OK, here's what you're going to do. Next time you go grocery shopping, you're going to take a quick peek in your refrigerator to make sure you have a little lemon juice or a fresh lemon. (I think lime juice would also work.) Then, when you get to the store, you'll go to the produce section and check out the avocados.
The avocado you want is ripe but not overly so. If you're new to this, the one you want will give a bit to gentle pressure but not feel squishy. (GENTLE pressure - no need to harm anything.) For this application, a little squishy is okay.
When you get home with your prize, you're going to cut it in half lengthwise, working around the large pit in the middle. You'll then rotate one half against the other, and one of the two halves will be freed from the pit.
There are a number of suggested methods for removing the pit from the other half, most of which have the potential for serious injury. I sometimes use one of those, but often I just work around the with a spoon. (I deal with more avocados than most home cooks, I'd guess. Two - and now three - of my favorite things to make include them. See here and here.)
Next, put your avocado halves on a plate. Salt them and drizzle them with lemon juice. Then just eat those suckers, scooping bites out with a spoon.
I did this for the first time 20 minutes ago, and that first bite was A Moment. The tartness of the juice perfectly balanced the unctuousness of the avocado, one of those great combinations of acid and oil. (Think salad dressings, or pickles on cheeseburgers, or ketchup on french fries.)
If I had a rating scale for how much I wanted you to try something, this would be WAY up there.
You could argue that this isn't even cooking. Fine. But it is most certainly eating.
Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Ramped-up Milk Toast
A disinclination to leave well enough alone may be my greatest strength as a cook. It is also probably my greatest weakness. Compulsive adding sometimes improves, sometimes it detracts.
My dad was one of four children to have grown up in Liverpool, United Kingdom. Saturday morning breakfast consisted of the end crusts from the week's bread cooked in milk with a little sugar. My brain refuses to cough up what the family called this concoction, so I'll just call it "milk toast". (I don't know if my grandmother toasted the bread or not.) I had this once or twice on visits to my grandparents. As far as I can remember, we never had it at home.
But, the once or twice I had it as a kid left a powerful impression of warmth, sweetness, and carb-y happiness. Perhaps a dozen times as an adult, I have made this milk toast as best as I can remember it.
Tonight found me in A Mood. I was feeling deeply frustrated with my inability to move forward on some projects, or even find time to try. As I surveyed my kitchen, I spotted the leftover bagels on the counter and thought of milk toast.
I cut two bagels (about 4 or 5 inches in diameter) into bite size chunks and threw them into a small pan. I was going to grab the milk when my inability to leave well enough alone kicked in. Before I added the milk, I threw in a couple of dollops of part-skim ricotta cheese I had from something I never made. I then added enough milk to cover the bread. For sweetener, I used a tablespoon or two of real maple syrup I'd purchased with a Christmas gift certificate from my boss. I heated the concoction until it had been barely bubbly around the edges for just a few minutes.
My friends, on this particular evening, my ramped-up milk toast fit the definition of "comfort food" for me like a key fits a lock. The bagels maintained some structure as sandwich bread would not. The cheesed added just a bit of creaminess to the skim milk. The sweetness from the maple syrup was absolutely perfect.
This was one of those times when not leaving well enough alone paid wonderfully warm dividends.
My dad was one of four children to have grown up in Liverpool, United Kingdom. Saturday morning breakfast consisted of the end crusts from the week's bread cooked in milk with a little sugar. My brain refuses to cough up what the family called this concoction, so I'll just call it "milk toast". (I don't know if my grandmother toasted the bread or not.) I had this once or twice on visits to my grandparents. As far as I can remember, we never had it at home.
But, the once or twice I had it as a kid left a powerful impression of warmth, sweetness, and carb-y happiness. Perhaps a dozen times as an adult, I have made this milk toast as best as I can remember it.
Tonight found me in A Mood. I was feeling deeply frustrated with my inability to move forward on some projects, or even find time to try. As I surveyed my kitchen, I spotted the leftover bagels on the counter and thought of milk toast.
I cut two bagels (about 4 or 5 inches in diameter) into bite size chunks and threw them into a small pan. I was going to grab the milk when my inability to leave well enough alone kicked in. Before I added the milk, I threw in a couple of dollops of part-skim ricotta cheese I had from something I never made. I then added enough milk to cover the bread. For sweetener, I used a tablespoon or two of real maple syrup I'd purchased with a Christmas gift certificate from my boss. I heated the concoction until it had been barely bubbly around the edges for just a few minutes.
My friends, on this particular evening, my ramped-up milk toast fit the definition of "comfort food" for me like a key fits a lock. The bagels maintained some structure as sandwich bread would not. The cheesed added just a bit of creaminess to the skim milk. The sweetness from the maple syrup was absolutely perfect.
This was one of those times when not leaving well enough alone paid wonderfully warm dividends.
Friday, December 30, 2011
How Green Was My Salsa
Salsa verde is one of my favorite things to make for weekend snacking, and it's becoming a favorite thing to take as a party contribution.
I would like to apologize in advance for the vagueness of this recipe. But it always turns out well for me. It's spicy and herbaceous and fresh and garlicky and smooth and (if you add avocado) creamy. Fabulous stuff. Great as a dip for chips or veggies, and I've used it as a sauce for frozen burritos.
Ingredients
Fresh poblano and Anaheim chiles, roasted (see below)
1 bunch of fresh cilantro (maybe a cup total? Not sure)
1 lb tomatillos, husks removed, washed, cut in half (quarter any a lot bigger than the others)
1/2 a large onion, cut into several large pieces
2 cloves garlic, peeled
Salt, to taste (start at 1/2 tsp, maybe?)
Flesh of 1 avocado (optional)
1 small packet artificial sweetener (optional)
Prepping the chiles
I can't really tell you how much to use: that's going to be determined by your own taste. Last time I made this (and it was described by one person who had it as "amazing") I used two Anaheim chiles and half of a poblano.
I prep the chiles for roasting by cutting them in half lengthwise, removing the stem and seeds, and removing the pale ribs that the seeds hang into. Some people say that the chile's heat is in the seed and some say it is in the ribs. By removing both, you're taming much (not all!) of the heat while retaining flavor.
There appear to be a number of good methods for roasting chiles, one of which is described here. I confess, however, that for the "char" step described in the link I just throw 'em in a hot oven with the tomatillos. I don't usually get all that much of the skin off, but don't find it to be a problem in this application.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The oil that makes chiles hot is a fairly powerful irritant. If I'm going to be working with a lot or with the hotter varieties, I like to wear latex gloves. Regardless, wash your hands thoroughly when you're done and DO NOT TOUCH YOUR EYES before the washing.
Instructions
1. Put the prepped chiles and tomatillos on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and roast them at 425 degrees until the chiles are blistered and the tomatillos are soft. Allow the chiles to cool in a plastic bag and then remove the skin that comes off easily.
2. Put all ingredients except the sweetener in a food processor and process until smooth.
3. Taste the mix. Add more salt if needed, and add the sweetener if you wish. I find that the tomatillos are just too sour without the sweetener, but that's me.
Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Note: My one unhappiness with this recipe is that the rawness of the fresh garlic is a little too aggressive to my taste. Next time I do this, I'm tempted to wrap my cloves in a little aluminum foil and roast them with the chiles and tomatillos. It may also be that I should be using granulated garlic rather than fresh.
I would like to apologize in advance for the vagueness of this recipe. But it always turns out well for me. It's spicy and herbaceous and fresh and garlicky and smooth and (if you add avocado) creamy. Fabulous stuff. Great as a dip for chips or veggies, and I've used it as a sauce for frozen burritos.
Ingredients
Fresh poblano and Anaheim chiles, roasted (see below)
1 bunch of fresh cilantro (maybe a cup total? Not sure)
1 lb tomatillos, husks removed, washed, cut in half (quarter any a lot bigger than the others)
1/2 a large onion, cut into several large pieces
2 cloves garlic, peeled
Salt, to taste (start at 1/2 tsp, maybe?)
Flesh of 1 avocado (optional)
1 small packet artificial sweetener (optional)
Prepping the chiles
I can't really tell you how much to use: that's going to be determined by your own taste. Last time I made this (and it was described by one person who had it as "amazing") I used two Anaheim chiles and half of a poblano.
I prep the chiles for roasting by cutting them in half lengthwise, removing the stem and seeds, and removing the pale ribs that the seeds hang into. Some people say that the chile's heat is in the seed and some say it is in the ribs. By removing both, you're taming much (not all!) of the heat while retaining flavor.
There appear to be a number of good methods for roasting chiles, one of which is described here. I confess, however, that for the "char" step described in the link I just throw 'em in a hot oven with the tomatillos. I don't usually get all that much of the skin off, but don't find it to be a problem in this application.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The oil that makes chiles hot is a fairly powerful irritant. If I'm going to be working with a lot or with the hotter varieties, I like to wear latex gloves. Regardless, wash your hands thoroughly when you're done and DO NOT TOUCH YOUR EYES before the washing.
Instructions
1. Put the prepped chiles and tomatillos on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and roast them at 425 degrees until the chiles are blistered and the tomatillos are soft. Allow the chiles to cool in a plastic bag and then remove the skin that comes off easily.
2. Put all ingredients except the sweetener in a food processor and process until smooth.
3. Taste the mix. Add more salt if needed, and add the sweetener if you wish. I find that the tomatillos are just too sour without the sweetener, but that's me.
Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Note: My one unhappiness with this recipe is that the rawness of the fresh garlic is a little too aggressive to my taste. Next time I do this, I'm tempted to wrap my cloves in a little aluminum foil and roast them with the chiles and tomatillos. It may also be that I should be using granulated garlic rather than fresh.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Tamale's Another Day: A Tale of Failure and Redemption
I was scheduled to go to a small party Wednesday night, and I volunteered to make tamales. I'd made tamales once before, and it's a lot of work, but I had a plan to spread out the labor and felt reasonably confident.
The Filling
I chose to make the filling for my tamales from this recipe. Since I wanted some tamales for my freezer beyond what I needed for the party, so I decided to make four dozen. I'd need quite a bit of chicken, so I cooked it according to the "chicken and broth" method here. I cooked up five pounds of chicken breasts (well more than I'd have needed, but I wasn't sure how to estimate). After I removed the chicken from the cooking liquid, I made my firtst mistake, which was to forget about the liquid. I'd intended to use the reserved broth in making the dough, but I let it sit on the stovetop for way too long to be sure of safety.
Also that night, I shredded two ponds of cheese and roasted and over a dozen chiles for the filling and the salsa verse I intended to serve on the side. (Mistake #2 was not wearing gloves when working with the chiles -- poblanos and anaheims don't usually bother me, but that was a lot of pepper, and my hands were fairly uncomfortable when I went to bed.
Finally, I chopped the chiles and made the salsa verse, which I'll detail in a separate post.
The Husks
Tuesday night, I had to bus to a market a few miles from my apartment to get the dried husks for the tamales. After a wasted hour and a half upon my return, a quick web search taught me that the husks don't need to be unrolled from the little bundles they're sold in.
Masa and Disaster
My source for both the masa recipe and the overall procedure is Simply Mexican by Lourdes Castro, a book I really like. Though I'd made this recipe successfully before, doubling the amount proved to be the death of my cheap hand mixer. This might have been okay, since I'd worked it for nearly long enough anyway, but then I killed the thing by misreading the recipe and adding triple the amount of baking powder. (I steamed a little of the dough, to see if I could use it anyway, but it tasted really salty.)
I thought about restarting the dough, but I was tired and had rattled nerves and just couldn't face it. Nor could I summon enthusiasm for the alternatives I could think of. Finally, in a stroke of culinary genius, I walked to a local restaurant and BOUGHT two dozen tamales. (No, I didn't tell people at the party that I'd made them.)
Redemption Casserole
This afternoon, I summoned nerve to do something with all that filling I'd made. I had put the mix in a casserole dish, and I topped it with the cornmeal mix from this recipe and shoved it in a 350 degree oven for half an hour. It was pretty good. It wasn't really redemption, put it was pretty good.
I'd love to be able to say that I'd drawn big lessons from this experience, but I really didn't. Stuff is going to happen, and I'm going to make mistakes. Though I was temporarily shaken, I think I'll recover quickly and try again soon.
After all, there's always tamale.
The Filling
I chose to make the filling for my tamales from this recipe. Since I wanted some tamales for my freezer beyond what I needed for the party, so I decided to make four dozen. I'd need quite a bit of chicken, so I cooked it according to the "chicken and broth" method here. I cooked up five pounds of chicken breasts (well more than I'd have needed, but I wasn't sure how to estimate). After I removed the chicken from the cooking liquid, I made my firtst mistake, which was to forget about the liquid. I'd intended to use the reserved broth in making the dough, but I let it sit on the stovetop for way too long to be sure of safety.
Also that night, I shredded two ponds of cheese and roasted and over a dozen chiles for the filling and the salsa verse I intended to serve on the side. (Mistake #2 was not wearing gloves when working with the chiles -- poblanos and anaheims don't usually bother me, but that was a lot of pepper, and my hands were fairly uncomfortable when I went to bed.
Finally, I chopped the chiles and made the salsa verse, which I'll detail in a separate post.
The Husks
Tuesday night, I had to bus to a market a few miles from my apartment to get the dried husks for the tamales. After a wasted hour and a half upon my return, a quick web search taught me that the husks don't need to be unrolled from the little bundles they're sold in.
Masa and Disaster
My source for both the masa recipe and the overall procedure is Simply Mexican by Lourdes Castro, a book I really like. Though I'd made this recipe successfully before, doubling the amount proved to be the death of my cheap hand mixer. This might have been okay, since I'd worked it for nearly long enough anyway, but then I killed the thing by misreading the recipe and adding triple the amount of baking powder. (I steamed a little of the dough, to see if I could use it anyway, but it tasted really salty.)
I thought about restarting the dough, but I was tired and had rattled nerves and just couldn't face it. Nor could I summon enthusiasm for the alternatives I could think of. Finally, in a stroke of culinary genius, I walked to a local restaurant and BOUGHT two dozen tamales. (No, I didn't tell people at the party that I'd made them.)
Redemption Casserole
This afternoon, I summoned nerve to do something with all that filling I'd made. I had put the mix in a casserole dish, and I topped it with the cornmeal mix from this recipe and shoved it in a 350 degree oven for half an hour. It was pretty good. It wasn't really redemption, put it was pretty good.
I'd love to be able to say that I'd drawn big lessons from this experience, but I really didn't. Stuff is going to happen, and I'm going to make mistakes. Though I was temporarily shaken, I think I'll recover quickly and try again soon.
After all, there's always tamale.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Pickled Roasted Red Peppers
Peter Piper, Mother Goose tells us, packed a peck of pickled peppers.
Food-wise, that Peter Piper knew what he was about.
Here's why YOU should pack some pickled (red bell) peppers: they're fabulous little flavor bombs. They are savory, a little bit sweet, a little bit spicy, and a little bit pucker-y all at once. They can be used to add deliciousness to salads, cooked vegetables, and other foods. They are entirely non-fat. I think these pickled peppers are the first thing I made for myself that had me literally stomping my foot.
These little beauties are a type of "quick pickle". Quick pickles don't have the shelf life as their refrigerated cousins, but they're fast, easy, and delicious. And roasted red bell peppers are a wonderful candidate for this method.
Roasting bell pepper (and other chiles) is really straightforward. (It's also the entry point to a world of homemade salsas.) Putting the brine together is easy. So why wouldn't you do it?
The recipe I've used is here. The only change I make is to increase the amount of pickling spices to more like a teaspoon.
Notes:
1. I have successfully made quick pickles with sugar substitute. However, my understanding is that preserved pickles, the kind that can be stored at room temperature, can NOT be made with sugar substitute because the sugar is part of the preservation.
2. If you don't have pickling spice blend, or don't find them in your store, there are any number of recipes around. I've made my own blend, but prefer the convenience of the pre-made blend.
3. Yes, you can purchase roasted red peppers, and I assume they're good. But at the stores and delis where I've seen them, you might have to sell off your relatives to afford them.
Food-wise, that Peter Piper knew what he was about.
Here's why YOU should pack some pickled (red bell) peppers: they're fabulous little flavor bombs. They are savory, a little bit sweet, a little bit spicy, and a little bit pucker-y all at once. They can be used to add deliciousness to salads, cooked vegetables, and other foods. They are entirely non-fat. I think these pickled peppers are the first thing I made for myself that had me literally stomping my foot.
These little beauties are a type of "quick pickle". Quick pickles don't have the shelf life as their refrigerated cousins, but they're fast, easy, and delicious. And roasted red bell peppers are a wonderful candidate for this method.
Roasting bell pepper (and other chiles) is really straightforward. (It's also the entry point to a world of homemade salsas.) Putting the brine together is easy. So why wouldn't you do it?
The recipe I've used is here. The only change I make is to increase the amount of pickling spices to more like a teaspoon.
Notes:
1. I have successfully made quick pickles with sugar substitute. However, my understanding is that preserved pickles, the kind that can be stored at room temperature, can NOT be made with sugar substitute because the sugar is part of the preservation.
2. If you don't have pickling spice blend, or don't find them in your store, there are any number of recipes around. I've made my own blend, but prefer the convenience of the pre-made blend.
3. Yes, you can purchase roasted red peppers, and I assume they're good. But at the stores and delis where I've seen them, you might have to sell off your relatives to afford them.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Pirate Queen Zucchini
This is my very favorite kind of recipe. This is for two reasons:
1. It's delicious.
2. It's what I call a "template recipe" -- easy, infinitely variable, no cookbook required. If I ever lose interest in continuing to develop as a cook, recipes like this will still keep me fed.
I originally got it from my friend Kelly, who blogs at Diabetesaliciousness, and is the person for whom I named it. (Why is Kelly the "Pirate Queen"? That's not really my story to tell. But Kelly's amazing: smart, funny, courageous, demanding, and compassionate. They world needs Kellys much more than it needs Kardashians. Just sayin'.)
I've rung so many changes on this recipe, I no longer remember exactly what Kelly taught me. But I think this is the core of it:
Stir until the cheese is melty, resisting the urge to bury your face in it. Serve.
I've done all sorts of veggies in this dish, either with or instead of the zucchini: summer squash, chayote squash, eggplant, onion, tomato. I think you'd want to use a vegetable soft enough to produce a bit of liquid as it cooks so the garlic won't burn, but that's an amateur's guess.
A note on zucchini: it's said that zucchini loses flavor as it matures, and that the baseball bats people haul out of their gardens have no flavor at all. I don't like to buy them much bigger than a Polish sausage.
Go cook it, ye swabs. Aaarr!
1. It's delicious.
2. It's what I call a "template recipe" -- easy, infinitely variable, no cookbook required. If I ever lose interest in continuing to develop as a cook, recipes like this will still keep me fed.
I originally got it from my friend Kelly, who blogs at Diabetesaliciousness, and is the person for whom I named it. (Why is Kelly the "Pirate Queen"? That's not really my story to tell. But Kelly's amazing: smart, funny, courageous, demanding, and compassionate. They world needs Kellys much more than it needs Kardashians. Just sayin'.)
I've rung so many changes on this recipe, I no longer remember exactly what Kelly taught me. But I think this is the core of it:
- zucchini, diced
- lots of garlic, minced
- lots of grated Parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper
- a little cooking oil
Stir until the cheese is melty, resisting the urge to bury your face in it. Serve.
I've done all sorts of veggies in this dish, either with or instead of the zucchini: summer squash, chayote squash, eggplant, onion, tomato. I think you'd want to use a vegetable soft enough to produce a bit of liquid as it cooks so the garlic won't burn, but that's an amateur's guess.
A note on zucchini: it's said that zucchini loses flavor as it matures, and that the baseball bats people haul out of their gardens have no flavor at all. I don't like to buy them much bigger than a Polish sausage.
Go cook it, ye swabs. Aaarr!
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
A Truly Luscious Salad
OK, this recipe probably ought to be posted in the summer, but it's really yummy, and I think it would make a nice lunch salad even in winter. I'm sure many people have made this salad, but I got it out of my imagination rather than out of a book.
Ingredients:
Roughly equal amounts of:
Salt and pepper
1. Cut the avocado(s) in half, remove the pit(s), scoop out the flesh, and roughly cube it. The size is up to you: my version is pretty chunky
2. Cut the tomato(s) in half, scoop out the seeds, and cube to more-or-less the same size as the avocado.
3. Cube the cheese to more-or-less the same size as the avocado and the tomato.
Drizzle with the dressing and season to taste. If you're using a bottled dressing, you're probably getting more than enough salt from that.
* Homemade vinaigrette is really easy and extremely versatile. (Here's one cook's take on it.) However, I've yet to really incorporate them into my daily life, in part because I don't eat much green salad, especially at home. If I want a green salad, I'm just as happy to let a restaurant do the chopping for me.
Ingredients:
Roughly equal amounts of:
- avocado
- fresh tomato
- fresh mozzerella (by which I mean, the stuff sold in balls, often soaking in milk
Salt and pepper
1. Cut the avocado(s) in half, remove the pit(s), scoop out the flesh, and roughly cube it. The size is up to you: my version is pretty chunky
2. Cut the tomato(s) in half, scoop out the seeds, and cube to more-or-less the same size as the avocado.
3. Cube the cheese to more-or-less the same size as the avocado and the tomato.
Drizzle with the dressing and season to taste. If you're using a bottled dressing, you're probably getting more than enough salt from that.
* Homemade vinaigrette is really easy and extremely versatile. (Here's one cook's take on it.) However, I've yet to really incorporate them into my daily life, in part because I don't eat much green salad, especially at home. If I want a green salad, I'm just as happy to let a restaurant do the chopping for me.
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