Archive for April, 2010
For some reason, a bag of Cheezies (the real, Hawkins kind – they’re Canadian, did you know?) with some kind of big red wine has become my idea of heaven on a Friday night. (It’s important to have achievable dreams.) It occurred to me awhile ago that I could in fact make something kindasorta similar – I’m not sure revisiting these cheesy bits was altogether a good idea. So I’ve decided to drag you down with me.
Yes, I’m aware that you know about cheese straws already. They were All That in the eighties and are still just as familiar, although most present-day recipes have taken a shortcut with frozen puff pastry dough. Trust me, these are worth tucking back into your repertoire; they’re as easy to mix and bake as a batch of cookies, and can be pulled into service for any occasion for which you are responsible for providing something to nibble on. The dough takes no more than five minutes in a food processor and is freezable – stash a few balls of dough to thaw, roll and bake when a cheese craving hits. (And because your sense of taste has so much to do with your sense of smell, baking them right before you eat them is like food foreplay – the best possible potpourri.)
They also, it turns out, make a great nibble alongside a bowl of soup, if you need a sort of ballast that doesn’t come in the form of a wedge of bread or enormous biscuit. And have you heard what I’m doing this weekend? I thought I was spending it gaining some control of my house / yard / laundry / basement. Nope. It turns out I’m making lunch for Leonard Nimoy, Malcolm McDowell
and Sid Haig. Life is weird sometimes. Leonard requested two soups. I’m making soup for Spock!
For real! No pressure. I’ll get pictures.
Cheddar Straws
These could be made using an aged Gouda, asiago or any firm, flavourful cheese. For a twist, try blitzing a teaspoon of chopped fresh rosemary into the dry ingredients in place of the cayenne.
1 1/2 cups coarsely grated old or extra-old cheddar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, chilled and cut into chunks
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch cayenne pepper or paprika (sweet or smoked – optional)
2 Tbsp. milk
Put the cheddar, flour, butter, salt and cayenne into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until well combined and crumbly. (If you don’t have a food processor, grate the cheese and toss it with the dry ingredients, breaking it up as much as you can with a whisk, pastry cutter or fork.) Add the milk and pulse until it starts to come together. Remove the dough from the food processor and gather it into a ball. Cover with a tea towel and let rest for about 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into an oval or rectangle about 1/8” thick and cut crosswise into strips that are about 1/4” wide using a pizza wheel or sharp knife. (Alternatively, cut the dough into stars or other small shapes.) Transfer to an ungreased cookie sheet and if you like, twist them a few times for dramatic effect. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until pale golden on the ends.
Makes lots.
April 23 2010 | appetizers | 21 Comments »
Happy Earth Day! We celebrated by not cooking.
That’s not exactly true. Sue is here, and for the past two days we’ve been writing, listing, scheming, researching, and yes – testing recipes and simmering beans – we did an interesting soaked-bean vs. non-soaked bean experiment that once and for all proves our lack of proper excitement and stimulation in our lives. Perhaps if our husbands took us on a trip to Italy or something we might not have to spend our evenings soaking black eyed peas and getting all giddy about it.
By dinnertime we were sick of beans, the kitchen was (and is still) a disaster, and we needed out. She suggested Vietnamese, so I consulted an expert rather than go by default to one of the handful of places I know in town. She sent us to Pho Anh Huyen. It was fast, delicious, and $20 for the two of us. There was a comfortable stream of people coming and going, so it seems we were let in on a good secret. I’ll be going back when I need real food fast, in a place where W can be himself, with noodles, without me getting those looks that come with pointy daggers shooting out of eyeballs.
And now I need to stop typing and start sleeping – I’m taking over traffic on the early show tomorrow, which means being up (and coherent) at 4:30. Sorry to not offer up a recipe, but all this Vietnamese talk reminds me of that time I cooked Vietnamese, and I was going to add a link just there, but instead I think I’ll just go ahead and repost the recipes and photos, in case you missed it. Hey, isn’t Earth Day all about recycling that which is perfectly good?
Vietnamese Chicken or Pork Satay
1-2 lb. skinless chicken thighs or pork tenderloin, cut into strips or chunks
2 Tbsp. honey or sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 Tbsp. canola or olive oil
1 Tbsp. lime juice
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp. Sriracha or a pinch of dried red chili flakes
Put the chicken or pork in a bowl or ziplock bag; stir together the rest of the ingredients and pour overtop. Marinate for at least an hour, or preferably overnight.
Soak bamboo skewers in water for at least 10 minutes to prevent them from burning, and thread the meat onto them, squishing the pieces together. Grill or broil for a few minutes per side, just until cooked through.
Vietnamese Fried Rice
This is a bit of a spinoff of one I found on Epicurious
Seasoning:
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
canola or mild olive oil, for cooking
5 cups cold long-grain rice
2 large eggs, lightly beaten with a fork
big pinch dried red chili flakes
1 small bunch of green onions, chopped
1-2 large carrots, coarsely grated
1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 cups bean sprouts (optional)
fresh cilantro and chopped salted peanuts, for garnish
In a small bowl stir together the sugar, fish sauce and vinegar.
In a large, heavy skillet, heat a slick of oil over medium-high heat. Add the rice and cook for a few minutes, until heated through. Push over to one side and pour in the eggs; stir-fry until the eggs are scrambled, allowing them to cook without mixing them into the rice completely (so that you end up with detectable bits of egg); add the chili flakes, then the green onions, carrots and garlic; cook for a few more minutes.
Pour over the fish sauce mixture, then add the bean sprouts and cook for a minute, tossing with tongs, just until heated through. Serve immediately, in shallow bowls topped with cilantro and peanuts. Serves 4.
One Year Ago: Better Butter Chicken (in the Crock Pot)
April 22 2010 | leftovers | 5 Comments »
The CBC is having a book drive this week to gather goods for the CBC Calgary Reads Book Sale. A good spot to find old cookbooks – I went through the cookbook box as volunteers sorted hundreds of books coming in the front door and found a bunch of gems, including the Retro Food Fiascos cookbook, in which I found – yes I did – a crown roast of frankfurters.
You cut hot dogs lengthwise almost all the way through, then open them like a book. Put them on a baking sheet and broil for a few minutes, and as they cook they curl back, making them the perfect shape to surround a pile of coleslaw. The original recipe had the cabbage tossed with poppyseed, mounded in the middle and a cup of boiling water poured over, then baked in the oven. With the dogs! I opted to make a slaw with white balsamic and grainy mustard – of course you could use potato salad or mashed potatoes or any number of pile-able things to support your classy Crown Roast.
As for the book sale – here are the details. I’ll be there, elbowing my way through cookbook tables!
The money raised from this sale is used to fund the Calgary Reads Society and its programs, helping young children improve their reading skills.
CBC Calgary Reads Book Sale
TRIWOOD Arena, 2244 Chicoutimi Drive NW
Friday, April 30: 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday, May 1: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunday, May 2 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
($2.00 entry donation)
If you have books to donate, bring them to the CBC Calgary building at 1724 Westmount Blvd. NW between now and Monday, April 26.
Weekdays: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m
Saturdays: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sundays: Closed
You can also bring them to any RBC branch in Calgary until Wednesday, April 21.
While they are happy to accept most books, they don’t accept the following:
* Encyclopedias
* Library books
* Text books
* Manuals
* Computer books
* Magazines
* Readers’ Digests
April 21 2010 | leftovers | 26 Comments »
About those blood oranges. I found a few more of them. And so I turned them into marmalade. Because blood oranges tend to have a more mellow flavour and are less acidic, I thought they might get along well with vanilla.
Orange seeds contain pectin, so if you pull them out before (and while) slicing the fruit and put them into a tea ball, you can simmer it along with the oranges and sugar to utilize the pectin and easily extract them afterwards. My oranges had no seeds.
I went for it without, and it didn’t set. Not wanting to cook it to death and eventually produce candy, I cut an apple core into chunks and threw it in the pot – apples, and apple seeds in particular, are also high in pectin.
I pulled the chunks of apple out, not wanting them to turn to mush (horrors!) in my marvy marmalade. It remained soft, but I’d always choose a runny jam that a stiff, Jell-O-ey one.
Blood Orange & Vanilla Bean Marmalade
This recipe would work as well with seville oranges or really any variety you want to turn into jam; I might try it next with pink grapefruit.
3 large blood oranges (or regular oranges)
5 cups water
pinch salt
4 cups sugar
1 vanilla bean (optional)
Cut the oranges in half and poke the seeds out; put them into a tea ball if you have one, otherwise wrap them in cheesecloth. Slice the oranges thinly and then chop them crosswise as big or small as you like. Put them (and the tea ball) into a pot with the water and salt and bring to a boil; simmer for half an hour. Turn off the heat and let it sit for a few hours or overnight.
Stir in the sugar and bring the mixture to a boil. Cook for about half an hour, or until the mixture gels; you can test it by dropping a small spoonful onto a saucer that you get nice and cold in the freezer while the marmalade simmers. Meanwhile, cut the vanilla bean lengthwise with the tip of a sharp knife and scrape out the seeds. When the marmalade is the consistency you like remove it from the heat, pull out the tea ball of orange seeds and stir in the scraped-out vanilla seeds. Divide into clean, warm jars and seal or cool completely and store in the fridge or freeze.
Makes about 4 cups.
April 19 2010 | preserves | 9 Comments »
Blood oranges are on their way out, I know, but you can swap regular thin-skinned oranges to top these, which is what I used in the cake itself. You could leave the fancy slice off the top altogether and just make the cake. I just like the look of it, and the chewy-sweet baked slice winds up reminiscent of marmalade.
When it comes to blood oranges, their appeal (to me, anyway) is their bad-ass name and crazy purpleness, their brand luring me in far more than their flavour. I’ve never really been blown away by the taste of a blood orange, but they do look great when sliced thin and laid atop orange pound cake batter.
Don’t let the name pound cake scare you – this is actually much lighter than most, although they do retain that dense sandiness that makes them different than a plain old muffin. And this recipe makes lots. I did mine in some of those jumbo muffin tins that were around, thinking that half-filled they might turn out more like little cakes, which they kind of did. You can use regular muffin tins though, or loaf pans, or cake pans.. whatever you think. I totally trust your judgement.
Orange Cakes (Bloody or Not)
If you like, brush still-warm cakes with a glaze made with equal amounts orange (or lemon juice) and sugar, simmered until the sugar dissolves.
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup canola oil
2 cup sugar
finely grated zest of an orange
5 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk or thin plain yogurt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 blood orange, washed and sliced very thin
sugar, for sprinkling
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl, beat the butter, oil, sugar and orange zest for 2-3 minutes, until pale yellow and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Add about a third of the flour mixture, beating on low speed just until combined. Add half the buttermilk in the same manner, then another third of the flour, the rest of the buttermilk and the rest of the flour.
Divide the batter between lined or greased muffin tins, filling them three-quarters full (or you could fill two 8”x4” loaf pans, and arrange a lineup of orange slices on top); top each with a slice of orange and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes for cupcakes or 50-60 minutes for loaves, until golden and tops are springy to the touch. Let cool for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes about 1 1/2 dozen small cakes or 2 loaves.
One Year Ago: Lower-fat Chocolate Chip Cookies
April 17 2010 | cake | 18 Comments »
« Prev - Next »
