Nan’s ‘Tapenade 101’

Tapenades come to us from the Provençal region of France, which stretches along the Mediterranean from Northern Italy and into Spain.  It originally was a simple paste consisting of olives, olive oil and capers (tapenade is the Provençal word for caper!).  It was most commonly served as a spread on crackers, crudités, or crostini, and it was best if you had a glass of Pernod close by.  Over time, tapenades have been enhanced with new flavors - additions of garlic, lemon, anchovies and herbs to name a few.

At Nan’s Gourmet Foods, tapenades are members of our ‘Nan Approved Foods’ family.  We feature five; each with a new take on the classic:

White Wine Artichoke & Roasted Garlic– Pale in color, the star ingredient, artichoke, is married to fabulous savory partners, white wine and roasted garlic.  Making the party even better are water chestnuts, a zip of chili pepper, parsley and a hint of lemon.

Bruschetta – our Bruschetta borrows its flavor from its namesake classic Italian cousin.  Tomatoes are slow roasted and combined with onions, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, capers and our own balsamic vinegar for this timeless country masterpiece.

Lemon Caper Artichoke– smooth silky artichokes are once again celebrated in this tapenade take, but the co-stars are different, making for a new taste sensation.  Lemon and peppery capers bring a new zing along with garlic and a hint of Parmesan cheese.
Green Olive Provençal - The South of France comes to life with our spicy green olive tapenade. Red bell pepper, capers, garlic, Herbes de Provence and a hint of lemon create a smooth satisfying spread.  Of the olive tapenades, this one is chunkier and has a bit of spiciness. 
Mediterranean Black Olive - Inspired by the old world tastes of the Mediterranean, our black olive tapenade is rich and luxurious.  Extra virgin olive oil, garlic and delicate spices are melded with three types of minced black olives.  It tends to be silkier and milder than the Green Olive version.

OK, so you have a new jar of Nan’s tapenade, can you do anything more with it other than just as an appetizer with the obligatory glass of wine?

Well, you can probably guess our answer...  YES!  And here are some ideas.  We would love to hear yours as well, please post away!

• Pasta Sauce – in a sauce pan combine your favorite tapenade with just enough white or red wine (chicken stock will also do the trick) to thin it out.  Heat and combine with your favorite freshly cooked wide noodle pasta, like a fettuccine, or even a penne or rotini.
• As a Super Condiment– try using a tapenade on your next burger, or on a sandwich instead of mustard and mayonnaise.
• Pizza??  - We have had some of our fans tell us to spread a tapenade on a pizza shell, like a Boboli, and then bake in the oven.  We haven’t tried it yet, but it sure sounds good! 
• Omelet – try some as a filling for your next omelet, along with some goat cheese!
• Deviled TapanEggs? – replace the mashed egg yolk in deviled eggs with your tapenade of choice.
• A Slightly Advanced Entree– try using a tapenade in a roulade – for example, spread over a flank steak, roll up, tie with string and bake in the oven.  There are several example roulade recipes online, including one from my personal hero Alton Brown.

Anything you like in the above list?  Anything you would like to add?  Please let us know!!

Rosemary with Roasted Garlic Spread on Toasted Pita Crisps

This has always been one of my favorite recipes; I have made these dozens of times since the 1990’s.  Back then, I used to sauté fresh rosemary and garlic in some olive oil as the flavor agent for the goat cheese.  Flipping through my old recipes (an admitted favorite pastime of mine) I found this and noted, much to my pleasure, I had the base for this already made for me with our Rosemary with Roasted Garlic Dipping Oil.  This is a truly wonderful appetizer to serve to guests, extremely easy, and just begging for a glass of cool crisp white wine.

For the spread

2 tablespoons Pastamoré Rosemary with Roasted Garlic DippingOil

5.5 ounce package of plain goat cheese (chèvre)

For the crisps

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary leaves (optional, or use another herb)

3 six inch pita loaves, halved horizontally and each round cut into 4 pie wedges

Preheat oven to 400º

In a small food processor pulse the Rosemary with Roasted Garlic Dipping Oil, goat cheese and salt and pepper to taste until thoroughly mixed, smooth and fluffy.

In a bowl, combine butter, rosemary and salt and pepper to taste.  Brush butter mixture on the rough side of the pitas.  Bake on a baking sheet until light golden and crisp, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Serve spread with pita crisps.  Makes about ¾ cup.

Simple Uses for your Nan’s Goodies

Make Your Own Croutons

When I was a kid, my mom used to make croutons for her salads.  Salads were her signature dish, and so making fresh tasty croutons was a given.  I don’t even know if boxed croutons were available yet (we don’t need to get into how old I am in this article, please).  It took me a while to get back to basics and make my own, but oh my, the difference in quality is huge compared to the dry over-salted ones from the box.

Besides, they are a snap to make!  All you need is some leftover bread, olive oil and an oven.  Even those two extraneous hot dog rolls will do!  Cut the bread into chunks, place on a baking sheet and drizzle with your favorite Nan’s blended oil.  I like to use the Basil Parmesan, but any would work (think Roasted Garlic Grapeseed Oil or Rosemary with Roasted Garlic!)  Season with salt and pepper, toss, and then bake in a 350° oven (I use a toaster oven) for 10 to 15 minutes.  I will usually turn them at least once.  Once golden they are ready for the salad bowl or on your soup.

That’s it, they are that easy.  And just ask MY kids how good they are!

Handy Pasta Combination Chart - Both Pages Now Posted

Above is the flip side to Nan's New Tool - a handy dandy chart to help you with ideas for pairing our NO SAUCE pasta!  Remember, we want to hear your ideas too!

Pasta Combination Chart - First of 2 Parts

This is page 1 of our 2 page Pasta Combo Chart.  You will find this chart handy for ideas on how to pair our pastas with great ingredients for a wonderful meal.  We would love to hear your ideas as well – let us know what you love to combine!

Guide to Crabs: how to clean and pick meat from a crab

Seattle is best known for salmon but my favorite local seafood is the Dungeness crab. Eating crab is messy and time consuming so the puny guys are not worth the time. Dungeness crab, on the other hand, are sweet, meaty, and easily two to three pounds. Whenever it was Dungeness crab season, that is, when they were cheap, my family would buy a few live ones from the Asian market, steamed them at home, and make a rice noodle soup with the flavorful liver. Because of this, I've become quite adept at extracting meat from a crab.


For the freshest possible product (barring catching the crab yourself), you would buy a live crab and steam it yourself. If you do buy a fresh crab, don't boil it. Boiling it will cause all the flavors to leech out into the water. What a waste.

Unfortunately, the seafood vendors at Pike Place do not sell live crab. It was either Dungeness crab meat for $40/lb or whole cooked crab for $10/lb. Being the cost-obsessed, poor student that I am, I figured with the average whole crab at the market being 2 pounds or $20, I would have to get at least 8 ounces of crab meat to be worth the trouble. There is the added benefit that a whole crab comes with the flavorful liver, which is I wanted for my recipe, and the meat might be fresher than the meat in the case. So we bought the whole crab and hoped it was worth it.

If you have a live crab, steam it for about 6 - 7 minutes per pound. When you place the crab in the steamer, it will undoubtedly try to escape. Show no mercy and hold down the lid until it struggles no more.

With your purchased cooked crab or steamed live crab, run it under some cold water and scrub the exterior with a stiff brush, especially the belly and legs.

On the belly side, there's a flap of shell, which I believe is called the apron (long on male crabs, wide on female crabs). Lift it up and break it off close to the body. This will leave you with a hole that you can stick your finger in to pry the shell off the body. If it's a freshly steamed crab, there will be more fresh juices so make sure to do this over a bowl to save all of the flavorful juice. Hold the crab with the top shell down, which serves as a vessel to hold the juice.

Set aside the body. Inside the shell, there will be some yellowish-green stuff. That's the liver or tomalley (lobsters have that stuff too). The whitish pieces are albumin, which is harmless protein and fine to eat. There will be some thin transparent membranes, not tasty, and some membranes covered in purplish stuff, also not tasty. Take a spoon, scoop out the liver and albumin into a small bowl and set aside. If this stuff disturbs you, you don't have to eat it. I think it makes a lovely soup or sauce and I try to use it in my recipes. The color of the tomalley is more appealing in a freshly steamed crab. It's more of a muddy green in an already steamed crab so I don't blame anyone by being grossed out. Female crab, not commercially available, have a delicious bright orange roe.

After you scraped out what you want from the shell, discard the random membranes and the purple stuff. If you want to keep the shell for serving, break off the mouth pieces and random crab bits here and there, rinse it out, and set aside.

Now moving on to the body. There will be some residual liver, scrape it into your bowl if you'd like. I didn't get a good picture of this but there will be multiple white triangular shaped, feathery, spongy type things lining both sides of the body. Those are the gills and are not edible. Peel them off and discard them.

Now you're left with the cleaned crab body. Hold firmly with both hands and break it in half where the body naturally divides. Crack the crab such that you bring the exterior of the shell together (let me know if that doesn't make sense).

Now you have two crab halves. With each crab segment, pull the legs from the body like breaking apart a chicken wishbone. You want to pull them apart such that the break will sometimes separate the crab's cartilaginous body. Sometimes, you're not so lucky and the legs break off cleanly. Once you have all 10 legs separated, if any of them are connected to parts of the crab body, separate the body from the legs so you have 10 clean legs and various bits of pieces of the crab body. When you break apart the crab, try to break and pull at the same time. Sometimes big nuggets of meat will be pulled out of the shell with a break, making your job easier.

Now, you can start picking the meat meticulously out of all the nooks and crannies. A long pointy object like a chopstick is very useful for pushing the meat out. Do things in systematic batches. First get the meat out from the body pieces. The body meat is delicate and sweet but encased in a thin cartilaginous maze. When working with crab, you want to use a delicate hand so you don't mangle the meat. Try not to break up the meat too much. Sometimes you can peel the shell apart from the meat, other times you need the chopstick to push the meat through.

When it comes to the legs, you can use a crab cracker or a swift whack with a mallet. For the smaller, delicate tips of the legs, you can sometimes cut the shell with a pair of scissors and fetch the meat out that way. there's sometimes a center sheet of cartilage that runs through the meat, you'll have to make sure to get that out.

From the start of washing the crab, to weighing all of the meat, it took a total of 27 minutes. The 2 pound crab yielded about 12 ounces of meat and about 2 tablespoons of tomalley.

Valentine's Day 2012

Steven and I just celebrated our 9th Valentine's Day dinner and our last as an unmarried couple. Instead of going out, we continued our yearly tradition of dining quietly at home. Each year, we mix up the menu a bit but we always do ribeye for Steven and some kind of seafood for myself.

We started out the day with some wedding cake tasting.

Cake place #1

Cake place #2

For tasting #3, we ordered a cake from Macrina (they didn't offer the flavor we wanted as a cake sample, so we had to buy a whole cake), which we ended up using as our dessert.

After that, we went down to Pike Place to get some dinner ingredients.

A cooked crab and a half pound of "butt cheeks", the fishmonger's words, not mine.

And we fell madly in love with DeLaurenti all over again. Steven with the upstairs bar selection and I with yeast (I finally found SAF instant yeast after weeks of searching).

Multiple shelves of bitters and Pok Pok's drinking vinegar!

Menu:
pan-seared ribeye with mt. townsend trufflestack cheese
halibut cheeks with hedgehog mushrooms and grapefruit beurre blanc
dungeness crab and dijon mashed yukon golds
pan seared brussel sprouts

manhattans/honey som and chambord spritzer

macrina's passion fruit cake


Next up: cleaning a crab

Chocolate Berry Mousse w/ Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar

It is common in Italy to make an easy, delicious dessert of simple cut strawberries and a drizzle of a well aged balsamic vinegar.  This recipe is a takeoff on that tradition; a classic chocolate mousse paired with the Italian tradition.  This recipe serves four generously in one cup ramekins.

This recipe also works wonderfully with our Pastamoré Dark Sweet Cherry Balsamic Vinegar or our Pastamoré Blackberry Balsamic Vinegar.  Consider mixing and matching the berries as well.

ingredients

¾ cup ea. fresh raspberries & strawberries, reserving a few of the choicest as garnish

1 teaspoon confectioners’ sugar

5 ½ ounces dark chocolate, the best you can find, chopped

5 tablespoons softened unsalted butter

2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon Pastamoré Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar

3 egg whites

2 tablespoons superfine sugar

sifted confectioners’ sugar, to dust

Pulse/chop the berries in a small food processor, or lightly mash with a fork, along with the confectioners’ sugar.  Evenly spoon the fruit mixture into ramekins and set aside.

Heat the chocolate in a double boiler over medium heat, stirring until melted and smooth.  Remove from heat immediately and add the butter, stirring until once again until melted and smooth.  Stir in the egg yolks and the raspberry balsamic vinegar.

Whisk the egg white in a separate glass bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks.  Add the superfine sugar, and whisk until stiff peaks.  Gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate butter mixture – using as few folds as possible but thoroughly combined.  Spoon the mousse into the ramekins over the chopped berries.  Place in the fridge for at least an hour.  Decorate with reserve berries and dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.

Serves 4 generously

Basil Parmesan Grilled Flatbread

Here is a simple idea to be used as a snack or as a side to soup or salad.  Prepared flatbreads are more common these days in higher end grocery stores, and you can also use pitas or 'naan' for this recipe.

This recipe demonstrates the use of our Basil Parmesan Oil, but any of our oils will do, especially our Pastamoré Rosemary/Roasted Garlic or our Pastamoré Meyer Lemon Olive Oil.

ingredients

• one package flatbread
• a leafy herb such as Italian parsley, cilantro or basil, chopped & to taste
• Pastamoré Basil Parmesan Dipping Oil
• course sea salt, to taste
• freshly ground pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350°. Using a purchased flatbread or ‘naan’ (pictured is a Safewaybrand), drizzle/brush a small amount of Pastamoré Basil Parmesan Oil over the surface. If you have a leftover herb in the fridge, chopped and sprinkle on top (we used Italian parsley here).

For more richness add a generous sprinkle of Parmesan. Last, add a pinch of course salt for texture and flavor, and a grind of black pepper. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until golden. Cut into random triangles and serve.

Thanksgiving 2011

I'm a night owl. It is officially Thanksgiving as of an hour ago, which marks the start of the holiday season and my favorite time of year. Now it's perfectly acceptable for me to eat a little more than I should, indulge in buttery baked goods, and most importantly, listen to Christmas music.

 I have been spending Thanksgiving with Steven's parents for many years now. We usually alternate between doing a turkey or prime rib for our main event. In the past, Steven has mentioned more than once that turkey is dry and bland so naturally I didn't think he'd mind that his mom and I were talking about forgoing the turkey entirely and doing something like rack of lamb and duck confit. To my surprise, Steven specifically requested turkey this year. I later discover this is only because I told him about a Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen version (link to recipe and episode) that involves roasting a salt-pork covered, self-basting turkey.

In addition what is essentially a bacon covered turkey, I made my holiday tradition twice baked potatoes and pumpkin creme brulee. For now, it's bedtime and in 8 hours, we will make the (30 minute) drive down to his parents house while listening to Michael Buble's Christmas album.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Blueberry Muffin

The fact that this is my seventh muffin recipe on the blog shows how much I love them. I'm certainly not the first to proclaim the muffin top to be the best part. When the muffins are not intended for any occasion the following day, there can be half a dozen mangled muffin bodies after Steven and I are through with them. The tops are best after the muffins have rested for a few minutes after coming out of the oven. This crucial wait allows for the exterior to set into a slightly crunchy crust and allows for the muffin to cool enough for eager fingers to pry the tops off of the unsuspecting body. We can't let the precious tops go to waste. After muffins sit around, you lose the distinction between the top and bottom and the next day, you're left with a plain, uniform muffin. The tops are never the same, even after reheating them in the oven. I wondered why I’ve never seen a pan that capitalizes on muffin-top love like game changing edge brownie pan.

But a quick google search proved me wrong!

In fact, Chicago Metallic deemed themselves the creator of the Original Muffin Top Pan . While the idea is brilliant, I’m not for paying $15 for a pan that only makes 6 muffin tops when my current muffin pan that was a fraction of the cost works just fine. For similiar reasons, I never purchased the $30 (highway robbery for a student in debt) brownie pan when I can still bake them in my $5 pyrex.

But with a little more digging, I unearthed a similar shallow "whoopie pie pan" that looks like it will make the same end product. The ridged edge along the rim of the pan will make it a little more difficult to wash than the Chicago metallic but it’s cheaper and bakes twice as many muffins. This one is going on the registry.

Now back to the actual muffin. Four years of blogging and I have finally made the quintessial blueberry muffin. My past recipes have used sour cream or a combination of sour cream and buttermilk. But years of baking have led me to refine my original recipes (which are still good by the way). I’ve found that batter made with sour cream alone is very thick and a little difficult to work with. Batter made with plain milk becomes a good consistency but the finished product lacks in flavor. Buttermilk muffins have the same subtle tang and delicate crumb of sour cream muffins but the batter is easier to work with. When it comes to the fat in the recipe, butter offers the best flavor hands down, but adding a little bit of a neutral oil creates a moister product when eaten at room temperature. As for the berries, it’s best to use frozen or fresh blueberries. I think canned berries have an odd, sometimes metallic flavor, and their squishiness does not stand up well to being mixed into batter. Lastly, a note about baking. I've been baking my muffins at 400 degrees for years now. After experimenting with a different recipe at various temperatures, I found that the higher temperature gave them a handsome golden brown crust. Now I discover that higher temperature also contributes to the coveted domed top. How serendipitious!

Blueberry Muffin
2 cups (8.8 ounces) all purpose unbleached flour 
1 tablespoon baking powder 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick or 1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted 
4 tablespoon (1/4 C) neutral oil like vegetable or canola 
1 large egg 
1/2 cup granulated sugar 
1/4 cup brown sugar 
1 cup buttermilk 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cup blueberries 
Butter or oil spray for muffin tin 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray a muffin tin with nonstick spray. If you are using paper liners, lightly spray them with some oil so less muffin sticks to them when they're being peeled.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the melted butter, oil, egg, and sugars. Then whisk in the buttermilk and vanilla.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold the two sets of ingredients together.

When the batter is starting to come together and no large clumps or streaks of flour remain, add the blueberries. Continue folding until the blueberries are evenly distributed and batter is mixed, a few streaks of flour are okay. Do not over work the batter

Scoop a mounded 1/4 of batter into each muffin tin, making sure the batter is distributed evenly amongst the 12 tins.

Bake at 400 degrees F until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin in the center of the pan comes out clean, about 15 - 17 minutes. But like the article linked earlier in the post says, if your muffins are looking too "peaked" and scraggly for your tastes, try baking them at 375 for 17 - 20 minutes. Every oven is different.

Meat Lasagna

updated from archives

Every time I open the pantry, I'm accosted by two lingering boxes of lasagna noodles that have been sitting at eye level for the last two years.  I have not made lasagna since then--perhaps it's because I'm still a little traumatized by all the prepping and cooking that went on that week. But if I'm to be successful in clearing out the entire pantry, I had better start making some lasagna.

In other news, I'm still working through moderating all the unpublished comments and the hundreds of emails in my blog email. So if you've left a comment on this blog and are wondering where it is or if you've sent me an email and I have not replied, please bear with me. Thank you for your patience! I do love your emails and comments. If you make something from the blog, I wanna hear about it! Even if you didn't like it. Also let me know if recipes are unclear, I'm in the process of updating many older recipes.

Some notes: Lasagna can be time-consuming but the sauce can be made in advance to save some day the day of. If using boil noodles, only cook them about 75% of the way, undercook them by about 3 - 4 minutes. They will finish cooking in the oven.

Meat Lasagna
serves 6 - 8

Meat Sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 pound of ground beef or 50-50 mix of ground beef and italian sausage, casings removed (I prefer this combo but it depends on what I have)
1 medium onion chopped fine
6 medium garlic cloves minced or pressed through a garlic press
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
28 ounce can tomato puree
28 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 teaspoon salt

Lasasgna
15 ounce ricotta cheese, preferably whole-milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup coarsely chopped basil
1 pound shredded mozzerella cheese
2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (about 1 cup)
12 no-boil noodles

Making the sauce
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the ground meat and cook, breaking up the pieces, until browned. Transfer the ground beef to a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of the fat back to the Dutch oven and turn the heat down to medium. Drain and discard the rest of the fat.

Add the chopped onions and cook until translucent while scraping up the brown bits. Add the black pepper and garlic and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Return the meat back to the sauce, add the drained diced tomatoes, tomato puree, and salt. Simmer for 1 hour.

Assemble the lasagna
If using chilled, premade sauce, let it sit out at room temperature for 20 - 30 minutes prior to using but you do not need to do this if you do not intend on baking the lasagna right away.

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Add the ricotta, cream, egg, salt, and pepper to the bowl of a food processor. Puree until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and mix in the chopped basil.

Mix the grated Parmesan and shredded mozzerella in a separate bowl and set aside.

Smear the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with 1/4 cup of tomato sauce (avoiding large chunks of meat). Place 3 noodles on the bottom of the dish. Drop 3 tablespoons of the ricotta mixture in one tablespoon dollops along each noodle. Roughly spread the cheese mixture out on each noodle with the back of the spoon. Evenly sprinkle 1 cup of the grated mozzerella and parmesan mixture on top of the ricotta mixture. Then cover each noodle with 1/2 cup of meat sauce. Apply another layer of noodle and repeat the ricotta, mozzerella, meat sauce, and finally noodle again twice more. In the last ricotta layer, use up the remaining ricotta mixture.

Place the final layer of lasagna noodles on and cover with the remaining meat sauce. Then spread the remaining mozzerella mixture evenly over the top.

A cross-section of the lasagna will look like this:

Remaining mozz/parm
Remaining meat sauce
Noodle layer 3
Meat Sauce
Mozz/Parm
Ricotta
Noodle layer 2
Meat Sauce
Mozz/Parm
Ricotta
Noodle layer 1
1/4 cup sauce without meat
However, for a more photogenic lasagna with separate cheese and meat sauce layers, you can do something like this. Up to you, fresh lasagna never slices neatly anyway.

Remaining mozz/parm
Remaining meat sauce
Noodle layer 3
2x Meat Sauce
Noodle layer 2
2x Mozz/Parm
2x Ricotta
Noodle layer 1
1/4 cup sauce without meat

Bake uncovered at 400 degrees on the middle rack for 30 minutes. Depending on the oven, the top may brown faster than anticipated, if this happens, loosely cover the lasagna with a piece of foil and continue baking. Let it sit for 10 minutes at room temperature prior to slicing and serving.

If planning ahead, the lasagna can be kept in the fridge for 2 days. If freezing, wrap the dish tightly with plastic wrap, then wrap tightly with foil, and finally wrap tightly once more with plastic wrap. Thaw in the fridge for 24 - 48 hours. Make sure the center of the lasagna is not frozen prior to baking. After defrosting, let the lasagna sit at room temperature for an hour prior to baking.

Gently remove the foil when unwrapping because it can be used during baking. Gently drape the foil over the lasagna and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes then uncover and continue baking until the sauce is bubbly and cheese is spotty brown, approximately 25 - 35 more minutes.

Hearty Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

(updated from archives)

I grew up on spaghetti with Ragu. Not the lowercase italicized ragu, but the capital R followed by a copyright sign Ragu. And it was Hunt’s more often than not since it was cheaper. As a child, I always wanted the meat flavor thinking that it sounded better than plain tomato. Then one day, I thought it was odd that there wasn’t actually any meat in the sauce. Upon further inspection, the sauce was merely “flavored with meat.” Gross.

When Steven and I first started dating (now nearly a decade ago, crazy right?), he made some spaghetti for me with his mom’s homemade meat sauce. The sauce had actual pieces of real meat, onions, chunks of tomatoes, and oh my god are those herbs?

This is also how Steven introduced me to cheese. Like many Chinese people, my family was very suspicious of cheese. Stinky tofu? Bring it on! Fermenting milk? Nooo thank you. But Steven eventually won me over with a little freshly grated parmesan on my pasta.

When I started cooking, I first learned how to brown meat and chop and saute an onion. I doctored up jarred spaghetti sauce with ground beef and onions. Then I bought my first jar of herbs, Spice Island Italian Herb Blend, and added some of that. I eventually switched the jarred, overly salty stuff to plain tomato sauce. Over the years, I added more and more ingredients like diced tomatoes and some red wine, and finally topped it off with some fresh basil. This recipe has come a long way.

Hearty Meat Sauce
2 Tablespoon olive oil
1 pound lean ground beef or mix of ground beef with Italian sausage
1 large onion, chopped fine
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
14 ounce can tomato puree
14 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Pasta of your choice
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped or chiffonade
1/2 cup grated parmesan for serving

Heat a tablespoon olive oil in a large saute pan or Dutch oven and brown the ground beef. Drain the fat through a fine mesh sieve and set aside.

Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pot and heat over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onions and 1/2 tsp of salt and cook until softened. If the bottom of the pan is turning too brown, add a little bit of water and scrape up the bits as you go. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the wine to deglaze the pan and cook until the wine is completely gone. Add the tomato puree, drained diced tomatoes, pepper, and oregano.

Cook the sauce at a gentle simmer over low heat, partially uncovered for 2 - 3 hours or until the sauce is thicken and ground beef is tender.

Cook spaghetti according to package instructions

Serve over pasta, topped with basil and parmesan or use in lasagna

Fondue for Two

I'm in the process of tidying up the blog after months of being away (pardon the dust). While I was going through old flickr photos, I stumbled on this gem:

See the date?

This episode aired May 3, 2011 according to the wiki. Shoulda copyrighted that gem of a phrase! (You can watch the episode on FOX, which is where I got the image clips)

Further similarities:
Mr. Bunnington

Lord Tubbington

Hmm... curious...

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Carbonara is Steven's most requested dish. It's one of the few recipes on this blog that I make regularly, so I'm a little embarrassed I haven't updated the recipe since 2007. The ingredient list has stayed the same in the last four years but I added the trick of tempering the eggs with boiling pasta water before adding it to the pasta. On the rare occasion, I get a little fancy but I always go back to the original recipe of 5 ingredients, 6 if you include salt for pasta water. Traditionally you would use pancetta or guanicale, but let's face it, that stuff is expensive and I'm a poor student. Because this recipe is so simple, there are a few things I feel strongly about. First, I don't believe in adding cream; I think it's like cheating. But I unfortunately don't know anyone Italian who can back me up. Second, use freshly ground pepper; this is non-negotiable.

This recipe is one of our staples during medical school, because I can make this in less than 30, maybe even 20 minutes. I like to cook with ratios because it makes recipes easy to scale up or down. This recipe is no different and can be easily adjusted.



Spaghetti alla Carbonara
Approximately 4 ounces or 4 slices of thick-cut bacon, sliced into 1/4 inch wide strips or equivalent amount of pancetta or guanciale, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
2 ounces finely grated parmesan, parmigiano, or pecorino romano
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper (I go up to 1 teaspoon)
8 ounces spaghetti

Cook bacon in a skillet over medium heat until it is crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a piece of paper towel.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Salt it generously, it should taste like sea water. Cook spaghetti according to package instructions, until it is al dente.

Temper the eggs like making a custard. With one hand beat the eggs and with the other slowly drizzle approximately 1/4 cup of hot pasta water with a measuring scoop or cup into the egg mixture. Set aside.

Before draining the pasta, set aside about half a cup of the boiling pasta water to loosen the pasta if needed.

You'll have to move fast at this point. When the pasta is al dente, drain the pasta then return the pasta back into the hot pot. Keep the pot off heat. The residual heat in the pot and pasta will thicken the sauce. Add the drained bacon, ground pepper, pasta and with one hand, stir the pasta while pouring in the tempered egg mixture.

Keep stirring to mix the cheese and egg evenly and the sauce will be thickened and silky smooth. Add a bit of the pasta water if needed.

Optional: top with extra freshly ground pepper and grated cheese before serving.

March 2007

Chicken Adobo

update from April 2007

When I first made chicken adobo 4 years ago, I was a little apprehensive about the seemingly large amount of vinegar the recipe called for. However, the vinegar mellows with cooking and the sauce is amazing over freshly steamed rice. I prefer a 1:1 ratio of soy to vinegar. I reach for a milder vinegar like rice, white wine, or cider vinegar. I personally find plain white vinegar is too monotonous and abrasive. You can marinate the chicken as long as you want but this is rarely something I plan that far in advance. I usually throw all the ingredients together in a pot and let it sit for about an hour (sometimes I skip this part entirely if I feel particularly lazy).

Chicken Adobo
approximately 2 pounds of dark meat chicken (thighs and drumsticks)
1/2 cup soy sauce (low sodium preferably)
1/2 cup rice or cider vinegar
1 cup of water
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
5 garlic cloves, smashed with the side of a knife
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
Optional: small yellow onion, thickly sliced

Optional step: Combine everything in a large bowl and marinate for 1 hour, up to overnight.

Bring everything up to a boil then lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Turn the chicken halfway through the cooking process.

Remove the chicken and bring the sauce back to a boil and continue to boil the sauce until it reduces by about half to a slightly thickened syrup.

Optional: When I'm not lazy or starving, I've broiled the chicken (skin side up for a few minutes) in the oven to go the extra mile. You have to keep an eye on it because it will go from crispy to burnt in a minute under the broiler. I have heard of people throwing adobo on the grill but I personally have not tried this. I imagine if the chicken is super tender it may fall through the grates. Consider yourself warned and don't blame me if this happens. Broiling/grilling is not necessary, the chicken is perfectly delicious without this final step.

Serve the chicken over rice and spoon the sauce on top.

(cooked with onions)

vanilla pound cake

Two years ago I bought 2 dozen vanilla beans for a great price. They were my precious babies so I used them oh so sparingly. The vanilla beans won't be a problem to move and I intend on bringing them with me but I am less stingy about using them now.


I used a Tahitian bean for its floral notes in homemade marshmallows over the Christmas holiday.

This week, I used the creamy Bourbon bean for a simple vanilla pound cake.

Pound cake is one of those things that almost requires no recipe. Like the name suggests, one pound of butter, sugar, flour, and eggs, or in my case 8 ounces, and a splash of vanilla, pinch of salt, dash of baking powder.



The crunchy corners on the end pieces are my favorite, just like corner brownie pieces.

simple vanilla pound cake
8 ounces all purpose flour (approximately 1 3/4 cup)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
8 ounces unsalted butter at room temperature
8 ounces granulated sugar (approximately 1 1/4 cup)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or one vanilla bean split lengthwise and scraped
8 ounces or 4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Butter and flour or line with parchment a 9 x 5 loaf pan. Set aside. 

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together until no lumps remain. Set aside.

Beat butter until smooth and creamy, approximately 2 minutes. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes.

In a separate bowl, add the eggs and beat briefly until eggs are scrambled. Drizzle 1/4 cup of the beaten eggs into the butter mixture and continue beating the butter until the eggs are completely incorporated. Scrape the bottom of the bowl. Repeat with another 1/4 cup of egg and continue until all the eggs have been beaten into the butter, scraping the bowl between each addition.

Sift the dry ingredients into the butter mixture and mix on the lowest setting until almost no streaks or clumps of flour remain.

Finish the batter by folding with a rubber spatula to get rid of any last streaks or lumps.

Scrape the batter into a prepared pan.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 70 to 80 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

the pantry

My pantry has become increasingly cluttered over the last few years. The new year was a good time to reorganize and figure out just what is in there. Steven and I are anticipating relocating about a year and a half and I figured we'd better start using some of this stuff up. We've accumulated so much, especially after signing up for a Costco membership, that it will most likely take us the full 18 months to clear out the shelves.

the pantry


shelf one: teas, cookies, crackers, and snacks
shelf two: pastas, noodles, rice, and grains
shelf three: dry baking (flour, graham crackers, oatmeal)
shelf four: wet baking (sugars, extracts, syrups, chocolate)
shelf five: dried goods (variety of fungus including two types of wood ear, nori, bean curd skin)
shelf six: sauces, wines, canned (coconut milk, tomatoes, bamboo)

I discovered 4 packs of nori. I had no idea I had so much nori.

We bought an 8 pack of Spam from Costco because we love musubi. Surprisingly, we only have 2 cans left. That means we ate 6 cans of Spam, which is slightly revolting.

A few months ago, Costco was selling an 8-pack of Chaokoh milk for a great price, so I bought a pack. The 8 pack is still unopened. Looks like we'll be eating lots of curry over the next year and a half.

I also organized my sauce cabinet and spice drawer.

Leftover Turkey and Seafood Paella

 

I hope everyone had a spectacular Turkey day. I was too busy eating so I unfortunately don't have any photos of the spread. *sadface* And I'm still recovering from my food coma. As for the actual turkey, I've never been too crazy about it the day of but I do love the leftovers. Aside from the always glorious post-Thanksgiving sandwich, the possibilities for the turkey are endless: soups, chilies, stir fries, casseroles, etc.

A paella is a little like a casserole in the sense that it is often served in the same vessel it's cooked in. I've adapted this paella recipe for leftover turkey but leftover roast chicken would work just as well. This recipe is made in a 6 quart Dutch oven because I don't have a paella pan nor do I have a open fire of orange branches and pine cones so I did the cooking in the oven.

Leftover Turkey and Seafood Paella
1 cup chicken or turkey stock
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads, crumbled
1 pound seafood of choice or a mixture of shrimp, peeled and deveined, scallops, or squid
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch wide strips
Olive oil
8 or 9 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (2 generous tablespoons)
3 to 4 cups leftover turkey, coarsely shredded or chopped
8 ounces Spanish chorizo (can sub fresh chorizo or Portugese linguiça), sliced in half lengthwise then cut into 1/2 inch thick crescents on the bias
1 medium onion, diced
2 cups Valencia or Arborio rice or another short grain rice
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained and chopped
1 cup dry white wine
2 dried bay leaf
Salt and ground black pepper
1 dozen or so mussels, scrubbed and debearded
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/4 C chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 lemon, cut into wedges, for serving

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat the turkey broth in a small saucepan or in the microwave until hot and steaming but not boiling. Add the crumbled saffron to bloom and set aside.

Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until the oil is shimmering but not smoking. Add the pepper strips, stirring occasionally, and cook about 3 to 4 minutes or until the skin starts to blister and turn spotty black. Transfer the pepper to a small plate and set aside.

Turn the heat down to medium. Add 2 teaspoons of oil in the now empty Dutch oven and cook the chorizo until it starts to brown and fat begins to render, about 4 - 5 minutes. Add the onions and cook until the onions are soft, 3 - 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Then add the rice and stir until the Dutch oven contents are evenly mixed. Add the drained and chopped tomatoes, white wine, turkey stock and saffron mixture, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper and bring to boil stirring occasionally.

Cover the pot and transfer the pot to the oven and cook until the rice has absorbed almost all the liquid, about 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, remove the pot from the oven, mix in the cooked leftover shredded turkey and shrimp. Arrange the mussels hinged-side down into the rice, arrange the bell peppers in a pinwheel pattern. Cover and return the pot to the oven and cook until shrimp are opaque and mussels are opened, about 10 minutes.

Scatter the peas on top, cover, and let the paella stand for 5 minutes. Discard any mussels that haven't opened. Sprinkle with parsley and arrange lemon slices on top or serve them separately.

Thanksgiving 2010

First I told myself I would blog again after spring quarter, then it was after summer exams, pretty soon after that I planned to put something together while I spent autumn in Alaska. Now it’s been over 6 months since my last post, but hey who’s keeping track anymore? But with Thanksgiving being tomorrow (or later today depending on when I finish writing this), I couldn’t let it go unacknowledged.

Thanksgiving to Christmas is my favorite time of year. Two foodcentric holidays flanking a period of butter-filled holiday baking, what’s not to love? Who knows, maybe this year I’ll have enough time to do a third installment of 12 days of Christmas cookies.

But before I get carried away and make promises I can’t keep, I’ll do a quick rundown of the Thanksgiving menu. Steven’s mom usually makes a turkey or prime rib. She also makes my favorite side dish: sticky rice, in lieu of stuffing. Not only do I dislike the texture of stuffing, I’m grossed out by the idea of literally stuffing food into a salmonella laden turkey cavity.

Now my one holiday tradition is twice baked potatoes, which I always make for both Thanksgiving and Christmas for the past few years now. I may even go so far as to say if you make one thing from this blog, make these potatoes.

This year I’ll also make a pumpkin cheesecake (recipe to come), buttermilk biscuits, and mushroom turnovers. In the past I’ve done a green bean casserole but not this year. But now, it’s time to get some rest before the real cooking and subsequent feasting begins.

Carrot Cake with Pineapple and Coconut and Brown Butter Rum Cream Cheese Frosting

I had some flopppy carrots and a half bar of cream cheese that needed to be used up so the obvious choice was a carrot cake. My original idea was to spice things up by adding currants instead of the traditional raisins because I hate raisins. But Trader Joes, my go-to source for quirky ingredients, no longer carries currants and I wasn’t about to go to Whole Paycheck and drop $10 on some fancy heritage currants from the South of France. Instead I got the next best thing, pineapple. I’ve actually never purchased a can of pineapple before or any canned fruit for that matter, so the first step was locating the canned fruit aisle in grocery store, an aisle I avoid like the plague. Who knew there were so many ways you could cut and can a pineapple—crushed, tidbits, chunks, rings? Many recipes call for crushed but that stuff looked a little too beaten up for my tastes, whereas the chunks were way too big. I wanted discernible pieces of pineapple in my cake so the tidbits were perfect. After adding pineapple, the logical next step is to add coconut (another leftover ingredient that needed using up) and of course you can't have pineapple and coconut without some rum.






After 2 trips to the grocery store and a few hours later, I was standing in my kitchen frosting a cake at nearly midnight and realized my quest to use up 3 leftover ingredients had yielded an enormous 2 layer cake probably weighing close to 5 pounds. Funny how things turn out sometimes. It was way too much cake for Steven and me, but we had plenty of people to share it with. I have yet to meet someone that does not like cake, especially homemade cake. Not to mention, cake for breakfast is a truly glorious thing.

If you can’t find the tidbits, crushed is a good substitute or if you really want to go the extra mile you can cut up the pineapple chunks into smaller pieces. A food processor would come in handy for shredding the carrots but grating by hand is not impossible. Next time I might try to bump up the carrot content to a full 1 pound.

Carrot Cake with Pineapple and Coconut
3/4 pound carrots, peeled and finely grated
8 oz. can pineapple tidbits or crushed, drained
2 C (8.8 oz.) unbleached all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp clove or allspice
1/2 C brown sugar
3/4 C granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 C (4 oz.) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 C canola or vegetable oil

Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe follows
Approximately 1 C toasted, shredded and sweetened coconut to decorate the outside, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 2 8 inch cake pans. A 9 inch cake pan would also work but baking time will be shorter.

Add the drained pineapple to the shredded carrots and set aside.

In a blender, add the 4 eggs, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Blend on a low speed for a minute. Slowly drizzle in the melted butter and oil and blend for 4 more minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. After the liquid mixture has finished blending, pour the blender contents into the dry ingredients, add the grated carrots and pineapple, and gently fold the batter with a rubber spatula until no streaks of flour or chunks of carrots remain.

Pour the batter evenly between the two cake pans and bake at 350 for 30 – 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Start checking the cake after 25 minutes.


The completed cake before going into the fridge. Breakfast the next day.

This frosting is absolutely magnificent. Like pineapple and coconut, browned butter and rum is one of those combinations that just works. This is a great all purpose frosting and can be used for other cakes, not just carrot cake. After browning the butter, the milk solids can be strained out for a clean looking frosting but I like the freckled look. The specks of milk solids also camouflages any cake crumbs that falls into the frosting, something I appreciated as I was frosting a cake in a sleep deprived state at 11pm.


Brown Butter Rum Cream Cheese Frosting
Enough to fill and frost an 8 inch 2 layer cake, but easily doubled
4 oz. cream cheese
4 oz. or 1 stick unsalted butter
2 1/2 – 3 C powdered sugar, sifted
2 - 3 Tbsp dark rum

Have a heat proof bowl resting in an ice bath ready.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter medium low heat. Cook the butter slowly and stir occasionally. First it will look like melted butter, then it will start to bubble and sizzle, and after a while it will start to clear and the milk solids will start to separate out of the fat. Slowly the solids will turn golden and then a light golden brown and the butter will smell nutty and caramely. When this happens, take the off heat and pour it into the bowl in the ice bath to cool it down quickly. If you let it sit, it solids will continue to cook and may burn.

Cool the butter to room temperature. Meanwhile, take the cream cheese out and bring it to room temperature.

After the butter has cooled, beat the cream cheese and 1 cup of the powdered sugar. Slowly drizzle in the melted butter and add another cup of powdered sugar. Add more sugar according to your tastes. I added 3 cups of powdered sugar total and the frosting was the tiniest bit grainy at that point but it wasn’t a deal breaker. Next time I'll stop with 2 1/2 cups. Slowly drizzle in rum to your tastes, starting with 1 tablespoon. I like my frostings on the boozy side but too much liquor and the frosting will be too runny. A good rule of thumb is 1 tablespoon of liquor for every cup of powdered sugar you add. Continue beating the frosting until it is fluffy and pillowy. It will have a consistency similar to whipped cream but have more structure.