Kumquat Connection

Week 19: Cabbage

2009-05-18T14:44:51-05:00

Hi Leigh,

It's been a while, hasn't it?

I have to admit, I put the KC on the back burner for what I thought was a few weeks, but as my lovely roommate, Kristen reminds me bitterly, it's been about 2 1/2 months since we last posted. I took a big test for work, you moved, I got some crazy "allergy", you applied to grad school - basically life got in the way. Geez, life. (Congrats on getting into school, by the way) In fact it's been so long, one of our regular readers asked if we had a falling out. That's a little extreme, but I get it, I get it - it's been a while.

Believe it or not, I actually prepared a recipe for our current ingredient in a timely manner. But "timely manner" was so long ago, I forgot exactly what went into it. Not a prob! I think I can get pretty close. So here goes...

Impromptu Coleslaw for Taco Night: this salad is light and refreshing, especially if you let it chill for a few hours. I made it for a Mexican themed Sunday night dinner and it was a great alternative to heavy rice and beans.

1/2 head cabbage, sliced thin
1 package grape tomatoes
1/2 red onion, sliced thin
1 jalepeno, diced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/3 cup lime juice
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 tsp dijon mustard
2 Tbsp water
s&p
1 avocado, sliced thin

Prepare a few hours before serving, if possible. Combine cabbage, tomatoes, onion, jalepeno and cilantro in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together lime juice, olive oil, mustard, water and s&p to taste. Pour viniagrette over cabbage mixture and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for several hours. Before serving top with sliced avocado.

If I recall, it's my turn to pick the ingredient. I originally chose our next ingredient when it was still a bit wintery out. I consider it a fall food, but I think it has real potential for spring fare as well, so I'm going to stick with it. I choose....cranberries. You can choose any form you like - fresh, frozen, dried, juiced.

I'm glad we're back on track!

Bonnie

Fire Breather

2009-03-05T21:41:13-06:00

Hi Bon,

The recipe I've been working on for canned tomatoes is a fiery one. I grew up with a chile-growing Dad who eats the hottest chiles he can find for sport. Mom and Dad make all manner of things with the garden's bounty of chiles: chile rellenos with big, fresh, green anaheim chiles, chile wreaths for adorning the kitchen, jars of chiles with carrots and onions as Christmas gifts, green chile enchiladas...you name it. Growing up, our kitchen was even decorated with two charts categorizing chile heat: one for chiles fresca and one for chiles seco.

This winter (my first real winter ever), I've been drawn to the spiciest foods I can find. We've jumped on the train in search of mysterious tastebud-tingling Szechuan hotpots deep in Chinatown despite negative-skin-freezing-temperatures outside. We trudged through a white out blizzard and endured an hour-long bus ride to slurp up chile laden chutneys and soups in Devon's Indian restaurants. When you were here we ventured out into the frozen night in search of injera and uber spicy Ethiopian food.

Not surprisingly, my homemade soups have grown more and more fiery over the last several months. As our buddy Chris--a fellow Californian transplanted in the Midwest--says: spicy soups "warm from within."

Today I'm sharing a favorite soup that is laden with goodies. The heat is adjustable--so no fear if you are not a fellow fire breather.

Also, do you know about hominy? A good friend of mine, who is an expert in Mexican cooking and eating, calls it "flowered" corn. Imagine big, fat, yielding kernels. They are neither tough nor mushy. Their texture and taste is quite special and adds so much body to a soup.

I could call this soup "vegetarian posole," but that title is perhaps a bit counter intuitive. I replace the traditionally included chicken and chicken broth with beans and vegetable broth. My friend informed me that traditional posole come in three varieties: verde, rojo, and blanco. Each version includes either green chiles (mild version), red chiles like chipotles or anchos (spicy--the version I'm playing off of), or plain chicken broth (very mild). I get my hominy in a big can either from a Mexican grocery or from the Mexican aisle of a non-Mexican grocery. My friend tells me that the kernels of dried hominy contained in bags his family brings back from Mexico are significantly larger than the type sold in the US. I'm crossing my fingers on getting my hands on some of this monster hominy.

I hope you play with some new ingredients when making this soup; it is ripe for substitutions.

And as for the news you have been waiting for: next week we've got cabbage cooking in the Kumquat Kitchen.

love leigh

Rojo Hominy Sopa con Frijoles

2 chiles (I have used either dried ancho chiles or chipotles in adobo sauce from a can--or a combination of both)
2 tablespoons oil
1 onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
7 cups vegetable broth or water
28 oz. can "fire roasted" crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon oregano
1.5 or 2 cups beans (I have used garbanzo, black, and red nightfall beans. Canned or dried beans both work...but slow cooking beans from their dried state makes for crazy tasty soup.)
28 oz. can hominy, drained and rinsed
Salt
Lime Juice

1. If using dried chiles, soak them in hot water for 15-20 minutes, then remove the stems and puree in a food processor. If using canned chipotles, remove the stems and puree.
2. In a large pot, saute the onion in oil over medium heat until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and saute 30 seconds before adding most of the pureed chile paste, tomatoes and their juices, oregano, and 7 cups of broth or water. 3. Cover, lower flame, and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Add the beans and hominy and return to a simmer for 10-15 minutes.
5. Before serving, taste the soup and add lime juice and salt to taste. Add more chile paste too, if you require more fire. I like enough of a bite of lime to counteract the chiles.

-----------

P.S. After my mom read your previous note regarding reports that Kumquat is becoming a bastion of food snobbery, she called me immediately. Mom reminded me of a recipe she made for almost every party (and definitely every kids party) growing up. You asked for simple, and she suggested a recipe that doesn't get any simpler. The recipe also couldn't be further from my mom's actual cooking philosophy, or that which we tout here on Kumquat...but it is ridiculously yummy.

Texas Kate's Queso Dip

1 Box Velveeta Cheese
1 Can Rotelle Tomatoes

Put ingredients in crockpot. When melty and delicious, start dipping in the tortilla chips. Watch people flock to crockpot.

Week 18: Canned Tomatoes

2009-02-18T16:05:42-06:00

Hey Leigh,

I'm just going to get to the point today...

It's recently come to my attention that the KC isn't giving off the easy-after a long day at work-no hassle cooking vibe that we'd like it to. It pains me to tell you, but I'm afraid we've been lumped into the "food snob" category.

Now don't get me wrong, I certainly can be a food snob at times. I spent 5 minutes in the condiment aisle over the weekend detailing my argument for the $4.00 BBQ sauce instead of my dad's usual $1.89 BBQ sauce and every Wednesday when I receive my local, organic produce box, I proudly pull out eat item, greet it and fawn over it as if I'm trying to make friends - not about it eat it. I'll happily admit, in the world of food snobs, I can throw down.

But most of the time, I'm no snob. I have a small apartment kitchen, 4 bosses at work, no car and no credit card. And for these reasons, the bulk of my made at home meals need to come from super easy, no stress, accessible (read: affordable), simple recipes. That's the way I cook.

But in the past week, I've heard comments to the contrary. As I mentioned, there was the BBQ sauce showdown in Kroger's with dad. A week earlier, I was g-chatting with a friend who was contemplating what to make for dinner. He threw out the idea of hitting up the KC, but then remarked "but I don't have any of those exotic foods you guys use." Exotic foods!! Fine, I'll give you cardamom if the consider a trip down the spice aisle exotic. But canned tomatoes? citrus? zucchini? blue cheese? kale? You might think some of them are gross (aghem, kale) but the even lame guy at the crappy mini mart at the end of my block sells most of our ingredients. And seriously, Safeway carries EVERYTHING I've ever listed as an ingredient. Also, I've recently learned that Safeway will deliver the goods to your door, so if your not only sheltered, but also lazy, you still have no argument.

Oh yeah, and my last run in re: the KC came yesterday. I'm about to embark on the Annual Raz-Ma-Taz ski weekend. It's a weekend of debauchery and skiing put on by my uncle every year in Utah. This year, like every year, I offered to cook one night and even cited the blog as my qualification. My offer was met with much enthusiasm, but with a few words of caution: "Just remember - we are not fancy eaters." Oh geez.

Even though I think the food I make is mostly fancy-free, the recipe I chose for this week's post is particularly so. I dare any down home cook to attempt it and try to call it fancy. It just isn't. I'll even be your very own Rachel Ray and cheerlead you through the recipe if you're nervous. You know who you are. You have my number.

xo, bep

Tomato Bread Soup

olive oil

1 medium onion

2+ cloves of garlic, minced

1 big can crushed tomatoes

1 small can diced tomatoes

½ baguette, cubed

1 tsp sugar

about 2 cups chicken stock

½ cup Parmesan

basil, chopped

Heat a generous amount of olive oil a deep skillet on medium heat. Add onions and saute until translucent. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add both cans of tomatoes with juices and heat until warm through. Add bread cubes and stir to coat with tomato mixture. Let cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring often to encourage the bread to get soggy. With the back of a wooden spoon, mash the bread chunks until the disintegrate. There will be some chunks of bread here and there. That's okay. Add sugar to cut the acidity of the tomatoes and chicken stock. Truthfully, you can add as much or as little stock as you'd like, depending on how thick you would like the soup to be. If at this time, you are drinking a glass of red wine, throw about 1/4 cup in the mix as well. Let soup cook together for 15 minutes, adding chicken stock as needed to thin the soup. Serve and top with Parmesan, basil and a drizzle of olive oil.

Week 17: Citrus

2009-02-09T16:18:00-06:00

Hi Leigh,

It's been a big two weeks of baking for me. I know! - I can hear you from here, "Bonnie's HAPPYabout baking?!?" ... Well yes, because none of my endeavors turned catastrophic this time around. I have no witty How-I-Blew-Up-The-Kitchen stories this week. Only successes. Woo! And I'm crazy excited to share them.

Three weekends ago, my friend, Christine and I trekked to Noe Valley for a cookbook signing. Christine's friend, Anita has a great lil cookbook out entitled "Field Guide to Cookies." A bit apprehensive at the thought of discussing baking with a trained pastry chef, I was sold on the excursion at the mention of cookie samples. (Yes, I will travel 45 minutes for samples of cookies. I'd probably even travel further.) Also, if nothing else, I thought might learn something and I'm all about that - so we went. And I was not disappointed...

First, let me mention the most awesome foodie bookstore ever. I've never been to any other foodie bookstores, but seriously, I can't imagine a better place. Tucked in a too cute corner of Noe Valley, Omnivore Books on Food is a real gem. They've got an eclectic collection of gorgeous, sexy new cookbooks and super old cookbooks - for example, during Anita's discussion of chocolate chip cookies, one of the ladies behind the counter pulled out a copy of the Toll House Inn cookbook - that's right, the book with the famed original chocolate chip cookie recipe of the same name.

Then there's Anita. She's just as cute as the bookstore...and very knowledgeable. Once an engineer, she shifted gears to follow her interest in baking and popped out this book shortly after. She patiently answered the crowds tedious baking questions and then graciously offered us jam thumbprint cookies. Between the bookstore, Anita and the heart shaped cookies, my inner six year old was squealing at all the cuteness. And with all the giddiness, I was feeling confident enough to purchase the book and put it to use! More on that at a later date...

Endeavor Number Two took Kristen and I to Pleasanton last weekend. As I've mentioned in previous posts, her mom, Debbie, makes amazing Gingerbread Men. A-MAZING. And I jumped at the offer to learn from the master herself. Standing in Debbie's kitchen, Kristen and I meticulously measured out the ingredients and brought the dough together under Debbie's watchful eye. It became apparent early on that I, in my past attempt, was adding too much flour. The dough needs to be a sticky wannabe ball - not the tough mess I had once turned it into. Once chilled, Kristen and I punched out cheerful Gingerbread Hearts (we left the man cookie cutter at home, oops) and elementary Gingerbread letters - a 'K' for Kristen and a 'B' for Bonnie. Then we bedazzled our creations with M&Ms and threw them in the oven.

But upon tasting them, we found something to be off. The ginger flavor just wasn't as punchy and we had under baked several of them. Had we messed up again? How was that possible? Upon further investigation, it became apparent - Debbie always uses the same Canadian margarine in the recipe and she had run out - so we used regular butter and it didn't yield the same result. Looks like the search for the perfect Gingerbread Man continues in Canada... Regardless, we managed to finish off a better part of the batch. The Hearts were very festive, the 'K' was perfectly cooked and the 'B'...well we aren't sure about the 'B' because someone, whose name does not begin with 'B' but rather with 'N', got a hold of the 'B' and...well now there's no more 'B' to speak of.

There is, however, Lemon Meringue Pie to talk about...as it was my third baking endevor of the past two weeks and my answer to your juicy Citrus challenge. I've had my eye on baking a pie for the past few weeks, although, I have to say I've been more interested in making a pie crust than a filling. Sorry pie crust, maybe next time...this week is all about the filling. I've never eaten Lemon Meringue Pie let alone make it but I'm going to call it a success. I started with a store bought pie crust so I could focus on the filling, which was lemony tart and sweet, cut only by the fluffy meringue layer. It was so delicious, I didn't even notice the crust. Hell, I'd eat lemon meringue filling on a cracker and be just as happy.

And the ingredient for next week? ... Canned Tomatoes!

xoxo,

Bon

Lemon Meringue Pie

pastry dough
5 large egg yolks
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup whole milk
1 Tbsp grated lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
5 large egg whites, at room temperature 30 minutes
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 superfine granulated sugar

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 13-inch round, then fit into a 9-inch pie plate (4-cup capacity). Trim edge, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang, then crimp decoratively. Lightly prick shell all over with a fork, then chill 30 minutes.

Line shell with foil and fill with pie weights or raw rice. Bake until side is set and edge is pale golden, about 20 minutes. Carefully remove weights and foil and bake shell until bottom and side are golden, about 20 minutes more. Remove from oven and reduce temperature to 350°F.

Make filling:
Whisk together yolks in a small bowl.

Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a heavy medium saucepan. Gradually add water and milk, whisking until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking frequently as mixture begins to thicken. Remove from heat and gradually whisk about 1 cup milk mixture into yolks, then whisk yolk mixture into remaining milk mixture. Add lemon zest and juice and simmer, whisking constantly, 3 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in butter until incorporated. Cover surface with wax paper to keep hot.

Make Meringue:
Beat whites with cream of tartar and salt using an electric mixer at medium speed until they hold soft peaks. Increase speed to high and add superfine sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until meringue just holds stiff, glossy peaks.

Assemble and bake pie:
Pour hot filling into warm pie shell and gently shake to smooth top. Spread meringue decoratively over hot filling, covering filling completely.

Immediately bake until meringue is golden-brown, about 15 minutes. Cool completely on a rack, 2 to 3 hours. Cut with a serrated knife dipped in cold water.

Jewels of Winter

2009-01-30T10:58:21-06:00

Hi Bon,

We had a tough week in Chicago two weeks ago. It marked the first time C and I looked at each other and asked "did we make a mistake in moving here? We haven't been outside for more than ten minutes per day in five days. Our eyelashes are freezing together. Our noses drip down our faces and we can't feel it. Did we even wear closed-toe shoes in LA? Didn't we play frisbee and wear shorts everyday there too?"

It was bad. One day the front page of the Chicago Tribune declared "Below 0 For Over 60 Hours." Local publications surveyed city residents: "Why do you live here?"

While we laughed at first, after a few days the laughing stopped. I felt like a hamster living in a glass terrarium, and desperation set in. We couldn't stop searching kayak[DOT]com for deals to Florida. What!? WE wanted to go to FLORIDA?

The temperature eventually rose to positive single digits again, and with that change my thoughts and feelings returned. I thought about what we had been eating during that bitter week. Midwestern winters make you crave warm, gooey, stick-to-your-ribs dishes. But I didn't grow up eating casseroles involving condensed mushroom soup and fried onions. I've never eaten meatloaf or sloppy joes, and a chicken pot pie doesn't warm my soul.

I am starting to feel like a quintessential, stereotypical Californian. In thinking further about "comfort food," I've realized my culinary happiness is pretty closely tied to color. All of those "winter comfort foods" listed above are white, grey, brown, or tan.

In fact, when I think about cooking I don't immediately think of a kitchen, a stove, or pots and pans. I think of my dad's garden beds overflowing with bright green squash vines, unruly artichoke plants, snaking bean stalks, and towering tomato plants. I think of balancing on the fence next to the cherry tree attempting to ferret out every last one of the sweet gems from the heavy branches. I think of collecting brown or turquoise eggs from the red chicken coop in my parents' backyard. I also think of Saturday mornings perusing the colorful stalls of farmers' markets. This is the stuff that inspires me to get into the kitchen.

I need to somehow channel that inspiration here, in my high rise apartment kitchen in Chicago--where the lake, river, ground, and people have long been frozen solid. So, enter this week's recipe: Roasted Beet and Blood Orange Salad. There is orange-zest dressing involved too. We are talking all parts of the wintry blood orange in this jewel-colored dish. The salad is delicious. C pronounced it "refreshing," and me? My color-craving heart felt recharged. And if I must make this every week to feel myself--then so be it.

I know you also have a weakness for beet salad, so I'm betting it will make you smile too--even if it isn't negative 25 degrees where you live. And no, I'm not bitter. Face-numbing wind and frozen eyelashes have nothing on me now that I have this roasted beet and blood orange salad waiting for me at home.

love leigh

Roasted Beet and Blood Orange Salad

A few notes: 1. The proportion of beets to oranges is not set in stone. Use as many of each as you see fit. 2. I chose not to toss the beets or oranges in the dressing, but instead composed each serving of salad individually because of the delicacy of the ingredients. 3. If you roast the beets ahead of time, you can create the salad in a few minutes. Roasted beets last for about 5 days in the refrigerator. I roast a big batch on Sunday and peel them when I need them throughout the week.

1.5 lbs beets

1/2 cup walnuts

2 blood oranges

2 tbs red wine vinegar

2 tbs juice from a blood orange

zest from 1/2 of a blood orange

1/4 cup olive oil

salt + pepper to taste

1. Heat the oven to 400 F. Rinse the beets, place in an oven proof dish, add a few splashes of water, and cover dish tightly with foil. Place dish in oven and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, until the beets can be easily pierced with a fork. When beets are done, remove from oven and place in the refrigerator to cool.

2. With a knife, cut the peel off the blood oranges. Be sure to remove all of the white pith. Cut the oranges into thin rounds.

3. Finely dice the leftover rind of 1/2 of a blood orange. Place diced rind in food processor. Add the vinegar, orange juice, olive oil, and salt + pepper. Process until rind is fully chopped, and dressing is blended. You can do this step by hand if you can zest the rind fine enough.

4. Coarsely chop walnuts, place in a dry (oil-free) skillet, and toast over a medium flame. Watch the color change closely--nuts burn quickly!

5. When beets are completely cooled, chop the top and bottom off of each beet and pinch/peel the skin off. Slice beets into rounds approximately 1/4 inch thick.

6. On each plate, layer rounds of beets and oranges, sprinkle with a handful of walnuts, and drizzle the dressing over the top.

7. Chill the salads in the refrigerator if not serving immediately.

Recipe inspired by Chez Panisse Vegetables.

Cardamom, Queen of Spices

2009-01-27T15:12:28-06:00

Hey Bon,

Your previous post helped me. It made me smile. It made me realize that we need to be better about not feeling guilty about not being better. Can that be a resolution? Maybe that's what I should think to myself when I'm standing in the elevator and wishing it would go faster because I'm late to wherever I was supposed to be 7 minutes prior.

It is in this light that I'm sharing this cardamom recipe. I made this recipe in December. Just after you and I picked up the sweet, spicy, mystical smelling cardamom during your visit. (As an aside, do you remember that night when we came home with our bounty of spices and my friend Bruce opened the baggie of cardamom, stuck his nose inside, and as he inhaled deeply an expression of pure joy--the one which comes from reliving a favorite lost memory--took hold of his face. He looked up and exclaimed "It smells like India!")

Back to the recipe: the result was absolutely delicious. Pretty too. But for some reason, I wanted to do something different for the cardamom recipe I shared on Kumquat. I dreamed up a grand plan. It was going to be awesome. But then life got away from me. I couldn't find time for the 2 hour bus trip to pick up a required ingredient for this scheme. I needed to chat with someone very special on the phone in order to learn about the recipe, but I caught a cold from a big tall dude and lost my voice for a week. I couldn't pull it off. I felt guilty. I tried to catch up.

Then I remembered your cardamom entry. I remembered to be better about not feeling guilty about not being better. The recipe I made in December was delicious.  I made it during a day I spent baking with a good friend. In fact, I've been dying to tell you about this recipe because it's for a cookie! That's right. I baked sweets. You'd be proud. These chocolate-flecked-almond-cardamom crescents could be described as a gussied-up pecan sandy-type cookie (but with almonds). They have this un-pinpointable spicy aftertaste (cardamom), which is counteracted by tiny bits of dark chocolate. My baking buddy and I baked a massive batch, along with two other types of cookies, as Christmas gifts. These cardamom gems disappeared first.

As for my special plan for that particular cardamom recipe? I'll work on it when the time is right--when I have time to appreciate the experience. And you'll still be here. And so will our dear readers. And we will all still be cooking. And cardamom, well it has been around since 200 BC, so I'm willing to bet it isn't going anywhere. And gosh, do I feel better.

Next ingredient up: the citrus of your choice!

love leigh

Chocolate Flecked Cardamom Almond Crescents

From Scraping the Skillet

1 c unsalted butter (2 sticks)
2/3 c brown sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1 t almond extract
2 1/4 c AP flour
1/2 t cardamom
1 c almond flour or meal
3 oz dark chocolate, finely chopped
powdered sugar for dusting, if desired

Preheat your oven to 350°.
Sift together the cardamom and flours. Set aside.
Cream together the butter, sugar and extracts until light and fluffy. Add in the flour mixture and chocolate flecks and mix until thoroughly combined. The dough will pull cleanly away from the sides of your bowl. If the dough is sticking to the sides, add a little more flour until the dough comes together.
Measure dough in rounded tablespoon quantities (~1 oz), or rounded teaspoons (~1/2 oz), depending on your cookie preference. Roll each dough ball into a log with your hands and shape into a crescent.
Place shaped cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet and gently press into the final shape you wish them to have. They will puff a little, but don’t spread very much, so you can place them as close as 1/2 inch.
Bake at 350° for 15 -20 minutes, until they begin to brown on the tips.

Week 16: Cardamom

2009-01-15T01:56:59-06:00

Hi Leigh,

Back into the swing of things and well on our way into the New Year, I decided to post on time this week. It's part of my New Years Resolution - to be better at things. Be better at getting up in the morning (yesss, I'm serious), be better at vacuuming regularly, be better at spending money, be better at taking walks around my neighborhood, be better at not procrastinating and be better at letting go when I don't live up to any of my New Years resolutions. Basically, I had a lot of candidates for my New Years resolution and being an over-ambitious thinker, I tried to bundle them into one maxim. "Be Better At Things" was the only umbrella term that fit them all. So I'm posting on Thursday of our dedicated Cardamom week instead of half a week into the next ingredient...and I'm purposefully sharing this with you in order to guilt trip myself from here on out (damn, already failed on the resolution!)

The maxim also includes be better at not eating white things. It's not that I'm culinarily racist, but eating white stuff isn't great for you. I don't need to tell you, Queen of Bulk Grains, but eating brown things (brown rice, whole wheat pasta, etc) is key to living long healthy lives and I'm all about that. BUT, I'm also all about dessert. You can only pretend fruit and yogurt is dessert for so long, so I've got to find a compromise...and I think cardamom offered me the perfect opportunity.

Cardamom is a strange thing, really. It's intense and exotic, but somehow familiar, fresh and bright. It's light and flirty, almost citrus-y and at the same time deep and druggy...which is exactly why we have a dealer...

Yeah, these guys. Rough and tumble, right?

If you have an addiction (and I'd say we do), you're going to need a quality dealer...someone who will give you the goods you want, when you need them. And if you'd got an addiction, you know you are willing to travel for your dealer. AND if your drug of choice is crazy amazing spices from the far reaches of the Earth, then you'll want to travel to the Spice House in Chicago (spicehouse.com). Shout out to the Spice House. I heart you.

During my trip to Chicago, I stocked up on the good stuff - including my coveted cardamom. Once home, I carefully considered my recipe options. I also considered my shiny, new motto (be better at... not eating white things) and lastly, I considered my sweet tooth. The resulting recipe represents my compromise. White things are involved, but in lesser amounts and I think I'm better for it!

Bon

Mango Cardamom Bread Pudding
adapted from allrecipes.com

7 slices white bread, torn into small pieces
2 mangoes, peeled, seeded and diced
1/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
2 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x11 inch baking dish. Toss together the pieces of bread and mango and place in the prepared baking dish. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla and cardamom. Pour over the bread. Dot with small pieces of butter. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until slightly puffed and golden brown.

Week 15: Christmas!

2009-01-08T15:46:19-06:00

Happy New Year Leigh!

I've been on a cooking tear in both my kitchen and my mom's kitchen this past month - some good and some ridiculously horrible - and with "Christmas" (or "holiday season", if you're aiming for political correctness) as the ingredient this month, I have an opportunity to share it all with you...or at least some of it.

I spent Christmas at my mom's and opted more for napping than cooking, but I managed to throw the obligatory cinnamon buns (from the can - a Perhac Christmas tradition) in the oven before opening presents at noon and stuck around to watch mom prep an amazing standing rib roast for dinner before I headed straight for the couch with Penny (the dog) in tow. Yes, you've read that correctly - I slept in all morning and was back napping by 2. But hell, it's Christmas and I was taking advantage. I woke up in time to finish up the "tablescape" - my gift to mom this year - and belly up to my shiny, new place setting. It was an indulgent, but guilt-free day of nothing-doing.

With my newly replenished reserve of energy, I was up early the next day to prep stuff for my Christmas / Winter / Get-Kind-of-Drunk-With-a-Bunch-of-Friends party Kristen and I were having at the apartment on Saturday night. On the menu...mini food! Mini foods are so damn cute and they make great party food. So, I made mini Gorgonzola Mac & Cheese (served in tiny to-go boxes), mini baked potatoes and mini petite four cakes my mom gave me for Christmas (she knows me well). I left the cocktails regular-sized because, I mean, c'mon!

New Year Eve was up next and with it came more food, more cocktails and a big party downtown. Over 4,000 people crammed themselves into the Westin St. Francis and around 11pm I started thinking this was not a good thing. By midnight, well-dressed, angry, drunk 20-somethings completely packed the place and a fight broke out...next to me...and in all the turmoil, my purse flew somewhere into the crowd. After searching the crowd and being unsuccessful, I set my sights on convincing the coat check manager to let me hunt through 4,000 coats and choose which one was mine. To him, it sounded like I was asking "Sir, may I go shopping in your coat check and take home whichever jacket I deem to be the best?" Enough said, it took a while.

By the end of the night (or morning, whichever) New Years had turn back into fun again, but I was still minus said purse...until the next evening. Someone wonderful named Christy not only found my purse, but confirmed all the contents and found me on Facebook to tell me so. This gave me a reason to make cookies! Not for me, of course, for mysterious Christy.

What kind of cookies? Well that part was easy. I completely and totally adore Kristen's mom's Gingerbread cookies and I recently acquired the recipe, so it was on. Kristen had even made them before and she's a tad, um, unfamiliar with the kitchen, so I confidentlynset out to make them. That's when the true New Years tragedy occurred...

First let's talk about what is required of a good Gingerbread Man in my book. I love a super soft, chewy Man with an intense, almost spiky sharp ginger flavor. It's not required he even be Man shaped, but his flexible texture and consistency is mandatory.

Back to the story, I managed to slaughter a few dozen innocent Gingerbread Men and now their tiny crumpled bodies are stacking up in my garbage bin. Now this is not the fault of the recipe. This recipe kicks ass and I consider myself sort of an expert because I have easily consumed at least thirty of Debbie's Gingerbread Men since December 1st. In fact, she even gave me my own tin of them for Christmas! In retrospect, I know what happened. First of all - my oven sucks. It's too hot but I never have any way of knowing HOW hot it is. Secondly, and most importantly, I added too much flour. I wanted the dough to make a nice round ball in my bowl before I refrigerated it and rolled it out to punch out the Men. You can't do that, you have to put in only 3 1/2 cups of flour and throw it in the fridge a sticky mess. You'll add flour to it later when you roll it out, so it all works out, apparently. Because my baker's intuition is pretty much non-existent, my Gingerbread Men came out crispy and that resulted in the slayings. I'd pick up a Man of the cooling rack and bend him just slightly to test his soft chewiness and his head would snap off. This happened repeatedly.

While I am disappointed, I will not be defeated by the Men. I will attempt them again in the near future...and I hope you do too.

Bonnie

Mini Baked Potatoes

small new potatoes
cheddar cheese, shredded
bacon
sour cream
green onion

Boil the potatoes in a large pot of salted water for 10 minutes or so, checking for doneness with a fork every 3 minutes. Larger potatoes will require longer. Drain and set aside to cool.

In the meantime, cook off the bacon, drain and crumble.

Once the potatoes are cool, slice a sliver off the bottom and set on a parchment lined baking sheet. Slicing off the bottoms will keep them from rolling around on the serving plate. Then, carefully make two angled cuts into the tops of the potatoes that meet in the middle and remove the triangle shaped piece of potato that results. Now you have space for toppings.

Top each potato with a bit of shredded cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of bacon and green onion.

Debbie Look's Gingerbread Men

2 cups golden light brown sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup unsalted butter or margarine
1/2 cup molasses
4 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Measure sugar, spices, salt and baking soda into a large bow. Stir in boiling water until sugar is dissolved. Quickly stir in butter (while mixture is still warm) until melted, then add molasses. Gradually stir in about 3.5 cups of flour. Then continue to stir in a little at a time. When dough becomes stiff, flour your hands and knead in flour until firm enough to form a (loose) ball. Put saran wrap on bowl and refrigerate for one hour (or one day).

To roll out dough place 2 cups of dough on lightly floured board. Roll to 1/4" thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut shapes. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 mins (usually only needs 10). Decorate w/ M&Ms or colored sugar before baking if desired.

Cool on sheets for 5 mins before removing..store at room temp.

Up next week...an ingredient that's no surprise to you (more on that later) ... CARDAMOM

Crab and Christmas

2009-01-07T10:54:48-06:00

Hi Lovely,

Can you believe the holidays have passed? I loved catching up over drinks with you at our home-town-watering hole! Being back in California where the mountains and the sea meet--and there are houses filled with all of my favorite people--was heavenly. It made my heart ache to leave.

But, now I'm here to share my favorite parts of the whirlwind of cooking that went on for the last two weeks of the year. Coming from a family serious about improv cooking, I am always stoked to get home and see what happens in the kitchen...and the backyard!

If I had to pinpoint a theme for this year's holiday cooking it would be quintessentially seasonal and local: home is in the San Francisco Bay Area. Christmas is in December.  Let's talk crab.

Ooooh did we play with crab! First, there was Dad building a crackling fire in the woodfire oven in the backyard. Next, there was Mom and I picking up a mess of fresh crabs. Then, there was an old friend stopping by to crack crab and sip pinot grigio. Last, there was throwing of Mom's fresh pizza dough into enormous disks and topping them with fresh crab meat, piles of garlic, and a dusting of parmesan. After a trip through the backyard and into the fire, the white pizzas emerged and were promptly, and appropriately, devoured. Oh, there were other things baked in the fire too, including a delicate, bronzed root vegetable anna Mom found a recipe for that I just can't get out of my head.

More crab led to a late lunch in the mountains consisting of crepes with fresh chives, freshly cracked crab, a dollop of goat cheese, and a dusting of black pepper. And yes, I used my brand-new whisk (you are the best!) to whip up the chive-studded batter.

Oh still more crab?  How about climbing out of bed, gazing out at the mountain sunrise, and Dad handing you a plate of scrambled eggs with fresh herbs, Jarlsberg, and that pesky fresh crab again. Oh yes. And don't forget to revel in how decadent of a breakfast this is as you place a pile on wheat toast and pop it in your mouth.

And what about the 2008-Gingerbread-House-Challenge? That would be the one where I baked gingerbread walls and a roof from a cast iron mold, and six hot-toddy-filled twenty-somethings piled on all the frosting, chocolates and candies the little structure could handle until it collapsed into a pile of sugary rubble.

Other highlights included a gorgeous apple pie, studded with a few tangerine pieces, and wrapped in a cornmeal crust...and topped in cutouts depicting a mountain scene. But did you really expect anything less from my sister?

One night my brother, fresh from two years in the Middle East, cooked chili-laced, coconut curries for a table full of our favorite people.

I hope your holidays were filled with food, and love, and hugs, and smiles, and laughs as well. I can't wait to hear about it all.

xo

Leigh

Week 14: Coconut

2008-12-18T15:25:40-06:00

Hey Leigh,

I'm having writer's block. Luckily Matt took a rockin' picture of my coconut soup a couple weekends ago, so give that a stare while I think of something profound to write about coconuts:

Lately, I've been on a mad tear for Thai food. I claim not to have a favorite food (save for cheese, champagne and cake) but Thai food is definitely up there. I've shared my theory with you before, but I think the deal is this: whenever I've been cooking like mad (and I have been lately....Christmas baked goods, holiday party food, etc) I feel like eating something totally unrecognizable. Similar to the day after Thanksgiving...after having cooked for 10 hours, I needed something that I had no idea what was in it. Of course, you didn't disappoint and in ridiculously freezing weather we hiked to Chicago's unofficial "Little Ethiopia" for mysterious foods. I was close to gitty when said mysterious foods arrived sans utensils at our table. Sure, I saw a chicken leg and a few beans in there, but hell if I knew what any of it really was.

Thai food does a really similar thing for me. I may be more familiar with Thai food than Ethiopian food, but Thai food still has that X Factor I'm looking for...that thing that says "I'm intimidating to cook at home." I seek out those things on the menu. I want to eat THAT.

So Mission: Coconut provided me with the perfect opportunity to both make and eat Thai food. "Thai Coconut Soup, it is!" I thought. I'll admit, I'd made this soup before so I knew ahead of time that it wasn't going to be much of a challenge. And so I called people over for dinner - like you do when you know you're not going to screw it up. If you're thinking "well that certainly is cocky," don't worry. I would later eat my words.

Sometime between lollygagging around the kitchen, chatting with Matt, throwing things in a soup pot and finishing off a bottle of wine, I underestimated the power of fish sauce....the X Factor in my Thai coconut soup. Let me tell you - too much fish sauce will turn the X Factor into the Ick Factor. And so, in a half panic, tried to remedy the problem with extra chicken stock and a can of coconut milk I convinced one of my dinner guests to pick up on his way.

Well whatever I did worked. The soup turned out just as I would have liked it to the first time and, served with some avocado egg rolls, it was a hit. That being said, I didn't actually take note of the changes I made to the recipe which originally led me astray. (See half panicked state mentioned above). So, if you're feeling like Thai Coconut soup, use this recipe!... Just remember to buy extra ingredients, in case it needs a little more of something (or in my case, a little less).

Tom Kha Gai

This recipe calls for some ingredients that are often hard to find. If you're feeling ambitious, you will probably come across most of them in any Asian market. Just in case you don't, see the substitutions below.
4 cups chicken stock
8 kaffir lime leaves
2 stalks lemon grass, peeled and inner white part minced; exterior leaves sliced into 4 inch pieces (sub: zest of 2 lemons)
2 inch piece galangal, sliced thinly (sub: fresh ginger)
fish sauce, START with 3 tbsp
1/4 cup lime juice (about 2 limes)
1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into strips
1 - 14 oz can coconut milk
4-6 Thai chiles, lightly crushed
cilantro

Start by tying the lime leaves and lemon grass together with a piece of kitchen twine (or one of the outside leaves of the lemon grass).

In a large saucepan, combine the chicken stock with the kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, galangal, fish sauce, chiles and lime juice, and bring to a boil.

Mix well and then add the sliced chicken and coconut milk. Bring mixture back up to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through (cooking time will depend on the size of the slices but meat should appear white).

Retrieve the lemon grass, lime leaves and galangal as they are woody and inedible. Transfer to soup bowls to serve and garnish with chopped cilantro. Best when served with Thai jasmine rice, as pictured above.

Next week's ingredient? CHRISTMAS! Next week Leigh and I will be posting about our holiday experiences in the kitchen...

bep