Westminstress's Profile
April 2012 COTM: Melissa Clark Month, In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite: Chapters 1 and 2
Yesterday was a rainy day -- perfect for lentil soup! Like others, we enjoyed this soup. I used the recipe from the NYT and doubled it. We garnished with cilantro and mint. I used an entire lemon for the double batch of soup and could have used even more, but I am a fiend for lemon in my red lentil soup and always add a lot. I stashed half the soup away in the freezer pending baby's arrival, and I'm sure we'll be glad to pull it out again even in the middle of summer. I too am curious to try the alternate version with bulgar and mint -- sounds like a Turkish-style lentil soup which I usually love - but will probably wait until fall for that one.
An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler
I know that How to Cook a Wolf by MFK Fisher is her inspiration. I have some MFK Fisher books but for some reason have always had a bit of difficulty getting into them and have never cooked from them. Heresy, I know, but there it is.
An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler
Two recent frittatas inspired by Tamar Adler:
The first used sauteed radish tops and green garlic. (I never throw out the leaves and stems of vegetables anymore.) This was good but since radish greens are on the bitter side, it would have been even better with the addition of anchovies (I was all out unfortunately) or possibly some bacon or pancetta - basically something salty with lots of umami to balance the bitterness.
The second was a clean out the fridge kind of thing -- a few old scallions, some feta, and several cups of chopped fresh herbs (parsley, mint and cilantro) that I had leftover and did not want to go to waste. I sauteed the scallions and herbs before adding them to the eggs and cheese. This was excellent!
I always used to hesitate about buying too many fresh herbs because I would use so little of them before they went bad and just hated the waste. Tamar taught me that I can also use herbs like a vegetable if I have a lot of them. So now I buy without fear. I still get a little waste but not so much as before, and it is great to always have something around to add that extra pop of flavor to a meal.
Vegetarian sub for duck in smoked duck lasagna? No soy/fake meat.
I would sub mushrooms or eggplant. Also not sure if your recipe calls for ricotta and lemon juice/zest, but that would go well with the other ingredients. You are going to need something with some flavor in it to make up for the duck braised in wine. If you're not going to use tomato sauce, you could try something like a spinach and garlic scape pesto. Ranging pretty far afield from the original now, but there you go.
May 2012 COTM: Food of Spain and Moro The Miscellaneous Thread
Yes! I actually have three sizes of microplane and this is a great idea, I will give it a shot. I do use salt when crushing the garlic, but I think my salt is not coarse enough. I have a few different salts though, I really should dig some of them out and experiment.
May 2012 COTM: Food of Spain and Moro The Tapas and First Courses Thread
Hot Chorizo with Butter Beans and Tomato Salad, Moro, p. 113
Loved, loved, loved this dish. Did I say loved? Cooked butter beans are combined with halved cherry tomatoes, 1/2 red onion (I used a couple of shallots), quite a lot of chopped parsley, and sherry viniagrette. Then you crisp diced chorizo in a bit of olive oil and use that to top the salad. I just got this amazing new sherry vinegar made from Pedro Jimenez, and it is probably my favorite vinegar ever. It has a delightfully complex flavor with some sweetness like an aged balsamic, but not as sweet, and it is not too sharp. I added extra vinegar to the salad, and the combo of the vinegar with the tomatoes and chorizo and everything else was just fantastic. There was also a great textural contrast between the crispy chorizo, soft beans, and juicy tomatoes. So, like dk, I highly recommend this dish.
A couple of notes on ingredients. I had trouble sourcing the butter beans in any format and ended up using some really expensive jarred ones that I bought at a Spanish specialty store. After I bought them, I noticed that my local natural foods store has started stocking an Italian brand of canned beans that includes butter beans in the line-up - these were reasonably priced though not BPA-free if you care about that. Favas or large limas or even cannellini could stand in for the butter beans, but in this case I would use fresh, frozen or dried rather than canned. For the chorizo, I used a fully-cured chorizo that does not need to be cooked. I was happy with this choice, because it only took a minute to crisp up the outside, and I think the cooking chorizo would have had to be cooked for much longer.
May 2012 COTM: Food of Spain and Moro The Miscellaneous Thread
I made the sherry vinegar dressing to go with the fantastic hot chorizo and butter bean salad. I have this amazing new sherry vinegar made with Pedro Jimenez that is incredibly complex and not too sharp. So I added an extra TB of vinegar to the dressing and did not include the squeeze of lemon. I liked the dressing, though I am sure getting tired of muddling single cloves of garlic in my giant mortar and pestle! I am actually contemplating buying a garlic press again after tossing mine years ago, with never any regrets until now. For some reason I'm not too good at crushing garlic with the side of a chef's knife.
May 2012 COTM: Food of Spain and Moro The Miscellaneous Thread
Inspired by GG, I did the same thing last night. Roasted asparagus, a little crumbled feta on top, and the pomegranate molasses dressing drizzled over. It was very good! Brilliant combo, GG, thanks for sharing.
May 2012 COTM: Food of Spain and Moro The Soups, Vegetables, Starches, and Legumes Thread
surprisingly, no garlic in this recipe. i agree though, garlic would be a good addition.
May 2012 COTM: Food of Spain and Moro The Soups, Vegetables, Starches, and Legumes Thread
FOS - SPINACH WITH RAISINS AND PINE NUTS - p. 274
A straightforward rendition of a classic dish. Gio reported on a similar dish in the companion thread. Spinach is washed and put wet into a pot to steam until wilted. Meanwhile, saute pine nuts in olive oil until just starting to cover, add the wilted spinach and hydrated raisins (currants in my case) and s&p, cook for 5 minutes. I didn't cook for a full 5 minutes, more like 2 or 3. I am of two minds about the steaming step. On the one hand, I feel that it can easily lead to overcooked spinach, and usually I skip this step and add the spinach directly to the pan without precooking. On the other hand, steaming first does give you the opportunity to press some of the water out of the spinach, resulting in a drier dish at the end. In future, I think I will skip the steaming, but try to get the spinach as dry as possible before sauteeing, as it does tend to throw off a lot of water when cooking. Anyway, you can't go wrong with this dish. Served with simplified versions of the Saffron Rice and Grilled Tahini Chicken Wings from the Moro book, and everything went very well together.
May 2012 COTM: Food of Spain and Moro The Soups, Vegetables, Starches, and Legumes Thread
Saffron Rice, Moro, p. 170
OK, time to confess that what I made had only a superficial resemblance to the recipe in the book. I was looking for a tasty rice dish to accompany the grilled tahini chicken wings (oven-baked drumsticks, in my case), and decided to use this recipe as inspiration for a far simpler dish. Here's what I did for 200 grams of basmati rice (= 1 cup on my scale):
Melted 2 tb of butter (about 30 grams), sauteed 5 green cardamom pods, 3 black peppercorns, 1/2 a cinnamon stick, and a healthy pinch of crumbled saffron threads until fragrant, added the rice and toasted for about two minutes, added 1 cup of water and some salt, put the lid on, turned the heat way down, and cooked for 20 minutes. Fluffed and let sit covered in the pot for another 5 minutes. This made a very flavorful, aromatic rice pilaf for which I got rave reviews. I will definitely be repeating my simplified version of this dish, I could see it going well with many kinds of Indian/Middle Eastern flavors and was very easy.
May 2012 COTM: Food of Spain and Moro The Tapas and First Courses Thread
Grilled Chicken Wings with Tahini, Moro, p. 39
This is really just a review of the marinade. Made these last night with drumsticks, which, lacking a grill, I baked in a cast iron skillet in my oven at 425 until done. I only had half a lemon, but I think this was actually the right amount of lemon to use. Also, I only had time to marinate the chicken for about 45 minutes, but it turned out fine. I think an even longer marinade would be phenomenal, and I'm sure this chicken would be great on the grill. I totally spaced on the sauce so we had the chicken without any extra sauce, but I think I will make the tahini sauce for the leftovers. This was easy and good, definitely goes on the "do again" list. Served with a simplified version of the saffron rice from the same book, and sauteed spinach with raisins and pinenuts from FOS. See vegetable/rice thread for reports on those dishes.
Plus I got the chance to use my new smoked paprika for the first time and just loved it. Will be looking for more opportunities to use this spice!
Needed: A fabulous bone-in pork chop recipe, please!
I love the braised pork chops with sage and tomatoes from marcella hazan's essentials. Google for the recipe if you don't have the book. I recommend adding extra sage. I used this recipe with local pastured pork chops, did not brine, and they were wonderful, not dry at all.
May 2012 COTM: Food of Spain and Moro The Soups, Vegetables, Starches, and Legumes Thread
I made this chickpea salad last night using canned chickpeas. I liked the salad but there was way too much chopping involved for me. It took longer to put together than I expected, resulting in late dinner, crabby daddy, and over-hungry toddler who then refused to eat anything but pb&j. So I probably won't be repeating this one anytime soon. Not enough bang for the buck for me. The leftovers look good though, hopefully my son will eat them!
May 2012 COTM: Food of Spain and Moro The Fish, Poultry, and Meat Thread
Wow, that looks gorgeous, LN! Glad you liked it.
June 2012 Cookbook of the Month Voting is Now Open!
Believe me, I am acting out of fear! Last time I didn't stock the freezer and it took me about 6-7 months before I could manage any real cooking. I think it all depends on the baby, I'm hoping #2 will be easier but am trying to prepare for the worst. I really don't want my son to eat take-out for six months as my husband and I did the last time around!
May 2012 COTM Spanish Month Companion Thread
I end up doing a lot of oven-roasting/baking of fish because it is quick and easy. I've never used a parchment lined baking sheet though. Does this help you get a crispier crust on the fish? I am intrigued because I usually use a glass pyrex and sometimes the results are too moist for me.
June 2012 Cookbook of the Month Voting is Now Open!
If Homesick Texan wins, I am planning on cooking from the many recipes available online on the author's blog. A similar strategy worked out very well for me during Melissa Clark month.
May 2012 COTM: Food of Spain and Moro The Fish, Poultry, and Meat Thread
Thanks for this review. I was thinking of making these potatoes but will give them a pass. I think all that chorizo would be too much for me too.
June 2012 Cookbook of the Month Voting is Now Open!
HOMESICK TEXAN. This will probably be my last COTM for a while. I'm expecting baby #2 at the end of June, and who knows how long it will take to get my groove back. Meanwhile I'm trying to stock my freezer at least a little bit, and I'm sure Homesick Texan will provide good fodder for that!
June 2012 Cookbook of the Month Nominations Are Now Open!
Since we are allowed to nominate more than one book, I could also get behind HOMESICK TEXAN
June 2012 Cookbook of the Month Nominations Are Now Open!
Since I didn't put into all caps before, I will go ahead and second the nomination for FOOD52
May 2012 COTM: Food of Spain and Moro The Fish, Poultry, and Meat Thread
FOS - White Beans with Clams - p. 304
We liked this one, and it couldn't have been easier. Onions and garlic are sauteed in olive oil, then a can of white beans, white wine, and a bit of salt are added to the pot. Cook for a few minutes, then add your clams, cover and steam for five minutes until they open. Chopped fresh parsley is added as a garnish at the end. I took some liberties with the quantities -- for two dozen clams I used three small onions, 5 cloves of garlic, 5 tb olive oil, 2 cans of cannellini beans, but only 1/2 cup of white wine (what I had on hand). You could get away with less oil, but I felt more was better since the beans were canned. I also added a bit of water to make up for the lack of wine, but I'm not sure that was necessary as the clams released a lot of liquid and the final dish was definitely on the soupy side. With canned beans, this was an easy and tasty meal, and my only regret was that I did not have any crusty bread on hand to dip into the juices.
May 2012 COTM: Food of Spain and Moro The Tapas and First Courses Thread
FOS - Scrambled Eggs with Asparagus and Shrimp (p. 203)
Asparagus is blanched, then briefly sauteed with garlic scapes (I used green garlic), throw in some shrimp, then four beaten eggs, move them around in the pan until just creamy, and serve. The recipe calls for 1/2 pound thin asparagus and 1/2 pound shrimp for four eggs. I had about a pound of asparagus, not all of which were thin, and only 1/4 pound of shrimp which I chopped into pieces to spread around more. I used 6 eggs, which seemed the right amount for the quantity of asparagus I had. As a first step, Roden instructs to boil the asparagus in salted water until soft, then the asparagus is cooked again (albeit briefly) in the eggs. I pulled my asparagus before they were done, but even so I thought they were overcooked by the time the eggs were done. I think mine took a bit longer because I had extra asparagus and eggs. I would make this again because it is very quick and easy and I liked the flavor combo. But I would be really careful not to overcook the asparagus, I might even skip the parboiling step, or if I did parboil I would do the shrimp first and add the asparagus with the eggs. I can also confirm that thin asparagus are definitely better in this application. Served with lovely hen of the woods mushrooms prepared according to the discussion on p. 166 (sauteed with olive oil and a bit of garlic), a local aged goat cheese, and some crusty bread for a simple but satisfying supper.
June 2012 Cookbook of the Month Nominations Are Now Open!
Oh, that's so interesting. I looked through old threads but missed this somehow. I'll have to check out the old threads.
June 2012 Cookbook of the Month Nominations Are Now Open!
I agree with your comments. June is a time for market cooking, but not Italian or Mexican, since those cuisines really benefit from waiting until the full range of summer produce is available. Here are a couple of ideas to throw out there:
Food52 book and website (accessible and something for everyone)
Something vegetable focused, maybe Heidi Swanson books and website?
Something else I've been interested in since reading An Everlasting Meal is Edna Lewis' The Taste of Country Cooking.
May 2012 COTM Spanish Month Companion Thread
I spent a year living in LA back in 2002-2003. I used to love that place! I had forgotten all about it until I saw your post. Glad to hear it's still around.
An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler
I've been using her beet cooking instructions with good results. What I do is put all the beets in an appropriately sized pyrex casserole, rinse them with water until the water runs clear (this doesn't take long as they are usually pretty clean already), leave a little water in the bottom of the dish to provide some steam, cover the dish tightly with foil, and roast until done. After they cool a bit I top, tail and peel them.
May 2012 COTM: Food of Spain and Moro The Fish, Poultry, and Meat Thread
Roast Chicken with Harissa - Moro - p. 217
Loved this dish. The night before cooking, I salted the chicken a la Judy Rodgers (but a little less heavily) and smeared a generous amount of harissa all over the outside and a bit inside the cavity. I did not rub under the skin out of deference to my toddler. I did not make the harissa myself but purchased it from a great specialty store in my neighborhood that makes it fresh - honestly theirs is delicious and probably better than what I would make. The next night I roasted at 425 for a little over an hour. (My oven takes longer than most ovens and I usually turn the temperature up to compensate, but when I roasted at 450 I worried that the harissa was burning and turned the temp down a bit.) The chicken was juicy and delicious, loved the addition of harissa. Served with moros y cristianos and dressed acelgas, see report in the vegetable thread.
I think the harissa would also be great on chicken parts for a faster after-work dinner. I would use drumsticks because then you would get a lot of harissa-coated crispy chicken skin with each bite, and I wouldn't bother to marinate. I have a lot of harissa left over, so I will definitely be trying this simpler version, will post back to let you know how it works out.
