When we first started our cooking blog, one of the first posts was about popovers. At the time I was convinced that cold-oven popovers were the best choice over popovers made in a preheated oven. The science made sense (cold batter brought slowly to a very hot temperature would create steam to make them pop) and to be honest, I had only eaten/made cold-oven popovers. And my husband and I loved them, and the cats vied for scraps.
But, with the new year, a sad thing has recently happened to our oven; It takes forever to heat up now and recent attempts at making popovers have been a gooey mess without a crisp crust, or any height.
So, I decided to make popovers in a hot oven and … wow.
What a difference starting off at 400 degrees can make.
Here is the photo that accompanied the cold oven method. They had popped, but they weren’t killing themselves being overly ambitious.
And here is a close-up photo of a popovers using the hot oven method.
All six of them looked like Tomoyuki Tanaka movie monsters.
And their height and airiness was even more surprising considering the fact that they had prosciutto, dill and cheddar in the batter.
Prosciutto, Dill and Cheddar Popovers (Hot Oven Method)
1 cup of milk (warmed in the microwave for 45 seconds)
1 cup of flour
2 eggs
3 tablespoons finely chopped dill
¾ cup of shredded cheddar cheese
2 slices of finely diced prosciutto
1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of black pepper
2 tablespoons of butter, melted
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Pan fry the prosciutto in olive or grapeseed oil until brown and crisp.
With a pastry brush use the melted butter to grease the muffin tin cups, and place the pan in the oven for a couple of minutes until the butter is sizzling.
Add salt, pepper, cheese, prosciutto, flour and eggs to the warmed milk.
Take the pan out of the oven and drizzle the rest of the melted butter into the bottom of the tins. Pour the popover batter into the tins until they are approximately 1/2 to 3/4 full.
Place the muffin tin into the hot oven and tiptoe away from the stove for 35-40 minutes. (Even if they aren’t done at 35 minutes, they won’t collapse if you take a peek and decide they need to brown a little bit more.)
While staying at the Peabody Hotel recently, I was introduced to the best pancakes ever (sorry Alton Brown): sour cream pancakes. The consistency is hard to explain, they are dense and fluffy at the same time. I have been thinking about these pancakes for a long time, and decided to look up a recipe. The always awesome Ina Garten had a great Banana Sour Cream Pancakes recipe that I decided to tool around with. I am including my version in case you are feeling adventurous this weekend.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup unbleached flour
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of Kosher salt
1/4 cup sour cream
1/3 cup plus a tablespoon vanilla almond milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a splash of lemon juice
stick of butter for the griddle
Preheat the electric griddle to 350F. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients thoroughly. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until the dry ingredients are incorporated, but don’t over-beat the mixture. Once the griddle is hot, coat with butter and use a paper towel to wipe the griddle down. Scoop a large spoonful of the mixture (which will be considerably thicker than regular pancake batter) onto the griddle. Turn the pancakes when bubbles form on the top surface and the edges set. Cook pancakes until bottom side is light golden brown. Serve with real maple syrup.
Tips: you can substitute regular milk for vanilla almond milk. Also, if you like your pancakes thinner you can add more milk. If you want to add chocolate chips (a staple in our house), add them to the batter right before you pour it onto the griddle.
This fall I stumbled on a recipe for homemade ricotta. I had no idea that making ricotta was even an option in an apartment kitchen, let alone a kitchen that can barely fit two people standing side-by-side. But there it was – an incredibly easy ricotta recipe on Epicurious. And, in the comments following the recipe, a woman talked about making bread from the whey left over from making the ricotta. Holy shit.
Very slowly bring the milk, cream and salt to a boil on moderate heat and stir occasionally to keep it from burning. Then lower the heat, add the lemon juice, stir it constantly and watch it curdle.
At this point you will think, “Wow, what a mess. This was a tragic waste of time.”
But, continue on anyway. Line a colander with the cheesecloth, and place it over the bowl. Slowly dump the curdled mess into the colander.
Let it sit for an hour. Then you will be in awe of yourself. You will pat yourself on the back while simultaneously calling your friends, co-workers, parents, ex or current lovers, your veterinarian, and your old college roommate.
You just made homemade ricotta!
And not just any homemade ricotta, you will have made the best ricotta that you have ever tasted. Slightly lemony, thick and soft, ricotta. (See top photo.)
Take a bow, and then get back to work – because collected in the bowl is a lot of whey, and you’re going to make 3 loaves of incredible Italian bread with it. (Recipe via Eating Small Potatoes with a few tweaks)
Homemade Italian Bread
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
1 tbl. sugar
4 1/2 tsp. yeast 3/4 hot whey
1 cup warm water
5 tbls. melted butter
Additional ingredients (to your preference) are cornmeal and sesame seeds.
Add dry ingredients to the bowl and stir.
2. Heat the whey and water in a saucepan. Pour butter into the whey/water mixture.
3. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir well until combined. (At least 5 minutes.)
4. Divide dough into 3 loaves. Pat the dough into a rectangle and then roll up into a cylinder. Pinch seams and edges, then shape.
5. Place the loaves onto a sheet pan sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
6. Paint the loaf with egg white and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
7. Bake at 425F for 30 minutes.
Amaze your friends and astound your enemies with your culinary prowess.
And leave your own recipes, because after all, it’s Recipe Sunday where we are all about food.
On this day of binge-drinking and misguided attempts to show off your jigging skills, here’s an easy-to-make and delicious recipe for Irish Soda Bread. Soda breads use baking soda instead of yeast as a leavening agent, and as far as we know, were first introduced to Ireland in the 1840s. Irish soda bread traditionally has a cross cut into the top before baking, which may help it to rise and/or keep away the devil. You can do other designs though; whatever tilts your tea kettle!
The somewhat surprisingly irate people over at The Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread contend that there is only one “true” form of Irish soda bread, and any additional ingredients are an abomination to the bread and humanity (actually only a slight exaggeration). Nevertheless, if you want to add raisins, nuts, gummi bears, or even some green food dye to your soda bread, I say go for it.
The following recipe is from The Joy of Vegan Baking, by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. The milk and butter in the recipe can obviously be either vegan or not.
Ingredients
2 cups (470 ml) milk
2 teaspoons white distilled vinegar
4 cups (500g) flour (can be whole wheat, white, or a mixture of both)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, melted
Preheat the oven to 425ºF (220ºC). Lightly grease a round 9- or 10-inch cake pan [I just used a cookie sheet and it worked out fine]. In a small bowl, combine the milk and vinegar. Let stand for 5-10 minutes.
Mmmm, dough
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the milk and vinegar mixture and the butter, and combine until you have a sticky dough. Knead the dough in the bowl or on a floured surface for 10 to 12 strokes [Err on the side of handling the dough less].
Place the dough in the pan, and cut a cross [or smiley face] in the top. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the bottom has a hollow sound when thumped. Cool slightly before smoothing.
Soda bread is delicious when toasted lightly and buttered, or dunked in some soup or sauce. Enjoy!
Our anniversary was last week, and to celebrate we walked around Burlington and then we went out to dinner.
It was an amazing dinner. In fact it was so good, that I intentionally left about half of it on my plate to bring home for dinner the next night. But, the restaurant was busy, we had shopping bags in the booth with us, and it took us a while to pile on our layers of winter attire. As a consequence, I didn’t realize that I had left my doggie bag on the restaurant table until we were half-an-hour away.
I’m not going to lie, I was irrationally annoyed.
And I know that, “Something, something, something, is the chipotle chicken of invention.” So I decided to try to recreate the dish.
Chipolte chicken with cumin cream sauce
4 chicken breasts
1 tablespoon of chipotle powder
1 tablespoon of ancho chili powder
1 tablespoon of hot smoked paprika powder
2 teaspoons of cayenne powder
Mix the spices together on a plate.
Cumin cream sauce
1 large diced red onion
1 large sliced shallot
3/4 cup of white wine
1/3 cup of half and half
3 teaspoons cumin
Rub the chicken breasts with olive oil on both sides, and coat the breasts on both sides with the spice mixture.
Grill both sides of the chicken until done and tent the with foil to keep warm.
For the cumin sauce: In a small saucepan saute the sliced shallot and diced onion in olive oil. When the onions and shallots are soft, add the white wine and remove from heat. Stir in the cumin and, when the sauce has cooled for approximately 5 minutes, turn the heat on low and slowly add the half and half. (Letting the sauce cool for a few minutes will keep the sauce from breaking. (Or it least it helped quell my paranoia about the sauce breaking.)
Slice chicken and serve on top of Spanish rice with the cumin sauce drizzled on top.
So you want to learn more about vegetarianism/veganism? Or you don’t, but this article came up and you’re procrastinating at work/school/life so you’ll read it anyway? Good enough! This is meant to be kind of a brief intro to what this stuff is all about, and will respond to some of the main questions that generally come up in this topic. If there’s a particular area of vegetarianism/veganism (veg*nism) that you would like to know more about, let me know! I love talking about this stuff.
The Basics
A vegetarian is someone who does not eat meat. They may still consume dairy, eggs, and possibly fish (but fish is really a meat). Vegetarians have been around forever!
A vegan is often defined as someone who “begins with vegetarianism and brings it to its logical conclusion.” Vegans attempt to consume nothing that originally came from an animal. This includes clothing, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics, and of course, food. The term was coined by Donald Watson, an Englishman who founded the British Vegan Society in 1944.
But Why?
If you’re a vegetarian or vegan, you’ll know that the question everyone asks you (along with the protein question) is “Why did you decide to become a veg*n?” People go veg for a variety of different reasons. The main ones:
For the animals
There is nothing “circle of life” about our modern production of meat. Animals are kept in terrible conditions for the sole purpose of being killed. This is generally where all the ethical arguments against eating animals live. Many people believe that there is no such thing as “humanely-killed” meat. Additionally, the principle of not using animals for our own gain (this can be extended to circuses, rodeos, and even pets) is often used in reasoning against using honey, pearls, and other things that we generally think of as not harmful to the animals.
For personal health
Eating more plants and fewer animals has been linked to lower cholesterol, higher fiber, lower rates of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, and a host of other health issues. For more info on this, see The China Study.
For the environment
Factory farming is incredibly damaging to the environment. Livestock’s Long Shadow (pdf file), published by the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization in 2006, details the many harmful impacts that raising livestock has for the environment. One of the more interesting facts: all factors involved, livestock contribute more to greenhouse gas emissions than all forms of transportation.
ZOMG where do you get your protein?
I figure we’ll just tackle this one right off the bat. First of all, you probably don’t need as much protein as you think you need. The average American consumes about double the protein his or her body actually needs. (Source) So let’s just relax about that. The general formula to determine how much protein you need per day is your body weight times 0.36. So a 140-pound person would need about 50 grams of protein per day. Obviously if you’re an athlete and/or a pregnant or breastfeeding woman you’ll need more. Veg*ns can get protein from legumes, grains like rice and quinoa (kee-nwah), tofu, nuts, and non-dairy milks. However, it is true that while all meats offer complete proteins (they have the 9 essential amino acids which cannot be produced by our bodies), most vegetarian sources do not. Quinoa is one of the only plants that is a complete protein.
Aside from eating quinoa all day (which wouldn’t be the worst thing), us veg*ns can use what are called complementary proteins- where one source is missing an amino acid or two, another one has it, and when eaten together or during the same day, they complement each other. We already form complementary proteins in many of the foods we commonly eat: rice and beans, falafel in a whole wheat pita, peanut butter on whole wheat bread, cornbread and beans. Basically legumes + grains is a good way to go.
What do vegan zombies eat? Graiiinnsss..... graaaaiinnss!!
Some Random Nutrition Notes
Hopefully I’ll get to do a later post on veg nutrition, but for now a few brief things. Being vegan does not necessarily mean eating healthier. A lot of junk food is vegan (and delicious). But that’s not really what veganism is all about, so in between bags of Tings, have a leaf or something.
Even if you’re not looking to go veg, a good guideline for healthier eating is to eat the food as close to how it naturally is as possible. This means eating corn on the cob, not corn nuts. Using rolled or steel-cut oats rather than the instant oatmeal. Basically, when you go food shopping, you should look for food that has five or fewer ingredients listed, or better yet, just one! This way you can better ensure that you’re getting the most nutrition and the least processing possible in your foods. Now, I can’t ignore the cost issues here- it’s fucked up that buying junk food is less expensive than buying broccoli or something, but if you can try to eat more whole foods without going broke, it’s absolutely worth it for your body. Former Jezebel readers beware, but legumes seriously are the shit in this regard. They are cheap and incredibly nutritious. This doesn’t mean eating lentils for every meal every day, but maybe buy a bag of beans instead of that chicken breast. The larger societal and governmental issues of our food system can’t really be addressed right here, but I’ll include some links for those of you who want to read more on this (Food Inc. also addresses this issue).
So that about wraps this up. Do you have a particular food/meal you’d like to share with the group? Good books, articles, films, etc.? Let us know in the comments!
Disclaimer: this salad will give you dragon breath for the rest of the day (or the morning after if you choose to have it for dinner). It is still delicious. Feel free to chop the ingredients to whatever size you prefer.
Greek Salad
Prep time: 10 minutes
Serves two
Ingredients
2 plum tomatoes, chopped into large chunks
1/2 cucumber, sliced thick
1 green pepper, chopped
1/4 white onion, sliced
black olives, can be whole or sliced
crumbled Feta (as much or as little as you want)
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of 1 lemon (or 3 tablespoons lemon juice)
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Combine vegetables in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, salt, and pepper. Whisk to form dressing. Pour dressing over vegetables and mix together five minutes before serving. Top with lots (or a little) feta cheese, and serve with warm pita or flatbread. If you want, you can add sliced grilled chicken and make a larger meal out of it.
As a typical aimless twenty-something, my busy schedule of wasting my life on the Internet and staring meaningfully into the distance often makes it hard to find the time to eat properly. Unfortunately, articles with titles like “20-minute Meals” or “One Pot Dishes” appear to be written for people who don’t know how to cook yet have a kitchen stocked with fresh sage leaves, something called “cumin,” and a whole bunch of other stuff that sounds totally made up, along with the standard spouse and 2.5 kids. They do not address themselves to the concerns and lifestyles of those whose tiny pantry is mostly taken up by their roommates’ pretzels and boxes of mac n’ cheese, and whose part-time blogging job does not allow them to purchase fancy ingredients most of which will inevitably spoil.
Clearly, what is needed is a series of recipes for people who are willing to cut up and/or mix some things and put them on the stove, but not much else. The idea is to keep it as simple and minimalist as possible while still turning out things that are hopefully a step above reheated pasta with a can of tuna dumped into it. No ingredients that you wouldn’t be able to find at the crappy Associated or Key Foods on your street, no long instructions for making your own sauce if you can buy something similar in a bottle, no perishable ingredients that only come in larger quantities than you can reasonably use by yourself, and no unnecessary garnishes or decorative crap.
With that in mind, I give you:
Creamy mushroom chicken and potatoes with spices and herbs and junk
Makes one serving. If you’ve got a problem with that, maybe you should ask your loving partner to help you with the multiplication. Jerk.
Ingredients:
-1/4 can cream of mushroom soup
-1/2 boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced
-Marinade (lemon pepper, herb garlic, or Italian dressing)
-Some chopped fresh onion
-Some vinegar or white cooking wine
-2 red potatoes the size of small fists (if you’re a real cheapskate and insist on using regular brown potatoes, go ahead, but don’t say I didn’t warn you)
-Some salt, pepper, oregano and other random spices
-Some olive oil or vegetable oil or whatever
-Fresh garlic or garlic/onion powder
Cut up the potatoes into small pieces, like eighths or something, and put them in a bowl. Then pour some oil and whatever spices you have in your pantry on them. I don’t know how much, just go crazy. If you’ve got some real garlic, chop it up real small and toss some of that in too, otherwise just use garlic or onion powder. Then stir all that shit until the potatoes are coated. Put them on a baking tray lined with tin foil and put that in the oven at 550 degrees for like 25-30 minutes, depending on whether you remembered to preheat – I never do.
While those are baking, heat up some oil on a frying pan, and dump in the chicken that you should’ve had marinating for at least an hour. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on it. Toss the chopped onions in there too, what the hell. Fry it for like 5 minutes or until it looks fairly solid. Then add in the 1/4 can of mushroom soup and like half a tablespoon of vinegar or a dash of white wine, and stir that all together. Sprinkle that with some garlic powder if you want, because there’s no such thing as too much garlic. Fry it for a couple more minutes, stirring occasionally, until you see the creamy sauce start to turn brown and sticky, then TURN OFF THE FLAME WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU DO YOU WANT THE WHOLE GODDAMN THING TO BURN?
If you have managed to get this far without hopelessly screwing everything up, dump the creamy chicken goop on top of the potatoes that you hopefully remembered to take out of the oven and OM NOM NOM NOM. But not right away, because it’s hot and stuff.
Hi, my name is GtCosita, and I love P.F. Chang’s Chang’s Spicy Chicken. I am not ashamed to put this love out there for everyone to see. You would think that as someone who loves food, I’d be all about trying new things. You would be correct, except for the fact that money is tight and Orlando, FL is not exactly a Mecca of diversity when it comes to restaurants. A few years ago, one of the servers at Chang’s let me in on a little secret: order the honey chicken, ask for a side of Chang’s spicy sauce, and mix. I’ve been hooked on that combo ever since. Last night I felt like making my own, and found two recipes that I merged into the following deliciousness:
Spicy Honey Chicken (2 servings)
Total prep time: About 20 minutes
Total cooking time: About 15 minutes
Ingredients:
Two medium chicken breasts cut into nuggets (or any size you prefer)
1/3 cup cornstarch in a medium bowl
2 garlic cloves – minced
1 tablespoon minced or grated ginger
2 tablespoons chopped onion (if you have green onions feel free to substitute)
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon chili sauce (more or less depending on your spice preference)
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar (you can substitute apple cider vinegar or white vinegar)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed in 1 tablespoon of water
Vegetable oil for frying
Prep
Heat up oil in a wok or skillet under medium heat. I use enough oil to almost cover the chicken without completely submerging it. While the oil is heating up, combine the soy sauce, chili sauce, honey, vinegar, salt, and the 1/2 cup of water in a bowl. Stir and set aside.
Don’t be afraid to try the sauce and adjust the spice to your liking (if you use your finger to try the sauce, you may want to wash that finger after you’ve put it in your mouth). Add the chicken pieces (a few at a time) to the bowl with the cornstarch and “bread” the pieces with a light coating.
Once the oil is hot (you can test dunk one piece of chicken – if it starts bubbling, you’re ready to go), fry the chicken pieces (turning once) until the chicken is cooked through (about 3 minutes per side for nugget-sized pieces). Take the chicken out and place on a plate with paper towels to drain. Carefully, remove some oil from your wok or skillet (you can put the excess oil in a ceramic bowl to cool), leaving about 1/2 an inch of oil.
Place the wok/skillet back on the burner (still at medium heat), add the onions, garlic, and ginger and cook for about two minutes. Add the sauce and stir for a few more minutes. Once the sauce starts boiling, add the cornstarch/water mixture, and stir for about two minutes. Once the sauce thickens, add the fried chicken back and stir to coat and heat through, about 1 minute. Serve with sticky white or brown rice.
Have you ever blamed being over-served as an excuse to cheat on your lady love? Sorry guys, that excuse doesn’t hold water (or wine) anymore.
Two wine economists (who knew those existed?) noticed that societies which embraced multiple wives, polygyny, do not consume alcohol. Two notable examples of this in today’s world are parts of the Muslim world and parts of the Mormon church.
Pondering over a glass or two of wine, these economists pondered two questions: “is this ad hoc observation representative of a true phenomenon? Does a real (positive) correlation between monogamy and alcohol consumption exist?” I recommend you read this study, “Women or Wine? Monogamy and Alcohol” as it is fascinating. The bottom line is summed up nicely by Mara Squicciarini, one of the co-authors: “We were surprised to find that there is a trade-off between alcohol consumption and the number of sex partners that men tended to keep at any one time.”
Notable points in this paper:
Apparently there is a ton of data on “frequency of drunkeness” – data that goes back centuries.
Greek and Roman Empires were the only societies who consumed alcohol in that point in history. They were also the only societies who embraced ‘formal monogamy.’
Alcohol consumption did not alter the number of sexual partners a woman had. Slut shaming strikes again!
The Catholic Church may have its issues, but the Church was critical at spreading viticulture around Europe. They were also helpful at spreading breweries around the world too. Servicey!
The Industrial Revolution appears to be the tipping point for both alcohol consumption and monogamy.
Lord Krishna was said to have 16,108 wives and King Solomon had 700 wives and about 300 concubines — all without any social networking or Gawkerdating.
So when you open up that bottle of bubbly with your loved one this evening, you may want to ponder: do we drink because we are monogamous, or are we monogamous because we drink?
Pan fry the prosciutto in olive or grapeseed oil until brown and crisp.
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