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Thursday, February 25, 2010
I saw that Giada has a line of kitchen gear and cooking ingredients at Target. I like the colors but I had to say the gear could be cuter... like Nigella's egg shaped items. Has anyone tried the pasta or other food stuff?
Aaron and I have been stopping by the Irondequoit farmers market to pick up items from Pappardelle's Pasta and Small World Bakery. The Small World Bakery granola is quite tasty as you can see, the jar doesn't stay full long.
The sage, pumpkin and chestnut orzo was pretty tasty too... Aaron made a brown butter sage sauce for it and we grated fresh parmesean on top. Nom.
When I made the beet salad last weekend I made a balsamic sauce for on it. I was looking at the balsamic vinegar I bought at Wegmans a little more closely and noticed the three leaf mark. I have learned the importance of using the right kind of olive oil in cooking and was curious what the deal was with balsamic vinegar.
A little research showed that "Today, commercial production of authentic balsamic vinegar is governed by a consortium of producers, Consorzio Produttori Aceto Balsamico di Modena." Wow. That sounds super important. The best balsamic vinegar is called Tradizionale and Condimento balsamics. What I use is a Industriale or mass-produced balsamic which has a four leaf ranking system.
I used a three leaf balsamic vinegar for my sauce but one of these days I am going to try a Tradizionale and Condimento balsamic vinegar.
Both Aaron and I love beets. i picked these up at the Irondequoit Farmers Market. I had a beet salad at an Italian restaurant in Chicago that I wanted to recreate.
First I roasted the beets. This couldn't be easier. I wrapped them in aluminum foil and put them in the oven at 400 degrees for one hour.
I read a tip once that to easily skin roasted beets just rub them with a paper towel. It really works! I love the color of beets!
I couldn't find a recipe online for a beet salad that was just like the one I had in Chicago, so I sort of made it up as I went along. I sliced the cooled beets and arranged them on a plate with some baby salad greens. Next I sprinkled crumbled feta cheese and glazed walnuts on top. Then I drizzled some extra virgin olive oil and a balsamic vinegar sauce over everything. The sauce is just a quarter cup of balsamic vinegar and a quarter cup of sugar warmed on the stove until the sugar disolves and it is velvety smooth.
The salad was sooo good! We will definitely be having this again.
This week is Aaron's birthday week. Birthday week doesn't have to mean a gift each day, it could be a movie night, foot massage or special breakfast.
I asked Aaron what he wanted for his special birthday week breakfast and he came up with baked eggs. I made a version with sliced tomatoes, bacon, swiss cheese and eggs. The recipe also called for something I didn't have... smoked paprika.
Things have a way of popping up for me multiple times until I pay attention. There was a chapter in Amanda Hesser's book "Cooking for Mr. Latte" where she sings the praises of smoked paprika. Then I was looking for a recipe for corn fritters like the ones I had at dinner in San Jose and what I found was this recipe for Double Corn Fritter Cakes with Smoked Paprika Glazed BACON!. Finally this morning was the last straw when I was looking at recipes for baked eggs and the one I found called for... you guessed it... smoked paprika.
A little research revealed that the paprika I am used to, the paprika that I sprinkle on deviled eggs comes from Hungary. Smoked paprika comes from Spain and is traditionally smoked over oak fires. Apparently it can go on practically anything and tastes amazing.
In our last batch of CSA veggies, we got some hot peppers.
I didn't know what to do with them until a friend on Facebook recommended hot pepper jelly. Perfect!
This will be so tasty on crackers with cream cheese or on toasted baguette with brie.
Here is my recipe:
1 cup chopped jalapenos peppers
2 cups chopped red bell peppers
5 lbs sugar
3 cups apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 packages Ball Fruit Jell Liquid Pectin
Disolve sugar in the vinegar and lemon juice. Add the peppers and let boil for 2 mintues. Add liquid pectin and let rest for 10 minutes. Fill the jelly jars and let them seal.
It all started with this book, "Cooking for Mr. Latte". I read an article by NY Tmes food writer Amanda Hesser about how she prepared meals for flying and it was enough to make me get this book. (I'm not sure why there are two different book covers out there) I like to read about her cooking adventures and run ins with foodies, of which have convinced me I am not a true foodie. There are some hard core foodies out there. The book is a collection of stories around food and cooking during the time she met her boyfriend Mr. Latte. Each story is accompanied by recipes of the food mentioned.
Amanda mentions Julia Child frequently which led me to to this book Julie and Julia based on the blog called The Julie/Julia Project. Julie Powell started the blog as a record of her plan to set her life right by cooking all 524 recipes in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking".
The hardcover is called "Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen" and the soft cover is named "Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously". Again I am baffled as to why this is but I digress.
Julie Powell's book has been combined with Julia Child's book "My Life in France" to create the movie Julie and Julia.
The movie chronicles both Julie's endevours (played by Amy Adams) and the life of Julia Child (played by Meryl Streep). I can attest that reading about food and watching movies about food can make you very hungry. I am looking forward to this movie though, because as my mom says, "Meryl never disapoints".
When I was on the plane I saw a few short clips of Tiny Kitchen. I loved it!
Times recipe tester, Jill Santopietro's kitchen is 11.5 square feet with no dishwasher or garbage disposal and only two feet of counter space. But she still manages to create delicious dishes.
I like some of the special features they have like Tomato Can Cam....
and the huge print captions for instructions and things like "lettuce cutting montage".
She doesn't have room for a lot of kitchen tools, so she makes use of things like a pan for crushing nuts. She has to use a stepladder to get things down often too.
I have a smallish kitchen, rather than a tiny kitchen but I still love these segments!
Now that Giada has a baby girl, she hasn't been doing her show, Giada's Weekend Getaway. I have had to make due with Giada at Home. Not quite as exciting, and I don't think I can go and visit her kitchen like I was able to visit the restaurants she tried on Weekend Getaway. Ah well, at least we get to see her husband Todd running around town picking up supplies.
Aaron bought a pizza pan for the grill on sale at Wegmans and we finally decided to try it out. We made the pizza on a peel...
... and then slid it onto the hot pan. We forgot the mozzarella cheese and had to throw it on top in a hurry.
Turned out great! A little thicker than I generally like my pizza (I'm a thin crust gal) but it was nice and crispy. It was nice to have pizza without heating up the kitchen with the oven.
I have never made poached eggs, but I bet I would like them. I have read that it is hard to make poached eggs. NotMartha has written extensively on the subject.
I spotted these PoachPods at Wegmans and I am wondering how they would do. Anyone out there tried them? They sure are cute.
