000-05:00

I was going to make tomato jam, but the idea of peeling all of the tomatoes that I bought from Erin Smith at the Hopkins Farmers Market on Saturday stopped me in my tracks. Fortunately, I had a better idea, and I roasted them in two large batches, the easiest thing in the world. Think duxelles (minced mushrooms cooked down to their essence), and know with a tiny amount of work, you will have the essence of tomatoes in a dish.

Chopped with garlic and chili

Roasted with a blackened chili

My first introduction to roasted tomatoes came from the late-but-never forgotten Laurie Colwin, who wrote rhapsodically about them in More Home Cooking. I use winter tomatoes and make it often.

Roasting large batches of tomatoes can take 3 hours. Settle in near your oven so that you can stir every 30 minutes or so. You'll know when your batch is finished when the tomatoes have gone from bright and juicy to dark and jammy.

Easy Peasy Roasted Tomatoes

Fresh tomatoes: chop up as many has you have
Fresh Garlic: 3-5 fat cloves
Dried Chili: As much or as little as you like
Fresh Ground Pepper: 1-2 tsp
Optional: 1/2 finely chopped onion (which I forgot yesterday)
Optional: any amount of thin sliced fresh sweet or hot peppers
1/4 cup oil (I like canola; olive oil lovers, have at it!)

Oven temp: I have a convection oven option, and I started at 450 for about 45 minutes, and then reduced the heat to 325.)

Pre-heat the oil in your largest heavy shallow roasting pan. Unless you want to clean your oven, do not use a rimmed baking sheet.
Add the tomatoes, garlic, chili and (optional) onion and pepper.
Roast for three hours, stirring every 30 minutes.

If you can resist eating this all at once, it will freeze nicely for 3 months.

18 Pounds of Italian Plums

2011-09-01T09:59:00.010-05:00

Italian Plums are oval

Italian Plums are my favorite fruit for making deep, dark, and dense plum jam, and an unfailingly elegant, foolproof, and uncommonly delicious Plum Torte. I bought 18 pounds this morning, and I will certainly go back for more. Why?

Dark Red Plum Jam

PLUM JAM I owe this affection to the late and very-much-lamented Laurie Colwin, from whom I learned to make jam by following her instructions it in the “Jam Anxiety” chapter in More Home Cooking. She wrote “Jam making is actually, a snap, and also very liberating, since once you know how, you realize it is not the project of an entire day or week (jelly making is quite another matter) but half an evening’s pleasant and rewarding effort."

That sentence was a gift and inspiration to me.I made my first batch of Plum Jam right after September 11, 2001, and jam-making became my outlet. When the going was tough, I made jam. There were perhaps two entire years when I had 6 dozen jam jars in the trunk of my car, and imagined that everyone else did, too.

I am not alone in having been inspired by her essay. Greg Atkinson blogged nicely about her recipe in 2008, and a Google search of “Laurie Colwin’s Plum Jam” nets 3,300 results.

I have already blogged about Marian Burros Plum Torte, which was the New York Times’ most requested recipe for years. It freezes well and when baked off in February perfumes your house with the sweet smells of summer. I have made it with beets, pears, peaches, apples, and a variety of plums, but the Italian Plums are the best.

Find the Plum Torte and so much more in the The Best of DeGustibus.

The Sacred Literature of Fresh Tomato Deliciousness. Tomatoland: how modern industrial agriculture destroyed our most alluring fruit

2011-07-06T09:38:00.000-05:00

It is almost time for the fresh Minnesota tomato, and of our local farmers markets will have loads of traditional and heirloom varieties -- soon, very soon.

Thanks to my friend Susan Marsnik, I have a new stash of Aleppo Pepper from Holy Land Foods in Minneapolis. Sprinkle this pepper onto your salad or onto your fresh tomato, and you will be very, very happy. You can also find Aleppo Pepper at Penzey's, either in a store or by mail order.

Thanks to James Beard Award winner Barry Estabrook and his new book Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit we can no longer kid ourselves that the "winter tomatoes" we all eat throughout the year are not just frequently tasteless, but an environmental trainwreck. But, to balance things out, those tomatoes are a billion dollar industry, supporting everyone from farmworkers (barely), to fast food workers (barely), and pizza and tomato soup lovers everywhere.

You'll find a great review in the New York Times, and a terrific interview with Estabrook at npr, and your favorite news outlet probably has a review, too!

Toffee Waffles - what every waffle cone wants to be

2011-07-03T14:46:00.000-05:00

Toffee Waffles: $5/four

If you have ever eaten waffle cones out of the box, Toffee Waffles will validate your suspicion that there might be a Really Amazing Member of the Waffle Cone Family out there somewhere. I found them yesterday at the Hopkins (MN) Farmers Market. Proper People's Toffee Waffles are what every waffle cone ever made wanted to be when it grew up.

These crisp and gooey treats are a perfect marriage of all of the food groups: flour, butter, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla, much of which is locally sourced in Minnesota: Swany White Flour Mills (organic unbleached flour); Hope Creamery (churned butter), Larry Schultz Organic Farm (eggs), Hastings Co-op Creamery (hormone-free milk and butter).

If you can bear to wait until you have a cup of coffee in your hand, one of Toffee Waffle's highest and best uses is to sit on top of a hot cup of coffee until the center softens. Then, and only then, do you eat your Toffee Waffle. Bet you can't wait!

Better than a Golden Raisin Cookie: Dried Cherry Cookies

2011-05-05T22:23:00.000-05:00

Golden Dried Cherry Cookies

After finding the King Arthur Flour posting containing a remembrance and lament for Sunshine Golden Raisin Cookies, I decided to make them.

One problem: no raisins. One solution: Dried tart cherries.

These are easy to make, even for people with Fear of Pastry, because they are random and raggedy, and the cherries or raisins (or any other chopped, dried fruit) can stick out. One great tool: a bench scraper will fold the dough and cut the the cookies before baking.

The King Arthur blog posting has excellent instructions and great pictures. Aside from the raisin/cherry difference between theirs and mine, I decided not to use the beautiful coarse sugar topping, sprinkling on regular sugar instead. I don't remember coarse sugar on the Sunshine cookies, and I also remember these cookies being surprisingly not sweet.

Golden memories: Sunshine Raisin Biscuits make a comeback | King Arthur Flour – Baking Banter

2011-05-04T13:00:00.000-05:00

Golden memories: Sunshine Raisin Biscuits make a comeback | King Arthur Flour – Baking Banter

Every time a candy or a cookie is dumped by the Dreaded Takeover Corporation, a souffle falls like a stone. Sunshine Raisin Biscuits were grown-ups' cookies -- chewy and not too sweet. I loved them and, thanks to the bloggers at King Arthur Flour, I am going to make some this afternoon.

To wallow in the history of lost candies and to be shocked! shocked! shocked! by the level of corporate and intellectual property security in the candy business, read The Emperors of Chocolate by Joel Glenn Brenner.

Mark Bittman's Quick Scallion Pancakes: fast, cheap, addictive

2011-01-20T11:57:00.000-06:00

My Hero

Having conducted "Scallion Pancake Week" and revisited with Super Simple Scallion Pancakes, I was not prepared for the ease and deliciousness of Mark Bittman's "Quick Scallion Pancakes" from The Minimalist Cooks at Home.

Fast, cheap, and addictive In 20 minutes, you can make a pile of beautiful green pancakes with 4 bunches of scallions, an egg, flour, salt, and pepper. It is as easy as boiling water, which is the first step. You'll need a blender or food processor, a small bowl, and a non-stick pan.

These will stay warm in the oven at 300 F. If you are frying for company, these will have the same effect on your guests as potato latkes. They will hover around the pan.

Cooks' notes: Know your stove and frying pan. It is pointless to write "on medium high heat" because yours might be blazing hot or vaguely energetic. The goal is to cook them through, with either lightly brown or deeply brown (my favorite) exteriors.

Lots of scallions

Ingredients

4 bunches of scallions, washed and trimmed
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 cup of all purpose flour
Oil for frying, salt & pepper
Lemon slices
additions (see below and use your imagination!)

Directions

Boil a pot of salted water.
Scallions: Mince one bunch and reserve. Rough chop three bunches.
Add the chopped scallions to boiling water. Boil 5 to 6 minutes or until the thickest scallions are tender. Drain, but do not rinse.
Puree scallions in a food processor or blender. Remove to a medium bowl. Add the flour, slightly beaten egg, soy sauce, salt, pepper, and reserved scallions.
Heat 2 T oil in a non-stick pan.
For dollar-sized pancakes, drop the batter by tablespoons. For larger pancakes, use 1/4 cup or eyeball with a large spoon.

Green in the pan

Cook the pancakes 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until brown. I like brown-and-crispy, so I lean toward 3 minutes. Serve with lemon slices.

Unable to leave well enough alone, I also added:

Garlic: throw 2 or 3 peeled cloves into the boiling water with the scallions.
Ginger: Process a 1-inch piece of fresh ginger before adding hot scallions.
Chili pepper: With the ginger, I processed skin and seeds of a jalapeno. Feel free to use some (a technical term, indicating as much or as little as you want, taking into account the Scoville rating of the pepper and your ability to cope with it) fresh or dried pepper.

5 easy changes to improve your cooking

2011-01-12T11:27:00.000-06:00

Five easy changes to your kitchen will improve both the quality of your food and the ease with which you make it. Whether you are an experienced cook or a novice, whether your kitchen is packed with tools or you are outfitting your first apartment, smartening up your organization and paying attention to basic tools will benefit your cooking for yourself, your friends, and your family.

1. Move your herbs and spices away from the heat. Resist the temptation to keep spices handy and to keep a peppermill on top of the stove. Purposeless-random heat does not improve your parsley. Extra credit: Alphabetize your spices on a rack. You will save time and rarely buy what you don't need. True confession: This habit dates from my days of selling Spice Islands spices to grocery and drug stores in Northern California.

My travel-size Peugeot Peppermill

2. Keep your knives sharp. This is Rule #1 under the heading "Safety First." Trying to cut with a dull knife is frustrating and dangerous. Unless you are willing to invest in an electric sharpener, find a local professional knife sharpener (Eversharp in Minneapolis) and take your knives in once a year. Expect to pay between $1 per blade on sale, or $1 per inch. Buy a knife-steel from the sharpener, who will demonstrate its use, and remind you to use it every time you chop.

3. Purchase a heavy-duty sheet pan. Unlike the thin pans from the grocery store, a heavy duty aluminum pan will never buckle under extreme heat and will last forever. An 18x13 weapons-grade pan called "half-sheet," can be had for less than $20, from either a restaurant supply house (Hockenberg's, $7.30) or a cooking emporium (Williams-Sonoma, $19). I bet you won't want just one.

4. Buy (or beg for a gift) a good quality peppermill. There is no substitute for fresh ground pepper. I have one near-but-not-next to my stove, and a tiny Peugeot Peppermill that travels with me.

5. Acquire one Microplane grater. In an entertaining history of Microplane, the New York Times reminds us that this handy tool was born in a woodshop. Now that Grace Manufacturing, Inc. has embraced its culinary functions, there are a dazzling number of choices. If you must pick just one, I recommend a long, thin one with small holes that grates mountains of fresh Parmesan in minutes. It will zest your lemons, grate nutmeg, and make short work of ginger and garlic, too.

Registration open for 2011 susan-cooks! season

2011-01-06T20:59:00.000-06:00

The essence of susan-cooks! is “Fun with a side of skill-building.”

Three dishes and their variations in each class will launch you with new skills into a new season Come to learn, to laugh, to enjoy great snacks and appetizers, and great food.

Details. Class size limited to 6. Secure registration through PayPal: $45 per person; $200 for a 5-class pass. Cost of food will be extra. Location: St. Paul. Each class (except for Canning) begins at 6 p.m.

March 26, Knife Skills: Prep forever. Coconut Braised Beef, Cucumber Salad w/Carrot Brunoise & lots of chopping, Spiced Fruit Salad. Includes dinner.

May 21, Spring: All about Fresh. Fresh Spring Rolls, Spring Vegetable Stir Fry, Fresh Fruit Torte. Includes dinner.

July 16, Creative Canning. Local, available fruit for jam. Dried Apricot Chutney. Includes appetizers. Begins at 4 p.m.

September 24, Fast. Easy. Healthy. Mom's Creole Sauce with Your Choice of Protein. Chili Shrimp. Smart Chopping for Fast Roasted Root Vegetables. Includes dinner.

November 19. Holiday Baking. Laurie Colwin's Black Cake. Spiced Pecans. Caramel with a candy thermometer. Includes appetizers.

To create a class for you and your friends, your book group or your special event, contact Susan Gainen at 651-917-0219 or susangainen@comcast.net.

Bizcoff: Cookie Clone Saves Airfare

2010-12-29T10:53:00.000-06:00

Homely. Yummy.

In November 2010, Salon's Francis Lam wrote a glorious essay praising the Biscoff© that Delta serves to grateful passengers. If you look forward Delta flights just for the cookie, save your airfare and head to the kitchen.

The lovely people at matzo&rice posted a recipe for a clone of this admirable cookie. “Rice” worked it all out, rolled the dough, cut extraordinary shapes, and took terrific pictures.

Not for me. I fulfilled my obligation to roll-and-cut in 1982 after my last Gingerbread Person Marathon. Since then, I have been resolutely in the slice-and-bake camp. For my Bizcoff, I added lime zest, changed the directions for mixing the butter and sugar, added directions for slice-and-bake, and increased the baking time because I like them crisp.

These are way too close together.

These cookies are crazy-easy. They use things in your pantry, the rolls keep in the fridge for a week, and in the freezer for a month. This recipe can be doubled or tripled. You may be heavy-handed with the spices. Obsess, if you will, to make them identical, or you may have oddly shaped rolls.

From "I want a cookie" to "Let's eat" is 17 minutes from frozen,

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground allspice

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp lime zest

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

½ cup small pieces of candied ginger

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350.
In a medium-sized bowl whisk together flour, spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cloves, and lime zest), baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer (a stand-mixer if you have one), cream together butter and sugars at medium high speed for five minutes. Yes. Five minutes. Add the vanilla extract.
Gradually blend the flour mixture into the butter mixture until it is well combined. It will be thick.
FOR ROLL AND CUT:
a. Roll out dough to ¼ inch-thick. Use cookie cutters or your imagination to make shapes.
b. Place cookies onto parchment paper, and press a piece of candied ginger into the center of each. Bake for 13-17 minutes or until the outer edges begin to brown. If you don't separate them (at least 1/2 inch all around), they will run together. If that happens, cut them apart as soon as you remove them from the oven.

6. FOR SLICE AND BAKE:

a. Roll the dough into logs on waxed paper or parchment. The larger to the log, the larger the cookie. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Double wrap in paper and plastic, and freeze for up to a month.

b. When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350.

     c.     From the fridge or freezer: With a sharp knife, cut ¼ inch slices. Place on parchment or silicone mat with 3/4 inches between cookies.
    d.     Press a piece of candied ginger into the center of each cookie.
    e.     For very crisp cookies, bake for 15 minutes from the refrigerator, 17 minutes from frozen, or until the outer edges are slightly brown.
    f.      Cool on cooling rack before serving. Unlike Chocolate Chip Cookies, which are great as "warm" cookies, Bizcoff are much better after they have cooled completely.

Goldilock's Spicy Cheddar Shortbread: at last

2010-12-04T12:10:00.000-06:00

Goldilock's Spicy Cheddar Shortbread

Cheddar Shortbread is the lazy cook's substitute for Cheese Straws. They are a snap to make if you think of them as slice-and-bake cookies, and the rolls can live well-wrapped, unsliced, and unbaked in your freezer for up to a month.

My first two batches were Thanksgiving appetizers, and the third time was the charm. The first were too bland; the second were too spicy. This third version for Goldilocks, is just right for me. Feel free to adjust the cheeses, cayenne, sugar, and mustard to your taste.

Shortbread Alerts:

Too Bland & Too Spicy

The Cheese matters for flavor. Cheese is the front flavor, so pick what you like. Weighing out leftover cheese chunks on your kitchen scale will make you feel like an Alchemist.
The Cheese matters for color. If you want pale shortbread, use white cheddar and fresh ground white pepper.
Room temperature butter matters. Cold butter can be beaten into submission by your stand mixer, but the result will be a crumbly mess that will require a lot of handwork to create the "cookie" rolls.
Salt matters. Do not imagine that the saltiness of your cheese will be enough salt to support the flour.
Sugar matters. A small addition of sugar brings these to life. Inexplicably, sugar is omitted from most published recipes.
Silpat or other silicone mats should be your gift to you. In addition to saving the planet (no foil or parchment), these mats clean up in a minute.

Shortbread on a roll

SPICY CHEDDAR SHORTBREAD

6 oz unsalted butter at room temperature
1 T Dijon mustard
1 T sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper (fine grind)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
8 ounces finely grated cheese
2 cups flour

Baking right now? Preheat the oven to 350.
With an electric mixer: beat the butter, mustard, sugar, salt, ground pepper and cayenne until smooth.
Add the cheese and flour and beat until well mixed. You may have dry bits, which you will have to pull together by hand to shape the dough into logs. Wrap tightly in parchment or waxed paper. Refrigerate for 1 hour or freeze for up to 1 month.
Cut the logs into 1/4" slices, and place on a silicone mat. They can be close together, but not touching.
Bake for 15 minutes and begin checking for slightly darkened edges every five minutes after that. Baking time will depend on:

Whether your dough was refrigerated or frozen;
Whether you use a thick and sturdy or light and flimsy sheet pan; or
How true your oven temperature is on baking day.

Remove from the oven and let the shortbread sit on the pan for 5 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool completely. Store airtight. Unless you live by yourself and have Mighty Willpower, these will have a very short life. People will sneak back to the buffet table and attempt to stuff them into their pockets. Make sure that there are adequate napkins to protect their pockets from shortbread crumbs.

How to sear and saute mushrooms

2010-10-24T17:25:00.000-05:00

Francis Lam gets it right...How to sear and saute mushrooms