sprinklefingers

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!

all of a sudden it’s summer.
school has started. it’s september. and it’s supposed to be 100 degrees today. thanks a lot, oregon.

of course, i can’t complain. today is 9.11. there are major fires burning across the country. other areas of the country are flooding. if working too much and a stretch of hot weather is all i have to complain about, then i count myself blessed. indeed.

[insert image of me shaking it all off here…]

anyways. it’s hot. salad sounds good, doesn’t it? and remember those roasted shallots we talked about a few days ago? you do remember, right? no? okay, refresh your memory here. got it? good! keep reading…

roasted shallots make an insanely delicious salad dressing. a dressing that makes even simple greens so fancy. honest! whip up a batch of this dressing and store it in the fridge. you won’t be sorry.

this recipe is based on michael ruhlman’s. the only thing i do differently is add a few more shallots and a splash of lemon juice to the mix. other than that, it’s straight from ruhlman.

roasted shallot vinaigrette 

you need:

• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• splash of fresh lemon juice
• salt
• pepper
• 4-6 roasted shallots, depending upon size, chopped fine or mashed into a paste
• 1 cup canola oil

make the dressing:

1. using your trusty immersion blender, combine the vinegar, lemon juice, a few pinches of salt & pepper and the shallots. whirl until completely combined.
2. drizzle the oil into the vinegar in a slow, steady stream - keeping the immersion blender whirring to emulsify the mixture. 
3. taste. adjust vinegar or salt & pepper until the dressing tastes perfect.

my favorite way to enjoy this dressing?
on a salad of fresh corn (shaved off the cob), blanched green beans, blanched onions & fresh summer blackberries. seriously good.

some nice people say some nice things. one of the best things that’s ever been said about one of my baked creations: tastes like a campfire in a sugar forest.

read all about it by clicking below:

one of my current obsessions is michael ruhlman’s new book, ruhlman’s twenty. it’s a book of basic kitchen techniques backed up with a handful of recipes using said techniques. it’s so clever and so useful and written so well…like i said, i’m obsessed. 

while i definitely can’t say i’m anywhere near the genius mr. ruhlman is, i can tell you that this new book of his reminds me of my blogging style. i love writing a recipe that can be used in several ways. i love a simple tool or technique that allows a multitude of recipes to come to life. and twenty does that. (if you haven’t guessed by now, i’d highly suggest you get yourself a copy of this book. it’s really pretty great.)

now, let’s talk about roasted shallots. i can’t really explain why, but i have never thought to roast a shallot. sure, i love them sauteed or whipped into a salad dressing, but roasting them whole (in butter)? i’ve simply never thought of it. but ruhlman has. and he writes about it in his new book.

i have roasted too many batches of shallots to count since reading all about it in twenty. i have made salad dressings, tart fillings, spreads, mac & cheese - so many things based on something so simple (yet so delicious) - and i only have ruhlman to thank. so, thank you sir. you blow my mind.

ruhlman’s own roasted shallots 

note: if you’re going to roast shallots, i’d suggest you roast plenty at once for whatever you plan to do with them - even a basic salad dressing will go so fast that you’ll wish you had a stockpile of roasted shallots stowed in the fridge. that said, i’d suggest you start with at least one pound of shallots.

another note: shallots sometimes look like garlic with copper skins. if your market doesn’t break shallots down so that the ‘cloves’ are separated, then you’ll want to do that work before roasting them. you don’t need to peel them completely, just be sure that each shallot is his own shallot - not a bundle.

you need:

• 1 lb shallots
• 1 t butter per shallot you’re roasting
• salt
• pepper 

roast the shallots:

1. preheat the oven to 400. 
2. place the shallots and butter in a cast iron pan. sprinkle with salt & pepper.
3. roast the shallots for 45 or so minutes or until a knife easily slides through the shallots.
4. remove the pan from the oven and allow the shallots to cool slightly. once cool, remove the skins.
5. roasted shallots can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.
   
   

roasted shallots make a divine sauce for noodles or anything else that needs a sauce. once you’ve roasted them, mash them into a paste. in a saucepan, heat the shallot paste with a bit of water, some butter, a dash of seasoning and a splash of vinegar. taste and adjust the seasonings then toss with your favorite cooked noodles. add in some bacon and you’ll be thanking me.

i’ll be back soon with a shallot-based salad dressing that you are going to love. and then, THEN i’ll be treating you to a recipe for mac & cheese that involves roasted shallots. true love!

hi everyone!

oh. my. goodness! have i ever missed you.

remember that new bakery i was working on opening? well. good news! it’s open. we opened a week and two days ago, and i’m just now (finally) adjusting to my new schedule, my new home life and 12-14 hour work days.

overall it’s been fun. really fun. i’m working with great people. we’re creating delicious treats. and while cooking all day makes dinner prep feel a bit less like fun and more like work, i can’t imagine doing anything else right now.

one of my favorite items on our new menu? brioche tarts. one of my favorite toppings for a brioche tart? olive oil marinated tomatoes.

i arrived at the ‘recipe’ for the tomatoes the hard way: we ordered cherry tomatoes from a local produce purveyor. i didn’t anticipate that we’d get as many as we did. the only thing i could think to do with them all was preserve them in olive oil. with garlic. and herbs. and balsamic vinegar. can you say delicious? i sure can!

the best part of all of this is that i just so happened to have on hand some smoked olive oil. remember that sausage making class i attended a while back? at that class i met the nicest guy - who (as luck would have it) owns a smokehouse. since our meeting at the sausage class we have been experimenting with various components of my recipes - smoking things like flour and brown sugar (over alder wood!) to produce some incredible results. on one of his last smoked flour deliveries he also dropped off some smoked olive oil, and into the tomatoes it went!

you can produce delicious tomatoes without the smoked olive oil, certainly. but if you happen upon a bottle of it, i suggest you snatch it up! even a drizzle will make you swoon…honest!

olive oil marinated cherry tomatoes
makes 4+ pints

you need:

• 4 pints cherry tomatoes, washed and halved
• 2 cups best quality olive oil (smoked if you can get it)
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 t kosher salt
• 2 t pepper
• 2 t dried thyme
• 1 small bulb garlic, all cloves smashed and peeled, yet left as intact as possible
• lidded container that has room for the tomatoes but will also fit in your refrigerator

make the tomatoes:

1. in a bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and thyme.
2. place a layer of tomatoes into the lidded container then drop in a few cloves of garlic. pour a bit of the oil mixture over the top. continue layering the tomatoes, garlic and oil until you’ve used all of everything up.
3. place the lid on the container and store it in the fridge. the oil may harden, and that’s okay. it will melt into deliciousness in no time at room temperature.

now that you’ve got olive oil marinated tomatoes, you need something to do with them.
here are some ideas for your consideration:

• put them on pizza
• bake them into a tart
• mix them into eggs - scrambled? fritatta? your choice!
• use them as a salad topping
• make delicious pasta!
• mash them into a paste and use as a party spread - bruschetta anyone?

look! here are my tomatoes adorning a tart!

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it’s great to be back. see you tomorrow.