Holiday Checklist II

Roasted Chestnuts (sorry, no open fire involved that's another holiday)

It's a very simple, straightforward process. Some of the best chestnuts I've had were from a street vendor in Athens who cooked them on the top of a cut out 55 gal drum. Of course I was in the grip of a Raki run and probably would have eaten toenails with glee.

Use a very sharp knife to cut an "X" into the flat part of the shell.


Place the chestnuts with the cut side up on a foil lined (don't know why but the reflective nature of the foil enhances the finished texture)

cookie sheet. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Peeled and diced these greatly enhance the wonderfulness of a dressing. Once it is fireplace season they roast up beautifully in a fireplace popcorn popper.

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I Yam What I Yam

I Yam What I Yam

A few years ago, I watched an episode of America's Test Kitchen that gave me a recipe for cooking sweet potatoes which I've used ever since, producing the kind of dish people rave about. I'm sharing it on here. I won't be giving exact quantities because it's the technique that works, not amounts. This will NOT involve marshmallows, by the way, if you're from that school of sweet potato eaterology.

Note: Most of what we call "yams" in this country are another variety of sweet potato. Real yams don't show up in our supermarkets and are not as nutritious as sweet potatoes anyhow.

Use at least one large sweet potato per person who will be eating. Peel or don't peel, depending on your preference. Cut them into thin uniform slices. Place them in a saucepan with a lid, along with at least half an inch of half and half, cream, or milk to cover the bottom of the pan. Add butter to your preference. (Note: I always use unsalted butter, not just for baking -- control of salt is important to good cooking.) Turn the heat on low and allow them to simmer for a long time -- the sweet potatoes will release their liquid, and that combined with the milk will steam them, but they'll take in flavor as they lose moisture. If you are the type to add sweetening, add it now -- brown sugar, maple syrup or molasses. Plus a dash of vanilla, if you want. After at least half an hour, check the potatoes, and add more liquid to keep the bottom of the pan covered. When they are completely tender, add salt, pepper and other spices to taste, plus more butter if you want. Mash them. They'll be unbelievably creamy, full of flavor, and have retained all their excellent nutrition. You can make these in advance and refrigerate them.

A trick I learned from cooking with Julia and Jacques is to keep mashed potatoes (and sweet potatoes) tasting "fresh" and non-oxidized when made in advance of a meal, hold back a little on the milk or cream you add when you mash them. Spread them in a deep bowl and pour a thin layer of milk on the top, enough to cover all the exposed potatoes. Cover and refrigerate up to a day in advance. When it's time to serve, mash the milk back into the potatoes and warm them in the microwave. You'll be surprised at the retention of flavor.

One year my partner and I hosted a potluck Thanksgiving where we demanded that our guests bring dishes using only foods native to the New World. Turkey, pumpkin, cranberries and corn were easy choices. However, grains, eggs and milk necessary for some dishes proved problematic. We bought a few Native American cookbooks and spent several days experimenting. We discovered that filberts ground into meal and then boiled produced a nutty "cream" that was heavenly when used in place of milk. We allowed wild rice, sunflower and corn oil, manioc flour, and duck eggs (the latter was stretching it a bit). The resultant menu was staggeringly good. It's impossible to imagine world cuisine without maize, tomatoes, potatoes, chocolate, and the wide variety of beans and spices which have fed the globe for centuries now. Here's a list of crops given to the rest of the world by the Americas.

Feel free to use this thread to share tried-and-true Thanksgiving recipes, your planned menu, etc. Are you of the stuffing-in-the-bird school or stuffing in a separate pan? Do you brine your turkey? Here's my planned line-up: Brisket (much preferred by me to turkey), sweet potatoes as above, cornbread stuffing outside the bird with hazelnuts and blueberries, whole-wheat rolls, green bean casserole, spinach, and peach cobbler (I prefer pumpkin as a vegetable).

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Backyard Apples In Pie

I Found a Box of These Babies

On my porch. They are straight up backyard apples from a friend's house. I called to ask about what kind of apples they were and was told "They came from Dad's old tree out by the gate."

Faced with that, it's time for a real application of the cook's art. First, I ate one. There was firm texture, lots of crisp, a sudden tart bite which was followed by a delightful apple flavor. It was wonderful, I took another bite and said "Pie."

When making a pie out of apples this way, from a box on a porch I figure it's time to use every sense at my command. This won't be a recipe listing ingredients and proportions. I was going on taste, smell, feel, and looks. When it tasted, smelled, felt and looked right I said "Ok," if it didn't I tried to figure out what was lacking.

Assembled on the counter were Wondra® gravy flour, distilled vinegar, almond extract, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, cloves, ginger, whole nutmegs, white sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup (the real stuff from a tree yo), unsalted butter. I know there's a can of butter flavor Crisco® sitting there. That's leftover from making the crust dough.

Which means, of course that the first thing to do is to make up enough dough to make two crusts. Once it's mixed up stick it into the fridge to keep it cold.

Peel, slice, and core the apples. These felt like they were fairly firm fleshed so I went with slicing about eight slices to an apple. Thinner slices cook faster, but I was loving the secondary wave of great apple flavor from these so I wanted fairly thick slices. I wanted them to hold the integrity of their applehood. At the widest part they were about 1/4". As soon as I turned them into the bowl I sprinkled them with the distilled vinegar. This was because I was out of lemons, a little vinegar, a little lemon juice keeps the apple slices from discoloring. It also provides a nice countrpart to the sweetness of the ingredients to follow. Toss the apple slices with the flour, sugars, spices and such. Again, I was going totally by feel, so I'm not sure what the measures were. Flour was the most, I wanted that to soak up the juice as the apples baked, the sugars were about even, more cinnamon than nutmeg, more nutmeg than ginger, more ginger than cloves. A splash or two of almond and vanilla extract. Taste and adjust.



Then, a moment of inspiration. I don't get those that often, when they occur, I try to follow my muse where ever it takes me. I was futzing around the pantry and I came across a bag of petrified caramels. Rock hard they were. Then, I had that moment. The internal dialog was like: Dude, caramels, whoa, hard, I can chunk them though, that's right, mix in caramel chunks with the pie, it'll be the bomb and stuff.

I think that's eight or something like that. I zapped them in the microwave for fifteen seconds, and diced them. Then, into the bowl for a nice little tossing.


When I had the top crust in place I brushed it down with a mixture of 2 tablespoons maple syrup and 2 tablespoons water, sprinkled that with a little fine granulated sugar (C&H Baker's Sugar). Baked at 425° for 30 minutes, put a foil ring on top of the crust edge, baked for another 10 minutes.

Et Voila!

After that it was off to Dani's school to watch her get her Honor Roll Certificate, and her award as "Student of the Month."


As she was tearing into her slice of still warm from the oven pie, Dani said "You should call this Caramel Apple Pie."

Good enough for me.

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Dani Day!

Photo by Lindsay Beyerstein

I Can't Take Gilly's Picture Down Today

It remains at the top of the blog. Today is also significant to me because this marks one year since my precious niece, and co-conspirator of all things delectable in the kitchen, Dani came into our lives. My sister has always been one of the "Supermoms." She devoted herself, body and soul, liver and spleen, mind and medulla oblongata to being the best mom she could be. Thing was, her only child, my nephew, did what kids do. He grew up. He moved away.

She was at loose ends to say the least. Noting the gap in her life she applied for, and received certification from the Child Protective Services to become a foster mom with the eye toward adoption. She had kept a few kids for short periods of family crisis time, they would stay and benefit from actual mothering and having somebody care about them. Then, they would leave, either for a permanent placement, or go back to their home when things had settled down.

Then, one year ago today, she was called at work. They told her that they had a "special case." A little girl had been given a surprise visit by a social worker. The adoptive process was about to come through for her previous placement, and the case worker was in the neighborhood. He said "Something told me to do a drive by and look in." He's never told us what he saw, he snatched that little girl the fuck out of there tout de suite. They were on their way to my sister's house. She told her supervisor (she's a nurse in the prison system) that she was clocking out. They were outside in the social worker's car, waiting, when she drove up.

This little girl. With nothing but the clothes (and shabby clothes at that) on her back. Came into our lives that day. About fifteen minutes after the social worker had left, Dani plopped herself down on the couch next to my sister and plain as day said:

I'm 'doptable you know.

You're damned right we know my darling!




We're going out to dinner tonight to celebrate this day. We're going to Sizzler on account of Dani has a certificate for a free dinner there that she wants to use. She got it for being voted "Student of the Month" by her classmates at her school.

Student of the Month! She's the Girl of the Year! Instead of her usual thing of coming to spend the afternoon with me on Thursdays, in honor of the special day, her brother has taken her to the arcade. Games galore. I've been in the kitchen, making her special request cake.

INGREDIENTS FOR DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE

1 cup boiling water
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (NOT Dutch Process this time, use the Hershey's)
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup softened unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar (I use C&H Baker's sugar)
4 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°, grease and flour two cake pans, whisk the cup of boiling water into the cocoa until smooth and glossy. Whisk in the vanilla and milk. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugars together until uniform consistency, light and fluffy. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well until very smooth. Scrape down the sides of the mixer bowl often.

Sift the flour, soda, and salt together, then alternate adding the dry with the cocoa mixture into to it. Scrape down the sides and the mixer blade. When all is in, beat on highest setting for five minutes. Divide into the cake pans and cook at 350° for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake layer comes out clean.

Cool on a rack in the pan for ten minutes. Remove from the pan and rack cool until totally cooled. Frost with:

INGREDIENTS FOR CREAM CHEESE BITTERSWEET FROSTING

1 pound softened cream cheese
1 cup softened unsalted butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound melted bittersweet chocolate

If you're saying to yourself, "Gee, that looks just like the white chocolate frosting we put on the Red Velvet Cake." Then give yourself a brownie point for being an observant sort.

The only difference in this frosting and the last one is that we're using bittersweet chocolate instead of white chocolate. The result is a stiff, sturdy frosting, bursting with wonderful chocolate flavor.

Mix the butter and cream cheese together until smooth and fluffy. Add in the powdered sugar a cup at a time, mixing very well, last, add in the vanilla.

Chunk up the bittersweet chocolate (I used Trader Joe's Pound Plus 73% cocoa mass chocolate, it's the same stuff I use for my truffles) and nuke it in the microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring well between each zap. When the chocolate is thoroughly melted add it into the stuff in the mixer, and whip until totally mixed. Refrigerate to stiffen. This takes about the same amount of time as it takes for the cake to cool. That's pretty much perfect don't you think?

Frost the cake, proudly bring it to the guest of honor. Accept your accolades with either real or feigned humility. You've earned it.

Happy Dani Day to all ya'll.

UPDATE!!!!

Pics of the finished product. . .(the cookies are some Mexican sugar cookies with the excess frosting between them making chocolate frosting sandwiches. . . part of a good breakfast sez I)



AND OF COURSE!
The founder of our feast,
the wonderful, totally cute, wicked smart, apple of my eye. . .

Kilkii Dani'oshonni Ga'age
(Girl Loved by the Ravens)

Cake for Everybody!

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CSA Week 14

CSA Week 14 Haul. October, 2008. photo Jenonymous/Group News Blog.

Note: This post was delayed one day due to my being ill. --Jesse

So I Know I'm Falling Behind; Sorry Bout That….

(Note: This was typed during the week but only sending it out on Saturday, which tells you what my life is like lately. Again, apologies.)

Okay, so tonight I'm doing a rare thing these days, which is typing while I prep my CSA stuff. I'm about 3 weeks behind in posts; my bad, I admit. Right now I've got something in the oven and round 2 of stove action.

The CSA has been good to me thus far. Right now, I am enjoying/managing an over-abundance of apples. I think that by way of making up for the fact that the berry crop got hosed this year (strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries ruined by heavy rain and cold snaps) and the fact that we didn't get a single frigging ear of corn, we are getting every apple (and every variety of thereof) grown in upstate NY. In huge quantities. I've already done the eating two apples a day thing, putting apples in my salad for work, and even bringing in a huge bunch for a staff meeting that I was assigned to run (with extras; my boss and a few co-workers munched during the meeting and took one for later). I have an issue to a lesser extent with pears, but seem to be keeping on top of them. So, I'll start this belated post by asking you, dear readers, to PLEASE tag up your apple recipes that do NOT involve a pie or cake. I don't need baked goods around anyway, and my oven couldn't suck any harder and still work. Yeah, I know that there are a million variations of apple sauce but how about a reliable, simple, apple butter recipe? Or apple chutney (a recipe for which the folks at my CSA keep teasing me with but keep forgetting to send me)? Apple gratin? Etc? Thanks.

Having said all that, week 14 was a BIGASS CSA week for moi. I got a full fruit, veg, and herb share, the last basil share of the season, and also took a BIG meat and dairy delivery. Grok the gorgeous pix and have a peek.

• 3.5 lbs. of organic, grass-fed, went-to-Harvard cabrito (one whole piece; half-saddle and forequarter all in one huge piece)
• ½ lb. hard tomme cheese
• 1 dozen small eggs from free-range, organic, cageless chickens that went to Harvard with the cabrito
• 2 lb. baby squash of various shapes
• 1 bunch leeks
• 1 pint baby tomatoes
• 2 nectariens
• 3 peaches
• 4 pears
• 7 apples (the thin edge of the wedge of apple inundation)
• 1 bunch lettuce (home to a Special Guest; more below)
• Sage
• Summer Savory
• 4 bigass giant bunches of basil

Special Guest didn't photograph well, so I put him outside via my living room window: There was the cutest little green inchworm on my lettuce. This sounds nuts, but when I saw that little guy on my lettuce I felt…compassion. Like I haven't in a very long time. I felt so terrible that this thing had just wound up on my lettuce, totally oblivious, trucked down from upstate, just trying to eat his dinner.

Mind you, I've squished roaches with gusto in the past. But this little guy just seemed…innocent. And here I was with a whole half-saddle-and-forehaunch of cabrito, certainly a much more sentient and large thing, with a mother that was much more upset to see it go, but somehow that didn't bother me like that little inchworm did.

So out the window he went, to the frayed patch of weeds under my fire escape. Hope he made it OK.

I rather guiltlessly cooked the meat—I figured that this thing had a good life, and it was bred to be eaten. Please, no arguments for vegetarianism, it will only piss me off. More on the recipe in a second.

I made pesto with the basil, as well as some plain ol' basil puree'd with olive oil in order to preserve it better in the freezer. It's too bad it got puree'd; it had lovely flowerheads on it. I dried the sage and summer savory—check out the flowers on the summer savory also.


CSA Week 14 Herbs. October, 2008. photo Jenonymous/Group News Blog.


CSA Week 14 Basil Blossoms. October, 2008. photo Jenonymous/Group News Blog.

Some of the herbs got used fresh, though. That saddle and forequarter of cabrito had plenty of meat on it, but also plenty of bones. It took my stoutest chef's knife and a hammer to cleave the backbone at about the halfway point so I could pile the meat in my handy stewpot (glad I had both—the local butcher would NOT have been amused if I brought in an outside cut for his saw). I started out by browning each individual piece—two pieces of rib with minichops, the forequarter, and shank—in my favorite secret ingredient (ghee, or clarified butter) after salting and peppering each piece. I removed each piece as it browned to a plate. When that was all done, I simmered down a fond of leeks and carrots (from the CSA) with garlic, salt and pepper, sage, savory, and lavender (all also from the CSA). The meat went back in with some water. Then on went the lid and many, many hours of cooking ensued (and water added as needed) until I could pull the whitened bones (there were a LOT—I got pretty much half of a small kid; think half a beagle but mostly bone) with my tongs. After most of the bones were out I added dried chopped figs and a splash of lemon juice to finish.

Folks, it was AMAZING. That night I had a bowlful with some CSA bread and very good wine. I ate most of the rest during the week. There is one precious container left in the back of my freezer, I think. Truly worth the effort and the having to Napalm my stove (and the burner wells, and under the burner wells, and my floor) afterwards.

Other than that, I really don't have much rant left in me right now. I'm exhausted and have a sink full of dishes, which includes my special little salad box thingie, which I have to wash if I am going to prep my salad.

UPDATE: Whoops, there goes my weekend. No idea when I'm going to get any cooking done this weekend. I have a wine tasting at 5 tonight and I woke up tired after 11 hours of sleep still feeling tired. I can't even fathom cooking tomorrow on Sunday, but I guess I'll have to. That means going out for more onions and garlic. Gotta get my strength up and go…need my stamina back. In the meantime, please keep those recipes coming!

P.S. Yes, I realize that the SAGE has the purple blossoms, but the Basil had flowerheads also in a different shade of green.

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CSA Week 13

CSA Week 13 Haul. September, 2008. photo Jenonymous/Group News Blog.

The No Ladybits, No Politics, All Food and Other Random Fun Crap Edition

Okay, folks, let me first say L'Shanah Tovah to one and all—happy 5769 to EVERYONE EVERYWHERE. This new year has already had a rocky start what with work and general agita, but I allegedly have 9 more days to get my shit straight as far as getting written in the Book of Life for a sweet New Year.

At least I broke it in correctly with some new schwag. Traditionally, one wears new clothing of some sort and has "first fruits" of the season with family. As I am not a clothes horse, and more of a geekgrrrl, I wore a new shirt.woot.com T-shirt and took some family pix with my schweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet neeeeeeeeeeew deeeeeeeeeeeegeeeeeeeeeeetaaaaaaaaaal caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamera. You won't be seeing pix from that for another few weeks (week 17 to be exact) but hopefully you will be rewarded with much more clear, sharp pix. The visual chippie-bit-thingie in the old camera died, leading to streaky purple pix and total blackouts. Yes, I tried taking pix, new battery, swapping out memory cards, etc. I had a good five years with that camera and given that my new, twice-as-powerful camera was less than half the cost of the old one originally. My one gripe is that not one single component except for the cable from my old camera fits the new one—as in totally new battery size, different memory card size, the whole nine. Even my bloody case is loose on the new jobbie, but I'm using it anyway because it has better padding than the new case that I got for $5 more as part of an accessory package. I figured I may as well get a fresh case, a lanyard, a neck strap, a new spare battery, and other crap for only $5 more than the cost of a new battery alone. That's another thing—I'm kind of pissed/grateful that the cost of memory has gone down, but aggravated that I now have zero use for the two cards from the OLD dead not-worth-repairing camera.

Oh yeah and I gave my Mom some of the tomato jam that I made and my bro got some pesto and I bought Medjool dates and decent Greek red wine also.

Having said that, let me also apologize for not keeping up with my posts on a more regular basis. As per my last post, life has been coming at me fast, and we are starting to get the thin edge of the wedge RE year-end crush at my day job. I also MUST take time off before year's end (paradoxically) or lose them. So it's a catch-22. I'm using up some days for the Jewish holidays and will probably take a crapload of time off between Xmas and New Year's but I still may not be able to roll all my days into next year (which will be a total fucking moot point if I lose my job but I'm mentally not going there right now). Right now, I am making up from my "forced take-offs" by working until 9ish on the days that I AM in.

Oh yeah, one last thing and I'll say it now and get it out of the way. I am BOYCOTTING the debates. I see post after post on CNN.com and the NY Times site—people saying that they are subscribing to cable TV just so they can watch the debates. Fuck that; I'd sell my blood by the pint in order to keep my cable until November 5th—so that I can watch Gordon Ramsay reruns on my DVR and 24/7 cartoons until it's all the fuck over. It makes me SO SO glad that I DVRd crap like Anthony Bourdain and that Zimmerman guy and the US second season of Kitchen Nightmares (which is being pre-empted this week by the veep debates, which in my book proves there is no G-d) even though this season totally, totally SUCKS and is produced like crap compared to the UK version, which actually uses more than one cameraman, isn't only 30 minutes padded by 30 minutes of commercials and 2-minute replays of the prior 5-minute segment, and the contestants aren't reading from fucking cue cards. Tonight I watched vintage MGM cartoons, old Scooby Doo reruns, some horrid Hanna-Barbera Superfriends third-generation shittily-produced Superman property knockoff, and have "The Biggest Loser: Families" on now. I'm so mentally exhausted that I can't even be bothered to fire up my dying stereo (next big purchase: New receiver) and put on my new Santagold CD. I'm drinking lukewarm rum and water mixed with a little honey because I had to take out my ice cube trays to make room for more stuff in the freezer.

However…that segue ways nicely into the FOOD part of this post! Yay! As per the pic at the top of the post, Lucky Number Week 13 brought the following goodness to my world:

• Eggplant
• Peppers (part of a choice of a mix—peppers and/or squash)
• Apples
• Nectarines
• Peaches
• A large bunch of gorgeous flowering Basil
• Yellow Tomatoes

One of the things I treated myself with was some fresh mozzarella, so that I could make myself a single-serving delicious veggie gratin. This, my friends, is why it's worth it to have a smallish single-serving cast-iron pan. I made mine thusly: Fry down garlic and onion. Add sliced leeks and sauté those down with salt and pepper. Sauté in a sliced green pepper. Let it cook down a bit; add a splash of water if needed. I added some dried oregano also, and a pinch of hot red pepper flakes. I also had a bit of home-made tomato sauce left, so once the veggies were almost cooked I added that in and let it cook while I fired up the broiler. Then I arranged a few torn basil leaves and the mozz cheese on top and put the whole cast iron pan under the broiler. The result looks like this:


CSA Week 13 Gratin. September, 2008. photo Jenonymous/Group News Blog.

I ate it with farmhouse multigrain bread from my CSA. Yes it was fantastic.

That particular week, I also broke in a new little lunch-related toy; a cute little sandwich-and-side holder. I'm really having fun with this one, especially on the days I get fresh bread. I stash the sandwich in the lower half, cut up veggies with no dressing for one little holder, and put some fresh fruit in the other one. I love the fact that the whole Fit & Fresh line has built-in washable ice packs—there is NEVER any room in my floor's fridge, and it's usually pretty skank anyway. If I use the ice pack and pack the whole container in my insulated lunch box, it stays cold just fine.

One of my better lunch "re-discoveries" from my childhood that week was tuna and egg salad. The recipe couldn't be simpler: Take two hard-boiled eggs and a standard can of tuna. Mix with a bit of mayo and whatever herbs and seasonings you like. You can also add onion, pickle, however Your Folks made Your Favorite Tuna Salad. Makes 3 or 4 sandwiches (you can stretch the filling by putting more veggies in the sandwich).

Also, my Mom had gotten me a colossal can of canned white chicken meat during one of her forays into Costco, which I would normally never think to buy. I wound up making a big batch of Pesto Chicken Salad and putting that in sandwiches or packing a blob of it with a green salad or eating with pasta until I used it all up also. Both salads were phenomenal. Oh, btw, chicken pesto salad: Take very soft cooked chicken. Mix with pesto until spreadable. Add salt and pepper to taste. This would also make a great canapé' on bread rounds—you could also stuff celery ribs with this, and so on. In fact, I have an in-house wine tasting party in a few weeks and I may just do that.

Otherwise, that's it for that particular week. The next week will be a tad more exciting, I promise, as it was a meat and cheese delivery week.

One final food-related idea for discussion in the comments section: WTF is UP with all of the "X-TREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEME! FOOD! FLAVORS! that are being added to normal commercial food items? Case in point: One of my secret weaknesses is Blue Diamond Smokehouse Almonds. Now, for the past zillion years since I was a kid, you could get these at the supermarket right between the Planter's row and the overpriced macadamia nuts. Now, they have seemingly vanished from the shelves. However, they now have BOLD Salt and Pepper almonds and BOLD Salt and Vinegar. I've also seen knockoff brands of BOLD SMOKEHOUSE like JALAPENO SMOKEHOUSE. They are all overseasoned and taste too intense. They stand out too much in a salad, and they're too salty and peppery to include as part of a cheese-board dinner with fruit and bread (another fave guilty pleasure of mine, and the sole reason why I haven't lost all the weight I want to despite my very much increased veg and fruit intake as a percentage of my diet).

I also can't seem to get NORMAL fucking Doritos anymore (something I only buy once a year anyway, and some brands of potato chips are also endangered)—it's all BOLD this or EXTEME that; completely oversaturated with fluorescent flavor powder. Even the humble pickle; unless I go for the kosher brand, it's all BOLD EXCITING FRESH taste and whatnot.

You know, I'm not expecting my snack food to swing in from an open window ala' Tarzan or play retro-punk music for me at 3 AM to wake the neighbors up or go down on me at my desk during my lunch break. I just want my G-ddamned smokehouse almonds. In my salad.

Discuss.

Until next time, BIG HUGS to all and happy healthy eating! Also, a happy, healthy, prosperous New Year for one and all!

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Basta Pasta

Basta Pasta

I'm one of the foodies here at GNB, though not as prolific as others. Still, when I posted this at my own blog, Jesse wrote me and begged me to bring it here as well. So here 'tis.

In the novel I'm writing, Ginny Bates, much of the action takes place while preparing and eating meals. The main characters cook a LOT, grow much of their own food or buy it from Pike Market in Seattle, and share recipes across cultures and economic classes. Don't read it while you're hungry, it'll kill ya with longing. Myra (my voice in the book) has collected a bunch of their favorite dishes into a volume which is spread out over several posts:
Recipes from Ginny Bates
Feeding Appetites
More Eatin' with Myra and Ginny Bates and
Last of the Family Recipes.

I eat a lot of pasta. It's an extremely healthy, satisfying meal if done right. To begin with, get whole-grain or vegetable-based pasta if you are buying the dried kind. White flour pressed into shapes is still white flour, and all the hoo-ha about carbs being bad for you is really just another way of saying don't eat white flour. We NEED grains, but go for whole grains which won't spike your blood sugar or leave you craving more in an hour. If possible, buy fresh pasta; you can freeze this and still get mostly the same flavor and benefit. Plus, the cooking time is extremely short, often just a minute, with the fresh stuff.

I don't use jarred pasta sauces. I can make delicious sauces (and so can you) in less than five minutes by using equal amounts of butter and really good olive oil (you need both for flavor) to sautee chopped onion and any fresh or frozen vegetable for five minutes. Add minced garlic, pepperincino flakes, and a fresh herb or two for the last minute, and you're done. Sauces should be to dress pasta, not drown it -- especially if you're starting with good pasta in the first place. Sprinkle on cheese after you plate the pasta and sauce.

Use a lot of water to boil your pasta, to keep it from sticking. Add salt, generously, to the boiling water -- this will not be showing up in the final dish, don't worry about it. NEVER add oil to your pasta water, you ruin the ability of the sauce to marry with the sticky pasta if you do. Scoop out the pasta when nearly done and add it to your sauce, so it blends and finishes cooking in the sauce. Save some pasta water to thin your sauce if necessary, it's full of nutrients.

If you want tomatoes in your sauce but don't have even 45 minutes to make a marinara, here's an alternative: Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Spread a basket of cherry tomatoes on a baking sheet. To this I usually add pearl onions (frozen works fine), a few cloves of garlic (you don't need to peel them yet), and sliced zucchini. Drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle with sea salt and ground black pepper or pepperincino, plus oregano or tarragon or rosemary. Bake for about 20 minutes.

Cook your pasta according to whatever it takes so it is done at around the same time. Drain the pasta and save at least a cup of the pasta water. Remove the baked veggies from the oven. Peel the garlic if necessary and mash it in a bowl with two pats of soft butter and some ricotta. Add the rest of the veggies and enough pasta water to make a thin broth full of chunky veggies. Let it sit for a couple of minutes to marry, then serve this over the pasta. It takes half an hour at most, and makes a complete meal. I like to use spinach fettucini with this. The tomatoes are both sweet and acidic from the baking, the zucchini and onions caramelize, the ricotta and butter add a creamy coating -- heavenly.

Pasta has a long history, even longer if you factor in noodles which were brought to Italy from China by Marco Polo. Each small region in Italy has developed its own pasta shapes and uses. Try buying a variety of shapes and experiment with making your own sauces. Here's some help to get you started.


JARRED PASTA SAUCES: (f you must)

Cook's Illustrated recommended Bertolli tomato and basil sauce, Francesco Rinaldi traditional marinara, Prego marinara, Barilla marinara, Newman's Own marinara, and Muir Glen organic tomato basic sauce (all with some qualifiers, see link for details).

Check out America's Test Kitchen video on how to make a great 45 minutes marinara sauce for pasta.

MATCHING PASTA SHAPES WITH SAUCE (from Cook's Illustrated):
Are there any rules in matching pasta shapes with sauce? In Italy there is a fine art to matching pasta shapes and sauces, but here at Cook’s, we are a bit freer with the pairing and endorse just one general rule: you should be able to eat the pasta and sauce easily in each mouthful. This means that the texture and consistency of the sauce should work with the pasta shape. And no matter what the shape of the pasta or type of sauce, we adamantly believe that the pasta, not the sauce, should be the focal point.
Long strands are best with smooth sauces or pestos, or sauces with very small chunks such as oil and garlic. In general, wider long noodles, such as fettuccine, can more easily support slightly chunkier sauces than can very thin noodles like spaghetti. Wide pastas like fettuccine or tagliatelle are also well suited to creamy sauces like Alfredo.

Short tubular or molded pasta shapes do an excellent job of trapping chunkier sauces. Sauces with very large chunks are best with shells, rigatoni, or other large tubes. Sauces with small to medium chunks make more sense with fusilli or penne.

My addendum: Pasta that's great for soups include acini de pepe, anellini, capellini, conchiglie, ditalini, egg noodles, fideo, orzo, or tripolini.

IDENTIFYING PASTA SHAPES (images and recommendations from the National Pasta Association and Cook's Thesaurus):

(Acini de pepe or peppercorn) -- Soups and broths

(Anellini) -- Soups, complements to salads

(Bucatini, hollow in the center) -- Good for almost any sauce, casseroles or stir-fry.

(Campanelle or bells) -- Great with meat, cream, vegetable or oil based sauces, also good in salads

(Capellini or angel hair, means fine hairs) -- Best in thin, delicate sauces; also break in half and use in soups or stir-fry

(Cappalletti, means little hats) -- Good for medium chunkier sauces

(Casarecci or cesariccia) -- Usually served with meat sauces, also good in casseroles

(Cavatappi, means corkscrew) -- Good with meat, cream, vegetable or oil based sauces, also good in pasta salads

(Cavatelli, looks like tiny hot dog buns) -- Commonly served with thick, chunky sauces or in pasta salads, pairs nicely with meat, cream, seafood or vegetable sauces

(Conchiglie, also called small pasta shells, pipe rigate, or maruzze) -- Often served with tomato or meat sauces, or in pasta salads

(Conchiglioni or jumbo shells) -- Best when stuffed with your favorite mixtures of cheese, meat and vegetables

(Creste di galli, means cockscomb) -- Can be topped with any sauce, baked, or put in soups, salads and stir-fry dishes

(Ditalini, means little thimbles) -- Can be used as the base of any dish, bake it, stir it into soups, or create great salads and stir-fry dishes

(Egg noodles, come in medium and wide) -- Traditionally used for stroganoff; can be baked, tossed in soups or salads, or topped with cream, tomato, cheese or meat sauces

(Farfalle or bowties) -- Smaller version is called farfallini, larger version is called farfallone; often served with chunky sauces or in pasta salads

(Fettuccini) -- Also called tagliatelle. Classically served with meat sauce or Bolongnese, also popular with Alfredo.

(Fideo) -- Commonly used in soup

(Fusilli or twisted spaghetti) -- Can be topped with any sauce, broken in half and added to soups, or turned into a beautiful salad; also bakes well in casseroles

(Fusilli col buco) -- Good choice for pasta salads and casseroles, or for serving with hearty, thick sauces

(Gemelli, means twins) -- Great with any sauce, or in pasta salads or casseroles

(Gigli, means lilies or death to Ben Affleck's career) -- Perfect for heavier sauces, like cheese, meat and tomato or it is a good addition to a number of casseroles

(Gnochette, made to look like gnocchi, the popular potato dumplings) -- Good with thick sauces

(Gramigna) -- Good with light sauces

(Lasagna, From “lasanum,” Latin for pot) -- Create original lasagna casseroles by using chopped vegetables, cheeses and any kind of sauce

(Linguini, means little tongues) -- Good with most sauces.

(Lumacone, means giant snails) -- Usually stuffed and baked

(Macaroni, also called elbow macaroni, means dumpling) -- A highly versatile shape that can be topped with any sauce, baked, or put in soups, salads and stir-fry dishes

(Malloreddus) -- A Sardinian pasta very similar to gnocchetti, except that it's often flavored with saffron

(Maltagliati) -- Means "poorly cut" in Italian, and the name is used for various kinds of pasta scraps; great addition to casseroles or thick sauces

(Manicotti, means small muffs) -- Stuff with a mixture of meat, cheese and vegetables, top with your favorite sauce, and bake

(Orecchiette, means little ears) -- Commonly served with thick, chunky sauces or in pasta salads

(Orzo, means barley) -- Can be topped with any sauce, added to soups, or baked as a casserole. Perfect as a side dish as well as a main course

(Penne, means quills or feathers) -- Smaller size is called mostaccioli, means little mustaches. Ridged version is called penne rigate and is ideal to lock-in flavor. Pairs nicely with chunky meat, chunky vegetable, cream, or oil based sauces; great for baking dishes

(Pipe rigate) -- Smaller version called pipette rigate. Pairs nicely with chunky meat, chunky vegetable, cream, or oil based sauces

(Quadrefiore) -- Pairs nicely with chunky meat, chunky vegetable, cream, or oil based sauces; great for baking dishes

(Radiatori, means radiators) -- Do a good job of scooping up chunky sauces; also good in casseroles, salads and soups

(Ravioli) -- Fill with cheese, meats, vegetables and seasonings; serve with a red sauce. butter, oil or cream

(Reginette) -- Wide, flat ribbon pasta that has rippled edges on both sides, use like lasagna

(Riccioli, means curl) -- Twisted shape holds bits of meat, vegetables and cheese, so it works well with a variety of sauces, or create fun salads, baked casseroles, or stir-fry meals

(Rigatoni, means large grooved) -- Perfect with any sauce, from cream or cheese to the chunkiest meat sauces

(Rocchetti, means spools) -- Perfect for preparing casseroles and salads

(Rotini) -- Works well with chunky sauces, or create fun salads, baked casseroles, or stir-fry meals

(Ruote, means wheels) -- Also called ruotine. Pairs nicely with meat, cream, seafood or vegetable sauces, popular in pasta salads

(Spiralini) -- Larger version called spirali. Good with chunky sauces, or in pasta salads

(Strozzapreti, means priest strangler) -- Resembles a rolled towel. Pairs nicely with meat, cream, seafood and vegetable sauces

Tagliatelle -- see fettuccini

(Torchio) -- Little torches good for scooping up chunky sauces

(Tortellini) -- Typically stuffed with meat, cheese or vegetables, commonly served in a broth or cream sauce

(Tortiglioni) -- Commonly used to add decoration to salads or paired with a simple sauce

(Trenne) -- Triangular and cut into short lengths, with smaller version called trennette. Don't confuse this with trenette, which is a long ribbon of pasta. Good with chunky sauces or in casseroles

(Tripolini) -- A tiny bow tie shaped pasta used in soups and salads or paired with a simple sauce

(Troffiette) -- A Ligurian specialty, these small, twisted bits of pasta often served with pesto

(Tubini) -- Perfect for chunky sauces and meat dishes, also good in salads, baked dishes and stir-fry meals

(Vermicelli, means little worms) -- Good with thin, smooth sauces or pesto

(Ziti, means bridegrooms) -- Perfect for chunky sauces and meat dishes

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