Spork or Foon?

Recipe Inbox

Every day, I email myself recipes that I want to make.  Sometimes, I email myself up to 15 recipes a day. I then look at my inbox a week later and I have 100+ emails of recipes alone. I sigh to myself, realizing that I do not have the time nor the metabolism to make such things.  

I do, however, bookmark these sites with the hopes of making the dishes for someone that I love.  I'll think, "Oh, Jack would love this" or "This is exactly the kind of recipe my dad would want" or "OK, I totally need a dining room table so I can have my friends over for a dinner party."

So instead, I have decided to share some of my recipe inbox with you.  Because I love you, too.

You'll thank me later.  

Amy over at Sing for Your Supper has made a Coconut Cake.  She makes the bold assertion that it is the best cake ever.  By the looks of it, I'll have to agree. Come on! Look at it! 

In more great cakes, Irene at Baking, Baseball and Books has made a delicious Banana Cream Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting.  I don't know if I can express to you the speed in which the drool was flying out of my mouth for this one.  My family would flip over this one.

Also, in tropical news, Dawn at Vanilla Sugar has made a White Chocolate, Macadamia Nut, Pineapple, and Coconut Bark.  My mom would flip for this. I will make it for her.  She will be happy and I will be Golden Child.

In a more traditional, I'm going to eat my computer screen to try to get a bite of this one sense, Jaime over at Sophistimom made some gorgeous S'mores Cupcakes. GO LOOK AT THEM.

Want something fun for the kids this summer? The Cooking of Joy has a Apple Pie Apple.  Apple on a stick. Rolled in white chocolate. Then rolled in caramel.  Then rolled in cinnamon brown sugar. Then rolled on my face. 

Never had a melting moment? Me, neither.  Let's melt together over the Quadruple (yes) Chocolate Melting Moments cookie sandwiches over at Chocolate Fool.  My coworkers would love me forever. 

For something a bit more savory, go check out the Sausage Cheese Rolls over at My Daily Delicious. Sausage. Wrapped in cheese.  Blanketed by a warm, delicious, hand-kneaded roll.  Think of it as a Pig-In-A-Blanket for GIANTS.  My friend, John, would love this. Minus the cheese.

Want to Throwdown with Bobby Flay?  Then get a restaurant. Want to pretend like you are on a Throwdown with Bobby Flay?  Then make this Shrimp and Salt Cod Ravioli with Yellow Pepper Romesco Sauce. He beat hometown favorite, Durso's of Queens, NY, with this delicious dish.  I licked my screen. And not because Bobby Flay is a sexy man (although, he kind of is).

Natasha over at Five Star Foodie takes you on some amazing adventures in food. I need to make this Okonomiyaki.  It takes me about 5 minutes to pronounce the name of this Japanese pancake filled with shrimp, scallions, salmon and topped with a Japanese mayo, which is about 4 more minutes than it would take for me to eat it. 

If you like to be enlightened in your quest for delicious food, head over to Tangled Noodle and read a bit about Indo-Chinese foods, then grab a mango and make this OUTRAGEOUS Cajuu Manga-Chicken Salad sandwich.  For all of you mango haters, please give mango a chance. It is the best fruit out there.

And last, but not least (definitely not least),  taking it back to my true love - baked goods - I present to you the Loveliest Carrot Cake You Ever Did See.  Before I eat it.

BBA Challenge #1: Anadama Bread

Ok, the Top Chef with Teanna recipe will be posted this weekend.  I apologize for the delay! It's not a recipe you can make at 6:30 pm after coming home from work!

And like I said, think boobies.

So I will FINALLY post my Bread Bakers Apprentice Anadama Bread.  Nicole from Pinch My Salt has started a fabulous group of 200+ aspiring bread bakers (or accomplished bread bakers like Wendy from Pink Stripes).  Carb by carb, we are baking through Peter Reinhart's The Bread Bakers Apprentice.  I have had my eye on this book for a while, so it was nice to have an excuse to buy it.  

Come to think of it, I'm just going to start joining lots of baking groups to have an excuse to buy lots of books that I couldn't justify buying.  Problem solved!

Nicole says that, "The goal is to push our boundaries, learn new techniques, and introduce ourselves to breads we might otherwise never have a chance to taste. It will be fun, it will be challenging, it will be frustrating, but ultimately it will be rewarding!"

Well, you've sold me. 

Our first bread, Anadama bread, is a deliciously flavorful traditional New England bread made with molasses and cornmeal.  It is actually very simple to make.  My problem is that I always decide to make things like breads and cheesecakes at 6 at night, not realizing that I will not actually be finished making them until 3 am. 

Sigh.

The bread is started with a cornmeal soaker which is just a mix of cornmeal and water.  Next, bread flour is added, instant yeast, and more water is added to create a sponge.  After that, the molasses and more bread flour is added. Knead, let rise, knead, let rise, proof and BREAD! 

I actually got very tired and let my bread proof overnight.  Although I read that I should have left it in the fridge and brought back to room temperature, I just left it covered on the counter.  I woke up and the bread had risen beautifully (and it wasn't overproofed at all!).  I was pretty excited.  And I felt pretty cool baking some fresh bread before work.

You know, just whipping up some fresh bread before work. Lah dee dah.

This bread is absolutely delicious.  The fragrant smells of molasses and bread wafted through the air and the flavor. Oh, the flavor. I was actually surprised at how much I liked this bread. I am not the biggest fan of molasses, and you can definitely taste the molasses in this bread.  But it was the softest flavor that only enhanced the delicious texture.  This is one of those breads that tastes best lightly toasted with just a bit of butter, but also makes a fantastic sandwich bread.

Click here for a great step-by-step tutorial on Nicole's page and click here for the recipe!  But really, go out and get this book! 

Not the Daring Bakers Apple Strudel, But Close Enough: Flank Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

This is starting to become a theme.  Maybe I should start my own group called the "Not The Daring Bakers Such-and-Such, But Close Enough...", because for some reason, I never make the dish on time. And we have a MONTH to finish it.

I am a slacker.  

But I will make it and post it this weekend.

Also, Top Chef with Teanna will be posted tomorrow - the weekend threw me off a bit and the recipe is a bit involved, so I'll finish it up tonight.  It's a good one!  

Think boobs.

Instead, I present to you last night's dinner. Our friends Chelsea and Chris and their son Kip came over last night for our weekly dinners.  I knew I would be working late and that Jack probably would not feel like cooking, so I needed something quick and easy that was packed with flavor.

Chimichurri Sauce.

It is a sauce and a marinade from Argentina.  If you are not familiar with this glorious sauce, please, introduce yourself.

Chimichurri, meet my wonderful blog reader.  Wonderful blog reader, meet chimichurri.

It is a match made in heaven.

Chimichurri sauce is a mixture of herbs and garlic (and sometimes onion) with vinegar and olive oil that amps up the flavor of any dish.  

I had Jack taste it when I was making it and he looked unsure of it.  He actually thought there was too much flavor (and that is saying a lot for Jack). I had to remind him that it was a sauce for the steak and that it would compliment the meat very well.  He didn't look convinced.

Fast forward to Jack's empty plate.  He nodded and said, "You're right, this works."  He had sauce on his chin.

If you don't want a pesky steak getting in the way, just grab a loaf of bread and dip away. Or bathe in it. 

I won't judge.

Flank Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

Serves 4

1 bunch parsley

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons oregano

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

3 cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

1 1/2 pounds flank steak

For the Sauce

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Mix parsley, oregano, red pepper flakes (if you are using) and garlic in a food processor or blender and mix until combined.  Drizzle in olive oil and red wine vinegar and process until combined.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  If you have time, let set for at least 1 hours.

For the Steak

Season steak with salt and pepper.  Grill over medium high heat for 5 minutes on each side for medium rare.  Let rest for 5 minutes.  

TWD: Chipster Topped Brownie Ice Cream Cupcake

I ate WAY too much food this past weekend.  Although I did get to go running every day (on the beach while listening to Bob Marley), I still feel like poop on a stick.  The thought of even talking about food makes me semi-naseous - which poses a problem when it comes to maintaining a food blog.

So I will say this:  I wasn't so crazy about the Chipster Topped Brownies (chosen by Beth of Supplicious - click the link for the recipe) by themselves.  Put a chocolate chip cookie on a brownie, and that's what you've got here.  So it is a good idea, in theory, but overall, it just didn't do it for me.

Put ice cream on top of a cookie on top of a brownie? Now we're talking!  These were delicious as ice cream cupcakes! I was going to use Ben and Jerry's Half-Baked frozen yogurt (which is chocolate and vanilla ice cream with cookie dough and brownie bits - perfect for this recipe), but I couldn't find it anywhere (was everyone stoned yet conscious about counting calories this weekend???), so I just used vanilla frozen yogurt. In hindsight, I guess the extra hundred calories a serving didn't make a difference for a recipe that contained 3 1/2 sticks of butter.

Regardless, this was so, so, so delicious.  Ice cream is like bacon.  It makes everything better. 

Unfortunately, ice cream does not help me burn off the gazillion calories I ate this past weekend, so it is back to the gym.  I have set up a little tent next to the ellipticals so I can camp out there all week.

In the meantime, check out the rest of the TWD crew for more Chipster Topped Brownies! 

I think I'll enter these into the Ice Cream Cupcake Challenge of 2009! Click here for details!

MyRecipes.Com - Spring Risotto

If you are anything like me, you have piles and piles of food magazines stacked up in your kitchen, taunting you like the fire hazard that they are.

Or, you have 100+ emails in your inbox sent to you by YOU because you saw a recipe that you just had to make, but instead, you ignore them and they linger in your inbox, unopened, causing you to look back and wonder, "Why did I send myself this recipe for monkfish hot dogs in February?"

So when LeAnne Armstead over at Time, Inc. emailed me and asked me to write a little bit about MyRecipes.com, I jumped at the chance.

I need some organization in my life, people, and this is where it begins. 

I am a pretty avid user of MyRecipes.com.  I was initially led to this site by many searches of Cooking Light recipes, but was pretty thrilled when I realized that MyRecipes.com was a database for not only Cooking Light recipes, but for Southern Living, All You, Health, Coastal Living, Southern Accents, My Home Ideas, Sunset, and Real Simple.

That's quite a network.

Because of the breadth of coverage that these magazines provide, a simple search can open you to a wide world of possibilities.  Searching for strawberries?  How about making a healthy Strawberry Meringue Torte (only 197 calories per serving! I actually think I am going to have to make this for my boyfriend's health-conscious family this memorial day weekend at the beach!)?  Not counting calories and looking for something super luxe and gorgeous for springtime?  Then you definitely need to check out the Strawberry Tallcake from Sunset Magazine.  Strawberry. TALLCAKE.  Need something to throw together quickly for a party, but don't want to mess with lots of ingredients?  Your head will explode when you take a look at the Salted Caramel Strawberries (seriously, mine just did. I just finished cleaning up the mess.)

The user-friendly site helps internet addicts like me keep things organized.  If I like a recipe, I can simply save the item in my recipe box (my Yahoo mail server will thank me for this one day.).  I can find Quick and Easy recipes or have my questions answered in the How-To section.  There are entire menus for parties of all occassions, and my personal favorite is the Healthy Recipe section. There is even a section for Healthy Recipes FOR $2 or Less! Recession be damned! I can eat healthy AND inexpensively!  

A pretty cool feature on the website is the dinner countdown.  Let the magic timer know how much time you have to cook (20 minutes? 15? 10 minutes? For reals!? What do you have planned!?  Am I invited?) and it will pop out a slew of recipes for you.  

But the most impressive thing about MyRecipes.com is that it is a a great resource for home cooks of all kinds: from those who have a hard time boiling water (don't laugh, I've boiled water so long that it evaporated and burned the bottom of my pot) to those who have worked a long and hard day only to have to rush home to make a dinner for a family of five, to those who are a bit more skilled in the kitchen and can whip up a recipe with ease. 

Or, in my case, it is a perfect resource for a boyfriend who has never cooked a dish like risotto in his life and was able to produce one of the best meals we have had all month.  Jack often doesn't have the patience to make a dish as intensive as risotto, because he is more of a cook-by-the-seat-of-his-pants type cook (which is why he, self-admittedly, absolutely cannot bake).  But the beautiful thing about this was that it was probably the most simple risotto recipe that we have ever seen, and it was bursting with flavor delicious flavors.  The creamy risotto was paired with deliciously tender chanterelle mushrooms and ripe springtime fava beans.  Not only that, but the dish was only 238 calories.  Who says healthy food needs to be boring? Or carb-less?

I'm thinking MyRecipes.com is going to be a good friend of mine.

Spring Risotto - Adapted from MyRecipes.com - Cooking Light 
8 servings (serving size: 1 cup risotto and 1 1/2 tablespoons cheese)

Ingredients
6  cups  boiling water, divided
1  cup  dried chanterelles
2  pounds  unshelled fava beans
5  cups  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1  tablespoon  olive oil
2  cups  thinly sliced leek (about 3 large)
2  garlic cloves, minced
2  cups  Arborio rice
2  tablespoons  tomato paste
1  cup  dry white wine
3/4  teaspoon  salt
1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
1/3  cup  sliced green onions
3/4  cup  (3 ounces) finely grated fresh Romano cheese

Preparation

Combine 3 cups of boiling water and morels in a bowl; cover and let stand for 30 minutes. Drain mushrooms; rinse with cold water. Drain and chop.

Remove beans from pods; discard pods. Place beans in a medium saucepan with remaining 3 cups boiling water; cook beans 1 minute. Rinse with cold water. Drain; remove outer skins from beans. Discard skins.

Bring broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan (do not boil). Keep broth warm over low heat.

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add leek and garlic; sauté 2 minutes or until leek is tender. Add rice and tomato paste; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in wine, salt, and pepper; cook 1 1/2 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Stir in 1 cup broth; cook about 2 1/2 minutes or until the liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. Add remaining broth, 1 cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion of broth is absorbed before adding the next (about 20 minutes total). Stir in morels and beans; cook for 30 seconds or until thoroughly heated. Stir in green onions. Sprinkle each serving with cheese.

Top Chef with Teanna- Steamed Red Snapper with Chanterelles and Rock Shrimp over a Butternut Squash Sauce

Jack and I have decided to do a fun project:  Each week, we will cook a winning dish from Top Chef.

Oh yes, my friends.  We will.

Although we don't have the culinary background to hack it on the line with the likes of Fabio, Stefan, Harold, Hong, Marcel, Tiffani, or Dave (I'm not your bitch, bitch!), I do have the chops to follow a recipe word for word and make something quite tasty!

So we'll pack up our knives and head over to our Top Chef Kitchen, which is NOT furnished by the makers of Glad® and does NOT have glowing appliances by the makers of GE™.

So I guess you don't have to worry about endless product placements. 

We will cook through the winning dishes from Seasons 1-5, with a brief pause when Season 6 comes back on air.  When that happens, we will follow the season, and then resume the remaining recipes when the season is over.

Unfortunately, you will not be able to gaze into Tom's gorgeous blue eyes or stare longingly at Padma's glowing skin.  Gail's effusive smile will not light up our kitchens and guest judges such as Anthony Bourdain cannot provide us with constructive criticism such as "that dish was so ugly, it doesn't even deserve to be prison food".

You will instead receive my witty (I hope) commentary providing a bit of background about the episode and our trials and tribulations about cooking each dish.

Like take this dish, for example.  Jack said he would cook it so that I could photograph it as soon as I got home from work so that I could get a good picture of it in the sunlight. 

Instead, Jack cut off the tip of his finger while making it.

Actually, he cut off a millimeter of skin from his thumb while slicing the butternut squash, called me at work freaking out, so I rushed home to take care of him to find him on the couch watching The Dark Knight with a piece of toilet paper wrapped around it as our dog lay on his lap.  I ran to the couch to see if he was ok, and the piece had magically healed itself. 

I cooked the rest of the dish. 

This amazing, delicious, healthy dish.  Harold Dieterle, the winner of Top Chef Season 1 (and the chef/owner of the restaurant Perilla in New York City) actually won the 1st Top Chef Challenge ever.  The challenge of the episode, titled "Who Deserves to Be Here", was to basically cook a fantastic meal to serve to your peers.  Harold won with this dish - a steamed Thai Snapper atop braised Brussel sprout leaves and a butternut squash puree topped with chanterelle mushrooms and rock shrimp.

Oh YES.  This is going to be fun.

Steamed Thai Snapper adapted from Top Chef Season 1: Episode One

Meat:
1 piece Red Snapper

Sauce:
1 butternut squash
1 cup chicken broth
2 piece garlic
2 shallots
2 oz. butter

Vegetables:
3 oz. brussel sprout leaves (about 1 cup)
1 oz. rock Shrimp
1 oz. chanterelles
1 teaspoon chives 
1 teaspoon parsley

Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper to taste.

Directions:

Skin and dice butternut squash for 15 minutes at 375°. 

Sweat garlic and shallots in 1 tbsp olive oil over medium-low heat while butternut squash is roasting. When squash is done, add squash meat. Cover with chicken stock and simmer 10 minutes. Blend and add butter.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Peel brussel sprout leaves (from fresh brussel sprouts) from bulbs. Sweat leaves in 1 tablespoon butter over medium low heat until golden brown, add shrimp and chanterelles. Cook 2 minutes. Add parsley and chives.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Season snapper with salt and pepper.  Steam snapper for 5 minutes. 

TWD: Mango Bread French Toast "an Ting an Ting"

My mother hails from the gorgeous Island of Trinidad. You may know the country by its full moniker: Trinidad and Tobago.  She moved here from Port of Spain when she was 13 years old, but still kept her Trinidadian heritage strong by celebrating Carnival (the biggest in the world - even bigger than Brazil), listening to reggae and soca music, and eating national dishes such as callaloo (a thick soup made of okra spices, crab, and the like), roti (like a trinidadian naan bread with many variations to eat with things like curried goat and chickpeas) or doubles (fried flatbreads filled with curried chickpeas).

So beautiful.

Although her accent is not as strong as it was when she first moved to America (or so I hear), a few things will bring it out faster than ever:  when in conversation with a fellow "Trini", when telling stories of Trinidad and her youth, when Caribbean music is floating in the air, or when my brother or I make her really, really angry.

And although they speak English, Trinidadian's definitely have their own language.  You may here two Trinis in a conversation about the whereabouts of an acquaintance:

"Ah hyar dey living dong by dey so." -- It is my understanding that they are residing down there.

Or wanting to spend a relaxing day together:  

"We been limin de whole deh! Me eh see she again, she leave de fete long time." -- We have been spending the whole day together, but she departed from the soiree a long time ago. 

Or hear someone sigh and push someone out of the way and say:

"Yuh fadduh was a glassmakah, gyal?" -- Excuse me, ma'am, but kindly step aside, as you are blocking my view.

Oh my friends, you may be asking yourself, "Is that even English?"

Yes, it is. Indeed it is.  But learning the Trini slang is a lesson that cannot be taught in one blog post, dear readers.  

That takes a lifetime.

You can lime (hang out) wit ya pahtnah (friend) and whine (dance) yah bamsie (butt) to the pan (steel band, which was originated in Trinidad) but watch what ya say, 'cause that Macko (gossip) is ryal (real) schtupidee (stupid) and has nothing better to do than to tittyvay (waste time and stir up trouble) and hambug (bother) you and the only way to stop her is to give her a ryal bad eye (look of anger) and cuff (hit) she in she mowt (mouth).

Did you follow that?

The whole point of that story is that I grew up loving Caribbean fruits like Mango, but many of my friends were never exposed to the wonders of this luscious fruit.  And although Mango Bread is not necessarily a Trinidadian dish, I have never tasted a more succulent mango than I did when I was in Trinidad.  And when I told my mother about Dorie's Mango Bread, chosen by Kelly of Baking with Boys (click for recipe), she squealed with delight.

"Oooooooh, I LOVE Mango bread!"

And the lucky woman is going back to Trinidad - or "home", as she and all "Yankees" (in Trini speak, a Trinidadian who has moved to the United States) call it - for two weeks next week.  She then muttered dreamily about eating those succulent mangos on the beaches of Trinidad and Tobago.

But I have the advantage, because this Mango bread is AMAZING (amazing).  Upon taking my first bite, I went cokee-eye (cross-eyed), fuh troot (for truth, for real).  Deliciously spiced. Amazingly moist. Addictive. 

I turned it into French Toast, or, as I will call this from now on, "Trini Toast" by dipping the bread in a mixture of egg, nutmeg, cinnamon, milk and ginger and topping it with a syrup made of diced mango, syrup, and the same spices (I am sorry, I did not measure the recipe).

Umm... let me just say that if you have any leftover mango bread, MAKE THIS TRINI TOAST NOW!

WOWOWOWOWOWOOWOWOWOW.

Without a doubt, this is one of my Top 5 Dorie recipes ever.  I have just made Dorie an honorary citizen of Trinidad and Tobago (I can totally do it).

Oh, and if a Trini ever says that they are doing something "jus now" (just now), in Trini time, that could be days. So if I tell you I am bringing you a slice of this mango bread, "jus now", don't expect any mango bread.  Because I'm not sharing.

Go check out the rest of this Mango Bread on TWD "NOW FUH NOW" (this instant!)

And CLICK HERE for the recipe!

The Art of Simple Food - Vinaigrette and Herb Butter

On the heels of my book review for The Art of Simple Food, Jack and I have decided to cook through the book with the hopes of discovering methods to make ourselves better and more instinctual home cooks. Every Monday, we will highlight one or more recipes from the book as we make our way through each chapter.

The first section of the book is titled "Four Essential Sauces":  Vinaigrette, Salsa Verde, Aioli, and Herb Butter.  Waters states that "these four sauces, though basic, add so much flavor, dimension, and color to meals that I can't imagine cooking without them."  To say that she is correct is an understatement. It is important to use the best ingredients with these sauces, however.  "Because they're so simple, there's no hiding what these sauces are made of."  

Here, Jack and I prepared a two course meal that only required the purchase of a few ingredients - the produce and the protein. Since we had all of the pantry staples listed in Waters' book, our shopping list went a little something like this:

Grapefruit
Avocado
Pork

There has ne'er been a more simple shopping list.  It brought a tear to my eye.  

Grapefruit and Avocado Salad

2 medium ruby grapefruit
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Olive Oil
Avocado

The recipe for Grapefruit and Avocado Salad can be found on page 240 of The Art of Simple Foods.

Since I followed the recipe word-for-word, I cannot write it here, but I will say that if you have the ingredients, you can make this salad without a recipe.  Waters informs of the general rule of thumb for a vinaigrette:  The 1:4 ratio - 1 part vinegar, 3 to 4 parts oil.  The vinaigrette is made using the juice of 2 or 3 segments of the grapefruit, white wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, and freshly ground black pepper.  The vinaigrette is spooned over the sliced avocado and grapefruit.

Let me just say this: I am normally not a grapefruit fan. I find it too tart.  But this salad, my friends, was exquisite. A perfect salad for spring or summer - light and juicy.  The tart grapefruit is combined with a silky smooth avocado and the resulting taste is perfection.  The grapefruit's normally tart flavor is somehow softened when paired with the creamy avocado and delicious vinaigrette.  This is a salad I will forever make when I want a light and delicious meal.  I'm already planning on making it this weekend for Memorial Day.

Herb Butter

Next, Jack and I made the herb butter.  The beauty of this butter is its versatility.  It is perfect for meat, fish and vegetables, and you can use whatever herbs you have on hand.  

The method for this butter is basically to soften butter and add 1/2 cup chopped herbs for every stick of butter.  

1 stick butter

1/2 minced herbs of your choice

Salt 

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Cayenne Pepper

Basically, you mix all of the ingredients, then roll the butter in parchment paper to make a log and freeze or refrigerate the butter until firm.  Jack and I used thyme, parsley, lemon zest, and minced garlic, but you can use parsley, anchovies, black pepper, sage, basile, chipolte, even nasturtium butter - whatever that is.

We have made this in the past, and truth be told, herb butter has changed the way Jack and I look at proteins, knowing that we do not need overly complicated sauces to accompany the meat. Instead, a butter that is filled with fragrant herbs, zesty lemon, and pungent garlic can change a protein in an instant. 

We topped a simple grilled pork loin, seasoned with salt and pepper with the herb butter and served it alongside sauteed spring onions and polenta.

I'm thinking life is going to be pretty delicious and simple in the coming months. And really, is there anything better?

Book Review: The Art of Simple Food - "You Had Me at Gremolata"

As you may or may not know, I am complete obsessed with Alice Water's book, The Art of Simple Food. This book has a repetoire of simple yet appealing recipes and techiniques that will ensure flavorful dishes with the use of minimum ingredients. Waters does not muddy foods with complicated sauces or overly complicated cooking methods. Instead, the standout flavors in her dishes are the actual ingredients themselves - a piece of pork simply seasoned with salt and pepper and grilled to perfection or a salad made up of seasonal vegetables, lightly tossed in a simple vinaigrette.  

Waters states that her "revolution" began when she started a restaurant and looked for good-tasting food to cook.  She searched for ingredients that she loved when she was a student in France: simple ingredients like greens, peas, breads, etc.  In her search, she found that the tastiest foods were grown by farmers closest to her. 

Waters states that "when you have the best and tastiest ingredients, you can cook very simply and the food will be extraordinary because it tastes like what it is (amen to that!)"  Waters believes that you don't need to be a professionally trained chef to make delicious food. Instead, you should rely on your five senses to experience the food fully.  

The book is written as a series of chapters that review the basics, starting with a guide on choosing the freshest ingredients and how to stock a pantry.  "To become a cook," Waters states, "you only need a few essentials:  appetite, ingredients, a kitchen to work in, a few tools, and a few ideas about what to cook."  She then lists an entire list of pantry and perishable staples.  The pantry staples include essential items like olive oil, vinegars, salt, black peppercorns, spices, pasta, polenta and cornmeal, rice, dried beans, anchovies (yes!), flours, sugar, vanilla, yeast, and the like.  For perishables, items like garlic, onions, shallots, celery, carrots, herbs, eggs, nuts, chicken broth, bread and potatoes are included.  From this, Waters lists the bevy of meals that you can make from keeping your pantry stocked with these ingredients.  For example, with pasta and polenta, you can make spaghettini with oil and garlic, pasta with anchovy and parsley, egg noodles, butter, and Parmesan, fusilli and cheese gratin, pasta with white beans, fusilli and tomato sauce, spaghettini alla puttanesca, polenta, and polenta torta.

Word.

She then lists essential kitchen tools that all home cooks should own to properly prepare a bevy of dishes.  Waters is a self-proclaimed minimalist when it comes to equipment (a little piece of Williams Sonoma just died).  She forgoes bulky, complicated equipment in favor of items like a mortart and pestle so that she may become "one with the food", if you will (and I will).  Typical items like sharp knives, cutting boards, heavy bottom pots and pans are listed alongside items like a salad spinner, pasta machine, and earthenware.  For each item, she explains why she feels that the particular piece of equipment would be helpful in the kitchen.  

Next is a section that focuses on cooking techniques that are accompanied by "model recipes" from essential sauces to salads and breads, to roasting and simmering, to savory and sweet.  The second part of the book is filled with recipes that use the techniques that were described in the first half of the book.  

The whole purpose of the book is to learn fundamental techniques by heart so that you don't have to rely on a recipe and finally do what Waters set out to do in the first place: 

To have you and I, the home cooks of the world, trust our senses.

Grilled Pork Loin with Gremolata and Polenta

      

       

Roasted Chicken

Braised Chicken Leg with White Beans and Rosemary and Garlic

Chickpea Dip en Fuego

If you haven't been to the website 101 Cookbooks, go there now. 

Well, go there after you visit my website for a little bit.

The site is filled with wonderful recipes that are mainly vegetarian or vegan (like the Jamaican Veggie Patties) but are filled with interesting and creative flavor combinations.

Take this recipe for example.  On her site, it is actually called Hummus en Fuego, but this dip actually tastes nothing like hummus (in my opinon).  It is flavored with a red pepper oil (a brilliant, infused olive oil that I will be sure to keep at home) and ground walnuts.

Yes. Walnuts.

The walnuts impart a deliciously nutty flavor and an amazing texture to the dip and the flavor is rounded out by the deliciously spicy red pepper oil.

If you are looking for something a bit different, then definitely give this dip a whirl.

Get it? Because it is whirled in a food processor?

Ba dum chhhhhh.

Chickpea Dip en Fuego Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and skins rubbed off (if you'd like)

2 cups cooked (or canned) garbanzo beans, drained

1 medium clove garlic

juice of 1/2 a lemon (about 2 tablespoons)

1/2 cup hot water

Make the hot pepper oil a day or so ahead of time by heating the olive oil in a small saucepan for a couple minutes - until it is about as hot as you would need it to saute some onions, but not so hot that it smokes or smells acrid or burned. Turn off the heat and stir in the crushed red pepper flakes. Set aside and let cool, ideally for a day or two - to let the flavor really develop.

To make the dip, give the walnuts a spin in the food processor, just until they are a sandy texture. Add most of the garbanzos, 1 or 2 tablespoons of the red chile oil (oil only, no flakes), garlic, and lemon juice. Now process until smooth. Drizzle in the water a bit at a time and puree more, until the hummus is creamy and billowy. I tend to let the food processor run for a minute or so at this point, it incorporates air into the puree and makes it a nice texture. Taste to adjust the seasoning.

Serve in a shallow bowl, drizzled with plenty of the remaining oil and red pepper flakes.