I'm pretty excited for Thanksgiving this year because for the first time in four years we'll be spending it with my family (but sadly not the Potter family), but mostly because we are going into culinary uncharted waters for me. There will be not one, not two, but three proteins served this year. Turkey, the traditional; from the far east, the exotic duck, and the humble chicken. "But how will you cook all three in your oven at once?" you might be asking. They are deboned and wrapped up inside one another with a delicious cornbread and rice stuffing in between each one.
It might be cheating a little, because we're getting the Turduckhen from Costco, but you know what, that's what the membership is for. Getting ridiculously extravagant fowl that I would otherwise have to thaw, debone, wrap, season and cook all on my own, and that's a lot of work.
So here's the menu:
Turduckhen
Cornbread and rice stuffing
Sweet potato casserole
Homemade sausage and apple dressing
Homemade cranberry relish
Canned cranberry relish
Apple pie(s)
Pumpkin pie(s)
Chocolate mousse trifle (because I can't help myself)
Green bean casserole
Potato rolls
and homemade egg nog!
Whew! What are your favorite Thanksgiving dishes? What says "Thanksgiving" to you? And I promise, I'll write another article about the meaning of Thanksgiving. Yes, right now, I'm just thinking about food.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
The Cilantro Challenge
Cilantro is a really common herb in Indian and Mexican food. A lot of people really love it. At least as many also loathe it.
The reason it tastes so bad to some people is because of a chemical called aldehydes. These are the same chemicals that give soap its soapy taste and stink bugs their stinky smell.
Especially for people who hate cilantro, the first taste their brain recognizes is the aldehydes. After the brain becomes used to the aldehydes and stops recognizing them as a potential toxin, the other flavors of the cilantro become more pronounced.
Dr. Jay Gottfried claims to have reversed his hatred of of the green herb. He says that after encountering in time after time, his brain no longer recognizes it as a threat, and he now enjoys the fresh flavor from it. Yes, there is still soapiness, but it's not the forefront flavor.
You may enjoy reading the article in full here.
I would love to develop an appreciation for cilantro, because I could eat a taco without fear, not avoid pico de gallo, and enjoy Indian food to its fullest. I'm going to take the cilantro challenge. I'm going to eat 20 dishes with cilantro in them in 2012, and see if I can learn to like cilantro. After all, I'm so grateful that I came around to onions, mushrooms, and peppers.
What are your thoughts? Do you love cilantro or hate it? Would you be willing to take the cilantro challenge with me?
The reason it tastes so bad to some people is because of a chemical called aldehydes. These are the same chemicals that give soap its soapy taste and stink bugs their stinky smell.
Especially for people who hate cilantro, the first taste their brain recognizes is the aldehydes. After the brain becomes used to the aldehydes and stops recognizing them as a potential toxin, the other flavors of the cilantro become more pronounced.
Dr. Jay Gottfried claims to have reversed his hatred of of the green herb. He says that after encountering in time after time, his brain no longer recognizes it as a threat, and he now enjoys the fresh flavor from it. Yes, there is still soapiness, but it's not the forefront flavor.
You may enjoy reading the article in full here.
I would love to develop an appreciation for cilantro, because I could eat a taco without fear, not avoid pico de gallo, and enjoy Indian food to its fullest. I'm going to take the cilantro challenge. I'm going to eat 20 dishes with cilantro in them in 2012, and see if I can learn to like cilantro. After all, I'm so grateful that I came around to onions, mushrooms, and peppers.
What are your thoughts? Do you love cilantro or hate it? Would you be willing to take the cilantro challenge with me?
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Three meals, one chicken.
I'm a big fan of chicken. It's possibly the perfect meat. Not too fatty, but still delightfully greasy in your mouth, white meat, dark meat, just the right size for working with. Honestly, I don't get all the Thanksgiving hype over turkey. You need a lot more equipment and time, and it's probably still going to come out dry. So, as promised, how to make the most from one humble chicken.
First off, I like to wait until Albertsons has their amazing chicken sale. $0.79/lb. for a whole fryer, meaning you can buy a whole chicken for around $3.50. That even beats the $5 or $6 roasted chicken you can find starting around 4pm.
Open up the raw chicken, take out the giblets, trim the neck and tail down if they bother you, set all that aside. Then rub the chicken down with your favorite seasoning-salt, pepper, Lowry's, garlic, truffle oil, poultry seasoning, whatever suits your fancy. You can even get up between the skin and the meat so all the flavor isn't lost on the skin. Now, if you like really crispy skin, leaving the chicken uncovered in the refrigerator for one or two days will really help with that.
Then I like to roast the whole bird, starting face down in a 350 degree oven. I do it breast-down because all the juices run to the white meat and help baste it, but if your goal is crispy skin, you might want to leave her breast-up. Roast until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees. Start checking around 40 minutes, depending on the size of the bird. Let it rest for a few minutes so the juices don't all run out.
Now what I would do is carve up the bird and save either the breasts or the the thighs for meal two. Serve it up with mashed potatoes or rice and a side of vegetables. Save the carcass after you cut the meat off and throw it into the freezer in a plastic bag.
For meal two, you cut your breast or thigh meat into strips. Toss it with some pasta alfredo. Or, you can put it into tacos.
For meal three, I cover the carcass with warm water and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for an hour. Then I pull it out and scrape the leftover bits of meat off; this generally yields about a cup of meat. I put the meat back in the pot and put in about two cups of mirepoix (two parts sauteed onion and one part each sauteed carrots and celery) and two or three cloves of garlic, minced. From here, you can either add egg noodles or homemade noodles (saving a little bit more money) or go on to make chicken and dumplings. (You'll also want to adjust your spices accordingly. Last time, I put in a little turmeric and cayenne pepper as well as salt, pepper, paprika, and poultry seasoning for an Indian flair.)
For the dumplings, you just take 1 or 2 cups of flour, 3/4-1 1/2 t. salt, 1-2 t. thyme, and enough water to make it sticky. Work the dough together in a bowl so it's just barely sticky, then add more flour, so it's not sticky. Then, tear off large or small chunks of dough and carefully drop them into your hot broth. Then cook up in 8-10 minutes. I like my chicken and dumplings thick, so I make a very thin paste of flour and water and whisk it in, that way all the vegetables and dumplings are suspended, rather than sinking to the bottom.
So, what ideas do you guys have to stretch a chicken into multiple meals?
First off, I like to wait until Albertsons has their amazing chicken sale. $0.79/lb. for a whole fryer, meaning you can buy a whole chicken for around $3.50. That even beats the $5 or $6 roasted chicken you can find starting around 4pm.
Open up the raw chicken, take out the giblets, trim the neck and tail down if they bother you, set all that aside. Then rub the chicken down with your favorite seasoning-salt, pepper, Lowry's, garlic, truffle oil, poultry seasoning, whatever suits your fancy. You can even get up between the skin and the meat so all the flavor isn't lost on the skin. Now, if you like really crispy skin, leaving the chicken uncovered in the refrigerator for one or two days will really help with that.
Then I like to roast the whole bird, starting face down in a 350 degree oven. I do it breast-down because all the juices run to the white meat and help baste it, but if your goal is crispy skin, you might want to leave her breast-up. Roast until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees. Start checking around 40 minutes, depending on the size of the bird. Let it rest for a few minutes so the juices don't all run out.
Now what I would do is carve up the bird and save either the breasts or the the thighs for meal two. Serve it up with mashed potatoes or rice and a side of vegetables. Save the carcass after you cut the meat off and throw it into the freezer in a plastic bag.
For meal two, you cut your breast or thigh meat into strips. Toss it with some pasta alfredo. Or, you can put it into tacos.
For meal three, I cover the carcass with warm water and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for an hour. Then I pull it out and scrape the leftover bits of meat off; this generally yields about a cup of meat. I put the meat back in the pot and put in about two cups of mirepoix (two parts sauteed onion and one part each sauteed carrots and celery) and two or three cloves of garlic, minced. From here, you can either add egg noodles or homemade noodles (saving a little bit more money) or go on to make chicken and dumplings. (You'll also want to adjust your spices accordingly. Last time, I put in a little turmeric and cayenne pepper as well as salt, pepper, paprika, and poultry seasoning for an Indian flair.)
For the dumplings, you just take 1 or 2 cups of flour, 3/4-1 1/2 t. salt, 1-2 t. thyme, and enough water to make it sticky. Work the dough together in a bowl so it's just barely sticky, then add more flour, so it's not sticky. Then, tear off large or small chunks of dough and carefully drop them into your hot broth. Then cook up in 8-10 minutes. I like my chicken and dumplings thick, so I make a very thin paste of flour and water and whisk it in, that way all the vegetables and dumplings are suspended, rather than sinking to the bottom.
So, what ideas do you guys have to stretch a chicken into multiple meals?
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Goats Milk: Part II
A couple weeks ago, I saw Aarti Sequeira make paneer, a really easy Indian cheese. It's basically just curdled milk, patted into block form, and used in Indian cooking. After successfully reproducing her paneer, she mentioned that it's similar to making ricotta, so I thought I'd give it a shot.
So you know that nursery rhyme about Little Miss Muffet? Well "curds and whey" is exactly what we're creating here. The curds become the cheese. The whey still has some riboflavin and a nice umami flavor, if you ask me. I've heard that you could use it instead of buttermilk in some recipes if you don't want it to go to waste. I draped a folded, thin woven cloth towel over a colander to drain my cheese, but cheesecloth is recommended. Hence the name, I assume.
Now, I don't really like to dirty up my measuring cups and spoons too much if I don't have to. So I just dumped. But if you like measuring and that sort of thing, here's the recipe that I used like the Pirates' Code-just guidelines. I substituted about half the milk for the leftover goat's milk. I warn you: if you have not had it before, it is gamey, grassy, and almost pungent.
You basically have to slowly bring the milk up to a boil, then reduce the heat, and add an acid to curdle the milk. In this case, I used some vinegar and lemon juice.
 |
| Here it is in the pot. You'll want to heat it slowly and stir to keep the curds from burning. If you look closely you can see how the surface is bumpy. Those are the curds. |
 |
| This is the cheese draining. No spiders here! |
So I took my half-goat's milk, half-cow's milk ricotta and spread it over top of some homemade lasagna. I had leftover spaghetti sauce, a bunch of lasagna noodles I bought on sale, some frozen zucchini and some mushrooms on their way out. Layered and topped with the ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella. Sorry, no picture of the lasagna. Sometimes I get so excited when the food comes out that I forget to take a picture of it.
Don't be afraid of homemade cheese! This was super easy, it only took about an hour and a half to go from yucky milk to yummy lasagna.
And don't ask me what a "tuffet" is. I still don't know.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
What's in My Kitchen?
Here are some weird and interesting foods that I have in my kitchen right now!
This is some yummy Cinnamon Pumpkin Bread from Great Harvest Bread Company. The thing that I love about this place is that they always give you a free slice of bread, just for coming in. You don't even have to buy anything. But you will, because once you try it....you're hooked!
Jesse and I wanted to buy a bottle of wine. That's when we saw the "Chocolate Shop" wine. It's a sweet red with chocolate in it. I don't have the most discerning wine palate, but I can tell you, it is truly a "dessert wine." I think this would make a really great gift. We picked ours up for $13 at Albertsons.
I'm trying to get Boaz to start drinking milk. It occurred to me that maybe he would like goat's milk better. For a whopping $4.50 we picked up this tiny little quart. It tastes like.....how do I describe it....drinking the juice squeezed from the stinkiest cheese I've ever tasted! Boaz literally shuddered after tasting it.
I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it.
This is some yummy Cinnamon Pumpkin Bread from Great Harvest Bread Company. The thing that I love about this place is that they always give you a free slice of bread, just for coming in. You don't even have to buy anything. But you will, because once you try it....you're hooked!
Jesse and I wanted to buy a bottle of wine. That's when we saw the "Chocolate Shop" wine. It's a sweet red with chocolate in it. I don't have the most discerning wine palate, but I can tell you, it is truly a "dessert wine." I think this would make a really great gift. We picked ours up for $13 at Albertsons.
I'm trying to get Boaz to start drinking milk. It occurred to me that maybe he would like goat's milk better. For a whopping $4.50 we picked up this tiny little quart. It tastes like.....how do I describe it....drinking the juice squeezed from the stinkiest cheese I've ever tasted! Boaz literally shuddered after tasting it.
I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it.
Friday, September 23, 2011
This week in food!
We have our first subscriber! Thank you Jesica! I'm sure this really ups your chances of winning when we have giveaways. ;) Maybe we'll have to get after my husband to subscribe too.
Ah, with the advent of fall my mouth starts to water in anticipation. I love the berries and fresh fruits and vegetables summertime farmer's market, but I get really excited about fall cooking. It's all about cinnamon and comfort food and pumpkin everything. I'm finishing up my last week working a newspaper route (read: sleeplessness) and I'm hoping to blog at least once a week after that. I figure 3 meals a day x 7 days a week, and all I have to do is blog about one of those. Doable.
I already bought pumpkin spice egg nog. Delish. Then we got the pumpkin cinnamon swirl bread from Great Harvest Bread Company. Love it. Hope Jesse gets a slice before I eat it all. Boaz (my one year old son) even liked it. I'm not embarrassed to say, I dropped some on the floor, but I picked it up, blew it off, and ate it anyway. Still alive.
I love fall cooking because it gets cold, and I like to save money. I figure, if it's a little chilly, I can turn up the thermostat, OR I can cook something. Double duty heating.
Well, the Potter house is now on a budget. I mean, now I'm adhering to the one we have. Jesse was good about it. And I would go to the Good Food Store and come back with all the things I didn't know existed but now needed. And that, my friends, is why I'm waiting 'til next month to go buy the cardamon I've been wanting. I'm trying to stretch that dollar for our food budget (or even go a little underbudget, if possible) whilst still having fun cooking and enjoying what I'm eating. Here are a few things I'm doing to help that along:
1. Put my grocery money in an envelope-when it's gone, I'm done shopping for the month. So far: major fail. But it's the first month, so it's ok.
2. Shop the sales. I'm checking the ads. About every two weeks, Rosauers has some crazy good sale for one day only. You can combine manufacturer coupons with store coupons with sales to improve savings. Albertson's has a coupon roundup this week. So your 25 cent coupons are actually worth something now!
3. Eat seasonally. If I don't finish the produce I have, I freeze it. In Montana, people literally try to get rid of excess zucchini. So I'm chopping, grating, and freezing for this winter.
4. BE HAPPY WITH WHAT I HAVE! This means realizing that God has provided for us and I need to just steward it well and not covet what I don't have. I'm getting a little more creative and using stuff that's been shoved to the back of the pantry. And you know what? Jesse has loved eating mac n' cheese with cut up hotdogs. This should be my number one on this list, but at least this way, it will be the last thought I leave you with. Ps. 23 v. 1 in Spanish literally says, "The Lord is my shepherd, and nothing is lacking from me. =)
Ah, with the advent of fall my mouth starts to water in anticipation. I love the berries and fresh fruits and vegetables summertime farmer's market, but I get really excited about fall cooking. It's all about cinnamon and comfort food and pumpkin everything. I'm finishing up my last week working a newspaper route (read: sleeplessness) and I'm hoping to blog at least once a week after that. I figure 3 meals a day x 7 days a week, and all I have to do is blog about one of those. Doable.
I already bought pumpkin spice egg nog. Delish. Then we got the pumpkin cinnamon swirl bread from Great Harvest Bread Company. Love it. Hope Jesse gets a slice before I eat it all. Boaz (my one year old son) even liked it. I'm not embarrassed to say, I dropped some on the floor, but I picked it up, blew it off, and ate it anyway. Still alive.
I love fall cooking because it gets cold, and I like to save money. I figure, if it's a little chilly, I can turn up the thermostat, OR I can cook something. Double duty heating.
Well, the Potter house is now on a budget. I mean, now I'm adhering to the one we have. Jesse was good about it. And I would go to the Good Food Store and come back with all the things I didn't know existed but now needed. And that, my friends, is why I'm waiting 'til next month to go buy the cardamon I've been wanting. I'm trying to stretch that dollar for our food budget (or even go a little underbudget, if possible) whilst still having fun cooking and enjoying what I'm eating. Here are a few things I'm doing to help that along:
1. Put my grocery money in an envelope-when it's gone, I'm done shopping for the month. So far: major fail. But it's the first month, so it's ok.
2. Shop the sales. I'm checking the ads. About every two weeks, Rosauers has some crazy good sale for one day only. You can combine manufacturer coupons with store coupons with sales to improve savings. Albertson's has a coupon roundup this week. So your 25 cent coupons are actually worth something now!
3. Eat seasonally. If I don't finish the produce I have, I freeze it. In Montana, people literally try to get rid of excess zucchini. So I'm chopping, grating, and freezing for this winter.
4. BE HAPPY WITH WHAT I HAVE! This means realizing that God has provided for us and I need to just steward it well and not covet what I don't have. I'm getting a little more creative and using stuff that's been shoved to the back of the pantry. And you know what? Jesse has loved eating mac n' cheese with cut up hotdogs. This should be my number one on this list, but at least this way, it will be the last thought I leave you with. Ps. 23 v. 1 in Spanish literally says, "The Lord is my shepherd, and nothing is lacking from me. =)
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Why Regional Foods are Delicious!
What is it that makes Italian food really delicious? Or what is it about Chinese that we love? I've been pondering this question a lot lately, and I think it comes down to a few things.
1. The abundance of local foods- Italy, surrounded by water on three sides, has an abundance of seafood. Grains also grow well there, grapes, tomatoes, etc. Cattle and sheep do well too. So you see a lot of cheese, a lot of tomato based sauces, wines and vinegars, pasta, polenta etc. etc. People are gonna work with what they've got.
2. Religious beliefs and cultural taboos- Many Indians don't eat cow or pork for religious beliefs due to the predominance of Hinduism and Islam. Jews, likewise, might keep kosher in their diet. Even if something is growing everywhere, people won't eat it if it is taboo.
3. Skills of the cooks- If there is one thing I have learned watching Chopped on the Food Network, it is that truly good food doesn't depend on the quality of the ingredients, but on the skills of the chef. One chef won with her fish head pasta dish. She boiled the heads down to make a broth. She painstakingly removed the delicious morsels of meat. She took her time and made the most out of the ingredient. A Tuscan woman once said to Chef Anne Burrel, "In Tuscany, we don't have much money, but we do have time." That is how you finesse the flavors out of raw, mundane ingredients.
1. The abundance of local foods- Italy, surrounded by water on three sides, has an abundance of seafood. Grains also grow well there, grapes, tomatoes, etc. Cattle and sheep do well too. So you see a lot of cheese, a lot of tomato based sauces, wines and vinegars, pasta, polenta etc. etc. People are gonna work with what they've got.
2. Religious beliefs and cultural taboos- Many Indians don't eat cow or pork for religious beliefs due to the predominance of Hinduism and Islam. Jews, likewise, might keep kosher in their diet. Even if something is growing everywhere, people won't eat it if it is taboo.
3. Skills of the cooks- If there is one thing I have learned watching Chopped on the Food Network, it is that truly good food doesn't depend on the quality of the ingredients, but on the skills of the chef. One chef won with her fish head pasta dish. She boiled the heads down to make a broth. She painstakingly removed the delicious morsels of meat. She took her time and made the most out of the ingredient. A Tuscan woman once said to Chef Anne Burrel, "In Tuscany, we don't have much money, but we do have time." That is how you finesse the flavors out of raw, mundane ingredients.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Book Review-The Flavor Bible
First posting!
I like to cook. I love to eat. I hate washing dishes. Ah, well, 2 out of 3. So the idea behind this blog is to write about the things I learn about cooking, cuisine, restaurants, and anything else deemed worthy. I have no education related to food or restaurants. That's why it's called Humble Pie. I'll be relying a lot on books and the Food Network. Thanks for reading! Hope it doesn't make you too hungry!
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