Knife-wielding Feminists

Okay, maybe I'll vote for him instead of Kucinich
From the Detroit Free Press:

(Michigan Governor Jennifer) Granholm accompanied Kerry from the event to Zingerman's Deli, a culinary landmark in Ann Arbor. There, Kerry chatted with staff and ordered takeout brownies, potato salad and a half-pound of soffresappa, an Italian sausage he held up for photographers.

I can't believe I forgot to mention how much I love my rice cooker and salad spinner. I have so many gadgets and things, but I use them. I do! Okay, maybe not the garlic press, but the rest of it.

Stresch Weighs In


Favorite kitchen appliance: Kitchen Aid stand mixer
Favorite kitchen implement: Oxo peeler, microplane zester, chef's knife
Three basics my cooking can't live without: butter, garlic, my cast iron skillet
Things that are worth the extra $$: Zingerman's bread, good parmesan, organic produce, and organic, fair-trade coffee
Things that are not worth the extra $$: spices in jars
Things missed most when they are out of season: tomatoes, berries
Things I get really tired of seeing in the grocery store: tomatoes in the winter
I avoid at all costs: okra
My favorite celebrity chef is: Deborah Madison
My favorite cooking show is: I really like the pastry competitions on the food channel.

Cooks Survey: frog's responses
Favorite kitchen appliance: coffee grinder
Favorite kitchen implement: heat-resistant spatula, hand-carved wooden spoon
Three basics my cooking can't live without: Deborah Madison, Loriva Peanut Oil, and limes
Things that are worth the extra $$: organic produce, good knives (no, I don’t have these, but I know it’s true), Ed’s Bread, and organic, fair-trade coffee
Things that are not worth the extra $$: name-brand flour, name-brand butter
Things missed most when they are out of season: corn on the cob, peaches, strawberries, eggs from my egg guy
Things I get really tired of seeing in the grocery store: bruised or rotting produce
I avoid at all costs: cilantro
My favorite celebrity chef is: Ann Cooper, though “celebrity” is in the eye of the beholder
My favorite cooking show is: None, as I don’t watch them regularly, but I was part of an extended conversation in the car yesterday about the color commentary on the Japanese version of Iron Chef. “It’s eggplant!” So, yeah.

Zingerman’s
The Morning News has a great interview with food writer and Zingerman’s co-founder Ari Weinzweig. If you don’t know about him, you should.

Via Bookslut.

Let me just start out by saying that it was supposed to be something simple and nutritious.

Stresch went back to work after a harrowing trip to the mall, and I was responsible for dinner. I figured that my old standby of diced tomatoes (canned or frozen), pesto, and pasta would be adequate, and we had some extra cheese to put on top anyway. I plunked some frozen roasted tomatoes from the garden into a saucepot, turned on the flame as low as it could go, and left the room. I went about my business, checking on them occasionally until they were sitting in half an inch of water. I uncovered them and turned up the heat just a smidge.

Emilin’s “I Don’t Want to Cook” Pasta
(Serves two as a one course meal.)

1 15oz can plain, plain, plain tomatoes (I prefer Eden), diced
-or-
7-10 frozen roasted paste tomato halves

a few chunks of frozen pesto
half a box of linguine
cheese as desired

Start the water for the pasta. Dump the tomatoes, ideally in their diced state, into a heavy saucepot. Chip some lumps of pesto out of its container, and stir them into the tomatoes. The point of the pesto is require that your sauce have only two ingredients, so use it to taste. Keep it on medium-low heat to reduce the sauce, stirring occasionally. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. If you use a deep stockpot, the sauce will be ready when the pasta is done.

It was also Garbage Eve, so the cat boxes and trash cans had to be changed. I wanted to wear a particular shirt today, and thus did two loads of laundry, having gotten carried away. Remembering that some certain undergarments needed handwashing, I soaked some brassieres in the delicates detergent from the co-op. It wasn’t until I was heaving the cat litter up the basement stairs that I remembered about the tomatoes. The water had surely boiled off, and the kitchen had a sweet smell that told me the burning of tomatoes was nigh.

Well, crap. This wasn’t a part of my plan.

They were still soft, but they completely disintegrated when I stirred them. Nothing smelled or tasted burnt, so I decided to turn it into some kind of modified béchamel sauce. We had leftover cream (score!), some butter, milk, and flour, so I dumped and stirred and continued with my chores. It was beginning to round on the time Stresch was expected home, and I had completely forgotten to boil the water for the pasta. Something, maybe the leftover cartons from Easter, told me that poached eggs would go really well with that sauce.

Actually, that’s not true. The fond memory of poached eggs with a similar sauce at The Bongo Room in Wicker Park told me that.

So I added some leftover shredded parmesan cheese to the sauce and started up the skillet for the eggs. This was my very first experience with poached eggs. Mark Bittman and I evidently have differing opinions on what it means for a skillet of water to “barely bubble,” and I blame him at least in part. The first egg, being sacrificed first to the pan, then to the paper towel on which it was drained, then to the floor upon which its tender yolk landed with a half-splat/half-squirt, didn’t go so well. I turned up the heat a little and tried another one which ended up ugly but cooked just right for Stresch’s tastes. Ditto the third. For the last two, I decided to try covering them after putting them into the pan. They were slightly less grotesque and adequately cooked even though the skillet boiled over partway through cooking, putting out the flame, and I had to scramble to get the back burner going so they’d continue cooking.

With the skillet lid over the eggs to keep them warm, I moved on to setting up the plates. One slice each of sesame semolina, a thick puff of parmigiano-reggiano right off the microplane zester, and a little garnish of parsley. Except that maybe it wasn’t parsley. It looked far more like cilantro. I tasted it, and even though it tasted like parsley, I wasn’t convinced. It still looked like cilantro. I referenced Chez Panisse Vegetables: no help at all. I referenced Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, and bless Ms. Madison’s soul, I discovered that parsley’s leaves have short stems that break off the main stem opposite one another and cilantro’s leaves bunch together right next to the stem. I definitely had parsley.

After squatting on the floor with parsley clutched in my hands, it was stuck to me, and I barely had time to get it back in the bag, in the refrigerator, and my hands rinsed before Stresch walked in the door. (Being pasted with wet herbs isn’t my idea of aloof or sexy, and it doesn’t inspire others’ confidence in my cooking skills.)

We sat down with our eggs, bread, cheese, and sauce, and we sipped orange juice from wine glasses. It was quite tasty, if I do say so myself, and we even have leftover sauce.

Bake for Democracy!

[Cross-posted to my own blog as well.]

Via Amanda Marcotte at Mousewords, this Saturday, April 17, "all across the country, thousands of people will organize bake sales to raise money for MoveOn PAC's campaign to Take Back the White House. While George Bush raises money mostly from wealthy donors, we will demonstrate the broad-based grassroots support supporting MoveOn PAC and John Kerry." Here are the ones around me (mostly in Manhattan). I'm not normally a cake-y kinda person but I figure I may need a break, and some refreshment, in between packing...

This May Be the Only Recipe for Beef That Ever Gets Posted Here.

Last year on my blog, One Good Thing, I posted about the world's greatest stir fry. Not being a beef-eater, I swapped the beef for tofu, and it worked out just fine. I invited people to e-mail me for the recipe and let me know if they wanted beef or tofu. Since I'm still getting e-mail requests for it, I decided to post it here so I can now just refer people without having to do all that typing. I've got the beef in front of me, so I'm putting that one up first. I'll come back later with the tofu version.

Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry


1 lb flank steak, cut into 2-inch-wide strips with the grain, then sliced across the grain into 1/8"-thick slices

3 T soy sauce
1T dry sherry
2 T Chicken broth
5 T oyster sauce
1 T light brown sugar
1 t sesame oil
1 t cornstarch
6 medium garlic cloves, pressed or minced
1 1-inch piece ginger, minced (about 1 T)
3 T peanut oil
1 1/4 pounds broccoli, florets cut into bite-size pieces, stems trimmed, peeled, and cut on diagonal into 1/8" thick slices
1/3 cup water
1 small red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and cut into 1/4" pieces
3 medium scallions, sliced 1/2" thick on the diagonal

1.) Combine beef and soy sauce in medium bowl; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 10 minutes and up to 1 hour, stirring once. Meanwhile, whisk sherry, chicken broth, oyster sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, and cornstarch in measuring cup. Combine garlic, ginger, and 1 1/2 t peanut oil in small bowl.

2.) Drain beef and discard liquid. Heat 1 1/2 t peanut oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat until smoking. Add half of beef to skillet and break up clumps; cook, without stirring, for 1 minute, then stir and cook until beef is browned around edges, about 30 seconds. Transfer beef to medium bowl. Heat 1 1/2 t peanut oil in skillet, and repeat with remaining beef.

3.) Add 1 T peanut oil to now-empty skillet, heat until just smoking. Add broccoli and cook 30 seconds; add water, cover pan, and lower heat to medium. Steam broccoli until tender-crisp, about 2 minutes; transfer to paper towel-lined plate. Add remaining 1 1/2 t peanut oil to skillet; increase heat to high and heat until just smoking. Add bell pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until spotty brown, about 1 1/2 minutes. Clear center of skillet; add garlic and ginger to clearing and cook, mashing mixture with spoon, until fragrant, 15 to 20 seconds, then stir mixture into peppers. Return beef and broccoli to skillet and toss to combine. Whisk sauce to recombine, then add to skillet; cook, stirring constantly, until sauce is thickened and evenly distributed, about 30 seconds. Transfer to serving platter, sprinkle with scallions, and serve.

You've come a long way, baby.

When you're next kicking around the local chain grocery and get a little depressed at the selection of iceberg lettuce, consider a couple of points from the compendious and entertaining The Grocer's Companion and Merchant's Hand-Book (Boston, 1883):

"Curry Powder or Curry Paste.--Used extensively in India and other eastern countries; it is too highly seasoned to be much valued in other sections of the world."

The handbook (if I may revert to 21st c. usage) also offers commonsense tips on rat control (a cat is best) and the grocer's need for eternal vigilance against "the swells" amid your canned goods. (Here they mean bulging cans, not a dapper fop.)

However, one also finds lyrical passages on the new technology of waxed paper, or on the growing availability of commercially produced flat-bottomed paper bags (previously an assistant was employed in making an inferior sort of bag). So thanks to the great grocers who have gone before, even if your produce selection stinks, at least you can get the Oreos and garam masala home fairly easily.

Lemonade for Sara
Ginger-honey lemonade (from Bon Appetit, August 2001)
3 c. water
½ c. honey
½ c. sugar
¼ c. minced peeled fresh ginger
1 ¼ c fresh lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
Ice cubes

Bring 1 cup water, honey, sugar, and ginger to boil in heavy medium saucepan over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil 5 minutes. Cool. Strain syrup into pitcher. Mix in lemon juice and remaining 2 cups water. Fill pitcher with ice. Let stand 5 minutes. Serve over ice.

What I Have Learned Today.

From Cook's Illustrated Magazine, I learned that the following items are members of the mint family:

Ginger
Pineapple
Orange
Mountain
Licorice
Chocolate
Peppermint
Spearmint
Apple
Calamint

I've never heard of that last one, but I assume it's a hybrid of leaves and squid.

Natural egg dyes
I used a source similar to this one* a few years ago to dye some eggs. I had way too much fun with it, and thought I'd pass along the tip.

*Okay, my source was Martha Stewart...

ETA: These are even better. Go make them.

CLEANING OUT THE CHEST FREEZER

We sent in our check for the produce subscription. Soon (not nearly soon enough, but soon) we will again have more produce than two people can reasonably eat. But who ever said we were reasonable about vegetables?

So, the chest freezer which was full of last year's produce needs to be cleaned out. I don't mean things need to be pitched, I mean we need to eat it. I've been trying to be good about not buying more food and just eating what we have. It's worked pretty well, although we did slip and buy some fresh kale.
All of this is just prelude to my end-of-winter linguine with corn and tomatoes. I was inspired by Deborah Madison's "Summer Spaghetti with Corn and Tomatoes." I modified the recipe a whole lot. In fact, the only thing that is that same is the idea of long pasta with corn and tomatoes, but it was good.

Saute half a (chopped) onion in olive oil. When the onion is starting to turn translucent, add 3 cloves of minced garlic. Add about 1.5 cups of corn (preferably frozen from the summer), drained. Add a whole lot of peeled, seeded, chopped tomatoes (again, frozen from the summer). When everything is warm, season with salt and pepper and 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley. Toss with cooked linguine. Sprinkle fancy grated goat cheese from the super-foodie deli (or regular Parmesan) over the top. Eat and pretend it's summer because it sure tastes like it.

Maybe eat it out behind the barn.

Perhaps if Elvis had been a little hippier-trippier he would have made something like this instead of the deep-fried peanut-butter and banana sandwiches, though the prospect of Elvis adapting a Molly Katzen recipe makes my head hurt in one of those strange science-fiction movie, alternate-universe paradox kind of ways.

Anyway, I've been making these for my own lunch this week but since my child's grandparents are in town I've been sort of sneaking them on the side since, I don't know, since I guess I'm sometimes reluctant to have to explain my sandwich lifestyle.


MISO NUT-BUTTER TOFU SANDWICHES

Ingredients:

A couple slices of bread (fancy-pants, if available).
Almond butter (though natural-type peanut butter works, too).
Miso paste.
Firm tofu.

(1) Spread almond butter on a couple slices of bread.
(2) Smear miso over the almond butter.
(3) Lay a couple of thin slices of tofu over the miso.
(4) Broil until the tofu and miso get a little browned and bubbly.

You may at this point smoosh them together for a traditional sandwich or eat two open-face sandwiches. Yum. Skulk back out into the living room and make conversation with your in-laws.

Speaking of carrot cake…
The KWFs have been remiss and offer you our heartfelt apologies—were it not for our collective slacking, you’d have been eating this for weeks, now. Submitted quite a long time ago by loyal and patient KWF reader, Carla. Give it a try!

Carla's Carrot Cake
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup crystallized ginger (might have been 1/4 cup, but I think I used a half cup)
4 eggs
4 tbsp. butter
4 cups grated carrots (I LOVE my food processor's grating disk . . .)
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup chopped pecans
some raisins (I used less than a half cup)

350 degrees, 2 9-inch cake pans (can probably also use a 10" tube pan and cut the cake into three layers rather than two) line the bottom of the cake pans w/ parchment paper, and grease pans and paper.

Cream butter & brown sugar in mixer. Put white sugar & crystallized ginger in a food processor (I have a little mini-prep that's perfect) and whirl away. when it's done, throw in w/ butter & brown sugar. then the eggs, one at a time, the pumpkin, the buttermilk. measure flour, soda, powder, cinnamon and salt into a separate bowl & mix, then throw in w/ wet ingredients. (there are probably other ways to mix this stuff, but this seemed to work okay.) throw in w/ wet ingredients. Add carrots, pecans, raisins. (I probably did the last part with a spatula rather than the mixer.) Bake for about 40 minutes, until toothpick is dry.

For the icing, I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese (can't go any lower or the icing is really runny), 4 tbsp. butter, confectioner's sugar, and maple syrup.