Good food, No Pictures.

Who says you have to take a picture of everything you cook? For some reason, I always forget. I never forget to cook, though. I've come to realize that cooking is my way of releasing stress(doing laundry at the laundry mat is another. Don't ask why). When other people are filled with dread because they have to go home and make ANOTHER dinner, I look forward to it. Two hours in a kitchen will fly by. Anyways, there was a lot of cooking going on this week but nary a picture. Sorry!

What I've made this week:

Pomegranate chicken(Gluten-Free Girl's recipe), roasted garlic mashed potatoes, honey mustard glazed brussel sprouts.

Beef stew, balsamic glazed brussel sprouts

Steak tacos with homemade salsa (I'm a salsa snob. I refuse to eat the jarred junk)

Gingersnaps (these were fantastic! Spicy and chewy. Perfect for fall)

I might post the recipes for all of these things at some point but right now, I'm going just going to do the gingersnaps because they are pretty great.

I took the recipe that David Lebovitz's post on Chez Panisse Gingersnaps and made some changes. Yeah, I messed with Alice Water's cookies. Shame on me. In my defense, they are some rockin cookies! I had bought the pomegranate molasses at the store for the above mentioned pomegranate chicken and I was so excited about it, I had to use it right away. I threw in quite a bit more spice, too.

Here's my recipe.

2 cups flour
1½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1½ teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
11 tablespoons butter, salted or unsalted, at room temperature
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
2 Tablespoons molasses
1 large egg, at room temperature

Granulated sugar to dip prior to baking.

1. Stir together the dry ingredients.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter just until soft and fluffy. Add the sugars and continue to beat until smooth, stopping the mixer to scrape down any butter clinging to the sides of the bowl.

3. Stir in the vanilla, both types of molasses and egg.

4. Mix in the dry ingredients gradually until the dough is smooth.

5. Divide the dough in two equal portions and roll each on a lightly-floured surface until each is a not so odd shaped log. Make sure they aren't too thin otherwise you'll have tiny cookies.

6. Wrap each in plastic wrap then roll them lightly on the counter to smooth them out. Refrigerate, or freeze the dough until firm.

7. To bake, preheat the oven to 350F. I pull out my trusty Pampered Chef pizza stone. I haven't burned a cookie since I started using this thing. I am looking to get another at some point to expedite my cooking baking process. (Christmas, hint hint).

8. Slice cookie dough into rounds a little larger than 1/4-inch rounds with a knife. Dip one side and press firmly in a bowl of sugar if you want, and place on the baking sheet, evenly-spaced apart. Leave a couple of inches en cookies since they'll spread while baking.

9. Bake for 10-14 minutes, until deep-golden brown. The cookies will puff up a bit while baking, then settle down when they're done. Bake on the lower end of the range for softer cookies, and more for snappier ones, depending on your oven. I like mine chewy!

10. Let the cookies cool two minutes, then remove them with a spatula and transfer them to a cooling rack.

Sharing Meals and Sunday Mornings...

I love to feed people. All too often, I end up cooking for myself and having a ton of leftovers. Unfortunately, I haven't quite mastered the art of cooking for one. I eat leftovers but sometimes I just cannot keep up with everything that I've made.

This weekend was a special treat because I got to share three meals with my honey; one of which was also shared with my good friends, Ben and Tessa. There were no leftovers!

On Sunday morning, I awoke to the sun shining and a sweet and snuggly boy in my bed. It's was nice to lay around for a while and NOT have to jump up and get ready for work. I relish in those lazy mornings where I can wake up slowly, throw on some wrinkled clothes, and walk to the nearest breakfast establishment for some poached eggs, home fries, and chicken sausage. Well, this weekend, I made breakfast.

I made a roasted turkey hash, and poached eggs with toast. It was a really quick breakfast, came together in less that 25 minutes and tasted really great. As usual, I didn't follow a recipe and just threw stuff that I thought would taste great together.

Here's my recipe for two:

3 small yellow potatoes (You can leave the peels on if you would like to. I peeled two and then got lazy)

Dice the potatoes and par boil them in salted water(or chicken broth for extra flavor) for about 5 min. You don't want them to be too soft. They will finish cooking in the skillet. (The longer you leave them in the there, the less they need to cook in the pan; you don't want them too mushy, though)

Meanwhile, get the rest of the ingredients prepped/cooking:

1/2 medium onion, diced
1/3 small red pepper
1T olive oil or butter
a few sprigs of thyme
3 ounces of roasted turkey
a few dashes of worcestershire sauce
pepper to taste
salt to taste
sprinkle of parmesan or sharp cheddar cheese.

Saute the onions, peppers and thyme in the olive oil/butter over medium heat until soft and translucent. Add the parboiled potatoes and let them finish cooking and brown up. Once they are getting near desired doneness, throw in a few shakes of worcestershire sauce, the pepper, and the turkey. Heat the turkey through. Taste for seasoning and serve it up with a sprinkle of freshly grated cheese. Plop some poached eggs on it and it's good stuff.

Baby Tart

Tomorrow at work, we are having a "baby party". Weird, I know. This is at a research labs that has exactly 4 women employed. Three of the researchers in our office have had kids in the past month, plus we added another team member, hence the party. Honestly, I think we just look for every excuse to eat and not work between 9-5.

Anyways, the reason I got into that is because everybody was asked to bring some food to contribute. We have a VERY diverse group of people and I'm looking forward to the tzatziki, tiramisu, and indian sweets that I know are on the list.

I had bought some leeks at the Berkeley Farmer's Market last week and was itching to make something with them. A search on google came up with "Leek and Camembert Tart" on Epicurious.com, of course. ..

Never to be one to follow a recipe exactly, I made some changes. The recipe, with my changes, is below. I substituted brie cheese because a. I LOVE IT and b. it was cheaper than the camembert(hey, I'm TRYING to stick to a budget). Also, I added onions to it since I only had 3 small leeks, some garlic, and I made a pie crust instead of using the puff pastry.

Admittedly, I haven't tasted the completed version yet; however, the custard was delicious. I'll update tomorrow and let you know how it was.

Update: The tart was a pretty great. I served it room temperature because we didn't have an oven to reheat it and it was definitely tasty. When I make it again, I'll serve it warm with a salad.

Baby Tart:

1 9-inch pie crust, pre-baked

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
3 small leeks (white and pale green parts only), sliced
2 large onions, sliced thin
1 sprig of thyme
2/3 cup whipping cream
4 ounces Brie cheese, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 large egg
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Salt to taste

2 Tablespoons of Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Caramelize the onions, onions, leeks, and thyme in butter. This took me about 20 minutes.

Bring cream to simmer in medium saucepan over medium heat. Reduce heat to low; add brie and stir until melted. Remove from heat and cool 5 minutes. Whisk in egg, cayenne, and nutmeg. Mix custard with the caramelized onion and leek mixture.

Pour the filling into the pie crust and sprinkle Parmesan over crust. Bake until bottom is golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Ok, Let's try this again...

I made one post and disappeared for a few months. Unfortunately, I was not off traveling to exotic locations, running marathons, or anything cool like that...I admit it. I was lazy. But I really want to make this work.

My friends, Gabe and Kourtney have been raving about the different foods they have been cooking lately and I, of course, demanded the recipes. They put them on a website since they had so many requests. They inspired me to update this more often. Thanks guys!

I suppose I should post about something I cooked in the past week: Carrot Cupcakes.

On Thursday, I made some carrot cupcakes for a Zombie party that I threw with my honey on Saturday night. I ended up making two recipes that night.

I orginally made a recipe for carrot cake that I found on epicurious.com, which included coconut, crushed pineapple, and pureed carrots. I somehow missed the step of beating the eggs and sugar together prior to adding the other stuff, and when I baked the cupcakes, they tasted eggy and were all sorts of lumpy.

So I grated 4 more cups of carrot with my handy little cheese grater and made a different recipe (from the same place). This one came out really yummy and moist. I added golden raisins, substituted 1/5 C. brown sugar, and only added one cup of white sugar. Oh, and there was some ground ginger, nutmeg, and allspice thrown in there, too.

I made a simple cream cheese, butter, vanilla, nutmeg frosting to top it and was going to frost them when I got to Calistoga that night; however, I forgot it in the fridge and I arrived to my destination with naked cupcakes. I had to run to the store and pick up some canned frosting before the party. The cupcakes received rave reviews. Most people commented that they never get carrot cake so it was a nice treat.

I plan on making the cake again so I'll use the frosting for that.

Here's the recipe. I'll update with some pictures after I bake the cake:

Carrot Cake:

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon all spice
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 1/4 cups canola oil
4 large eggs
3 cups grated peeled carrots
1/2 cup golden raisins
You could add 1 1/4 cups walnuts. I didn't cause one person has a nut allergy.

Icing
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

For cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch-diameter cake pans. Line bottom of pans with waxed paper. Butter and flour paper; tap out excess flour. Whisk flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg in medium bowl to blend. Whisk sugar and oil in large bowl until well blended. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time. Add flour mixture and stir until blended. Stir in carrots and raisins. Divide batter between prepared pans.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 15 minutes. Turn out onto racks. Peel off waxed paper; cool cakes completely.

For icing: Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and beat at low speed until well blended. Add vanilla and nutmeg. Chill until just firm enough to spread, 30 minutes.

Place 1 cake layer on platter. Spread with 3/4 cup icing. Top with second layer. Spread remaining icing over entire cake.

I'm a freak of nature and like my carrot cake cold. Most people serve it at room temperature, though.

Let's see where this takes me...

For some reason, I think that this meme is a good way to get this blog started. It might be that I get to share a little information about my likes and dislikes, a few stories, and a picture, without a commitment to one specific topic. I'll work my way up to that. Baby steps...this is going to be fun!

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE FOODS?

Cherries: Come on! This is obvious! I'm one of those people who is not so insane about fruit( I think that living in Berkeley may change that. More about this on Saturday), but come summertime, I stock up on cherries. For about 9 months out of the year, I long for June, when cherries are sweet(and cheap). While they are in season, they are typically in my fridge at all times. The best thing about moving to California? I have a cherry tree in my backyard. I go out on my patio and pluck them right off the tree and pop them in my mouth.

Cheese: Parmesan, Gruyere, Gouda, Feta, Goat....You name it, I will probably eat it. The Berkeley Bowl gets me every time with their samples near the cheese case. I would say that 9 out of 10 times, I end up buying the cheese I taste. That is quite some marketing.

Green Curry: Ooh, it's so flavorful and spicy. I love the depth of flavors, especially the kaffir lime and lemongrass. I might not get out much, but Lucky House on University Ave. is my Thai restaurant du jour. It's cheap, the staff is really friendly and almost everything that I've tried has been consistently good.

Tacos: Spicy meat, cheese, salsa, guacamole, random veggies on a tortilla? Heaven.

Pickles: My first word ever spoken was "mom". Second? Pickle. Enough said.

I could keep going....but I'll spare you.


WHAT FOODS DO YOU HATE?

Liver: Liverrrrrrr and onions! And old boyfriend used to say that in a sing song voice....Liverrrrr and onions. I don't think I will ever be able to think of liver and not want to sing that aloud. When I was a waitress at a mafia run 70's hot spot in North Palm Beach, FL, they occasionally had liver and onions on special (this is Florida, after all..where old people go to die). The chef was constantly trying to get me to try them, saying his were the best, and assuring me that I would love the liver. I tried them. I DID NOT LOVE THEM. UGHH! I think I may still be traumatized.

FOODS YOU LIKE BUT ARE EMBARRASSED TO ADMIT?

Velveeta: It's not cheese, I KNOW! It's just so creamy and oozy. That salsa dippy stuff is damn good. You know you love it.

Pickled Herring( from a jar): My grandma used to keep them in her fridge when I was little for my Polish grandpa. I used to sneak them out of the jar with my fingers. I'm sure my fishy digits were a dead giveaway of what I had been eating. My sister used to get SO grossed out at my choice of snack.


STRANGEST FOOD YOU’VE EATEN AND ENJOYED?

I don't think too many things are considered strange anymore. Due to the wide availability of foods from all over the world, people are being exposed to new things daily.Stuff that was weird 5 years ago could be on our plates on a daily basis now.

If I had to choose one thing, it might be these amazing grilled snails I had while I was in the South of Spain. They were quite large, had a weird "lid" over their little snaily hole, and you had to slowwwwwly pry them out of their shell. The meat near the hole was was chewy, like any other snail; pull out more and it was soft and luscious, almost like a pate'. I wish I could remember what they were called.

COOKING FAILURES THAT STILL RANKLE?

Oh, there are so many! One that stands out in my mind is the Meyer Lemon Tart that I found here.

When I found this recipe, I did not have access to meyer lemons. I was still living in Florida at the time and dreaming about when I would have the chance to make this tart with the proper citrus. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Florida has citrus...But not the greatest lemons EVER! So, I made the pate brisee and put it in my tart pan. Dumped my beloved lemon, cream, sugar mixture in my tart pan...and set it in the oven to bake. Well...I didn't blind bake the shell,. The melted crust leaked all over my oven, my pan, and the pan underneath it. The mess was impossible to clean up and my tart was a disaster.

Later, I tried the tart again and it came out beautifully! It tasted great, too.

INGREDIENTS YOU DON’T WANT TO CONSIDER LIVING WITHOUT?
Cherries, hot sauce, avocados, onions, dried wheat and flax pasta, and...ketchup.

CUISINE YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT?

I would love to learn more about French food. This may have been fueled by an entire weekend of gorging myself with archives of Orangette's blog, where I jumped up and made at least three of her recipes mid-post. I believe the yogurt cake with strawberries was the first one. Oh, wow, so amazing. The Scottish Scones were also a keeper.

That was quite a rant. Back on topic. France, yes, France. I plan on going there in March when I accumulate enough vacation time.

FOODS YOU HATED BUT HAVE GROWN TO LOVE?

I was not a picky eater when I was young. My grandma used to take me to Mr. G's when I was 7 years old to eat a salad with blue cheese dressing, prime rib, and a baked potato with sour cream and butter. No lie. It's a wonder that I haven't had a coronary at this point. Needless to say, I ate just about everything.

CURRENT KITCHEN CONUNDRUM?

Zero counter space, and a fridge with a sub-par vegetable drawer.

and this is the end of the beginning...I can't wait to write more, post some pictures and share my stories.