sprinklefingers

Found on the Bon Appétit blogs - the 4 most common mistakes made when cooking bacon. I thought you’d like to know…

click on the photo to learn all about it…



And then, for your continued reading-about-bacon pleasure, a supermarket bacon taste-off also courtesy of the fine folks at Bon Appétit! Just click below to read all about it.

My kid wants to cook. All the time. ALL THE TIME.

Here’s an example: the kid and the husband are in the playroom staging a major ‘battle’ inspired by Star Wars. I walk into the kitchen and rattle a pot or a pan and the kid comes running - I WANT TO HELP YOU MAKE DINNER! Folks, when they start ignoring Star Wars battles in favor of learning to supreme an orange, I think that means you have a mini-cook on your hands.

I have Sundays off each week, and this past Sunday the kid told me he wanted to learn to make chicken stock. Earlier in the week we had roast chicken for dinner and he was so curious as to why I would save the carcass. At the time I told him it was to use in making chicken stock - a fact he quickly remembered on Sunday morning. Of course cooking isn’t exactly the thing I want to spend my day off doing (I literally begged him to watch a movie with me - but he flat our refused), but who am I to deny his budding culinary talents? I mean, the kid can already out-cook his 38 year old father…might as well keep him at it!

So, we made chicken stock. The kid told me he wanted it to taste like Thai food, so we added a healthy amount of ginger and garlic and lemongrass and shallots and lime. The result? A super delicious chicken stock full of flavor - perfect for soup. Or curry. Or for sipping on a cold day (which we’ve had plenty of lately.) We thought you’d like to make it yourself…

Gingery-lemongrassy-garlicky Chicken Stock

You need:

• olive oil
• 2 stalks lemongrass, outer leaves removed, bottom 6” cut into 3 pieces
• hand-sized knob of fresh ginger, sliced into 1/2” pieces
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed (no need to peel)
• 3 shallots, halved (no need to peel)
• 4 carrots, cut into quarters
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 2 limes, halved
• 2 dried red chiles
• 6 cloves
• 1 T black peppercorns
• 2 t salt
• 1 leftover chicken carcass, picked over

To make the stock:

1. Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Add a few glugs of olive oil and let it get hot.
2. Once the olive oil is hot, add the lemongrass, ginger, garlic, shallots, carrots and green onions. Let cook until everything is fragrant and could be beginning to brown, about 6-8 minutes.
3. Add the limes, chiles, cloves, peppercorns, salt and chicken carcass to the pot, then pour water over all to cover by at least 4”.
4. Increase the heat, cover the pot and then let it come to a good simmer.
5. Once simmering, reduce the heat to maintain a light simmer, then cook for 1.5 - 2 hours, depending upon your schedule.
6. Let your stock cool, skim off the fat and then ladle into storage containers for refrigeration or freezing. The stock will keep in the fridge for a week and in the freezer for 6+ months.

We have enjoyed this stock so many times in the last week (it’s seriously delicious with coconut milk). Of course, I’ll tell you all about it - soon!

I’m not addicted to coffee.

I am, however, addicted to coffee mixed with that magical elixir known as half & half. Sometimes, when falling asleep at night, I’m already thinking about my first cup of coffee in the morning. Usually it’s not the coffee I’m looking most forward to, but the half & half. Kind of sick, huh?

Working as an early morning baker, it’s easy for me to have 7 or more (and usually more) cups of coffee in a single day. And each of these cups contains a very generous dose of half & half. How generous? Well, when I measured out a sample dose, I nearly fell over. It ranged from between 1/4 cup and 1/3 cup, depending upon the size of the mug. Holy s*$t! Holy s*$t, indeed!

I took it a step further (and I’m not really sure why) by calculating the total number of calories in each cup of my coffee - and, wow. What was I thinking? That’s a l o t of calories. Especially when you factor in the fact that I also eat like 4 cookies a day and always cook with butter. Dear god! Someone do something!

Naturally, I’ve cut out half & half. And taking half & half out of my coffee equation has made me not like coffee as much. Is that a win-win? Or a sad-sad? I guess you could say it’s a win-win. It’s like going on a diet without being on a diet. Sigh. And grrr.

Speaking of diets, last year at this time I showed you a quinoa salad that’s just delicious. It’s perfect if you’re on a new diet for the new year - or if you need something delicious to take your mind off of all that half & half you’re missing (maybe that’s just me…).

Make this salad. Pack it into your lunch. Eat it for dinner. Cold or warm, it’s delicious!

we break this string of silent days to bring you this: important information about a (super awesome) food festival happening in my drizzly town of portland, oregon.

                                            

Feast is portland’s first ever actual big deal food festival - and it’s about time! this town is overflowing with food talent like you wouldn’t believe…and Feast is going to cram it all in to three days in September 2012. i am so excited.

Follow Feast on the facebook or the twitter to keep yourself abreast of all the deliciousness. I, for one, cannot wait for the Sandwich Invitational. amen.

it’s certainly been a while!

i thought you, my loyal readers, might like to know that you can find me blogging here - some work stuff, some personal stuff - i think you might like it! follow me if you can, i’d love to have you along for the ride.

oh, and, you can also find me here…indulging my love of Mr. Steve Martin.

happy holidays and happy reading!

we interrupt this string of blogless days with an update AND a suggested reading list. how lucky!

actually, let’s start with the reading list:

first. the new york times’ most recent review of thomas keller’s per se. it’s no secret i love the man. it’s also no secret that i was lucky enough to dine at per se last year. this review puts into words so perfectly the per se experience. it’s more than a meal - much, much more. 

second. mark bittman’s take on apples. get yourself to the market!

third. eric ripert is not a jerk.

fourth. getting back to basics with chef-types.

fifth. let’s check in with lawrence/julie & julia, shall we?

sixth. i spent eleven hours yesterday shooting an episode of this.

and, finally, a real life update.
i’m working. a lot. developing delicious recipes and doing plain ol’ bakery production. in the past few weeks i’ve put some pretty yummy stuff in our pastry case: roasted apple & oat scones, scratch hot chocolate with caramel marshmallows, pear bars scented with ginger, cardamom and cinnamon - all really comforting treats for these first few weeks of fall.

at home i’m obsessing over kindergarten (which, yes, doesn’t start until next september.) i’ve been touring various schools and have been SHOCKED to find that quite a few of them have reduced their lunch times to FIFTEEN MINUTES. on top of that, schools are requiring lunches that are convenient - meaning, the children should not have to ask for help from a teacher in opening containers or bottles. so, basically, kids have fifteen minutes to eat. which is good because they are required to bring easy-open food - which, more often than not, means processed foods that come in kid-friendly packaging. LOVELY. 

but then, then! i found it. lunchtime paradise at a local school featuring a japanese language immersion program. not only do the kids have time for a morning snack AND lunch, but lunch itself is catered three days a week by chef naoko - portland’s own organic (and delicious) bento spot! in addition to the bento, the school also invites parent volunteers to prepare pizza for the kids each monday. screw academics and whatever else is important about choosing a school! we’re picking one based on food and food alone! just kidding. kind of.



 

when i watch documentaries i always pay attention to small details. if it’s a documentary about nature, i’m always curious to see if i can spot the shadow of the helicopter responsible for the amazing aerial shots. if it’s about people, i always look for signs that the person in the documentary is just like me - from what’s on the kitchen counter to their thoughts on life - i’m curious. when it comes to food documentaries, i always (ALWAYS) look to see what kind of shoes the chef is wearing. see, i’m obsessed with finding just the right shoes for working on my feet 12+ hours a day. i’ve cycled through too many pairs of what start out as the ‘perfect’ shoes and end up being the last damn things i want near my feet. 

upon viewing this recent piece on thomas keller, i was quick to check out his shoes. it was hard to tell, but they basically looked like clogs to me. soon i was googling all sorts of strange combinations of words - thomas keller clogs, clogs keller, what clogs keller kitchen, kitchen clogs thomas keller. you name it, i thought it up and googled it. and then, THEN, i came across this piece from the ny times. THIS LADY SAYS SHE FIT THOMAS KELLER FOR CLOGS! sign me up! 

but wait. you can’t sign me up. clogmaster (for real, that’s what she’s called) is located in los angeles and doesn’t ship clogs unless you’ve had a fitting for them. big sigh.

but, never being one to take no for an answer, i re-turned to google and found clogmaster’s website. and guess what? GUESS WHAT? she relocated to PORTLAND! WHERE I LIVE! her shop is literally TWO BLOCKS from my bakery! 

the very next day i had my fitting. i’m waiting (without patience) for a phone call telling me that my custom-fit clogs are ready for pick up. hooray.

thomas keller: uncorked.

thirty minutes of television that will make you wish thomas keller was your boss. or your uncle. or your best friend. or all three…

in yesterday’s post i mentioned a fig & bacon compote i’ve been using at work. we’re also turning out a delicious fig bar with a maple & sea salt glaze. figs figs figs. everywhere!

even here:



thank you Yotam Ottolenghi (and the guardian) for this delicious sounding sweet potato & fig concoction! click on the photo for more…

i kinda feel like i have a lot of balls talking (or typing) all that talk about salads and then - then - posting about mac & cheese. because, let’s be honest here, the last thing i need right now is a bowl of white noodles covered in cheese sauce.

but never mind all that. i committed long ago to not ever (ever) letting food make me feel guilty - that’s what parenthood and the in-laws are for!

getting on with it: it’s green chile season. if you are lucky enough to know someone with new mexican ties, you ought to beg that person to get a hold of some freshly roasted hatch chiles for you. if you aren’t that lucky in the friend department, you might want to see if your local specialty market is carrying hatch chiles. they don’t last long, so you should grab them if you see them!

since freshly roasted green chiles started showing up at my market, i’ve been celebrating their deliciousness like you wouldn’t believe. it’s like i’m organizing my own chile festival over here, i swear.  

my latest incarnation of chile celebration is mac & cheese. this mac & cheese is unlike any other because it makes use of another of my current obsessions - roasted shallots. add in a bit of bacon and you’ve got a veritable parade of deliciousness on your hands. (if you played an instrument in high school like - say - the trumpet, you should dig it out the night you make this mac & cheese and call your family to the dinner table by performing a one-man (or woman!) parade around the table. sure, they’ll think you’re crazy for a minute, but when they taste this mac & cheese they’ll change their tune. ha! i said tune!)

anyways, enough of my lack-of-sleep-induced rambling. let’s get to the food!

roasted shallot & green chile mac & cheese with bacon 
makes two 9x13” pans

you need:

• 1/2 c butter
• 2/3 c flour
• 6 c milk
• 1 t kosher salt
• 1/2 t granulated garlic

• 8 oz jack cheese, shredded
• 20 oz beecher’s flagship cheese, shredded

• 24 oz macaroni noodles

• 24 roasted shallots, chopped
• 5 roasted chiles, chopped
• 6 slices bacon, cooked & chopped 

make the mac & cheese:

1. melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk in flour. cook while whisking for 2-4 minutes. you’re not looking for the butter to brown at all, you simply want to make sure the flour & the butter combine and cook together a bit. guess what? you just made a roux! magic! 
2. slowly add the milk. whisk constantly. cook until the sauce thickens, about 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently. remove from the heat.
3. add the cheeses, salt and garlic powder. stir and stir until all the cheese is melted and all ingredients are incorporated. this is your cheese sauce. set it aside until your noodles are ready.
4. speaking of noodles, boil your macaroni. you’ll want to cook it a minute or two less than the package instructions suggest. drain the noodles and then pour them back into the pot you boiled them in.
5. over the cooked noodles, pour the cheese sauce. once the cheese sauce is on, add the chopped shallots, chopped chiles and bacon. mix the entire thing together very well so that all of the ingredients are combined.
6. divide the macaroni between two 9x13” pans and bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes. if you’re not feeding an army, you can freeze one entire pan for later. perfect.

ps: why, yes, this recipe does look a lot like the one i posted ages ago for plain ol’ macaroni & cheese!