Archive for the ‘Cooking Adventures (with Recipes)’ Category
Chocolate Chip Cookies (with pix)
t says: Chocolate chip cookies hold a special place in nearly everyone’s heart (I guess maybe not if you’re allergic). I’ve always been on the lookout for great recipes, but never found one that 1) was easy and 2) gave me a cookie that I liked more than break-and-bake cookies (the new caramel-stuffed Nestle ones are a force to be reckoned with).
Enter Ad Hoc at Home. When I saw that there was a recipe for chocolate chip cookies in a book by Thomas Keller, I figured that it must be some sort of ridiculous 70-step monster. You see, TK has a knack for recipes that aren’t friendly for the home cook. For instance, his chicken soup recipe requires individually cooking each of the components (e.g. carrots, celery, chicken, dumplings) before adding them to a separately prepared broth in the very last step. I was happy to find that his chocolate chip cookie recipe was quite reasonable in terms of methods. And, when a friend (who shall remain unnamed to protect his/her identity so his/her mother won’t be offended by the following quote) claimed “they might be the best cookies he/she has ever had”, I just had to post the recipe for him/her, which was halved and modified for the ingredients we had on hand (TK normally calls for dark brown sugar and mix of milk and dark chocolates – as well as sifting the chocolate before adding it in so you can eliminate really tiny pieces of chocolate so your cookies “look clean” … yea … if he just started with a bag of chips like us, he wouldn’t have that problem).
Ingredients:
__ 1 cup + 3 Tbs + 0.5 tsp all-purpose flour (don’t complain – I could have written 56.5 tsp)
__ 0.5 tsp baking soda, minus a smidgen
__ 0.5 tsp kosher salt
__ 0.25 lb (1 stick) cold unsalted butter (I don’t know why cold, but what TK wants, TK gets)
__ 0.5 c packed light brown sugar
__ 0.375 c granulated sugar
__ 1 extra large egg (although we have used jumbo from time to time – I think the cookies are taller – but I haven’t measured it)
__ 50% of an 11.5-0z bag of Ghirardelli 60% cacao “bittersweet” chocolate chips
__ x tsp baking powder (I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m contemplating adding just a smidge to get slightly cakier cookies)
Methods:
1) Sift flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.
2) Cut butter into small pieces. In a stand-mixer (with paddle), beat half of the butter at medium-low speed until smooth. Add the remaining butter, the granulated sugar, and the brown sugar, beating for a few minutes until the mixture gets fluffy and dry-looking. Slowly add the egg while mixing, until incorporated evenly.
2) Turn the mixer to slowest setting. Add the dry ingredients from step 1. Mix until even, but mix as little as humanly possible.
Pre-Chipped Dough
3) Remove bowl from stand and add the chocolate chips, folding them in until evenly distributed.
Post-chipped dough
4) Shape dough into 2 Tbs sized balls. Should make ~15 cookies. Put into freezer to chill for at least 30 mins.
Ok … so I’m missing one – only 29.
5) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Place cookies onto sheet with ample space between (2 inches or more). We have a thick cookie sheet and thin one (which I bought for $1 at Ikea), and we have a silpat and patchment paper. I like the parchment paper and the thin sheet better.
Run! We’re being attacked by cookie dough balls!
6) Bake for 6 minutes. Rotate pans. Bake until the tops of the cookies lose their sheen (~12 mins, total). The edges touching the pan will take on a brown color – that’s ok – but if they’re burning … you’ve gone too far. Carefully remove the tray from the oven – if you bump it, the cookies will deflate. Boo!
Note how shiny the dough on the left 2 cookies look … they’re not done!
7) Slide parchment paper with cookies onto cooling rack – without bumping them, of course. Although the dough no longer looks “wet” like it did when only 6 minutes had past, you might note that the cookie is still very flimsy – as if it was undercooked. Don’t fret – let it cool. In a few minutes, the poofy, flimsy dough will have solidified into a deliciously cakey cookie. I feel that five minutes later is a perfectly acceptable time to wait before eating them – but I like ’em soft.
A mouth’s eye view … and these are only HALF the height of the cookies made straight from the freezer.
Getting fancy with some additives: dried cherries, candied ginger.
Still delicious.
Extra tips:
1) TK suggests that if you want softer cookies, mist lightly with water before baking. I don’t even bother with this step anymore, as they are plenty soft.
2) You can keep the dough balls in the freezer or refrigerator – I’d put them in a sealable container so they don’t lose too much moisture. If you choose the fridge, then I probably wouldn’t go for any more than a few days, as it does have raw egg in it. But, what I recently found is that, despite what TK says (and what I used to espouse), I see nothing wrong with taking these dough balls straight from the freezer to the oven – I’ve done the head-to-head test between frozen and defrosted dough balls (i.e. ones that were in the fridge overnight) and they come out no different at all! One may also try to NOT refrigerate the dough at all and go straight to baking after you assemble the ingredients, but these cookies definitely turn out flatter – so I don’t like that option …
2.5) I noticed that the longer you let the cookies sit in the freezer (e.g. two weeks vs. 1 day), the taller they stay after baking – I’m not sure why this is the case. I’ve achieved approximately 67% taller cookies by waiting one week.
3) Re: salt. You can sprinkle some kosher salt on top of the dough balls to give it that nice salt-chocolate taste. I also tried rolling the dough balls in salt – yea – bad idea – it didn’t look like a lot of salt, but it was … Once, I ran out of unsalted butter, so I used salted butter and cut the kosher salt in half – worked fine!
5) Re: chocolate. I tried to use this recipe with a mix of milk and dark chocolates (from Naked Chocolate) – it just isn’t the same. I think because I used light brown sugar, I depend on the dark Ghirardelli chips bring more flavor to the party. I once substituted the dark Ghirardelli chips with Nestle dark chocolate – also note the same (the Nestle chocolate was kinda wussy). Also – if you do remove the dark chocolate (or use not-as-dark dark chocolate, like Nestle), cut back on the salt some – I found the cookies to be on the verge of “salty” when I used milk chocolate.
6) I did try the recipe including dark brown sugar (3:1 dark:light), but found that the cookie, itself, just didn’t taste “right” anymore – it didn’t bring the right contrast to the dark chocolate chips. Maybe if I used milk choocolate it would have been better? I don’t know. But because I will always use dark chocolate chips, I’m now never going to use dark brown sugar … although I have to suffer through the remaining dark brown sugar so I have an excuse to buy some light brown sugar …
Kimchi Pizza (with pix)
t says: You read the title, and now you’re wondering: “why?”. Trust me, it tastes good.
For those that don’t know what kimchi is, here’s a picture:
Meet my friend Kimchi.
It’s cabbage that’s been pickled in a fiery red chile liquid. Korean grandmothers are said to have buried jars of it in the ground as it “ripens” in flavor (that’s my term for it). It’s not much to look at (it’s red cabbage) and it’s offensive to the nose (I thought that they buried it due to lack of modern refrigeration, however, I now believe they buried it to keep it out of the house). Nowadays, most people will either have a separate fridge for it or keep it for no longer than a couple days. But the taste is unique; it’s sour and spicy and (depending on how far along it was) crisp and fresh. It’s also readily available in Korean supermarkets (e.g. Hmart), and the quality’s pretty good.
So now, back to pizza … Surely you’ve had your fair share of frozen pizzas, be it Ellios pizza as a kid, Bagel Bites in college, or DiGiorno as a sucker for believing those dumb commercials (been there, done that). Well, g had some friends in college who claimed that that putting kimchi on frozen pizza was the best way to make it, period. I’ll admit, I was doubtful at first, as cheese and kimchi is not a traditional combination (I blame the higher prevalance of lactose intolerance among Koreans). That said, in our household, kimchi has elevated the frozen pizza from a we-should-keep-one-in-the-freezer-just-in-case option to a we-should-definitely-eat-frozen-pizza-for-dinner option. We’ve tried many varieties of pizza and they all work reasonably well (with one exception being the self-rising crust pizzas – I guess there was too much liquid in the kimchi). The following is the best combo we’ve come across thus far:
Ingredients:
__ 1 California Pizza Kitchen “White” frozen pizza (it’s the one with cheese and spinach – they didn’t have it for the one I used for the pix – so I had to use some weird non-CPK “Organic” one that boasts “Tastes Organic” – what does that mean?).
__ Kimchi, to taste (I use ~0.5 c; the longer you keep it in your fridge, the more “funk” it gets)
__ Parmigiano Reggiano, to taste
Methods:
0) Preheat the oven as per the frozen pizza’s directions.
1) Pat dry the kimchi you intend to use. Slice kimchi (this is perhaps the only time I’d advise against cutting on a wood cutting board – kimchi will stain it red and give it a funk for along time) into thin strips about 1″ long.
2) Distribute kimchi on top of unwrapped pizza. I tend to avoid the middle of the pizza because the middle is often the least-cooked part of the pizza, and I want the entire crust to be crispy, so I don’t want to add additional water to the middle. Finely grate parm-reg on top of pizza.
Kimchi, say cheese!
3) Bake as per the directions (I bake directly on the oven rack with a sheet of aluminum foil on a rack below to catch drips) plus an extra minute or two. The more kimchi you added, the longer you may have to bake. To ‘test’ doneness, I use a fork/spoon to gently lift the edge of the pizza and see if the pizza is as stiff as I like.
Bake until the crust is golden and the cheese is brown ...
... like this!
4) Remove from oven. Cut and enjoy. Cutting this kind of pizza with a knife might be difficult – go for a rotary pizza cutter.
Romano Family Ravioli
t says: Sometimes, there exists a dish that you can eat continuously, no matter how satiated you may feel. Your mouth takes over your brain (much to the chagrin of your stomach), and your only thought is “must … keep … eating”. There are only a few dishes that can do this to me – one of them is g’s grandfather’s ravioli.
Affectionately referred to as “pop-pop” (among other choice words, right Frank?), g’s grandfather possesses a recipe for ravioli stemming from his childhood, back when his family actually sold ravioli. Trust me, selling ravioli in the area where we grew up was probably not an easy task, given that every Italian family (and there’s a lot of them) likely had their own recipe. But, while I haven’t sampled every Jersey family’s ravioli, g’s grandfather’s is the best I have encountered.
Looks plain, but you have no idea ...
So how do you make these fabled ravioli? Well, the easiest way is to make it with him. g and I have done this, acting as his helpers. I noted that no single action is particularly “hard” or “difficult” or “impossible” – but doing it “just right” requires a certain finesse that apparently only comes with years of practice, a commitment to perfectionism, and a “critical” eye to recognize when something’s working well or needs to be tweaked. It requires a ravioli “marker” (think rolling pin with divots to shape the ravioli), a piece of equipment that no Williams Sonoma or Kitchen Kapers carries. Finally, the ingredients are very specific – there is a very particular way in which the ground veal must be sourced (so I’ve been told). The flour: it absolutely must be Pillsbury brand all-purpose flour.
Unfortunately, if I told you anything more, I’d certainly have to kill you …
Salt-Entombed Striped Bass (with pix)
t says: We saw this beautiful salt-entombed fish on Iron Chef America (followed by raves from tasters), and Thomas Keller has a great photo of one in Ad Hoc at Home; but it never occurred to us that we could actually do this ourselves. g and I rarely cook fish – it’s not that we don’t like it, but we fear screwing up when cooking it (no one likes dry fish) when it’s way more expensive than, say, chicken (and it doesn’t keep that well, either). Our friends who have no such fears and share similar television-viewing tastes to ours, were also intrigued by salt encrusted fish; however, they actually had the activation energy needed to make a plan and execute a Sunday night dinner. They invited us to join their scheme and off we were to Reading Terminal Market to purchase a large [to us] striped bass. We settled on Wan’s seafood (despite the better reputation and cleaner appearance, John Yi’s striped bass had a little glaucoma) and watched as they scaled and gutted it. We joined up with our friends, k and cm, and, guided by a few recipes, we prepped the fish, we cooked the fish, and we ate the fish. Poor Herbie never stood a chance. The whole procedure ended up being quite simple (with minimal prep time, as the fishmonger did all the hard work), but the results were phenomenal – both for our eyes and our mouth. Why hadn’t someone told us that this is the easiest way to cook tender, juicy fish, ever? Below is the recipe that we constructed (adapted from Thomas Keller’s and Alton Brown’s recipes). It was so easy and delicious that we did it again the following day (with Herbina) just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke – it wasn’t (g’s cousin, d, informed us that indeed, it wasn’t … it was a striped bass).
Ingredients:
__ 1 striped bass gutted and scaled, fins and gills removed, head and tail intact (4-4.5 lb in weight before gutting). We have read that snapper and tilapia are similar to striped bass and therefore may be substituted – we haven’t tried it [yet].
__ 3 lb kosher salt (Diamond Crystal brand is what we used – we used Morton’s once and the proportions were all wrong – stupid variable coarseness between brands) (n.b. If you use a larger fish, you will have to use more salt, as the listed amount was perfect for the size fish we purchased)
__ 4 egg whites
__ 0.75 c water
__ handful of flat-leaf parsley
__ 0.5 bulb (+ fronds) of fennel, cut in half (so you’ll have two quarters of the bulb)
__ 0.5 lemon, sliced into at least four slices
__ 0.5 orange, sliced into at least four slices
Methods:
0) Set oven to 425 degrees.
1) Rinse and pat the fish dry. Stuff with fennel, lemon slices, and parsley.
Meet Herbina. Isn't she pretty?
Herbina's stuffed.
2) Combine salt, eggs, and water in a bowl. Hand-mix.
3) In a pan (lined with aluminum foil for easy cleanup), put a half-inch thick layer of salt mixture to lay the fish on (just a little bigger than the fish’s actual size). Place fish onto its salt (kind of like a body in a chalk-outline at a crime scene). Lightly pack salt to completely cover the fish. We used the entirety of the salt mixture for our sized fish. Some exposed tail is ok (we had to cut the tail because of the small oven). You don’t have to suture the slit where you stuffed the fish, just close the wound manually and cover with salt to keep closed. When you’re done, give it a look over to ensure there are no obvious cracks.
"It's like burying your feet in sand at the beach!"
Where'd she go? Into her sarcophagus! (macabre, I know)
Herbina's in a sauna.
5) In a dramatic fashion, crack the crust with a stern stroke of a large spoon or a mallet or a [clean] hammer. Attempt to remove the crust in large pieces if possible; try not to accidentally pierce the skin and introduce salt to the tender meat underneath, especially when removing salt from the open slit where you stuffed the fish.
Hammer and chisel (i.e. butter knife).
Look inside! It's Herbina!
She's almost free!
Free at last.
6) Remove the skin from the exposed side of the fish. Remove the exposed fillet of meat resting on the ?spine?. Remove the ?spine?, bones, and stuffing (the stuffing doesn’t taste good – we tried it). Remove the remaining fillet of meat. Depending on your meat-removal skills, you may have to eat with a little bit of caution, but most of the bones in a fish this size are large, so it’s not as bad. The trickiest bones are the ones where the fins (if your fish still had fins) would connect to the body. Brush up on your fish anatomy (google works) if you want to be an expert filleter.
Herbina's beauty is more than skin-deep.
After you remove a fillet, remove the shrubbery.
Yikes - Herbina's looking a little ... thin ...
Pasta with Wine-Marinated Short Rib Ragu
t says: Just the other day (over a year ago), g and I received a Williams Sonoma catalog in the mail. On the cover, there was the most beautiful piece of cookware I had ever seen. It was the “slate” Le Creuset Dutch oven. The color screamed chic and classic at the same time. The thing is … I didn’t really know how to “use” a dutch oven. Wasn’t it just a super-heavy pot – why would anyone want one of those? Perhaps it’s just a status symbol (like All-Clad and Viking)? Fast forward to June 2009 – my parents found out that I had perused Dutch ovens at one time and purchased for me a beautiful red Le Creuset for my bday. Trust me, I liked the red one a lot (I love the color red in general – I used to have a bright red pair of shoes and am on the lookout for a new pair of bright red shoes), but I was let down that slate was no longer available at WS (curse them and their “limited edition” colors). Interestingly, k and her then-fiance/now-husband, cm, showed us their recently acquired Dutch oven at that time – it was the SLATE one! Apparently, the WS they had visited happened to be clearing them out (thus, while online availability was nil, I guess some stores still had stock – but I couldn’t find any). Fiddlesticks – I knew that the search for slate was over (unless I wanted a tiny slate saucier, which was the only thing ever in stock) …
Because I was still a neophyte to the wonderful world of enameled cast iron, I decided to do some research (and looked for alternative colors and brands). I ended up browsing a line of cookware from Staub – the “other” French Dutch oven company with quite a following of devout anti-Le Creuset-ists (I kinda liked that). I was impressed with the black interior and self-basting “spikes” (although sometimes I wonder if this is a gimmick because Thomas Keller and Molly Stevens both recommend parchment paper to line the lids of their braising vessels), but when I saw that they were just releasing a new, limited edition “titanium gray” color, I knew it was made for me. I swapped the red Le Creuset for the titanium gray Staub (6.5 qt – it isn’t as classic as the slate, but, because it reminds me of a brand new dark gray bmw, it has more bling). I also immediately invested in a copy of All About Braising, as what is the purpose of having a piece of cookware but not knowing how to use it? Over the ensuing 6 months, I braised everything – chicken, beef, pork, vegetables, seafood (although the latter two required a smaller vessel – so I used our other cookware). The following is my favorite recipe thus far (probably because I <3 short ribs) and is adapted from recipes by Molly Stevens and Giada De Laurentiis, with a fine point or two from Thomas Keller. This dish has finally allowed me to see a short rib recipe on a restaurant menu and NOT automatically order it (I <3 short rib), as now I know I can make a respectable version at home (although definitely NOT fancy – very “rustic”).
Ingredients:
the spiced EtOH:
__ 1 bottle of tasty, inexpensive red wine (For this, I like something a little less “fruity” – not Australian Shiraz or Argentinian Malbec, rather, something a bit more rustic, like some Sangiovese-based Italian blend or dip into Spain. I personally don’t opt for Chianti because I’ve run into a lot of bad Chiantis until I started getting up into the Chianti Classico range at $20+ … which is WAY too much $$ for a recipe like this. In short, pick a red wine you want to drink that isn’t insanely fruity.)
__ 1 tsp black peppercorns
__ 0.5 tsp allspice berries (optional)
__ 4 whole cloves (optional)a few rosemary sprigs
__ 2 bay leaves, broken in half
__ 1 tsp kosher salt
__ Cheesecloth and kitchen string (optional)
the meat:
__ ~3.5 lbs of beef short ribs bone-in (not thinly sliced)
__ Kosher salt and pepper
__ <0.5 c olive/canola oil mix (olive oil adds nice flavor, but smokes a lot – canola oil is neutral, but has a much higher smoke point – so I go 50/50, but sane people can just use whatever oil they want! I hear grapeseed oil is good for frying, too!)
the braise:
__ 1 large onion (for this, I prefer sweet and yellow onions > white onions > red onions), diced
__ 4 cloves garlic, minced (I prefer fresh to jarred)
__ 5 roma/plum tomatoes, cut into large dice (or 4 if they seem exceptionally large, or 6 if you REALLY like tomato)
__ 2 Tbs Dijon mustard
__ <2 c beef stock (I used Kitchen Basics “Unsalted”)
the finish:
__ 0.75 lb pasta (medium-sized shape like penne, farfalle, or, my favorite, cellentani) – if using a small shape like elbows, use 1 lb
__ 1 small bag of frozen peas (you won’t use the whole bag)
__ some Italian parsley (optional)
__ Grated Parmigiano Reggiano and/or Pecorino Romano (I probably use ~0.3333333333 c of each, but I just buy a small block of each, and grate it as needed to taste/texture – feel free to use one or the other depending on which you prefer or is available)
Methods:
-1) To marinate or not to marinate? If you know you’re going to make the dish well in advance, you could marinate the beef the day before. Unfortunately, not everyone is able to do this. I’ll pretend that you don’t and then make recommendations afterwards if you do. So … if you are going to cook all of this in one day … Gently pour 1.5 cups of wine into a saucepan. Slowly turn up the heat until the wine just reaches a boil. Turn off the heat. When the wine stops bubbling, add peppercorns, allspice, cloves, rosemary, bay leaves, and 1 tsp kosher salt. Stir. Proceed to step 0 as the pot cools.
Words of wisdom re: Step -1:
a) If you have cheesecloth, you may instead bundle the herbs/spices into a satchel tied off with kitchen string, and add the satchel to the heated wine (like a tea bag). I have no cheesecloth, so I instead will just strain the herbs/spices after I’m done.
b) If you’re going to marinate your meat overnight, start with a larger volume of wine (~3 cups). Then, after the wine cools to room temperature, pour it into a high quality 1 gallon plastic bag (one you would bet your fridge on). Seal the bag with as little air as possible, place the bag into a large bowl (to prevent spills), and place the bowl into the fridge to cool for ~1 hour. Add the short ribs to the bagged wine and seal the bag with as little air as possible. Return the sealed bag-o-meat-and-wine to a safety bowl in the fridge. Marinate in refrigerator for 24-36 hours, turning at least once to ensure that all of the meat is submerged in wine at one point or another.
c) Any remaining wine will be useful to sip as you continue with the braise.
0) Brace yourself. Preheat oven to 315 degrees. Slowly heat Dutch oven or some other wide, lidded, oven-proof pot (mine is 28 cm in diameter – the smallest size capable of holding all of the ingredients for this recipe is ~5 quarts) on the stovetop to medium-high heat. Pour yourself a glass of wine and buckle up for some cooking! N.B. If you marinated the meat, remove the ribs from the marinade (ensuring no peppercorns, cloves, etc are stuck to the meat), pat the meat dry, and reserve 1 cup of the marinade (liquid-only – no herbs, spices, etc) – do NOT accidentally drink it.
1) Sear the meat. Season the short ribs with kosher salt and pepper. Next, add enough oil to the heated Dutch oven to just cover the bottom. Brown the ribs (in batches) in the Dutch oven on all sides until beautifully crusted; set aside all ribs. When you’re on your last side of your last batch of ribs, turn the heat down to medium-low.
2) Assemble the braising base. Add onions to the cooking vessel and keep them moving to avoid burning; cook until translucent. Add garlic and mix. As the garlic becomes fragrant (~30 seconds), add half of the tomatoes and them down until the tomatoes start getting softer. Add the rest of the tomatoes, and cook until all the tomatoes are soft. Add 1 cup of the spiced wine (i.e. reserved marinade) – there should be NO herbs/particles in it, as they’ll be a pain to remove later. Mix and scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden/plastic/nylon spatula to release the “brown bits”. Cook until the new liquid (from the wine and tomatoes) reduces in half (a few minutes depending on how hot the vessel was). Add the mustard; mix to combine and cook until simmering again.
3) Bring on the meat. Nestle the ribs into the Dutch oven. Add beef broth until the total liquid in the pot reaches half-way up the ribs. Place lid on the vessel (if your lid doesn’t have re-basting spikes or is not completely flush, put a sheet of parchment paper between the lid and the vessel). Place into oven.
4) Set the temperature. Check on the vessel in 15 minutes. If the bubbling is any more than a “very light simmer”, reduce the heat by 10 degrees and check again in 15 minutes. Continue reducing heat in this manner until the desired bubbling is achieved. After 1 hour of cooking, flip the short ribs. Total cooking time will be ~3 hours or until the meat easily pulls away from the bone and is fork-tender (if you can’t poke a spoon through the meat, it’s not done yet). Enjoy that glass of wine while you wait …
5) Make the pasta sauce. Remove the ribs from the cooking liquid, and set aside under a foil tent. Let the cooking vessel sit for a few minutes, and, using a large spoon, remove any excess fat from the surface of the cooking liquid. Alternatively, a gravy separator would also be handy. Using a ladle, transfer the entirety of the remaining cooking liquid into the bowl of a food processor or blender. Process/blend until the mixture is smooth sauce. An alternative is to simply let the vessel cool, stick it in the fridge overnight, remove the congealed fat the next day with a spoon, and then sticking the vessel it straight back into the oven at a low temp just to re-heat it before proceeding to step 6. Meats braised like the short ribs in this recipe often benefit from a night in the fridge!
6) Make the pasta. Cook your pasta of choice as you perform step 7. Use a timer so you don’t accidentally overcook your pasta (step 7 is very distracting). Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water when done.
7) Disassemble the meat. Remove the meat from the bones. Using 2 forks, shred the meat into smaller pieces. Some may also want to remove large pieces of fat as well – do as you please.
8) Ta-da! In a serving bowl, combine pasta, the sauce, and the meat. If the sauce needs to be thinned (which it hasn’t for me, ever), add some of the reserved pasta water (but be careful, because you might have salted the pasta water – and both of the cheeses could be salty). Add frozen peas until the desire pasta:pea ratio is reached. Add grated cheese(s) until the sauce takes on a creamy, cheesy texture and the desired taste. Season with salt and pepper if necessary (given these cheeses, you’ll likely not need much of the former). Add chopped parsley until desired parsley density is reached (adds a little vegetal zing to the dish … I find it unnecessary).
Butternut Squash Risotto
t says: I never order risotto at restaurants. Why? Well, I guess it’s because when I was growing up, rice was always white and plain (just how I like it). I have come to find there is actually a lot of flavor in plain white rice if cooked correctly, but that’s for another post another time. The thought of “Italian rice” made with wine and broths, featuring other flavors like squashes, mushrooms, or meats always struck me as peculiar. And, to be quite honest, whenever I tasted someone else’s at a restaurant, it had always failed to taste more-than-good. I then watched an episode of Hell’s Kitchen (which is rare as it’s far from my favorite food-related show) where Gordon kept screaming about the poor quality of a cheftestant’s seafood risotto. I figured, “well, if he’s that upset, then it should be easy to make, right?”.
For my first ever attempt, I opted for a butternut squash risotto, as I had seen several renditions of this recipe throughout foodnetwork. The following was adapted from Ina’s and Giada’s recipes. The end result was pretty good; g and I would happily eat it again. I’d normally be more critical of my (or any) dishes, but I don’t have a decent measuring stick – I guess I should try out more risottos in restaurants now!
Ingredients:
__ 1 butternut squash (~2 lbs)
__ 2 Tbs olive oil
__ Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
__ 6 c chicken stock (we used Kitchen Basics “Unsalted”)
__ 5 Tbs unsalted butter (<0.75 stick) + more if needed
__ 2-3 links of Italian sausage, casing removed
__ 0.5 c minced shallots (2 large) (we forgot to buy these, so we used an onion)
__ 1.5 c Arborio rice (~10 oz)
__ 0.5 c dry white wine (we used Sauvignon Blanc)
__ 1 tsp saffron threads (saffron’s pricey, so we omitted it – but it would be an interesting addition!)
__ 1 c freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
__ 1 vanilla bean (or 2 drops extract)
__ 2 Tbs chopped fresh chives
Methods:
0) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
1) Peel the butternut squash, remove the seeds, and cut it into 0.75-inch cubes. Place the squash on a sheet pan and toss it with the olive oil, 1 tsp salt, and 0.5 tsp pepper. Roast for 25-30 minutes (tossing once, halfway through). Squash should be very tender. Set aside.
2) Combine chicken broth and vanilla in saucepan. Heat to a very low simmer.
3) In a heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven (we lack one of these, so we used a standard 4 quart pot – worked fine) over medium heat, melt the butter and cook the sausage (it’ll crumble) and shallots/onions on medium-low heat for 10 minutes, until the shallots/onions are translucent but not browned.
4) Add the rice to the onions/meat, and stir to coat the grains with butter. Add the wine and cook for 2 minutes. Add 2 full ladles of stock to the rice plus the saffron, 0.75 tsp salt, and 0.5 tsp pepper. Stir, and simmer until the stock is absorbed, 5 to 10 minutes. You may have to lower the heat – you don’t want a vigorous boil for this or the following steps, rather, a playful simmer.
5) Continue to add the stock, 2 ladles at a time and cooking/stirring until the mixture seems a little dry before adding more stock. Continue until the rice is cooked through, but still al dente (as the whole point of using Arborio rice is to retain some bitey texture), about 30 minutes total
6) Off the heat, add the roasted squash cubes and the Parm-Reg. Add more butter, cheese, or salt/pepper if needed (I think I added a little pepper). Mix well. Sprinkle with chives. Serve immediately. Leftovers aren’t as good in terms of texture, as the rice gets a little mushier in the microwave, but the flavors are still quite tasty (we ate it)!
g says: The leftovers of this risotto are delicious — don’t let t scare you!
Turkey Meatballs
g says: Homemade meatballs are my thing. They are one of my favorites to make for friends, and I think I like eating them more than any other meat dish. Growing up (and still now) everyone in my parents’ house — especially dad– would hover around the kitchen as mom neared completion of her meatballs, for we all knew that we were in for a special treat to snack on. As soon as those balls hit the pot of tomato gravy and mom turned her back, they were up for grabs — and you needed to be ready to pounce, bread in hand to soak up your extra sauce, or else. I am still tickled by this ritual, and am glad that it has caught on in our home (t loves to be the meatball taste-tester).
I learned the age-old technique of mixing together foods that are potentially hazardous when raw, but taste like heaven when properly combined and cooked, from my mom (who, despite her protests, is indeed a great Italian cook). There is nothing more satisfying than being able to use my hands to mix together a multitude of textures in a bowl, sniff the mixture every now and then to make sure all ingredients are in proper ratio, and have results I can be proud of, every time. I am sure there are some secrets to great meatballs — some say a teaspoon of sugar, some swear by their brand of bread crumbs (I do) — but I think it’s all about the proportion in which the ingredients are combined to achieve the salty, cheesy, peppery, fresh scent of a good meatball mix (can’t really say taste, as raw meats and eggs are involved, so it’s all up to the nose). And I have quite the schnoz, thanks to my dad and gran, two of the greatest smellers of our time, who have passed the talent on to me. You can ask t — my nose knows.
On Friday, we are planning to host a godfather party — friends will gather at our apartment to feast on spaghetti and meatballs, biscotti, maybe some cannoli, and watch The Godfather. It should make for a great time, and as the token Italian of our group of friends, I am of course in charge of preparing the meatballs. The only catch is, not all of our guests eat red meat. So, I decided to get creative with my traditional meatball recipe (which is an adaptation combining both mom’s and aunt beabea’s recipes). Today I tried using ground turkey in lieu of beef, and added some ricotta cheese for smoothness after tasting some veal ricotta meatballs at craftbar in nyc. The results were truly delectable, and I may have to add this recipe to my personal repertoire permanently.
I’ll turn it over to t, as he insists on formatting the recipes his way.
t says: Here’s the recipe. It tastes better every time g makes it …
Ingredients:
__ 3 lbs ground turkey (85% lean)
__ 1 egg
__ ~1 c Progresso brand “Italian Style” bread crumbs (but you may need more because it’s a texture thing)
__ 0.75 c grated cheese (Kraft brand Parmesan and Romano mix)
__ 1 bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped
__ 1 large yellow onion, diced
__ 0.5 c part-skim ricotta cheese (you could use whole milk as well)
__ a few tsp each of of salt, pepper, and olive oil
Methods:
0) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
1) All of the following mixing must be done by hand (it’s easier and more fun than using utensils). In a bowl, mix together turkey, onion, and egg. Then add breadcrumbs and combine until mixture is workable and not too sticky. Add parsley and grated cheese and mix.
2) Smell the mixture to get an idea of how much salt and pepper to add (it’ll “smell” right). Ballpark estimate: ~ 2 tsp each. Add the salt and pepper and re-smell to check. If this is your first time letting your nose guide your meatballs, smell the mixture, add only 1 tsp of each to start, and smell it again (to see the difference); there will be a chance to add more seasoning in step 3. Add the ricotta and mix until smooth and homogeneous in appearance.
3) Make a small test meatball (~1″ in diameter) and cook it fully in a frying pan with some olive oil. Taste it to check seasoning and consistency. Decide on whether it needs more salt, pepper, cheese, or breadcrumbs. Smell the mixture before and after adding ingredients (start to build up a library of smells). If adding salt, combine thoroughly because, depending on the size of the grains of salt, it might take a few minute to dissolve. Re-test another sample meatball and tinker with your recipe until you are satisfied. Make a mental note of what the mixture smelled like right before you cooked that perfect meatball.
4) Line a baking pan that has a lip (to prevent spills) with aluminum foil (for easy cleanup). Rub the pan with olive oil. Roll meat mixture into balls (we prefer ~1″ for hors d’oeuvres, 2″ for pasta, 2.5+” for sandwiches) and place on pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until underside is moderately browned, and flip. Bake for another 20+ minutes, until meatballs are cooked through (bigger meatballs will take longer). This may require rolling them periodically to prevent burning the side contacting the pan.
5) Remove from oven, and cool. Put into sauce/gravy, and lightly simmer for at least a half hour so that the meat flavors will infuse into the liquid. Serve with your favorite pasta shape.
after dinner sneeze 