The following originally appeared on 7/2/08 at Exit 51

Today’s Count

The following originally appeared on 7/1/08 at Exit 51.

On Probation

I’ve got a secret, I’m addicted to finding new recipes to try. So far, I haven’t found a program to help me overcome this affliction. Instead, I try to keep it hidden away in folders and binders in dark corners of the house. The problem is that on this information superhighway, there’s no shortage of rest stops that tempt my demons. I have folders stuffed with pages from websites, magazines, and even some newspapers.

To balance this habit, I rarely buy cookbooks. I’m still trying to get through recipes I pulled years ago from Cooking Light, so how can I justify spending money on a book full of recipes I would have to put in the test rotation? At that rate, my folders would overflow like the loaves and fishes.

Now, this is not to say that I don’t own cookbooks. I have never looked a gift cookbook in the mouth. I just don’t go out of my way to add titles to my collection. So I’ve really got to be excited about one to hunt it down and find room for it on the bookshelf. That’s where I was with Cake Love.

Don’t ask me why but I was infatuated with the idea of churning out all kinds of frosted delights. So much so that I preordered the book and then patiently waited through two publishing delays for it to arrive. My expectations were high. I just knew that with the help of Warren Brown, I would be whipping up buttercream with ease and pulling perfect cakes from my oven on a regular basis. And then I tried my first Cake Love recipe. And I failed miserably. Have you ever managed to create a hollow cupcake? I have. 24 of them to be exact.

Not to be defeated, I dusted myself off and picked a different cake. I measured. I mixed. I baked. And somewhere between the words on the page and the cake in my oven, we ended up in two different places.

So Mr. Brown, you are officially on probation. I’ve give you one more shot to guide me to Cake Love. After that, I can’t guarantee your spot on the bookshelf.

The following originally appeared on 6/8/08 at Exit 51.

Now You See It, Now You Don’t

The following originally appeared on 6/2/08 at Exit 51

Know When To Say When

I have a handful of recipes that try and create homemade versions of popular treats – Thin Mints, Peppermint Patties, and most recently, Oreos. I adore the idea of a diy approach to a classic. Really, who wouldn’t jump at the chance to have Thin Mints anytime they wanted? Nothing to get in the way of enjoying minty thin goodness on a whim.

But here’s the thing that nobody says. It’s a lot of freaking work. I read over the recipe and think ’sure, I can do that’. But it doesn’t occur to me that this undertaking will consume hours of my life. Hours that I can never get back. And why? All because I had to see if I could do it.

And now that I have done it, I have decided that it’s just as well to buy the durn things. Because really, two and a half hours of my time to walk away with maybe three dozen “Oreos”? That’s just not a bargain to me.

Here’s how it all went down. The recipe was pulled from www.smittenkitchen.com which attributes it to Retro Desserts, Wayne Brachman.

I took:

1¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cups sugar
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (1¼ sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

In the bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. On low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue mixing until dough comes together in a mass. Mine looked like this:

The recipe directs you to roll the dough into 1 teaspoon balls, flatten slightly, and bake at 375 degress for 9 minutes, on a parchment lined sheet pan , rotating the pan once. I found that this produced a puffy cookie. Not at all Oero like. So I chose to chill my dough, roll it, and cut with the smallest round biscuit cutter I have. This produced a much more consistent sized cookie. It also resulted in that thin wafer I expected in a sandwich cookie.

And it added a considerable amount of time to the overall process.

Once all the dough had been baked and cooled, I started on the vanilla filling:

¼ cup (½ stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
¼ cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy. Sounds easy enough and yet mine had the consistency of library paste and it stuck together in one big clump. So I added more butter and shortening and vanilla until it decided to become light and fluffy.

Now, according to the recipe, I should have been able to pipe teaspoon sized blobs of cream onto the center of a cookie, top with a second cookie, and be done with it. Nope, didn’t happen for me. After rigging up my piping bag out of a gallon storage bag and fitting it with a cake tip, that filling wasn’t going anywhere. So I had to cut my bag open, scrape the filling out with a small spatual, and apply it to my still naked cookies. By the time I was done, I had this:

I’ll admit they are good. But are they THAT good?

You’ll have to decide for yourself.

The following originally appeared on 5/30/08 at Exit 51.

Good Karma Risotto

Ok, so maybe this risotto recipe won’t bring you good karma, but I think sharing it with you can’t be bad for mine. Besides, every time I have served it, it’s been a big hit. Huge.

The final dish is creamy with a tender grain and comes without the aggravation of having to stand over a steaming pot stirring and stirring. Cooking doesn’t have to be hard work you know?

I’ve even made it without the dried mushrooms for those adverse to the ’shroom and it does not disappoint. If you do opt to do this, be sure to add one additional cup of liquid in lieu of the mushroom water.

The recipe I modified this from had a combination of chicken broth and white wine. I found it easier and just as good to use all chicken broth. But feel free to experiment with the combinations you like best.

And if my guests are any indication, there will not be leftovers. So maybe you’ll wanna sneak a little aside for later or even make a double batch.

Mushroom Risotto

Adapted from Dave Lieberman – Food Network

• 1-ounce dried mushrooms
• 1 cup boiling water
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• 1 ½ cup chicken stock, heated (DL’s recipe called for 1 cup stock and ½ cup white wine)
• Few pinches salt
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup grated pecorino romano
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Place mushrooms in a bowl and pour boiling water over them; cover and let sit 10 minutes.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots and sweat until they start to turn translucent in color, just a couple minutes.

Add rice and stir around until all the grains are covered with oil. To the rice, add the stock and wine.

Remove the mushrooms from their liquid, reserving the liquid, and chop them roughly (instead of this, I broke the dried mushrooms into pieces before soaking them). Add the mushrooms with their liquid to the pot. Add salt, raise heat to medium-high, and bring to a simmer. Stir well, reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 20 minutes, stirring once more after 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in the butter, pecorino, and parsley.

{printable recipe}

The following originally appeared on 5/29/08 at Exit 51.

Kitchen Karma

I can’t very well tease you with references to recipes that not only work but impress the heck outta folks and then leave you high and dry, now can I?

No, that would be bad.

Bad kitchen karma.

And all my future cooking endeavors would be doomed.

So to appease the Kitchen Gods…not to mention my own personal St. Anthony of Bacon…I give you the main course from Win Some, Lose Some.

I will admit that as straightforward as this recipe is, I did have a near miss roasting the beef. Not a happy thought with an expensive piece of meat. So learn from me, be sure that your thermometer is inserted correctly into the roast. Because after 30 minutes in the oven, that temperature reading really should be somewhere around 130 to 140 degrees. And I don’t know that it really takes 10 minutes to sear the meat.

We had a delay after the roast started doing its thing in the oven (near miss #2). So to keep things from going to hell in a handbasket, I pulled it at about 135 degrees, cooled the oven down, and let it rest in a low oven (about 175 degrees) until our guests arrived and we were ready to dig in (about another 30 – 45 minutes). And let me tell you, that roast was moist AND tender, more medium than medium rare, but lip smacking good.

Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Rosemary, Chocolate and Wine Sauce

Ellie Krieger – Food Network

• 1 (2-pound) beef tenderloin roast
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped shallots
• 1 small carrot, finely chopped
• 1 stalk celery, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)
• 1 clove garlic, minced (about 1 teaspoon)
• 2 cups dry red wine
• 2 cups low-sodium beef broth
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened natural cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Season the meat with the salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat 2 teaspoons of the oil over medium-high heat until good and hot, then add the meat and sear until well browned on all sides, about 10 minutes total.

Transfer the meat to a rack set on a baking sheet. Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part registers 140 degrees F for medium-rare, about 30 minutes, or to your desired degree of doneness. Remove it from the oven, cover with aluminum foil, and let rest until the sauce is nearly done before slicing.

While the meat cooks, make the sauce. Heat the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the shallots, carrot and celery and cook, stirring a few times, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes more. Add the wine and broth and stir in the tomato paste. Add the bay leaf and thyme and bring to a boil. Simmer until the liquid is reduced to about 1/2 cup, about 40 minutes.

Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a small saucepan. Stir in the cocoa and rosemary and season with salt and pepper. Serve on the side with the sliced tenderloin.

{printable recipe}

The following originally appeared on 5/28/08 at Exit 51

Win Some, Lose Some

The following originally appeared on 5/16/08 at Exit 51

Mash Ups

Standing at the sink the other night doing dishes, I got to thinking. Why is it that we christen the rich, famous, or infamous with mashed up names? There’s JLo, LiLo, Bennifer, and let us not forget Brangelina or TomKat. Is it so hard to use a complete name? Have we really lost the ability to speak in anything but sound bytes?

Of all the nicknames I’ve had, none of them have every employed the mash up. If they did, I could be WeMi (nope), WeMo (no, not that either), WeJay (neyt), or JEndi (actually, SFC and I do get called this and I don’t really mind).

So, what’s your mash up name?

The following originally appeared on 5/14/08 at Exit 51

Love/Hate

I have a confession to make. I have a relationship with another man. Maybe you’ve heard of him – Mark Bittman of the New York Times, otherwise known as The Minimalist.  Shhh, don’t tell SFC.

He embraces a lo-fi approach to cooking…it’s not about fancy gadgets or exotic ingredients or esoteric techniques. It’s about plain and simple good food which only seems to be fancy or exotic or esoteric.

I regularly check out his Bitten blog on the New York Times and I have one of his cookbooks at home. And here’s the thing, when his recipes work for me, they work beautifully. But when they don’t, they fail spectacularly. Yet, I keep holding out hope that if I give those less than successful ones another try, show them a little more love, they will repay me by magically transforming from frog to prince. This is why I have leftover rockfish with soy glaze in my fridge that I have no desire to eat but don’t have the heart to throw away because it SHOULD have been so good.

So while I keep searching for the next princely Minimalist recipe, I’ll share with you two that have never let me down. If you feel like showing them a little love, I’m sure they will be equally as kind to you.

Bittman’s Basic Vinaigrette

MB’s Notes: Vary this however you like: with herbs, with garlic (roasted is very nice), with a tiny bit of soy sauce and sesame oil, with lemon juice in place of the vinegar, with hazelnut oil, with spices . . . you name it, in moderation it will work. You can also just beat the ingredients in a bowl with a fork, or shake them in a jar; it won’t be as creamy, but it will still taste delicious.

• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons or more good vinegar — wine, sherry, rice, balsamic, etc. (WM note – I find that I use anywhere from 3 to 6 tablespoons)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 heaping teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 large shallot (about 1 ounce), peeled and cut into chunks
• honey to taste (WM addition, not in MB’s recipe)

Combine all ingredients but the shallot in a blender and turn the machine on; a creamy emulsion will form within 30 seconds. Taste and add more vinegar a teaspoon or two at a time, until the balance tastes right.

Add the shallot, and turn the machine on and off a few times until the shallot is minced within the dressing. Taste, adjust seasoning and serve. This is best made fresh but will keep a few days refrigerated; bring back to room temperature and whisk briefly before using.

{printable recipe}

Bittman’s Roasted Salmon Steaks With Pinot Noir Sauce

MB’s Notes: This sauce is relatively simple because it is based on caramelized sugar. The wine, added after the sugar liquefies, need not be expensive — I used one that sells for less than $12 a bottle — and you get to drink about half of it.

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups pinot noir
• 1 sprig rosemary, plus 1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
• 4 salmon steaks, each about 1/2 pound
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place sugar in heavy-bottomed saucepan and turn heat to medium. Cook without stirring (just shake the pan occasionally to redistribute sugar) until sugar liquefies and begins to turn brown, about 10 minutes. (WM Note: you really shouldn’t be far from the stove while this is going on. You can go from brown to burnt in no time flat.) Turn off heat, and carefully add wine. (WM Note: I move the whole shebang close to the sink when it’s time to add the wine because it sputters, a lot.) Turn heat to high, and cook, stirring, until caramel dissolves again. (WM Note: be patient with this; it may seem like it’ll never happen but eventually that hardened caramelized sugar does dissolve in the wine.) Add rosemary sprig, and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture is syrupy and reduced to just over 1/2 cup, 10 to 15 minutes.

As liquid reduces, heat a nonstick skillet over high heat until it begins to smoke. Season salmon on both sides with olive oil, salt, and pepper, then place in pan and immediately transfer to oven. Cook 6 minutes, then turn salmon and cook another 6 minutes. Remove salmon when medium-rare or thereabouts (or cook another minute or two if you like it more done), and keep warm.

When sauce is reduced, stir in balsamic vinegar and butter and turn heat to medium-low. Cook until butter melts. Season with salt and pepper, and remove rosemary sprig. Taste and adjust seasoning, then serve over salmon, garnished with chopped rosemary.

{printable recipe}

The following originally appeared on 5/13/08 at Exit 51

David Lebovitz Trifecta

I thought I would round out my homage to DL with his take on Frozen Yogurt which just so happens to be the only project which fit into my busy weekend. Unlike ice cream, frozen yogurt doesn’t need a cooked base. No fiddling or fussing necessary. Just find some lovely berries, sugar them up a bit, go do something else for two hours, mix in plain yogurt*, process, chill, and churn. This recipe could not be simpler.

*It is worth noting that his notes discuss using French yogurt but that Greek style yogurt is a perfectly acceptable substitution. Have you ever tried Greek yogurt? It is simply divine. Thick with a slight tangy sweetness. I imagine that if you can’t find Greek yogurt (I used the Fage brand) you could improvise by straining regular plain yogurt through a towel lined sieve to eliminate the extra liquid. I was worried that the base would be too thick but once you introduce the berries and their juice to the yogurt the consistency is just right.

DL’s Strawberry Frozen Yogurt
(About 1 quart)

• 1 pound strawberries, rinsed and hulled
• 2/3 cup sugar
• optional: 2 teaspoons vodka or kirsch
• 1 cup plain, whole milk yogurt
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Slice the strawberries into small pieces. Toss in a bowl with the sugar and vodka or kirsch (if using) until the sugar begins to dissolve. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Transfer the strawberries and their juice to a blender or food processor. Add the yogurt and fresh lemon juice. Pulse until the mixture is almost smooth. Press mixture through a mesh strainer to remove any seeds if you like.

Chill for 1 hour, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

{printable recipe}