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Christopher Kimball's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
Weekend Cookbook Challenge: Christopher Kimball's Fudgy Brownies
Review: Everyday Food Recipes - Chicken, Sugar Snaps, Dipped Strawberries
Isn't the cover gorgeous? The recipe, for Skillet Blackberry Cobbler, is actually from the R.S.V.P. section on p. 28 (just in case you had as much trouble as I did finding it). Again, my mantra from last month - it's very hard to screw up summer recipes.
So much yumminess: Blackberries Brûlée with Marscapone Cream; a "caprese-like salad" of sliced peaches, fresh mozzarella and basil; Grilled Steak and Onions with Rosemary-Balsamic Butter Sauce; Grilled Spicy-Citrus Chicken Thighs with grilled corn; Lobster with Herb Butter; Plum Streusel; Citrus Mint Juleps; Bruschetta with Tomato, Avocado, Basil, and Mint; Almond, Apricot, and Cream Cheese Crostata; and Tangy Avocado-Orange Salad. Wow, so much yum, wow.
There is also a beautiful picnic basket (the "Somerset" willow picnic tote) in Bon Vivant that I am absolutely in love with. And, frankly, it's not that expensive for a gift (only $49); not something bought on a whim, but less than a nice pair of shoes, so I might just have to save for it (can I give myself a midsummer gift?)
We'll have to see how the recipes pan out, but it's very exciting.
Posted by georgia at 12:23 AM | Comments (0) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
So for some reason I get half my magazines a month ahead of time and half weeks later (and some of my subscriptions don't come at all, forcing me to buy them on the newsstand halfway through the month). This leads me to think that the way I've been reviewing the magazines needs to be revamped. From now on I'll comment as they come, or whenever I read them, and I'll just comment about the things that really stand out to me. Hopefully I'll still be able to make a few of the dishes every month and give my feedback.
The main thing I have to say about the July magazines is that if you only buy one issue all year, now's the time to do it. How can you go wrong with magazines dedicated to summer foods? Everything looks delicious! Gourmet is the Produce Issue, with reviews of how restaurants use local produce (or pretend to) and recipes for Two-Berry Shortcake, Roasted-Tomato Tart, Grilled Corn with Herbs, a beautiful terrine (don't think I'm up for making it quite yet) and Zucchini Ginger Cupcakes. Bon Appétit has the BBQ Issue with Chocolate Scones, Avocado Soup with Ancho Cream, Grilled Corn with Queso Fresco, Chili Powder, and Lime, and Peach and Blackberry Shortcakes with Blackberry Cream. Their burgers are a little too complicated, but so pretty. Living is a little heavy on the red white and blue theme, which doesn't do me too much good now, but so much yum: Strawberry-And-Cream Cheesecake, a salad of Tender Lettuce with Pickled Currants (and pate on baguette), Bing cherry mojitos, layers of red currant jello layered with vanilla panna cotta, Blackberry-Mint Julep, and lots of yummy dips. Lots of pretty lanterns too.
Posted by georgia at 10:46 PM | Comments (0) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
So finally, at the very end of June, I gave up my healthy summer eating habits and let myself indulge in a couple of the desserts from Living and Bon Appétit. After flipping through the June issues, I was drawn to two desserts: Bon Appétit's Grilled Brown-Sugar Peaches with White Chocolate and Living's Peach-Raspberry Clafouti.
I started with the Grilled Brown-Sugar Peaches, a quick and easy dessert that was a snap to make after dinner one night. The combination of the white sugar, the cinnamon, and the pistachios was unexpected and interesting, and even though many of the ingredients are inherently sweet, they went very well with the early-summer peach, balancing their slightly tart flavor.
The clafouti was more of a production, with the extra step of poaching the peaches, but the only real difficult part was getting the peaches to break into halves and pitting them. Surprisingly, the harder peaches were easier to work with, because they broke from the pit whole instead of smushing, but it still involved using my thumb as a wedge to get the first half separated and then a nice sharp knife to cut the pit out of the second half. The final dessert wasn't as pretty as the pictures in the magazine, but it was absolutely delicious. It was eggy and infused with vanilla and had the most wonderful texture. The peaches, infused with the vanilla and the flavor of white wine, were fantastic, and I liked the whole thing so much that I ended up eating half of it within a few hours of taking it out of the oven. The poaches peaches on their own would make a great dessert too.
Both recipes are going to get a lot of use in my kitchen and both give me great ways to use all those early summer peaches that aren't quite sweet enough to be enjoyed on their own.
Posted by georgia at 11:35 PM | Comments (3) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
The other day I woke up with the urge to bake; it may have had something to do with the freelance writing piece I was avoiding, or maybe it was because The Guy was home for the day too and he loves cookies. Whatever it was, I had a strong urge to make chocolate chip cookies. After the wonderful success with Christopher Kimball's fudgy brownies I knew I would have to try his classic chocolate chip cookies. I was thrilled to find that this recipe, like the other one, didn't require an electric mixer or any ingredients I didn't already have (we had some Crisco in the cabinet from a while back; we don't use it often, but it stays good for a very long time, so it's good to have). Kimball's notes about the process of creating these cookies mention wanting cookies that puffed up and stayed moist inside while getting crunchy around the edges, and that's exactly what these did. He also wanted a cookie that wasn't so sweet that it sent you running for a cup of milk. For my taste they were still very sweet and went very well with a cold glass of milk, but then that's what a chocolate chip cookie is supposed to taste like.
The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie
1/4 cup Crisco
8 tbsp unsalted butter, softened but still firm
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg white
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
10 ounces chocolate chips
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Beat the Crisco and butter in a medium bowl with a wooden spoon until pretty smooth but with a few harder pieces (about 1 minute). Add the sugars and stir until well blended. Add the egg, egg white, and vanilla and beat until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the batter and mix together until smooth. Add the chips and fold in.
2. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. For large cookies, place heaping tablespoons of dough on the paper with 1.5 inches between the outer edges of the balls of dough. Shape the dough quickly with your hand so that each spoonful is compact and not too spread out.
3. Bake for about 12 minutes, or until tops are lightly browned. Rotate pan front to back halfway through baking; do not overcook.
4. Slide parchment paper onto wire racks to cool. Repeat as needed with fresh sheets of parchment paper.
(Note: don't overcook, or they'll be hard as rocks.)
Posted by georgia at 03:22 PM | Comments (0) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
This week we went a little grilled chicken crazy. Maybe it was the long solstice days or our weekend at Cape Cod; or maybe it was just that chicken is easy to make. We tried two grilled chicken recipes on our grill pan, one from Gourmet and one from Living. Both were good and tasted like summer and both were pretty easy to make. The Chipotle-Lime Grilled Chicken from Gourmet was great - the marinade was simple to make and the chicken really took on the flavors of the chipotle Tabasco and the lime juice. I made the mistake of pouring some of the marinade on the rice I made with it (the marinade is much too strong on its own), but the chicken itself was wonderful (The Guy especially liked it). We also made the Lemon-Thyme Chicken Paillards from Living. I was excited because it has specific instructions for using a grill pan instead of a barbeque, which I thought might make the whole process easier. The chicken took the light flavors of the lemon and thyme it was marinated in, but when we followed the instructions the chicken didn't cook all the way through, even though the pieces were very thin. We were able to get the pieces to cook all the way through after putting them back on the pan for a while, but by then then were fairly dry. I'm sure that by adjusting the cooking time we could get it right and it would be very good. So, which will we be most likely to use again? Well, the chipotle-lime chicken only marinated for fifteen minutes and the lemon-thyme chicken had to marinate for at least two hours...so what do you think?
Chipotle-Lime Grilled Chicken
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
2.5 tbsp chipotle Tabasco
3/4 tsp salt
6 large skinless boneless chicken thighs
2 tsp mild honey
1. Prepare grill for cooking over direct heat with medium-hot charcoal
2. While coals are lighting, stir together lime juice, oil, Tabasco, and salt in a liquid-measuring cup. Put chicken in a large sealable bag and add 1/3 cup marinade (reserve remainder in cup). Seal bag, forcing out excess air, adn marinate chicken at room temperature, about 15 minutes. Stir honey into remaining marinade until dissolved to make sauce.
3. Grill chicken (discarding marindade in bag) on lightly oiled grill rack, covered only if using gas grill, turning chicken over occasionally and moving it to avoid flareups if necessary, until just cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes.
4. Brush both sides of chicken with some of reserved sauce, then continue to grill, turning over once, until lightly borwned, about 1 minute more. Serve chicken drizzled with remaining sauce.
Posted by georgia at 11:32 PM | Comments (2) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
When Sara and Alicat at The Weekend Cookbook Challenge announced that June's challenge was picnic food, my mind immediately went to desserts. I love to bring desserts to parties because The Guy and I never finish them unless we have some help, and I find that fewer people remember dessert at a picnic, so my contribution is always appreciated (the same goes for interesting drinks, like mint lemonade). And what better dessert for a picnic than brownies? They're transportable, they're classic, and, gosh darnit, people like them. After flipping through a few cookbooks, I decided on the Chewy, Fudgy Brownies from The Dessert Bible by Christopher Kimball for two reasons: One, in the four years we've owned this book, I've never used it (The Guy bought it), and two, it was the easiest recipe I found and I had all the ingredients on hand.
Christopher Kimball himself acknowledges that he prefers lighter brownies, but I love the fudgy ones, so I was excited about this recipe. It was a snap to make (no mixers, stand or hand-held), and almost nothing that could go wrong. The chocolate and butter melted quickly, the ingredients came together smoothly (no beating, folding or worrying involved), and looked shiny and gooey as it glopped into the pan - this is a batter that would be made by Willy Wonka, not Jacques Torres. The only problems I found were that when I went to cut them, two hours after taking them out of the oven, they were so sticky inside that they stuck to the knife and broke apart, and that the foil I had lined the pan with (per the instructions) was imbedded inside the brownies in some places. I let them sit a couple more hours and they became more managable (Kimball notes that these are especially good the day after you make them), and for the sake of simplicity I simply cut off the parts that seemed to have aluminum in them.
Chewy, Fudgy Brownies
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
10 tbsp. unsalted butter
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 and 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup walnuts, in pieces (optional - I didn't use them)
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 X 8- inch baking pan with foil or parchment paper, or grease the pan with butter.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter in a microwave oven at 50 percent power for 2 minutes, or melt in a saucepan over very low heat. Whisk the eggs and vanilla together in a medium bowl. Add the melted chocolate mixture and whisk to combine (mixture with thicken considerably). Add all other ingredients and mix together with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. The batter will be very thick and somewhat greasy-looking.
3. Scrape batter into baking pan (the batter will hang together like bread dough) and press into place with a large rubber spatula. Bake about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean when inserted into center. For chewier brownies, bake an additional 5 to 10 minutes. Let cool at least 2 hours in pan before removing, cutting and serving. (The brownies will continue cooking and become chewier as they cool.)
Posted by georgia at 03:42 PM | Comments (6) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
Last week I pulled out the May issue of Everyday Food and tried all three of the recipes I had wanted to try: the Roasted Chicken with Ginger, Chile and Lime; the Gingered Sugar Snaps; and the pistachio crusted Chocolate-Covered Strawberries. I made the chicken without the pickled jalapeños, but it was almost surprisingly good anyway - the ginger and lime add a wonderful pungent flavor to the meat. The only problem was that almost all the spice was confined to the breasts, where it was easy to spread them under the skin. This left the other parts of the chicken with a lot less flavor. Next time I'll try to get every part of the chicken covered in the spices. The sugar snaps, on the other hand, were a disappointment. The flavor was nice, but even with the strings removed, the snaps remained really fibrous and hard to eat. I much prefer them raw and crunchy to warm and stringy, though if one cut them into smaller pieces and cooked them in the liquid longer, it might break down the fibers. The strawberries were perfect - The Guy likened them to nut-crusted ice cream bars, which was a pretty apt description, and noticed that they'd be really good with almonds. I think they might taste even better with almonds, but they wouldn't be nearly as pretty. My favorite thing about the strawberries was that after leaving them in the fridge for only 15 minutes, as per the instructions, they came out firm but not too hard, so the chocolate didn't crack apart and fall off as we ate them and we were able to enjoy chocolate with each bite of strawberry.
Posted by georgia at 11:35 PM | Comments (1) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
I finally got ahold of the premier issue of Imbibe, the new magazine all about things to drink. I love the idea of the magazine since I'm obsessed with great drinks of all kinds, but the execution of the magazine left me with mixed feelings. The topics were great - the front-of-the-book, "Uncorked", had some great stuff and the features were fantastic (a journey through the mezcal, hot chocolate, horchata and aguas frescas of Oaxaca is as good as it gets). The real problem with the magazine was the design, or rather the lack thereof, in the front and back sections of the magazine. The features were well designed and eye-grabbing, and reflected the aesthetics of the pieces' focuses, but the Uncorked items were just slapped on an off-white background without anything to tether them, and as I read it I really noticed how the lack of design translated into what felt like a lack of editorial voice. The fact that each of the Uncorked pieces was a little shorter than I would have liked added to this, but ultimately I think the design gave a different impression of the magazine's point of view than the text did. Throughout the magazine you can tell that the editors are obviously trying to have a little fun with the subject matter, but the blandness of the design made it feel very clinical instead. Hopefully this is just a small setback and the design will improve and come up to the level of the content, because I'd hate for this fantastic magazine to disappear before I can get my fill.
Posted by georgia at 11:59 PM | Comments (0) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
I was flipping through Domino at the bookstore today (I know, I know, I should get a subscription) when I found an idea that made me want to jump up and down with excitement: one of their brilliant editors suggests using beakers, the kind you find in chemist's labs, as vases. I have a few very good friends who are chemists and biologists (or, more to the point, chemistry, biology, and bio-chem PhD candidates) and the majority are men. These men are not the kind who have stylish, minimalist vases from downtown galleries or the MoMA design store, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't have something to put flowers in when someone comes over for dinner, and beakers would be perfect (and, for them, very cheap). They would also make fantastic jars to keep pencils or kitchen utensils in, or you could even fill a few with pebbles, leaves, sea glass, or sand and line them up on a mantle.
Posted by georgia at 09:58 PM | Comments (1) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
So many pretty summer magazines!
Bon Appétit
Like
I like the summer parties theme with all the ideas and such pretty pictures; I love the beautiful aprons they profile in Starters and the article on sophisticated sangrias (I can't wait to try them); the idea of a cognac cocktail is great, and the food-themed invites in Bon Vivant are adorable.
Don't Like
I'm not so hot on the idea of doing a Greek meze - the "small plates" craze needs to start winding down now; I'm also less thrilled about their "frugal and fabulous" menu - the idea is great, but you can make better food for the same money
Yum
Cava Sangria, the gorgeous Orange Layer Cake with Buttercream Frosting and Berries, and that decadent menu for the Saturday Night Swell party (now if only I had the funds to make that menu)
Gourmet
Like
I continue to like the new Good Living format, but is it my imagination, or did they lift this straight from Saveur's annual Saveur 100? I love that they've alerted us to the difference between Contadina's "Tomato Paste" and "Tomato Paste Product", Carolynn Carreño's piece about learning her heritage through cooking is great, as is the piece about community gardens and the interesting piece about banana production; I also like the Greece feature (ie, all the parts of the magazine that include writing and a story).
Don't Like
The parts of the magazine that don't include a story: the Tikki Time food might feel less clichéd with a story, and the family reunion on a farm needs one too, despite the pretty pictures. I was also surprised to see the picture of the Design Within Reach mini-chairs made from champagne corks and foils - I saw these elsewhere months ago.
Yum
The Cornish Hens with Roasted-Garlic Aioli, the Chipotle-Lime Grilled Chicken, and the Passion-Fruit Gelée with Basil Cream.
Saveur
Like
The Fare piece about the Cooper-Hewitt's cutlery exhibit (and not only because I worked on it); the focus of the book review: the politics of food; the story of how vichyssoise was created (in America!), and the interesting story about Philippe Rochat "possibly the greatest chef you've never heard of". But my favorite part (and, yes, the one I had the most fun working on) is James Oseland's piece about the Spice Islands.
Don't Like
I have to admit, I'm less interested in the wine stuff - this is probably because I can't afford any of the really good stuff, so I don't have any real knowledge of what I'm reading about.
Yum
Raspberry Brûlée (I'm buying a kitchen torch just so I can make this), the Raspberry Triffle (I tried it, it's worth the effort), the Raspberry Shortcakes (also divine), the morel tart (ditto), and everything Bandanese: the Fish Curry with Potatoes, Festive Yellow Rice, Spiced Ginger-Palm Sugar Drink, Indonesian Spice Cake, Spice-Braised Tuna, and Long Beans with Sweet Soy Sauce, not to mention the Fried Shallots from the Kitchen section.
Everyday Food
Like
How to carve a chicken - very useful.
Don't Like
Baby Spinach Salad with Tuna and Cheddar-Carrot Balls - yuck! The Beef Tacos with Radish and Avocado Salsa, also yuck - why the pointless recipes just so they can do a feature on radishes? Just cut the things up and eat them in salad.
Yum
Roasted Chicken with Ginger, Chile, and Lime with gingered sugar snap peas and roasted onion; Chocolate-Covered Strawberries crusted with pistachios.
Living
Like
This months' clip-art: measuring equivalents and baking pan substitutions are just what I need; the best sources section will be good to have; the article on rosés is great because they're just coming back into style (in the US) and people don't know enough about them; the bark wrapped flower pot with the roses in it is sooo pretty; as is that sheer roman shade (I love the instructions on this - so simple for such a functional thing); the roses section is also gorgeous (I wish I had a garden), and I can't wait to try the fabric bleaching and dying tricks.
Don't Like
I'm not a mini-flag made of ribbons person - it's just too kitchy - and I don't see the need to paint a bunch of baskets a uniform color so they'll look "coordinated" (again, a little too "Cape Cod kitch" for me).
Yum
Ooo, Peach-Raspberry Clafouti - yummy, yummy, yummy; Almond-Berry Coffee Cake and Chocolate Swirl Brioche; and the Cornmeal Crêpes with Fresh Buttermilk Cheese and Blackberries would make my day (yes, I'm a big fan of anything they make with sugar in it).
Posted by georgia at 08:37 PM | Comments (0) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
If you missed the Dining and Wine section of Wednesday's NY Times (or just prefer getting your news online to spending the money on bulky paper), check out Alex Witchel's great story about a hostess who knows how to keep her guests laughing (and keep laughing herself).
Posted by georgia at 11:53 PM | Comments (0) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
Looking for something new (and quick) to do with chicken, I tried the Sticky Sesame Chicken Wings from Gourmet. They were nice and easy to make (The Guy was nice enough to use his butchering skills to trim the wings into "wingettes") and had a nice flavor to them. I think if I had marinated them longer than the recipe called for they would have been better, but I'd make them again the same way (though maybe not with organic chicken - it was just a little too fatty).
Posted by georgia at 11:42 PM | Comments (2) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
I don't believe that the lack of a grill (or a yard to put it in for that matter) is reason to deprive myself of yummy recipes. So I tried the chimichurri recipe (parsley, shallots, lemon juice, etc.) from the Gaucho Grill article in Gourmet on a regular piece of pan-seared steak. And I'm glad I did - it was wonderful! It was flavorful and summery, good on the roasted potatoes, and a great change for a warm day. All it needed was a glass of that lemonade from last week.
Posted by georgia at 09:13 PM | Comments (1) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
After a couple weeks of a kitchen slump (quesadillas and cereal) I finally broke out the new magazines and my knives.
The first thing on the menu was the Gratinéed Gnocchi with Spinach and Ricotta from Gourmet's Ten Minute Mains. As you can see, it was gorgeous, and we couldn't wait to dig into it. Unfortunately, the taste didn't quite live up to the visual aspect of the dish. It was fine, and the gnocchi (frozen, not dried, because that's what the co-op has) was lovely, but the whole thing lacked spice. I'm not a steamed spinach lover, so that might be the problem, but it would have benefited from some garlic and parmesan (and will next time I make it).
The next dish on the menu this week was the Risotto al Limone from Saveur. I'd been drooling over the picture for weeks, and I was happy with the way it turned out when I made it. Lemony but mild enough not to offend the non-lemon lovers of us (ie The Guy), it was a lovely starter. My only concern is that even after adding an additional scoop of water while cooking, the risotto was almost too al dente. I did halve the recipe, adding the water in 1/2 cup increments instead of full cups, so that may have changed things, but I'd still suggest testing the risotto before you move on to the cream part of the recipe.
Lastly, I pulled a couple of recipes from Living's What's for Dinner section: the Easy Pea Ravioli with Mint and Cornish Game Hens with Lemon and Herbs. The ravioli was an interesting process and kind of sloppy to make (toward the end I resorted to making "pea dumplings" with the wonton wrappers because it was just easier). Since I don't have round cookie cutters I cut them into squares which worked just fine. The end result tasted good, but once I added a little grated lemon zest and parmesan on top of them. For the Cornish Game Hens I substituted a chicken and turned the heat down to 400 degrees. The result was nice, but not as good as some of the other recipes I've tried recently.
Next week? Maybe some desserts...
Posted by georgia at 11:27 PM | Comments (1) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
Hooray! I finally got my first issue of Blueprint, MSLO's newest magazine, aimed at readers in their late 20s and early 30s who value design. I've been hearing exciting things about the magazine for months (when have you seen an editorial staff that looked this fresh?)
So how is it? Fantastic! Chock-full of interesting tips items and articles. And ok, so I've seen some of the ideas before (hell, I've had some of the ideas myself), but the whole issue kept me interested (and reading the actual articles, not just the photo captions).
There are some things they'll have to iron out in this first year of publication - for instance in some sections the pages were so "designy" that the shorter items got lost in the crush, and there was at least one instance of pointless, excessive kitch. And some of the things featured were way beyond my budget (out of 24 shoes in a feature, there were only 2 under $100 - and three over $500).
But ultimately there were far more things that I loved than things I was iffy about: everything in their front-of-the-book section, Perimeter, was great, their makeup spread was interesting and comprehensive, the tai chi article was great, and the charm bracelet article is adorable. My favorite pieces, though, were those on easy party planning and turning scarves into handbags (I told you it was chock-full of wonderful things).
Of course, now we get to the real downside to the magazine - I have to wait half a year to get the second one.
Posted by georgia at 08:19 PM | Comments (1) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
Gourmet
Like
Really loving the articles in the fire theme - didn't think I would since I have no opportunities to grill - but it's really interesting to see how it shaves lives around the world (cooking fish in a kettle, fire as the center of life in the third world, using the natural heat of a volcano to cook, campfire cooking, etc.); love the clip from The Global Pantry (love their previous book too); and a beautiful look into Malaysian food.
Don't Like
Not really interested in the rating of oven mitts (not something I spend any money on), and I'm really disappointed in the Greece feature - what's the point of an article about an "odyssey" if there's almost no scenery in the pictures?
Yum
Too many yummy things! Pa-o Long Beans (I've always seen these in Chinatown and been curious about them); Grilled Skirt Steak, Argentine style; Whole-Wheat Pancakes with Blackberry Syrup; Ricotta Pudding with Glazed Rhubarb; Sticky Sesame Chicken Wings; Orzo with Artichokes and Pine Nuts (maybe this will fix my bad feelings about orzo); Almond French Toast; Strawberry Clouds (meringues, strawberries, cardamom-scented whipped cream); Gratinéed Gnocchi with Spinach and Ricotta; Tapenade-Filled Burgers; Lime Cordial; and Mango Puddings.
Saveur
Like
Breakfast Cereal Cookbook; the focus on Albariños, one of my favorite types of wine; the gorgeous New Zealand pictures (though I'm upset that the recipe for the "fluffy Portuguese tart filled with passion fruit" isn't included); and the Land of Lemons makes me want to go live out of a tent under a lemon tree
Don't Like
I'll admit that I'm not the biggest fan of this month's cover - it's a gorgeous picture, but I just don't like zucchini, so the whole thing is ruined for me
Yum
Roasted poblano meatloaf (with corn Chex in it); I never liked muesli as a kid, but I'm thinking that if I made my own and served it with yogurt and blueberries and peaches, like in the picture, it would be amazing; blueberry brioche; everything lemon: lemon salad with orange zest, limoncello, lemon risotto, lemon custard, and especially mozzarella grilled with lemon leaves (I may have to take a trip home to my mom just to spend a week with her lemon tree); the side mui drink with Chinese dried plums is intriguing; cornish pasties; and corn relish
Posted by georgia at 11:11 PM | Comments (0) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
Another weekend, another adventure with my new favorite book, Susan Hermann Loomis' On Rue Tatin. My friend Lily, who is equally enamored of the book, agreed to join me in a night of French food and film, and we cooked for a bunch of friends, making recipes exclusively from the book. The Apples Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Leeks were as much of a hit as the first time I made them, the Apple Roquefort, and Walnut Salad was lovely, the Braised Chicken in White Wine and Mustard was a huge success, and the Tiny Baked Potatoes with Cream were fantastic (when the store was out of chives, Lily opted for dill, and the result was wonderful). But the real treat of the night, at least in my mind, was Mamy Jacqueline's Chocolate Cake. I worried about the texture when I was making it, since the dense mix of chocolate, sugar, egg yolks and flour didn't seem like the ideal texture to fold into whipped egg whites, and I worried when I poured the batter into the pan and it seemed to barely cover the bottom (and I was even using a 9" pan instead of 9.5"). But when the cake was served, all my fears were put to rest. The cake was a lovely, thin treat of dense chocolate that was homey and sophisticated all at once, and as soon as people had finished their first slices they immediately asked if they could have more. This cake is going to take a place of honor in my repetoire as the adult's answer to the chocolate layer cakes of our youths - when I have kids it will not be something I make for their birthdays, but it is definitely something I will make for mine.
Mamy Jacqueline's Chocolate Cake
3/4 cup cake flour
Sea salt
7 ounces bitter chocolate (like Lindt 70%)
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs, separated
Confectioners' sugar
1. Butter and flour a 9.5 inch rounk cake pan. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Sift the flour and a generous pinch of salt onto a piece of parchment paper.
3. Melt the chocolate in the top of a double broiler over medium-high heat. Transfer the chocolate to a medium-size bowl and whisk in the butter until the mixture is smooth. Vigorously whisk in all but 1 tablespoon of the sugar, then add the egg yolks and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the flour mixture 1 tablespoon at a time until well combined.
4. In a large bowl whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they are foamy and begin to thicken. Add the remaining tablespoon of sugar and continue whisking until they form soft peaks. Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then turn it into the prepared baking pan and bake in the center of the oven until the cake springs back, 20 to 25 minutes.
5. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool to lukewarm in the pan, then turn it out onto a rack to cool thoroughly. To serve, sprinkle it with confectioners' sugar.
6 to 8 servings
Posted by georgia at 11:06 PM | Comments (1) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
Sometimes I think these magazines are marketed like the Summer clothing that shows up when there's still snow on the ground. I've had the May issue of Bon Appétit on my table almost since the beginning of April, so here's the first installment:
Bon Appétit
The Caribbean theme doesn't excite me right away - the pictures, though gorgeous, make me want to lie back with a tropical drink, not stand over the stove in my tiny kitchen.
Like
The pictures (wow, I want to be on the beach!); cocktail sections, both the Caribbean Cocktail and the gorgeous "Mix and Muddle"; the in depth article on rum producers of Guadeloupe and Martinique; and the "Tasting the Caribbean" piece, which finally makes me want to cook.
Don't Like
The long sections about traveling to the Caribbean - if I wanted a travel magazine, I'd buy one.
Yum
Hominy breakfast porridge; "Shark and Bake" fish sandwiches; mango, kiwi, watermelon drinks; Mango-Filled Cream Puffs (the solution to the Beard Papa addiction); Tangerine-Honey Flan with Grapefruit Segments; Guava and Manchengo Phyllo Pouches with Passion Fruit Syrup; Banana Split with Curried Chocolate-Coconut Sauce; and Shrimp, Mango, and Jicama Salad with Pineapple Vinaigrette (I need some real food to go with the desserts).
Living
My God that's an impossible standard the cake on the cover sets.
Like
The info on replacing regular four with whole wheat flour - really useful; Cinco de Mayo decorations are cute and cheap; a Vietnamese Mother's Day - such a lovely article
Don't Like
The clip art - do we really need fake home made? Why not just do real home made? The "Helpful How Tos" aren't even new, and they're all very common things; the leather piece (new ideas, but not easy or practical) though the headboard is lovely.
Yum
Croissants - and you don't even need a stand-mixer; Orange and Buttermilk Parfait with candied kumquats in syrup; Petits Choux with rose creams; Champagne Sorbet with tapioca; Frozen Green Tea Souflés; Easy Pea Ravioli with Mint, Cornish Hens with Lemon and Herbs, and Honey Zabagione with Grapefruit from "What's for Dinner"; Salade Niçoise Sanwiches.
Real Simple
I bought the issue hoping the room makeover ideas would help us pull our apartment together. Unfortunately the section was much smaller than I'd hoped, but there were still some things I really liked:
Like
Lost sock memorial day - a day to throw out your unmatched socks; the idea of using nail polish to mark your keys; the bookcase covers (from Ikea) that keep dust and clutter away and look so cute.
Don't Like
I don't, however, particularly like their "solutions" - they're mostly things that will cost money and add clutter to my life.
Yum
Raspberry-Rhubarb Tart; Pan-Seared Lemon Sole; and Roast Cod with Crisp Potatoes
Posted by georgia at 10:51 PM | Comments (3) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
This week started with the very simple Rigatoni with Tomato Sauce and Ricotta from Gourmet, moved to the bright Spring Vegetable Fricassee with Saffron Cream from Bon Appétit and then finished with a grand finale of Spring Greens with Orange-Fennel Vinaigrette and Dark Chocolate Torte with Spiked Blackberry Coulis from Bon Appétit's Passover feature.
The rigatoni was lovely and easy to make, with simple clear flavors that were just as wonderful cold for lunch as they had been the night before for dinner. The sauce, a combination of good (canned) tomatoes and fresh basil was simplicity itself to make, the dollop of ricotta on the side contrasted nicely with the tang of the tomatoes, and the pecorino grated over everything added the only depth the dish needed.
The vegetables in saffron cream were not nearly as simple either in method or taste, but they were lovely and a nice variation on our usual salads and braised leeks. The sauce soaked into rice nicely and the whole dish added flavor to the simple chicken I served it with. The only thing that would keep me from making it again is the simple fact that I don't really see the point to covering vegetables with tons of cream - it seems to defeat the purpose of eating the vegetables. If I did make it, however, I would leave out the peas. There's just something about peas that brings a dish down to the level of little kid food.
The real hit of the week, however, were the Passover dishes I made with my hostess Barbara. For second Seder we made the Spring Greens with Orange-Fennel Vinaigrette, in which I omitted the fennel (The Guy doesn't like it) and substituted a little lemon zest and some dried cranberries, which don't taste anything like fennel but pack the same kind of punch in a salad. We agreed at the end of the night that we liked it better this way - fennel would have been one taste too many (especially alongside brisket, turkey, kugel, matzoh, geffilte fish and melon). And for the end of the meal we made the chocolate tort I had been drooling over since the magazine first arrived at my door. The cake was surprisingly easy to make (just melt chocolate, whip eggs, and fold them together), and had the most wonderful fudgy texture that somehow wasn't too dense. The coulis (blackberry with allspice, bay leaf, cloves, wine, and cognac) was a wonderful complement to the chocolate, and added a great flavor to the chocolate glaze. A fantastic way to end the night (now I just need to find the alka-seltzer in Barbara's medicine cabinet....)
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I was very excited when I saw the recipes grouped under the heading "Spring Chickens" in Bon Appétit, especially the Mustard-Roasted Chicken with Warm Frisée Salad with Fingerlings and Bacon, because I have three nearly full bottles of different kinds of Dijon mustard in my fridge that I only use for salad dressings. I rushed out and bought the rest of the ingredients I needed, and only after realized that the recipe required me to marinate the chicken "at least 4 hours or overnight." I was so annoyed, because I'm really not exactly someone who preps dinner the night before, but I didn't want to waste any of the ingredients, so I did it anyway. The next night I made the rest of the dish while roasting the chicken, and sat down to a wonderful dinner. The mustard had given the chicken's skin a strong, rich flavor that blended perfectly with the warm friseée dandelion, potato and bacon salad and the balsamic vinegar dressing (which I subbed in for Sherry vinegar). While I'm not thrilled about the idea of prepping dinner the night before again, and I don't really like putting bacon in my salads, this is a meal that I can't wait to have again. It was even good cold for lunch the next day when the greens had wilted from sitting in the dressing over night. Really, surprisingly good.
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I was in Red, White & Bubbly a few days ago, waiting for them to chill my bottle of Albariño, when I saw it: "The Best Selling Vinho Verde In The World". The bottles were cute, and the wine inside them was so pale that I could easily understand why the Portuguese named it "green" wine. Then I saw the price: $5.95. For less than the price I pay for a single glass of wine at a restaurant I could try the "best selling" green Portuguese wine in the world. How could I pass it up?
The wine was light and refreshing (the "green" in the name actually refers to the wine's young age) and was slightly effervescent. It wouldn't really have enough body to stand up to most food, but it was very drinkable on its own, and I'll bet it makes an excellent summer afternoon drink. Maybe not something I'd spend a lot of money on, but hey, for $6 who cares?
Posted by georgia at 09:49 PM | Comments (0) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
So there wasn't tons going on in my kitchen this week, but I did try the Pappa al Pomodoro (Bread and Tomato Soup) from Saveur's Florentine Trattoria story. It took a little longer to make than I would have liked, with the leek-cooking and the simmering and the soaking, but there was plenty of time while it was cooking to work on the rest of the meal and get started on clean-up, so it actually worked out very well. I had a problem with my leeks cooking faster than the recipe anticipated (and turning a little too brown on the edges), but I think that's probably the fault of my dinky little stove (it doesn't have the most responsive dials). I was also surprised by just how difficult it is to whisk together a big pot of soup and soft bread - I really need to work on my arm strength if I'm going to do this kind of thing on a regular basis.
The finished soup was lovely, but had a much milder flavor than most of the soups we usually eat, and neither I nor The Guy was thrilled with it. The next day, however, our friend Anna discovered that it was really good cold, and I played with grating parmesan into it, which made the soup a little more flavorful.
With the soup, I tried the Leek and Brie Bruschetta from Everyday Food, since I already had lots of bread and leeks on hand. It was very easy to make, though I did have the same problem with the leeks that I had making the soup, and tasted just as good as expected. We didn't have as much leeks as the recipe called for, so their flavor wasn't as strong, and the tomatoes had not even begun to brown by the time the cheese had melted, but it was the highlight of the meal none-the-less and something that I will make again soon (maybe even this weekend).
Posted by georgia at 10:39 AM | Comments (0) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
Maybe it's the time of year, but I still haven't been bowled over by any of the recipes I've tried from this month's magazines (the Irish stuff from Saveur being the obvious exception). This week's recipes were all right, but not anything that I'd rush to make again. We started with the Fettuccine with Sausage and Kale from Gourmet's "Quick" section, which was very good for a few bites, and pretty easy to make, but not all that special (if you want to try it, remember that it's better with lots of extra pecorino - the three flavors go very well together). We also made the buttered polenta from Gourmet, which had a wonderful texture and was soothing to cook, but was not better than the creamy polenta made with a little milk that we had a couple weeks ago. I had also hoped to make the Maple Sugar Ragamuffins or the Maple Sugar Tartlet, which both looked promising, but the Pear and Dried-Cherry Custard Crisp from Bon Appétit was easier to add to the cooking schedule (and simpler to prepare), so I went with that instead. Unfortunately it was not as good as I had hoped after seeing the picture they had of it. The flavors didn't blend together successfully, and although the picture made it look like the fruit would be accompanied by a lovely smothering of custard, but there wasn't even enough to keep the fruit moist. Very unfortunate, especially since the custard itself, when you could get a bite, was wonderful, as was the crisp on top. Next time I'll use it with a different fruit and a larger ratio of the custard.
Posted by georgia at 11:43 PM | Comments (0) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
March may come in like a lion and go out like a lamb (and this week's weather certainly did), but this week's cooking came in with a whimper and went out with a bang. It started with the Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars from Everyday Food, which looked amazing in the magazine, but just didn't wow the mouth the way they wowed the eyes. Maybe if I made them with walnuts they might actually taste like something. Fortunately my experiments with the Irish food from Saveur went much better. I made the Colcannon (mashed potatoes with cabbage and leafy greens), which I served with some garlicky roast chicken, and we finished the meal with the Tipsy Puddings from the same issue. Though not for the faint of heart or the under-aged palate, they were really lovely, and a perfect end to the meal. And the following day the Colcannon leftovers turned into a really nice lunch of colcannon cakes, following the method in the Kitchen section of the magazine. Definitely recipes I'll use again.
Posted by georgia at 09:54 PM | Comments (2) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
This week was not a big cooking week (it was more of the going to Chinatown or ordering take-out kind of a week), but when I finally slowed down a little I did try the Edamame Corn Chowder from Everyday Food. Since the Park Slope Food Co-op doesn't exactly carry creamed corn, I had to improvise with frozen. I also added cream instead of half-and-half (partly to compensate for the corn issue and partly because we never have half-and-half but we use cream for baking and sauces) and Fines Herbes with salt and ground pepper instead of Italian seasoning, because why overcrowd an already crowded spice drawer? The soup was good, but not as good as it probably would have been with the softer creamed corn. Of course, the best idea might be to just use a good corn chowder recipe that I know I like and add the edamame in before it's done (though probably less than the 2 cups in this recipe). I would let it cook a little longer than it did in this recipe too, since the texture just wasn't as soft as I would like, and I would add the bacon back in a few minutes before it was done so that the flavors could all mix.
So that would be my ideal version of this soup, but it's a good idea in whatever form you decide to make it.
Posted by georgia at 10:19 PM | Comments (0) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
Well, since I've already started in on the March reviews, I should probably finish up the Feb reviews. This week I finally got to the Feb copy of Living, though not to the lovely craft projects that I wanted to do. I'll hang on to the issue for those and for all the great desserts that I didn't get to try.
This week I started with the Quick Chicken Cacciatore from What's for Dinner, and served it with polenta. Unfortunately my local stores don't carry instant polenta, so I had to make it the hard way (taking notes from the March issue of Gourmet), but I did add some milk and butter and parmesan to the recipe, to mimic Martha's version. The meal was very good, especially the polenta with the sauce from the chicken on it. The chicken was nice, and an interesting variation from my usual recipes, but nothing to write home about (Mom, I guess that means you should stop reading now), and for something that calls itself "quick", it takes an awfully long time.
I also made the Little Lemon Soufflés, which looked like one of the quicker, cuter desserts in the issue. It was quick, and kind of fun to make, but as you can see from the pictures, they weren't exactly cute. The soufflés rose in funny directions and the lemons (Meyer lemons, as per the recipe) turned a very dark gold as they cooked. Looking at the picture in the magazine, I assume that the stylist had the kitchen bake a few dozen of these just to get the three they showed us, then did lots of color correction to get them as cute as they look.
Despite their ugliness they were lovely to eat, though, and The Guy especially liked them. Maybe next time I try them I'll make them in real ramekins, so it will be easier to salvage their appearences when they go lopsided.
Posted by georgia at 10:21 PM | Comments (2) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
Well the first of my March magazines arrived quite a while ago, but the rest of them are now starting to arrive. Gourmet and Saveur are both place-based special issues and Everyday Food is, well, Everyday Food, but I haven't seen a copy of Living, which will have to be reviewed later. So without further ado...
Gourmet
This issue, about Montreal, had the affect of making me really excited about the prospect of visiting a city I'd never thought of visiting before. For some reason Canada is the place all left-wing Americans think of running away too if the whole country goes red, but we don't find it interesting enough to plan a trip to. Canada simply doesn't have the romantic image of Europe or the exotic appeal of Asia or Latin America. Somehow we'd be willing to live there but are not interested enough to visit. This issue changed all that. I can't wait to find a time to visit and explore.
Like:
Taras Grescoe's article about the blending of cultures in Montreal was the thing that really changed my mind, the article about the Charlevoix countryside is beautiful, and The Modern Quarter has me packing my bags.
Don't Like:
The first section of the magazine, Montreal By The Numbers, and the article about hotels make the magazine feel too much like a travel magazine (I only want to read mouthwatering things about the food and fascinating tidbits about the culture).
Yum:
Last month's best dishes were too hard to make (and many of the ingredients too hard to come by), but the Fettuccine with Sausage and Kale and the Straccetti Di Manzo from Gourmet Everyday look wonderful, and I can't wait to make the ragamuffins.
Saveur
A bit of disclosure: I'm doing some work at Saveur for a few weeks, and I love it there, so I might not be as objective as I usually am, especially when it comes to the April, May, and June/July issues. But I do love the March issue. The cover picture alone is fantastic.
Like:
While I like all the Ireland stuff, the small pieces about the people who produce the foods (artisinal butter, cheese laces with seaweed, lamb "prosciutto") are my favorite. From the front-of-book sections, I love the article about Manti, the jokes about food-themed movie titles are great, and, of course, I love the run-down of chocolates. I also found the article about East Coast wineries really interesting since I've heard so much about them recently, and the pictures of citrus in Source are beautiful.
Don't Like:
The idea of a fireplace in the kitchen, presented in Kitchenwise, is wonderful, but I'm not really thrilled with the kitchen it's featured in.
Yum:
There are so many things I want to make. I'm tempted to set a whole day aside to try my hand at manti, Colcannon looks like a great side, Doris Grant's Brown Bread might be a great place to start a career as a baker, I'm totally enchanted by the idea of the Tipsy Puddings with Mulled Wine, and if I do make colcannon I'd love to try the breakfast version of the leftovers. Even the Lamb's Liver with Whiskey and Cream looks amazing, though I'd never make it (not being a lamb or liver eater).
Everyday Food
Like:
I love steel-cut oats, and it's nice to see that other people do too, the idea of poached pears from the microwave is right up my alley (fast, cheap and good), and the idea of making my own tomato soup for grilled cheese is great.
Don't Like:
I can't imagine that many of their readers need pieces on just the chef's knife or cayenne. A comparison of these items in relation to similar items might be interesting, but how many people aren't familiar with them on their own? By the same token a piece about Italian red wines that focuses on Chianti, a red that has been so popular that it was something of a cliché for years, is almost insulting. The celery article is also kind of ick, with recipes like Celery Gratin and Buffalo-Style Celery Sticks that just don't look appetizing.
Yum:
The Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars look delicious, the Celery and Apple Salad with Pecans looks refreshing, the Coconut Cream Tart would be fun, and the Edamame Corn Chowder sounds like a fascinating, yummy take on one of my favorites.
Posted by georgia at 10:22 PM | Comments (0) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
What does it say about me that I love owning this book? I like to think it says that I'm starting figuring out how to have and run my own home. I know that it says that I don't want to have all my stained clothes dry-cleaned or buy new clothes when I ruin what I have. To many people (my siblings included) it probably says that I'm (still) a big dork.
The book itself is incredibly useful - how to get deodorant or pen out of a shirt can save your whole wardrobe - but the way it's put together baffles me. Each kind of stain has its own little page or two with descriptions of the stain and ways of getting rid of them, but these pages also have odd little sections about where the stain is most likely to occur (sleeve, pant leg, etc.), what time or year it is most likely to occur, and what time of day it is most likely to occur. Why on earth do we need this? Do we not know that tomato sauce can stain your sleeve while you cook or your lap if you drop your pasta? Do we not know that you can get these stains all year round or that you have to be most careful of them in the evening when most pasta-eating occurs? I doubt anyone who has ever eaten pasta doesn't know these things. And as if the existence of these sections was not confusing enough, some stains don't have them. Why is this? Why does salsa have a "Time of Occurrence" section while mustard doesn't? It's really feels like the people writing the book were stretching for content and just threw in the most obvious facts they could possibly find in lieu of coming up with something better. The other section I can't understand is the little section in the middle with pictures of different kinds of stains. Do people really not know what a ketchup stain looks like? And some of the pictures are in really poor taste - do I really need to see pictures of semen and vomit stains? (Of course, it could just mean that someone over at Quirk publishing has a great sense of humor.)
Despite the odd way this book is put together, I'm still going to enjoy owning it, and it's still going to get a lot of use. After all, it's a book that tells me how to get my clothes clean - and it's cute too.
It should probably noted (to save my reputation as a 20-something as well as to give credit where credit is due) that I did not purchase this book myself; it was a wonderful, thoughtful gift from my mother, who held off getting me these kinds of helpful books until I actually wanted and appreciated them. Thanks, Mom.
Posted by georgia at 11:58 PM | Comments (1) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
This was another Bon Appétit week, though with new job stuff taking up more time than I had anticipated it was not a big cooking week. I started with the White Chocolate Cupcakes with Candied Kumquats (if you're snowed in on a Sunday afternoon, why not bake?) and then made the Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Orange Cream (yay for my hand blender - see the soup picture here). Unfortunately these, like the other recipes I tried this week, were not as good as I expected them to be. The cupcakes were trying to be too many things at once (white chocolate, coconut milk and candied kumquats all together) and didn't live up to the hype. The coconut totally disappeared into the other flavors, and the cupcakes themselves didn't have the moist texture I was hoping for. Fortunately the wonderful icing and the candied kumquats almost totally made up for it. While I might not use the whole recipe again, I'll definitely use these two components. I especially love the kumquats - I've always loved them, just popped into my mouth as a little wake-up - and now I actually have something to do with them.
The soup had some of the same problems, but it somehow lacked the depth I was expecting. Though it had the zing of orange zest worked into the cream and the freshness of basil, the basic soup was kind of flat (and tasted entirely too much of jarred red peppers - though I don't know why that surprised me).
So what's going on? Have I lost my ability to pick recipes? I guess all I can do to find out is the same thing I always do after a bad week in the kitchen - just keep cooking.
Posted by georgia at 10:58 PM | Comments (2) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
So it may be a little early to be doing next month's Weekend Cookbook Challenge, but events have conspired to put recipes relating to the theme in my path, so here it is, my take on the theme of Foods in Shades of Orange. Many months ago I was given a copy of the beautiful cookbook The Tra Vigne Cookbook: Seasons in the California Wine Country, but I had yet to crack it until last night, when I finally opened it to make the Roasted Beet, Onion and Orange Salad (I had some oranges that I was afraid would go bad and some hazelnuts left over from a baking project, so the recipe looked perfect). I was planning on eating it with some kind of roasted chicken or turkey or something, but I didn't really like the idea of waiting for meat to cook for an hour.
So yesterday when I came across a recipe for Venetian Pumpkin Risotto in the cookbook The Jewish Kitchen (which I've been going through for a work-related project), I thought I had found the perfect solution. My dinner was fairly quick and painless to make, and consisted of both a dish made with oranges and a dish with a nice orange color (aren't the pictures pretty?), but unfortunately, neither recipe really worked out for me. For some reason the salad was not nearly as good on my tongue as it was in my mind, and though The Guy loved the risotto, I found it drier than I like, and the butternut squash didn't retain much flavor in the finished dish. These problems are probably both my fault, since I'm sure the salad is excellent at the Tra Vigne restaurant, and I didn't use the specific type of rice called for in the risotto recipe (I used plain arborio, the book calls for something more specific) and therefor had to add more stock than I should have. Overall it wasn't a bad meal, but I don't think it's a good sign when you don't want to eat the leftovers for lunch.
Posted by georgia at 12:57 PM | Comments (1) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
Now that my January/February Cook's Illustrated has finally arrived (bizarely, a couple weeks after my March copy), I'm going to backtrack and take a look at it. And since Bon Appétit send their issues out a full month early, I'm going to look at the March issue and catch up with that too.
Cook's Illustrated
Like:
Skillet Chicken Pot Pie - The Guy loves chicken pot pie, and if this is really an easier way to make it, I can't wait! How to cook rice and grains is great to know, the coaching on how different sized pieces of butter affects the flakiness of crusts is fascinating, and a piece about perfecting chocolate mouse is, of course, right up my ally.
Don't Like:
Despite my sometimes obsession with fast, I'm not really one for pesizzled bacon, and I'm definitely not a refried beans person.
Yum:
Pot pie anyone? Maybe with a side of biscuits and a little chocolate mousse for dessert?
Bon Appétit
Like:
More biscuits, and these are supposed to be great; the "Naturalist" chopsticks in Starters are beautiful; Party Improv actually looks kind of inspiring; the article on parsnips is great, because I never know what to do with them and I'd like to try; most of the things in Bon Vivant are beautiful, especially the bowl, the earthenware pottery, and the chocolate-covered crispy rice; and the article on Oregon truffles is fascinating.
Don't Like:
The idea of an article on mozzarella recipes looked good, but the recipes are dissapointing, and the article on bringing steakhouse recipes home left me cold for some reason
Yum:
Cornmeal and cheddar biscuits, arugula salad and oranges slices with Grand Marnier for dessert, Parsnip and Hazelnut Gratin with Bacon, Sautéed Chichen with Parsnip, Apple and Sherry Pan Sauce, Pear and Dried-Cherry Custard Crisp, Upside-Down Butterscotch Apple Sour Cream Cake, and Linguine Avgolemono with Artichoke Hearts and Green Beans.
As for the recipe testing, this week I managed to eschew the many sugary desserts littering the pages of my magazines and stick to the entrees and vegetables (the only upside to my fight with a head-cold). This week was a Bon Appétit week with recipes from both issues. Our favorites were the Green-Onion Risotto and the Thyme-Roasted Carrots from Feb, which we ate together. The risotto was lovely. The unexpected, bright flavor of the orange zest and the fresh green onion added a lovely conterpoint to the rich, comfort-food flavor of the rice. The carrots were also wonderful. Rediculously easy to make, they were mellow enough that the flavor of the thyme really shined through even though it wasn't as visible as I had expected. I accidentally let some of them char a little on the edges, but the flavor actually added to the dish's wonderful taste and drew focus to the carrots' carmelized sugars. Both recipes left us wanting seconds, and I would readily make both for guests.
The Sautéed Chichen with Parsnip, Apple and Sherry Pan Sauce, from the March issue, was not as much of a success. The chicken was fine, and the dish was very edible, but if this was the only way to cook parsnips I would never buy them again. Fine for one night, but no something I'll ever make again.
Posted by georgia at 09:42 PM | Comments (2) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
Have you ever wanted to move to France? Buy an old house with hundreds of years of history and painstakingly restore it? Negotiate the unique cultural challenges of a small city in a new country? Or just spend all your time researching and cooking French recipes?
Well cookbook author Susan Loomis has done it all, and in 2001 she wrote a book that allowed us all to experience it with her. Her joyous, engaging account of starting a life in Normandy with her husband and her young son is a delightful read and a great introduction to French culture. It is also a wonderful introduction to French cooking with descriptions and histories of the dishes she includes after each chapter. The recipes are easy to follow and seem less daunting than most French cooking (due, no doubt, to the explanations and stories that go with them) and delicious. We tried the Apples Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Leeks and the Pear and Honey Clafoutis, both of which were wonderful. Can't wait to try some more.
Apples Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Leeks
4 large apples, cored, one strip of skin removed from the circumference of each apple
1 cup white wine such as Sauvignon Blanc
1 dried, imported bay leaf
Fine sea salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 large leeks, white part only, well-rinsed, and diced
2 tablespoons bottled water
7 ounces goat cheese
2 tablespoons crème fraîche or heavy cream
Freshly ground black pepper
Flat-leaf parsley for garnish
1. Preheat the oven to 400 Fº.
2. Place the apples in a baking dish and pour the wine around them. Add the bay leaf to the wine. Lightly salt the interior of the apple.
3. Place 1 tablespoon of the butter and the leeks in a large, heavy saucepan adn cook, stirring and shaking the pan, until the leeks begin to turn transparent. Add 1 tablespoon of the water, stir, and cover the pan. Continue cooking until the leeks are tender, about 10 minutes, adding additional water if necessary to prevent the leeks from sticking to the pan.
4. When the leeks are cooked, transfer them to a mixing bowl. Add the goat cheese and crème fraîche and stir until all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Gently stuff each apple with an equal amount of the goat cheese and leek mixture, pressing it into the cavity and mounding it on top. Top each apple with one fourth of the remaining tablespoon of butter.
6. Bake in the center of the oven until the apples are tender and the goat cheese is dark golden on top, about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer one apple to each of four warmed plates. Garnish the plate with sweet cicely or the parsley and serve immediately.
4 SERVINGS
Posted by georgia at 05:34 PM | Comments (2) | permalink | TrackBack | Email this post
Bon Appétit
Though the picture of white bean soup on the cover is not the most appetizing photo I've ever seen, the themes "Warm & Cozy" and "Desserts for Chocoholics" are looked very promising.
Like:
The Double Seven (a bar that pairs drinks with chocolate) looks very promising; the article on "Wines for Real Life" (wine for the make-up dinner, wine for the post-job-interview meal, etc.) is adorable and funny; the article on winter greens is informative; and the section on chocolate desserts is, of course, wonderful (how can you really go wrong!) Even of the stuff in Bon Vivant is cute and within my price range - the kitchen-themed Valentine's Day cards are adorable, and the chocolate fragrances sound wonderful, if really expensive.
Do