sprinklefingers

Back in November of ‘09 The New Yorker ran a piece by Adam Gopnik about a/our/his/my love of cookbooks. It’s a fantastic piece of writing and does an excellent job of breaking down the equation of our love of cookbooks divided by the recipes multiplied by our actual ability to cook and then equalling the fact that recipes in books aren’t the food itself. There’s a major gap between the recipe and the end result - and the way Gopnik describes it is certainly worth reading…In fact, I insist you read it!

Here’s the paragraph that really made an impact on me:

Handed-down wisdom and worked-up information remain the double piers of a cook’s life. The recipe book always contains two things: news of how something is made, and assurance that there’s a way to make it, with the implicit belief that if I know how it is done I can show you how to do it. The premise of the recipe book is that these two things are naturally balanced; the secret of the recipe book is that they’re not. The space between learning the facts about how something is done and learning how to do it always turns out to be large, at times immense. What kids make depends on what moms know: skills, implicit knowledge, inherited craft, buried assumptions, finger know-how that no recipe can sum up. The recipe is a blueprint but also a red herring, a way to do something and a false summing up of a living process that can be handed on only by experience, a knack posing as a knowledge. We say “What’s the recipe?” when we mean “How do you do it?” And though we want the answer to be “Like this!” the honest answer is “Be me!” “What’s the recipe?” you ask the weary pro chef, and he gives you a weary-pro-chef look, since the recipe is the totality of the activity, the real work. The recipe is to spend your life cooking.

I really think this is fascinating stuff - especially when he pulls in the added layer of kids - he says, “what kids make depends on what moms know.” It’s true, isn’t it? I can pretend all I want that my own kid is developing his own sense of taste and his own love of creating food - but at the end of the day I know I’m the one making cooking fun for him. I’m the person who is developing his sense of self in the kitchen. And while we look at cookbooks (and sometimes read them as bedtime stories) often, no recipe can do what our time in the kitchen together can. The recipe is to spend your life cooking.

Fascinating indeed.

I had completely forgotten about popcorn. 

Two weeks ago I was sorting through some of the (limitless) stuff in my office (the majority of it cooking/catering related) I found a never-before-opened-new-in-the-box popcorn maker! I had apparently purchased it, tucked it away and promptly forgotten about it. The receipt craftily tapped to the top of the box told me that I had done so approximately three (!!) years ago. What the?

Anyways, I busted the machine out of the box and noted that it wasn’t an air popper (honestly, it was like I had never seen the thing before. I literally have zero recollection of buying it,) but instead it’s the type that you pour a spot of oil into a pan and then add the popping corn and then a tiny arm stirs it all up and then it starts popping. (Yes, I realize I’m describing this device as if popcorn making is a second language. But to tell you the truth to me it kind of is.)

I went out immediately and bought popping corn. Then I came home and the kid and I made popcorn. I have to admit, making popcorn (not in the microwave!) with a kid is pretty satisfying. He told me himself that no matter how many times he sees popcorn pop open from a kernel to a fluffy cloud of yummy (his words, for real), he’ll never get tired of it. “It’s just like watching magic happen. Right in your face,” he said.

Since our first batch we’ve made a lot of popcorn. This past weekend we hosted a birthday dinner party for a dear friend of ours and the kid was on hors d’oeuvres duty. I told him he could think up any pre-dinner snacks he’d like and we’d make them together. His choices? Toasted brioche, peanut butter smeared on crackers topped with salt and (of course) popcorn. “But we’ve got to fancy-it-up a little bit mom. Let’s make it special.”

To me, nothing says fancy like truffle oil and good salt. So, armed with our popcorn popper, a bottle of oil and a bowl of salt, we produced the most delicious batch of fancy pants popcorn you could ever imagine. Rich and earthy because of the special oil and salty because we broke out our stash of fancy red clay salt from the land of Hawaii. See, fancy! I told you!

Truffle Oil Popcorn with Sea Salt
makes 6 quarts popped

You need:

• a device for popping corn - machine, stovetop, whatever.
• 2 large bowls
• 2/3 cup popping corn
• truffle oil (a small bottle will last you forever and you will be beside yourself with joy when you start adding truffle oil to your favorite foods.)
• fine sea salt

To make the popcorn:

1. Following the instructions for your particular machine (or on the stovetop in the smallest amount of oil,) pop the 2/3 cup of popcorn.
2. Once the popcorn is popped, divide it between the two large bowls and sprinkle each bowl of ‘corn with a small amount of truffle oil. Then sprinkle it with sea salt to taste. 
3. Dig in to the first bowl with your hands and lightly toss the popcorn over and over and over until the truffle oil is evenly dispersed. Repeat with second bowl. Taste. If either bowl needs more oil or salt, add it now.
4. Invert one bowl of popcorn over the other so that the popcorn slides in to one bowl. Next, place the empty bowl on top of the first bowl to make a lid. Gently shake the popcorn within the two bowls to ensure that the oil is distributed - that way each and every bite will be truffley and salty. Divine! 

Of course there are one million and one ways to fancy-up popcorn. From nutritional yeast to cinnamon ‘n sugar, the possibilities are seriously endless. But for now we’re sticking with fancy pants truffle oil popcorn because it goes so well with our two favorite beverages: apple juice (the kid) and champagne (me). Delicious.

Like I said before, I don’t really make resolutions. 
Now that we’re in the third week of 2012, I’m mighty glad about that. Everywhere around me I’ve seen resolutions crashing and burning.

As for my goal of cutting out half & half? Well, the first week of it was really tough, but I did it. No half & half for a week. The second week I allowed myself two cups of coffee during the week that each contained one tablespoon of the good completely-amazing-oh-my-god-how-I-miss-it stuff. And this week I plan to treat myself to two to three tablespoons as well. How indulgent!

Something I’ve realized in all of this?
I’m really good at quitting! (I plan to add quitting to the list of things I do well. Right now that list also includes sleeping and walking.)

Quitting is easy! Especially when I have motivation. Here’s an example:

Facebook. While this may come as a shock to you, I am not on Facebook. This sentence surprises even me when I read it. I mean, I was, basically, the Queen of Facebook. If I did something even remotely interesting, I Facebooked about it. Most of my thoughts came in status updates. I found myself doing things on purpose so that they’d make a good Facebook story. I had hundreds of friends who were actually my friends, I commented on their cute kid photos, I drooled over snaps of what people were having for dinner, I laughed at all their jokes. Facebook was the first thing I checked in the morning and the last thing I checked at night. Madness!

Much like my half & half situation, I was addicted to Facebook.

But not anymore.

Here’s what I did. For two weeks I tracked how much time I spent on Facebook. Whether it was via my mobile phone or my laptop, I made a note of how much time I spent wandering aimlessly through the cyber lives of my friends. And it added up to a lot of time. Let me say that again: It added up to so much time that I started feeling guilty. Who was I to complain about my busy life if I was spending hours Facebooking? Madness indeed.

But this madness served as my motivation. Just like after seeing how many calories a day I was consuming in half & half alone, the hours I was logging on Facebook - and the thought of gaining those hours of my life back - served as my motivation.

So, I quit. I deactivated my account.

And then the withdrawals set in. At first it was like an unpleasant itch that I couldn’t scratch. Like, right under my bra strap in the middle of my back. And then it was like I was covered in poison ivy from head to toe. I missed Facebook so much. I was still thinking all my thoughts in status updates, but I didn’t have any place to put those thoughts. I felt lost. It was seriously weird.

But, the fact that I missed it so much didn’t push me back to Facebook - instead it bolstered my resolve and served as proof that I was making the right decision! Yes! You can turn off your main source of communication with your friends who are scattered worldwide and still be fine! Yes, you can miss out on the latest YouTube sensation that until now you’d only find out about on Facebook. Yes, you CAN (and I seriously mean this) go a day without reading about the political opinions of friends. And, yes, you can put your phone down and connect with your kid or your husband or your friends - face to face with no electronic device necessary. 

Freedom. 

So, I’m spending 2012 with less half & half and no Facebook. Unbelievable.

If Facebook was still a part of my life I would tell all my friends about this delicious dish we had for dinner a few nights ago. And everyone would have commented about how delicious it sounded. Or about how they wanted me to adopt them. Or something like that…

Sweet Potatoes & Kale in Coconut Milk
Serves 6 

The stars of this dish are earthy, roasted sweet potatoes and braised kale - add in a rich (and some might say decadent) coconut broth with some slabs of pan-fried tofu and you’ve got an easy one-bowl-meal that anyone would be happy to sit down to on a blustery January night.

The recipe may seem long, but I have given you some tips for do-ahead work. If you do some of it ahead the whole thing will come together quicker than you can imagine on the night you plan to eat it - I promise.

You need:

• 1 lb firm tofu, drained 
• 4 medium sweet potatoes, washed/unpeeled and cut into 6 wedges each
• olive oil
• salt & pepper
• 1 bunch of kale, washed/toughest part of stems removed and then cut into ribbons
• 2 T premium quality red curry paste  
• 2 cans (not light) coconut milk, shaken well
• 8 oz chicken broth (you’ll use half for the kale and half for the coconut broth)
• 1 14.5 oz can diced fire roasted tomatoes, drained
• fish sauce
• brown sugar
• 1 lime, zested & juiced
• steamed rice (we like Bhutanese red rice, but brown rice will work)
• sliced green onions

Prep the tofu:

You can prep the tofu (drain it and dry it out) a day or two in advance. Just be sure to refrigerate it until you’re ready to fry it. Drying the tofu out in a few layers of paper towels helps when it comes time to cook it - less moisture ups your chance for achieving a delicious golden crust on your slabs - the texture is a great match for the sweet potatoes and kale.

1. Wrap the already drained tofu in a thick layer of paper towels. 
2. Set the paper-wrapped tofu on a plate and then invert another plate on top. 
3. Set something heavy on the top plate - say a can of beans or a bottle of salsa. 
4. Let the tofu sit this way for around 20 minutes.
5. Unwrap the tofu and slice into slabs that are about 1/2” thick.
6. Heat a small bit of oil (your choice) in a frying pan over medium-high heat.
7. Add the slabs of tofu and let cook until golden. Flip and fry the other side of the slab in the same manner.
8. Set aside.

Roast the sweet potatoes:

Much like the tofu, you can prep the sweet potatoes in advance. I usually roast them on my day off for dinner a few nights later. I simply refrigerate them until I need them and then reheat them until hot in a 400 degree oven. Easy!

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 
2. Toss the sweet potatoes in 2 T of olive oil and a liberal sprinkling of salt and pepper.
3. Roast approximately 25 minutes until the sweet potatoes are soft enough to yield to a bite, but not falling apart or about to become mashed sweet potatoes. 
4. Set aside. 

Prep the kale:

Since the kale will soon be swimming in a delicious pool of coconut broth, I take it easy on the seasonings here and simply braise it in broth then lightly season with salt & pepper.

1. Set a pan over medium-high heat and bring 4 oz of the chicken broth to a simmer. 
2. Add the kale and let braise in the chicken stock until dark and soft.
3. Season with salt and pepper then set aside.

Make the coconut broth:

1. Heat a saucepan over medium heat and add 2 T of the curry paste. Let the curry paste heat up until fragrant.
2. Once fragrant, add both cans of coconut milk to the curry paste and stir until the paste incorporates into the milk.
3. Add the remaining 4 oz of chicken broth.  
4. Add the fire roasted tomatoes and stir well.
5. Add 1-2 T of fish sauce. I like more fish sauce than less, but you should adjust to your own liking.
6. Add 2-3 T of brown sugar, again, the amount depends upon your taste.
7. Squeeze in the juice of the lime and stir.
8. Let the mixture sit over the heat until hot. 
9. Taste and adjust seasonings - adding more fish sauce, brown sugar or even salt and pepper if desired.

Assemble your bowls:

1. Place a serving of rice in a deep bowl. Place a few wedges of sweet potatoes on the side of the rice, then a few slabs of tofu and finally pile in some kale.
2. Ladle the hot coconut broth over all and garnish with the sliced green onions. 

I like to make extra rice to keep in the fridge and - wait for it - I reheat the rice with some leftover coconut broth for breakfast! A great way to start the day.

Goodbye, Facebook! Hello delicious meals!

There was an interesting bit in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend detailing the “rules of attraction” where recipes are involved. What makes a home cook want to try a recipe? Is it a short list of ingredients? Is there zero prep? Are there easy-to-obtain-yet-somewhat-exotic-ingredients involved? What about the way the food is described? Does the language of the recipe make you want to lick the pages of your cookbook?

The piece is written by cookbook author Rozanne Gold and it’s quite fascinating. Check it out by clicking on the image below.

delicious + clever = mark bittman (as usual!)
click through to the piece at the ny times site and at first you see a wonderful matrix of fruit desserts - but hover over each and ‘click for recipe’ pops up - you click, and the recipe appears. beautiful.

click below to visit the ny times and see for yourself:

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.

speaking of summer tomatoes, how about summer green beans? yes please.

check out these get-to-the-market-now-and-make-these-tonight recipes. we’re having the feta-dill number tonight…and i can’t wait.

ps: as always, hugh fearnley-whittingstall, i love ya.

i spent about an hour yesterday looking for a recipe for blueberry pie filling that i had experimented with, baked into a pie, subsequently adored and wanted to bake again. i must have asked every one of my co-workers (twice) if they saw a “small, square piece of paper with BLUEBERRY scribbled across the top of it” lying anywhere around the bakery.

after an hour, i found it. clipped to the wall behind the mixer. right where i put it in the first place.

and while searching for a scrap of paper with a recipe on it was a big waste of time, i still can’t imagine working out recipes on an electronic device. i love paper. and my cooking notebooks. i love my recipe notes & scribbles because they’re like a map - showing me where a simple idea started and then where it ended up. i save all my scraps, all my notebooks - even the ones with chocolate spilled all over, ripped sticky edges and flour-caked covers.

i took great comfort in this piece from the wall street journal - i’m glad i’m not the only one attached to my notebooks…

LOOK!  a box of my notes. and notebooks!

love food hate waste

recipes. storage ideas. portion suggestions. freezer tips.
all of it in one place.

genius. 

look at this. i love this! the fine folks at fine cooking have built a choose your own (cooking) adventure into their website. although they don’t call it ‘choose your own adventure.’ [which is understandable seeing as how that line is very much taken.]
instead they call it create your own … ! you fill in the blank with one of their many choices. they have cooking adventures create your own recipes for everything from meatloaf to brownies to baked pasta.



many, many, many of my friends have recently told me that they like to cook but they simply can’t deal with constantly thinking of WHAT to cook. handy tools like this recipe creator can help with that - i’m already inspired to whip up half the create your own dishes listed here. you should be, too!



head on over to the website and start thinking about dinner. and if you make a potato gratin, i expect an invite. consider it a finders fee for introducing you to this amazing food tool. you’re welcome.