Stollen: My First Daring Bakers' Challenge

I am so excited to have completed my first Daring Bakers' Challenge! I decided to join the Daring Bakers because baking is my weak point. I know how to cook with intuition, but baking is a different story. It requires discipline and rigorous application of tried and true methods. It doesn't let you play around and experiment and tweak if you want a slight change. Or so I thought... As I slowly begin to bake more, and read more blogs that are devoted to baking, I've found that people who bake a lot do the same thing I do with cooking. It just takes practice, the same way learning to cook took practice. So each month I'll have a specific baking challenge. I'm going to try to follow the recipe to the letter the first time, then try to tweak it towards my own tastes- change flavors, textures, etc. And then try to find people to generously accept some baked goods from me so that E and I don't develop diabetes before we turn 30.

Brussels Sprouts with Mustard Tofu

Ah, the Brussels sprout! Seeing as it's related to broccoli, it's no wonder I love this veggie.  But the trick is to cook it right- when overdone, sprouts release a chemical, called glucosinolate sinigrin, that contributes to bitterness and stinkiness but which is also a potential anticancer agent.  Therefore, it is in your best interest to be sure not to cook the living daylights out of your sprouts.  I think color can be one of the best indicators- if you have bright green sprouts, with still a little firmness to them, they are not overdone, and shouldn't be stinky. (Don't go using these pictures as a reference for color, my ancient camera seriously misrepresents the beauty of a good sprout.)

Butternut Squash Ravioli

So.... I need a pasta machine if I'm ever gonna do this again. I love kneading bread, and I don't mind that my arms can get sore from it, or that 10 minutes of kneading can feel like 50 minutes of cardio- because it always produces good results (and sometimes sore arms).  It's worth it.  But rolling out pasta as thin as you can, giving it time to rest so it will stop fighting you by springing back after each roll, and then thinking you made it sooo thin only to have it come out surprisingly thick is just not for me. I need results.  Or maybe I should say, I knead results.  

Saga Jolokia Chapter 2: Chocolate-Jolokia Chili

I have never been a big chili fan, and it's all because of the beans. Despite a love of legumes, I have never been a fan of pinto and kidney beans.  They repel me, and I don't really know why.  There's probably some bad hot-dog association from the past.  (Just looking a can of beenie-weenies gets my gag reflex going.  Hot dogs are really gross- whether in a bun or in a soup.  That's right, a soup.  There is actually such a thing as hot dog soup.)  But that's completely beside the point, because this post is about chili, not hot dogs.  And while chili is frequently a topping for hot dogs, it is also a filler for bowls of bread and ceramic alike, a means for consumption of cheese and sour cream, and most importantly, an excuse to use obscenely hot peppers.  And over time, I have come to really really enjoy chili.  I still don't like kidney beans, but I'm ok with pintos.... as long they don't have hot dogs in them. 

Bacon Pecan Cookies

We had our first snow last weekend.  Snow is always magical in the south.  You spend days hearing it's going to happen, finding it hard to actually believe the forecast, but secretly hoping and praying it will happen (and preferably on a weekday as nobody works in the South on a snow day).  Then it does happen, all of a sudden you look out the window and there are these big, soft snowflakes coming down, melting right into the ground.  And two hours later, they're still falling, now accumulating and coming down faster, but still such big and soft flakes that it actually feels good to stand out in it.  And everything is so quiet.

Boozy Pork with Polenta and Roasted Broccoli

I love to cook with alcohol.  Meaning, I enjoy a beer or glass wine while cooking AND I enjoy splashing a little of my libation of choice into what I'm cooking.  I think booze can be utilized in so many different dishes, and often it's not even something I've planned in advance to do.  Sauces are an obvious place to put some wine or beer, or even liquor.  But I also like to use alcohol to deglaze sauteed veggies, add acidity to soups or marinades, and whet my appetite (oh I mentioned that already, right?). Plus, if you're cooking fish, they can really help remove the fishy odor when added to the pan.   


Anyway, I wanted to use some polenta in the pantry and since E's favorite protein is pig, I picked up some pork chops.  However, I am a big fan of having many colors on my plate- and pork chops and polenta seemed like too much in the yellow-brown vein.  Red wine to the rescue! A nice drizzle of buttery, oniony, red wine sauce over some crispy pork chops and creamy polenta... all topped off with a beautiful splash of green from the world's best vegetable- broccoli.  (You'll have to just trust me on the beautiful part- my camera parties like it's 1999 because that's when it was made.)

Thanks Given, and Doggies Treated Well

Thanksgiving was an amazing holiday this year.  E and I had our first family holiday as a married couple, and it was just perfect- although too brief.  The company was splendid, with endless rounds of Catch Phrase (awesome!) and Apples to Apples (not so awesome).  The dinner was fantastic, with all the regular favorites and some new ones as well.  The dessert was an adventure, as grilling pies is not as easy as a full belly and several glasses of wine had me believe.  And it was all topped off with a bonfire, complete with guitars, a mushroom the size of an infant, and a robust rendition of The Little Mermaid soundtrack.  The entire family, 7 people and 5 dogs (there are also 3 cats in the family, but I doubt they would have stayed past Les Poissons), all enjoying each other's company as the night wound down. Couldn't have asked for more...

Mustard and Apricot Salmon

Aaaahhhh, beer!

There are lots of reasons to have a beer at 2 in the afternoon.....

Spaghetti Squash, Chestnuts, and Sausage

This meal was like a big plate of autumn. Which is good, because until it all came together, I was worried it might be a big plate of fail. Sometimes my culinary instincts aren't right on point, and I ignore the cautionary voice in my head and power through anyway.  (This mostly affects my baking, resulting in lumpy icing and dry bread, which I never know how to rescue.)

Saga Jolokia: Chapter 1- Apple Jolokia Chemical Bomb

If you like spicy, I mean really really like really spicy... then you'll love the Naga (or bhut) jolokia- sometimes called the ghost pepper.  It is unrivaled in Scoville units (nearly 1 million, which is 2-3 times a habanero's level) AND has great flavor. In both sauces and fresh (on pizza, sandwiches, etc.) it gives a slowly warming heat, with a bright flavor.  I could probably describe the flavor better if I had a chance to focus on it- usually I'm marveling at how my face sweats when I so much as look in its direction.  In fact, I think I'm starting to sweat just thinking about the pepper....

Turnips for Supper

Photograph: Wataru Yanagida/Getty

Okay, I know what you're thinking.  This is not only a really boring, but quite possibly icky-tasting idea.  This is one of those meals that I love having for dinner, but that E (and probably a lot of other people) considers just a side.  I am not the biggest turnip fan, but I think adding a little garlic and crunchy pecans into the mix fixes what can sometimes be a kind of watery, why-isn't-this-as-tasty-as-other-root-vegetables kind of dish.  By the way, I'd love an alternative method for cooking turnips.  I have no idea what else to do with them, so if you have ideas, please share!

Christmas Curry

In the summer of 2009, The Boog systematically destroyed my hopes for a crop of home-grown vegetables and herbs by digging up whatever I planted.  Had I planted a shoe-tree or a bacon-bush, she no doubt would have pitched in with the watering and weeding.  Seeing no real benefit for herself by allowing Green Intruders to occupy what were otherwise perfectly decent Digging Spots and Future Mud Holes, Boog promptly removed the gorgeous basil, peppers, and tomatoes I had managed to nurse into adulthood. Mind you, I was the idiot who figured that we might as well start a garden in the spot Boog dug up, because there was already a hole. It wasn't "a" hole, it was "Boog's hole," and she was not interested in sharing.

Unlike our dogs, E and I are easily trained.  We learned that if we were going to grow anything, it would have to be well-protected from our nefarious beasts. Thus the construction of a simple chicken-wire fence around our garden last spring, and an ensuing feeling that we were officially Gardeners.  I mean, it's nothing to go bragging about, being the result of 4th-grade-level engineering and $20 worth of supplies from the hardware store.  But it did its job...for 4 months.  

First Galette- a success story

I love the change of seasons, but especially the beginning of fall.  Fall is my favorite time of year for so many reasons- all the ones you're thinking of, I'm sure.  Who doesn't it love it when the weather demands that you snuggle up on your dog bed with a pillow and a blanket?

 But food-wise, fall is my favorite time.  I mean spring's great with all the peas and asparagus and whatever else, and summer has the corn and tomatoes and general healthy bounty, but I really could eat roasted vegetables every day of the week, and they're at their best in autumn.  The fall and winter squashes beat the heck out of summer squash (don't even get me started), and then there's sweet potatoes, parsnips, turnips... Couple this with the fact that your neck and butt no longer sweat just from chopping onions in the kitchen while the oven preheats, and the sudden perfect pairing of heavy, dark beers with the crisp evening air and you have one happy girl.

Ottolenghi

Goodness, 2 whole months between my first and second posts.... must have been all that thesis writing that kept me so busy.  Okay, it wasn't thesis writing.  It was general slacking-off, combined with many nights of successful culinary ventures that will be blogged about in short time. But until then, I found a new source for food ideas that I had to share.

When I think of London, exciting, fresh, vegetarian food is very far from my mind.  I think about fog and rain and how despite the fact that they all speak my language, it seems such a very large city that I am pretty sure I'll always be too terrified to check it out.  (Mind you, this is all based on reading the entire collection of Sherlock Holmes mysteries and falling prey to the stereotypes I see on TV....)  And food-wise?  Well, bangers, fish and chips, cottage pie, delicious beer... but not fresh and tasty, light and healthy.  And then I read about Ottolenghi.  He has some really neat ideas about how to put food together, and which foods to put together, and basically just makes for some fun food reading.  Plus, you get to read it with a British accent.

http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/

beginning

Having attempted to start this blog almost a year ago, I can't really call this THE beginning.  It's not a second beginning, because I think I've re-attempted several times over the last year, only to discover that I let it lie fallow for months as I planned a wedding, started a new job, and then followed-through with aforementioned life changes. 

Why now? 

Well, it's possible that "thesis-completion-fear" has officially set in and I am desperate for something to do with my computer besides actually write my thesis whenever I sit down to fulfill the "write thesis" portion of my daily to-do list.  But it's also because I am feeling like now is the time.  I have been feeling the tickle at the back of neck for so long now, and I have all these grand ideas (many of which will likely be kept secret as I mull on them and realize they are about as cool as my "infamous dad jokes") and so...

now is the time.