First Fall Baking: Zwetschgenkuchen

Hi everyone! As the record-breaking heat of Summer 2010 winds down, I finally can use my oven again. Hurray! My inaugural baking project used up a batch of plums that came from Erica's CSA share. These plums were fairly tart and not very juicy so my thoughts turned to baking. I used Grandma Marie's recipe and it came out fabulous. Not too sweet, very reminiscent of childhood. My only change was to use slices rather than whole halves because I was worried I would run out of plums. I made two cakes: one we ate right up and the other went in the freezer.

YUM!
Anyone else doing baking lately?

Chicken Salad Craze

Note: This is an old post I finally got around to putting up. I started it months ago!

Will and I both tend toward food crazes, so sometimes meals around here might come off as a tad repetitive. Not to us! I am currently in a chicken salad craze. I have a favorite chicken salad, with grapes and walnuts, but that is for another day. Today I want to share my recipe re-creation success. Union Market (aka Union Mark-up) sells a delicious curried chicken salad that I have recently been obsessed with. I took some notes last time I bought some and successfully recreated it two nights ago. Here is a picture, although it doesn't do it justice:
Will is demonstrating how to fill a pita; Mona is wondering how she can get involved.

CURRY CHICKEN SALAD (a la Union Market)

• 2 large whole chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
• 1/4 cup or more raisins, soaked in warm water for at least an hour
• 3/4 cup shredded carrots (I buy the bagged kind b/c I don't have a food processor)
• 2 whole green onions
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup red onions (to taste)
  
• 1 stalk celery
• parsley to taste
  

Chop and combine the above in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together:

• a scant 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• a generous 1/4 cup yogurt (you can vary the ratio; the point is to have a half cup total)
• juice of 1/2 lemon
  
• 1/2 tsp sugar (I think I used brown)
• 1.5 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• a dash turmeric (to make it yellower!)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Taste the dressing for seasoning and adjust. I bet it would be great with a dash of cayenne! Gradually mix the dressing into the chicken mixture until it reaches the desired level of "dressed-ness." Great served with pitas and lettuce.

Urban Composting

Now for something related to food disposal...

I am so excited by my recent foray into NYC composting. We live in an apartment. We don't have a yard. I thought we couldn't compost...until I discovered that many community gardens in the city accept kitchen scraps for composting. To my delight, the garden a block from our place is one of those gardens. After I learned this, I started saving compostables in a plastic container in the fridge. And then another....and another... To my amazement, the two of us produced FOUR large containers of compost in a single week!
Astonishing, I know, but that is the result of one week around here. And we ate out several times! The garden was open today, so somewhat nervously, I headed over to do the actual drop-off. I was greeted with this encouraging sign:
The garden was also very lovely. I found the compost bins toward the back. It was simple as it could be! Open the latched screen on the bin:
Then cover the food scraps with a layer of leaves from this handy container:
Nifty! I am so glad I discovered that urban composting is not only possible, it is easy! I plan to buy a larger tub for the fridge to collect food scraps so I can take them over once a week and don't have to use up all the plastic containers. One bonus of the fridge storage method is that the scraps don't get stinky. Also, I just put the containers on the counter while making dinner and had a handy place to toss scraps right at my finger tips. Rachael Ray would be so proud!

Cold-Brewed Coffee

Yay for summer! Summer means hot weather and an even hotter kitchen. We get direct morning sun and every use of the stove top just amps up the heat even more. This hasn't stopped me from making my morning coffee, of course! This time of year calls for iced coffee, which is, frankly, a pain in the butt to make. I feel silly boiling the water to make the coffee only to cool it down again with ice cubes. But now, all that has changed. I want to share with you the easiest and most delicious way to make iced coffee EVER: cold brewing.

Here is the recipe I used.

And here is my recap of how it went down around here:
First I did a single batch. I just mixed 1.5 cups of tap water with 1/3 cup ground coffee in a large mason jar, screwed on the lid, and let it sit on the counter overnight (at least 12 hours.) The next day, I put a regular melitta drip cone over another container and slowly poured the coffee brew into that. Most of the grounds just stayed at the bottom of the mason jar. I then rinsed out the mason jar and used it to store my coffee concentrate. To make delicious iced coffee, just pour some of the concentrate over ice and add water and/or milk to taste. I found that it did not need any water, just some milk. This made about one very large or two coffee cup sized iced coffees which I consumed with glee. Yesterday I made a larger batch and am storing the remainder in the fridge.

So why is this the best way? So many reasons!
1. The coffee is damn delicious. Seriously. Apparently the cold brewing prevents much of the bitterness that is released when coffee is heated. Thus the coffee is very strong and smooth without being bitter. It is almost sweet! You can get seriously buzzed on this stuff because it is easy to drink a lot and forget how strong it is!
2. It is way easier than dealing with heating up and then cooling down coffee and if you make a big batch, you only have to do it every three or four days. Right now there is enough concentrate for at least two more days in the fridge.
3. No heating up the kitchen with boiling water!
4. On that note, it is also the greenest option. You don't have to waste the energy of heating something just to cool it. In addition, since you can make several days worth at once, it also cuts down on coffee filter use. If you have a fine mesh reusable filter you could use that and be even greener.

So, you ask, are there any cons? I can think of only one: you don't get that nice morning coffee aroma. Well worth the trade-off in my mind! Give it a try and tell me what you think.

Mayonnaise Magic!

I found this video on YouTube from a cook who goes by "foodwishes." He is a wish come true indeed! He has a mayo method that will blow your mind. Click here for the original video.

But wait! I tried it at home! And now I am attempting to show you the video.

Did that work? Did you see that? It was totally cool and totally easy.

Here are a few notes:
This is a pretty tangy mayo. If your tastes run less tangy, use a bit less of the lemon juice and vinegar and maybe add a tad more sugar. Also, as I mention in the video, even with 1/2 cup olive oil, the taste comes through. I actually really like it, but if your olive oil is strong, you could use less. As I also mentioned, it is very thick, but that is kind of neat as well. I imagine, though, that you could start with a cup to a cup and a quarter of oil and then just add more if it isn't thick enough. If anyone tries that, let me know. Finally, I think I was overly timid. I could have started moving the blender and letting it run for longer bursts much sooner in the process, believe it or not! Very neat trick.

Magic Mayonnaise Recipe (courtesy of "foodwishes"):
Add to container:

• 2 egg yolks
• juice of one half a lemon (approx. 1 Tbsp.)
• 1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar (I just used white and it was fine)
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. mustard (he suggests Dijon, I used Gulden's--whatever floats your boat!)

Then pour right in:

• any combination of oils totaling 1.5 cups

Let everything settle for a minute, so the oil and yolks are totally separated. Then place the mixer straight into the container so the blade cup is resting against the bottom. Begin mixing in short pulses. I almost instantly began to see lava lamp-esque blobs and pillars of mayo rise up from the bottom. When you build up a bottom layer, begin to blend continuously and slowly rock and lift the blender up through the remaining oil to combine. Yum!

Tasty Frittata Supper

If you are like me, you always have some eggs on hand and you almost always have some Italian turkey sausage in the freezer. Eggs and sausage are great for last-minute dinners because eggs cook so quickly and turkey sausage can thaw out really quickly even if you take it out of the freezer at the last minute. I run it under warm water to thaw—if you have a microwave, that makes things even easier. What to do with that sausage once it is thawed? I actually have two last-minute strategies: pasta sauce and frittatas. Today I’ll discuss frittatas!

The frittata is my recently-discovered wonder dinner. The entire dinner, including getting a salad together, takes perhaps 20 minutes. It is very flexible and allows you to use up veggies that are about to go bad. The leftovers are also delicious for lunch or breakfast the next day. My method comes from Mark Bittman, with some adjustments.

You will need:

2 Tbs. olive oil

chopped hard veggies, in any combination, such as onions, bell peppers, zucchini, etc.

2 links sausage, removed from casing (if desired)

chopped “soft” veggies, such as tomatoes and mushrooms (total combined veggies should be at least a cup but you can vary widely and it has no effect

greens, such as spinach, if desired

fresh herbs, if desired

6 eggs (or more if you want to make a big ole frittata. But six works well in my 10-inch skillet)

parmesan cheese, if desired

1) Chop the hard veggies—cut them pretty fine.

2) heat about one Tbs (or one glug) olive oil in a 10-inch skillet (is that the size of the normal skillet? I think so—you know what I mean—the basic skillet) over med-high heat. Add veggies.

3) Sautee veggies for 5 minutes until softened. Adjust heat so they don’t burn. While this is going on, cut up the soft veggies.

4) After five minutes, add the sausage, if you are going for the meat version. Just squeeze it out of casing and break up in the pan. Don’t add salt until after the sausage is cooked, btw. That stuff can be salty. When the sausage is mostly cooked and crumbly, add the soft veggies.

5) Turn the heat down to low (or I would say medium-low: just one smidge up from low) and cook soft veggies for five minutes. While that is going on, whisk the eggs up in a separate bowl and prep the herbs and greens. Basil is delish, as is baby spinach.

6) When soft veggies are cooked, taste and adjust the salt and pepper, then ADD THE SECOND TBS (or glug) OF OLIVE OIL and toss in the herbs and greens and sauté until just wilted. Then distribute everything evenly in the pan and carefully pour the eggs over the top. You can use your sautéing implement to sort of ease the flow so everything stays in place in the pan. It will be anticlimactic and hardly sizzle at all, but that is normal. Grate cheese over top if desired.

7) Leave that pan on low, totally undisturbed, for about 10 minutes. Go make a salad.

8) Check your pan periodically after about six minutes. The eggs should be setting up nicely. After about ten minutes, they will be all set up except a thin film of runny eggs on top. At this point, turn on the broiler to low (or set the rack a bit away from the burner) and put the whole pan under for ONE MINUTE AT A TIME. (Check compulsively. Broilers are fickle. When the top is just set, pull it out, run a knife around the edge, slice and serve with salad. It comes right out of the pan. YUM. Eat the leftovers for breakfast.

Favorite Salads at Seventh Ave.

Here in South Slope, we basically eat one of two salads probably five nights per week. In case you want to capture some of that fun, I am going to share both with you. First, the salad that started it all:

Italian Salad

(I just named it that: but I always think of it as Italian. The original came from my friend J., who DOES NOT like bell peppers, so my version would be an abomination to her.)

Please note amounts are approximate; I mean, its a salad, you know? Just make it up!

half a head Romaine or green leaf lettuce

1/3 of a green, yellow, or orange bell pepper

cherry tomatoes

half a ripe avocado

red onion

1/2 lemon

olive oil

nice flakey salt

Okay, so now I am going to introduce you to the Lola Method for Salad Perfection. Please vary in whatever way makes salads more perfect for you.

1. CUT UP the lettuce. This, I discovered, just makes salads better. No idea why. I like to stack all the leaves on top of each other, then slice off the ends. Slice longways 3 or so times. Then slice at a 90 degree angle shortways across the leaves. You should have delicious-looking lettuce squares.

2. Rinse. I am a crazy lady, apparently, because I do not understand the appeal of salad spinners. I toss those lettuce leaves into a colander, give 'em a rinse, shake em dry. Let them sit by the edge of the sink while you get the rest of your salad ready and they will be dry enough.

3. Chop up the veggies. I slice the red onion very thin, cut the cherry tomatoes in half, and cut the bell pepper into thin strips, which I then halve. You totes know how to do avocados.

4. Now the magic: toss those lettuce leaves into a nice big bowl. Add 2/3 to 3/4 of each of the other veggies to the salad. Save a bit of each out for later. Squeeze one half a lemon over all. Glug on some olive oil, and don't be shy about it! Then, then....you know this is so important it gets its own number...

5. Salt! Sprinkle on a goodly pinch or so. Did you know that the root of the word "salad" is "salt?" True fact! Don't leave out the salt or its not really a salad! I use redic fancy salt called Maldon flake salt and it is yummy on salad but I imagine any kosher type salt would do. Then get on in there with your hands and mix up the salad. Go ahead and use your hands. Taste and add salt if needed.

6. Other magic trick: you know how after you toss a salad all the goodies fall to the bottom and it just looks like you are serving a big bowl of lettuce? I have the fix: grab the portion of the veggies you saved out in step 4. Sprinkle them across the top of your dressed salad. Lovely!

7. Enjoy!