Mozzarella-rama!

Last week I made mozzarella, and have been meaning to retype my printout to tell you just what I did, but that is extremely tedious, so I went out and found you some links to great guides.


THIS RECIPE is pretty spot on to what I did.  I don't have a microwave, so I did everything by hand, and melted the curds to knead into cheese by lowering them in heated whey.  I feel like the microwave might be more effective.

THESE TIPS are extremely useful and are worth reading before you start.

If you go for it (and you try the microwave method) let me know how it goes!

Lemon and Shallot Braised Lamb Shanks

This lamb died for a good cause.  I couldn't have been more pleased with the way the dinner turned out.

I took four lamb shanks, put a coarse salt crust on them, and let them sit for a bit at room temperature to lose the chill from the fridge.

In a dutch oven on the stovetop, I seared them two at a time in bacon grease and then placed the seared meat in a separate dish to rest.

I melted 4 tablespoons of butter in the dutch oven and then threw two thinly sliced shallots and a couple of sliced garlic cloves into the dutch oven and browned them.

I added a cup and a half of chicken stock to the shallots and laid a lemon that I'd sliced crosswise into 1/4-inch slices overtop and then set the shanks and any juices in the pan back into the dutch oven.

I sliced a second lemon the same way and laid it overtop of the shanks, ground some pepper overtop, and put the lid on.  It cooked for about an hour on the stovetop, and then I moved it into the oven and baked it at 375 for thirty minutes, then reduced the heat to 300 and let it braise for another hour.

I served it with this potato dish and a glass of red wine.

It was a perfect mix of simple flavors.

Indian Cooking

Saturday I wrote about my Bollywood dancing experience that inspired an Indian meal that evening.  I promised you the recipe, and I deliver.  It was taken from the last issue of Food & Wine magazine and adapted just ever so slightly.  Get all the recipe details from my other blog, Lookin' Good Sister.

Winner Winner Chili Dinner

 Yesterday our office held its second annual chili cook-off.

As contenders arrived at the start of the workday, they plugged in their respective chili-laden crock pots and simmered their concoctions all morning.

I participated, of course, with a three-meat, two-bean chili that had won last year's first prize: "the golden spoon of victory," which is nothing more than bragging rights.  I had to bring it back to see if it could hold its own.  There was much less trash-talking, and since I helped organize it this year, imagine my embarrassment when I counted the votes to reveal:

Yep, still a first place winner.  Don't get me wrong, I'm very proud of the accomplishment.  It was just sort of anti-climactic to announce my own win.  So I had Ken, our IT guy do it.

[booming announcer voice] BEHOLD! THE GOLDEN SPOON OF VICTORYYYYY!

Aaaaand I signed it again this year to commemorate my fantastic chili.

Here's the recipe with the latest tweaks:

Ingredients

1 lb bacon, diced
2 lbs beef chuck roast, cut into 1.5-inch cubes
2 lbs pork roast, cut into 1.5-inch cubes
1 cup mole sauce
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp kosher salt
3 cups stock of your choice, divided
2 med sweet yellow onions, chopped
1 anaheim pepper, seeded and diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 cup chili powder
2 tsp cayenne pepper + more to taste
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
2 14-oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 14-oz cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Directions

Cook bacon in large soup pot, and remove meat to a bowl, reserving bacon grease on the side.
Use small amounts of bacon grease to brown your meat (in batches so as not to crowd the pan) and dump them into your slow cooker with juices and all as you go.
Set the slow cooker on low, stir the mole, kosher salt, brown sugar, and 1-1/2 cups stock in with your meat and cook for 4 hrs.
Meanwhile, return the rest of the grease to your pot and cook your onion, anaheim pepper, and garlic until onion is translucent.
Add your ground spices and simmer a few more minutes to bring out their flavor.
Add the remaining 1-1/2 cups stock, tomatoes, cooked bacon, and 1 can of each kind of beans, and bring to a boil.
Using a hand/stick blender, puree everything in pot.  If you don't have a hand blender, wait for the chili to cool a little and do it in batches in your food processor.
add in your remaining beans, the fish sauce, and apple cider vinegar, stir and add meat after it has slow cooked for an appropriate amount of time.
Refrigerate over night.
The next day, reheat chili slowly, and taste before you tweak.

Serves an army.

Meatballs Galore.

source: Bon Appetite

I love sandwiches.  It's a deep, deep love.  I eat them whenever I can.  Recently, during a weekend getaway with some friends to Leavenworth, I was sucked into an issue of Bon Appetit magazine with a feature on meatballs.  This reminded me how delicious they are on sandwiches, and then I flipped the page to the pork meatball bahn mi.  Cue the heavenly choirs.  Sunday I went to the store and got all the fixins so I could make it ASAP.  It.  was.  amazing.  I modified the recipe a little and used asian quick-pickled cucumbers instead of the radish, and did a lime-sesame oil sriracha dressing instead of the mayo-based one.  I liked it so much, I ate it again for lunch the next day.

Tonight?  Another meatball extravaganza:

source : Bon Appetit

Galettes/Pies/Tarts

I've been obsessed with pies lately.  It happened when my talented baxtress friend Abby mentioned she hated making pies.  I happen to love baking pies and offered my services as an overflow option if she ever needed it.  I usually try not to do this because there are few things more annoying than someone trying to weasel her way into your culinary project.  In fact, I'm a firm believer in staying out of another cook's home kitchen entirely.  That being said, Abby is my PLP and I know she would feel comfortable saying, "Monica, stay the eff out of my biz," if she had to.  So I offered, and then stayed the eff out her biz, but I made pies anyway.  For myself.  Of course.

So Abby got pies back on my brain, but with a twist.  I'm usually an apple pie baker with a full top crust, but she got me thinking about galettes - rustic topless pies.  Pretty sexy, eh?  Indeed.  My first go was a mixed berry version, which Andrew still requests.  It was great.  I'm a big proponent of lemon in pies, so any pie I make will get the juice of at least 1/2 lemon.  It's just for some extra zing.  For me, a berry pie/tart with no hint of tart zing is a failure.  I hate failing.

Then, a couple weeks ago I got up at an ungodly early hour on a Sunday morning while spending the weekend at my friend Sabina's place in Gig Harbor.  I raided her kitchen for pie ingredients and threw together this:

Okay so it's not rustic, but it was delicious and simple to throw together - literally.  I put six eggs, some provolone, ham, zucchini, dill, and a shallot int a bowl, stirred it up, and threw it in a pie crust (which I half-baked ahead of time). We ate it like this:

While we ate, I had this in the oven:

This one is indeed a rustic pie, which just means I pay more attention to the way the fruit looks and forget the top crust altogether.  It was scrumptious.  We ate it like this:

The secret's in the crust.  I am fortunate enough to come from a long line of pie-baking women who have a tried and true crust.  I'm sure it dates back before Grandma Miller, but that's as far as I have ever bothered to ask.  That was four generations ago and out to the plains of Kansas, a generation before the Great Depression.  It's damn good crust and even if she didn't create the recipe, she gets a nod for keeping the pie tradition going, as does Gma Benton and Gma Shank, and especially my mama.

So I've been making these galettes since Memorial Day weekend and I just can't get enough.  It's a lazy way to make pie without compromising on any of the deliciousness or presentation.  Last night I made a recipe I saw on Smitten Kitchen for a zucchini ricotta galette with some of my own mods.  I plugged the recipe in HERE so I could calculate the nutrition info per serving too, because I like to do that.  We all loved last night's galette so much, I made it again this morning for lunch/dinner tonight, plus a peach one with lemon-scented ricotta.  My car was extremely fragrant.  Here they are in my back seat:

Happy July to you all!

Burgers, Round Two

Last night was raid-the-fridge night again.  I had the GF buns in the freezer and some left over grilled chicken cubes from pizza night.  I made those into patties and topped them with some pesto, fresh basil leaves, and low fat mozzarella.  The salad fixins were tossed in a light bright red wine vinaigrette.  In Andrew's words, they were damn good.  We washed it all down with a vodka lemon fizz (vodka, triple sec, club soda, lemon squeeze).  They were little guys, but super duper filling.

How Do You Feel About Eggplant?

I really love it, but very few people in my life feel the same way.  I recently came across a recipe for Eggplant Parmesan that suggests roasting the slices (after salting, draining, and rinsing them, of course) before wrapping them around cheese, setting them in tomato sauce and topping them with more cheese.  I've never heard of the pre-roasting technique, and I'm wondering if I could get the naysayers in my life to give eggplant a whirl by cooking it this way.

Do you love eggplant?  Hate it?  Willing to be an adventuresome eater?

I'm going to try this, minus mint, plus basil.

apple crisp

Yesterday one of the designers, out of the goodness of her heart, made up little gluten-free crackers topped with cream cheese, lox, and capers for me for an afternoon snack. I love food, and I love gifts, and it totally made my day.

So this morning at 7am I decided to make a little apple crisp to bring to the office and share, giving my snack buddy the first crack at it. The prep time was literally 5 minutes (I looked at the clock when I put it in the oven: 7:05am) so this is something even a super busy morning can handle. If you have 5 min to prepare it and another 1 min to remove it from the oven when it's done baking, all you really have to worry about it getting your timing right.

I made it with real flour so I wasn't able to test-taste it, but it got rave reviews so I feel pretty good about it. One of my colleagues asked for the recipe, but this is one I just eyeball so I made some guesses on the ratios for official purposes --even though I often use measurements like "pinch" and "dash" I don't write them into recipes because I know that stresses some folks out-- and since I had it all written down in an email, I thought I'd post it here as well for those of you who are looking for recipes that require little effort and yield delicious returns.

Apple Crisp:

Slice apples thinly (this helps cut down on baking time). I use granny smith; if you use other apples, toss the apples in fresh-squeezed lemon juice (1/2 lemon per apple)

Spread apples in your baking pan, making sure each slice has been separated from one another so they cook better. Leave ½ inch of room at the top

Topping (these are just the ratios – you may want to adjust the amount depending on your taste):

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp – or more if you like – apple pie spice (a combination of nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice)

Stir dry ingredients together

Cut in with a pastry cutter 1 stick butter until pieces of butter are about pea-sized.

Spread mixture over the apples and shake it down into the apples a little.

Bake at 350 for 30 min to an hour depending on how big of a pan you made. My little 6x8 pan that holds two large granny smith apples, sliced, only needed 30 min.

Another variation: Andrew likes it when I nestle little cubes if Kraft (not the inferior Brach’s) caramel within the apples.