Autumn Evening

Cream Puffs

Yesterday we had dinner with some friends, who have graciously hosted the last, oh, 25 times we've gotten together. Feeling shitty about not having cooked them a dinner in so long I decided to make an ambitious looking "fancy dessert" to bring along.

Luckily it turns out fancy-looking cream puffs are ridiculously easy to make!



Last night I made a half batch of the puffs. Since I still had several cups of the filling left this morning I decided to make a full batch, I got 33 puffs, and still have lots of cream left.

They are made from a versatile choux paste, and chantilly cream. Both recipes are via the amazing Pastry by Michel Roux.



For the Choux Paste you will need:

• 1 stick / 8 Tbsp unsalted butter diced
  
• .5 cup whole milk
• .5 cup water
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• .5 tsp salt
• 1 generous cup all-purpose flour
• 4 eggs, room temperature
  

1. preheat oven, the original recipe calls for 350 degrees, but I found almost 375 worked better for me
2. in a large sauce pan combine milk, water, butter sugar and salt





3. bring to a boil over low heat and immediately remove from the heat
4. dump in the flour and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth

1. return the pan to medium heat and stir constantly for one minute
2. transfer paste to a large bowl and let cool a bit





3. beat the eggs into the paste, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next
4. line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper
   






5. scrape all the paste into a large ziplock or pastry bag
6. snip off a small corner of the bag and pipe the paste into .5 inch mounds, staggering rows
7. gently brush the tops with egg-wash and mark with the back of a fork




8. bake for 25 minutes or until golden-brown and just crisp on top (be very careful not to remove them from the oven too soon or the choux buns will collapse, it happened with my first batch, the recipe said to bake for 15-20 minutes, but mine needed 25 before they were strong enough to keep their shape)
9. remove to a wire rack and let cool
   

For Chantilly Cream:

• 1 pint / 2 cups whipping cream
• .5 cup caster sugar
• scrapings from the inside of one vanilla bean

1. Chill bowl of electric mixer
2. beat whipping cream, sugar and vanilla bean together for 1-2 minutes on low speed
3. increase speed and beat together 3-4 for minutes
4. if you want true Chantilly cream be careful not to over-whip, I turned up the speed a little too much and made whipped cream, still delicious, but less dense than might be desired
   

Once the choux buns are fully cooled it's time to fill them. Yesterday I piped poked little holes into the buns and piped in the cream using a ziplock. Today I just broke them open and spooned a tablespoon of cream into each one then closed it back up like a little sandwich. Do whatever you prefer, the final result tastes so good that no one will judge.

These would also be delicious as a savory pastry, just fold in some grated cheese before piping the choux buns and don't fill with the sweet cream.



Enjoy!

And just because choux makes me think shmoo!



This totally turned into Scooby Doo.

Winter Knitting

As the weather is getting colder here I've been inspired to pick up knitting again. So far I haven't had any crippling wrist and hand pain, so the prospect of more projects is looking good.

This scarf is the first thing I've completed in a year!

In general I'm much more intrigued by texture knitting than by the garment or color/pattern knitting like intarsia. That means I tend to only knit scarves and hats; I find a stitch I like, and focus on it over and over, without having to worry about gauging the stitch, or losing patience before the whole garment is finished (see box of 1/4 done sweaters and one mitten with fingers too short to fit husband's hand.)



The scarf is done mostly in moss stitch:

Cast on multiples of four stitches.
Rows 1 (RS) *K2, p2; rep from * to end. Rows 2 and 3 *P2, k2; rep from * to end. Row 4 *K2, p2; rep from * to end. Rep rows 1-4.

I think I used rows of 16 stitches.



I ended up putting in several rows of ribbing. The ribs started as a mistake, but I liked the visual interest they added to an otherwise boring white scarf (not totally boring, look at the sparkles!)



I finished it off with a variation on double-knotted fringe. The yarn was too bulky to double-knot all the strands, so I only used 2/3 of each tassel. The whole project used one skein of some cheapo poly-blend yarn I'd gotten years before, and I think it looks fantastic.

The scarf and fringe are still curly in these pictures, and I might need to block it. But hey, it's a scarf and I'm a lazy knitter.

If you're looking for a good knitting book my go-to book is a late '70s/ early '80s version of Vogue Knitting, although this is on my wish-list.

I'm currently looking for an easy pattern for knitting flowers if anyone has suggestions I'd love to hear them!

Potato Escarole Soup

heartier version

Normally I consider myself pretty brave when it comes to food. I'll try almost anything.
I eat food cooked with small amounts of shrimp, crab, lobster and abalone, all of which I'm allergic to (I'm still finding the fine line of how much I can eat without getting violently ill.)
I've embarked on a mission to find the enjoyment in foods I couldn't stand; mayonnaise, horse-radish, tomatoes, blue cheese, raw onion, and I love them all now- next up I brave sardines.

But when it comes to raw escarole I am a complete wimp, the stuff is just too... something; spicy, bitter, pungent? And this from the woman that likes straight vinegar.

Lately my wonderful farm box has been coming with a huge bag of escarole, so I needed to find a way to eat it. It turns out escarole is fantastic if you cook the hell out of it.


so much escarole

As fall really sets in and the weather turns cold I find myself craving soup and missing greens. As luck would have it the strong flavor of escarole (and the whole needing to be cooked to death thing) works perfect in soup, so I present Potato Escarole Soup:


You will need:

• 6 cups escarole, give or take
• 4 cups broth, I used chicken
• 1 cup soy or real milk
• 1 medium onion, sliced or diced
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
  
• 1 cup chopped yellow bell pepper (optional)
  
• 2 cloves garlic (optional)
• 3 cups potatoes, cut into slightly larger than bite-size

potatoes

1. Heat the oil in a large heavy-bottomed stock pot and add the onions. Cook them over low-medium heat until they begin to caramelize. This might take up to 15 minute, but a good pot means you can pretty much wander around chasing shiny objects and neglecting the soup.



I love this pot


2. Add bell pepper and garlic, cooking until fragrant and slightly browned.
3. dump in the escarole, turning the pile frequently as it wilts.



versions one and two

4. Once the escarole is fairly wilted (it will reduce by about %300) add the broth.
5. Take your hand immersion blender and blend away. If you don't have an immersion blender, go through the process of blending the soup in small batches, careful not to let it get too hot and not to burn yourself.
   



more and less blended


6. Add the potatoes and simmer soup until the potatoes are cooked. Or, if you're me, add potatoes then forget you were making soup. Wander into the kitchen every so often and wonder aloud what that tasty smell is. Realize over an hour later that you were still making soup. Lament it no longer has a beautiful emerald color, but rejoice it still tastes fine.
7. Serve garnished with red pepper flakes, a pinch kosher salt, and a few drips red wine vinegar.
   

This recipe made enough for 6 bowls of soup. I put half in the fridge to eat that week, and froze the other half for later.


ready to freeze

I used chicken broth, but I like recipes that can easily be made vegetarian or even vegan. Alternately, I made a second heartier anti-vegan batch later with these variations.

• Use some bacon fat or cook a chopped up strip of bacon before caramelizing the onion
  
• Leave out the garlic, add some chopped tomatoes in with the escarole.
• Don't blend the soup quite as much, leaving it chunkier.
  
• Use 1/2 & 1/2 or cream instead of soy milk, (I forgot to put it in before taking the picture)
  
• It just occurred to me, but adding sauteed mushrooms (after blending) would add great flavor
  

Enjoy!

Delicious Lamb or "buut Liisaaa, you saiid you looooved me"

Lately I've been craving lamb. I've also been feeling pretty lazy kitchen-wise. My solution was marinaded roasted veggies and lamb. I only used a few dishes, and made enough food for four meals.

First off is the marinaded lamb.


So the picture looks kinda gross, but it tasted great.

For the lamb marinade I combined

• one cup nonfat Greek-style yogurt (Fage Total is awesome)
• one clove minced garlic
• juice of 1/2 Meyer lemon
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
  
• a pinch kosher salt

I put about a pound of lamb stew meat in the marinade, cover it and got to work on the rest of the food. Next time I'd splurge for a better cut of meat, and have the butcher chunk it for me since the stew meat can be a bit dry if you don't actually cook in in a stew.

Next up were eggplant and onions.


sorry for the plastic glare

Roughly cut one medium eggplant and a large yellow onion into wedges and put in a large ziploc bag or a bowl you can toss the it all around in. I added the marinade straight into the bag one ingredient at a time, and just tossed it around a few times over the hour or so it marinaded.

Marinade for eggplant and onions:

• 1 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses (has a great sweet and sour earthy flavor)
• kosher salt

Last up were the green beans and bell pepper.


Beautiful beans

I marinaded one lb green beans (blossom end snapped off) and 2 or 3 large red/yellow bell peppers cut into thick strips in:

• extra virgin olive oil
• kosher salt
• fresh rosemary
• a splash red wine vinegar

This marinade didn't overpower the natural sweetness of the peppers or the beans, and the splash of vinegar really livened the whole thing up.

I let the three parts of dinner marinade away while I ran around the house being distracted by random shiny objects. (About an hour)

The first thing I cooked was the lamb, partly because meat is better if you let it rest a while after cooking, and because I was only using one baking sheet to cook everything (not just laziness, we have a small oven with only one shelf) and decided that the lamb's juices would enhance the flavor of everything else. (Mmmmm lamb juices...)

I preheated the broiler and spread the lamb out on a foil-lined high-sided baking sheet. I put it 6 inches from the broiled flipping it over after 6 or seven minutes, and cooked for about 15 minutes total, although it probably was done after 10. I still have a proclivity to overcook meat on my first try with something new, still learning after 13 years not touching the stuff.

I switched the oven to bake at 350 and moved the cooked lamb to a bowl and covered it with foil.

Next I spread out the eggplant and onions of the same baking sheet and roasted them for 15 minutes, before stirring them around and roasting longer. I think they cooked for about 1/2 hour total, stirring more often over the last 15 minutes. I scraped them off the sheet into another bowl and covered.

Last to cook were the beans and peppers I roasted them for 10 minutes on one side, stirred up and roasted another few minutes.

As I cook I try to keep a pretty close eye on the roasting veggies, because in my experience thing can go from perfect to burnt or mushy with the slightest distraction (you don't want to know how many times "it need about 45 more seconds under the broiler" has turned into "oh shit where is all that smoke coming from!?")

I made a really quick tzatziki to serve the food with.

• 1/2 cup Greek-style yogurt
• 1/2 large cucumber (skin on) finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• juice 1/4 meyer lemon
• 1 or 2 finely chopped mint leaves
• tbsp chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 tsp dried dill

The combo of herbs I used isn't totally traditional, but it's what I had on hand, and ended up tasting great.

To serve I put the lamb and veggies on some white rice, and topped with a scoop of the tzatziki.


the finished product

Yum!

vegetable "noodles"

Thanks to our wonderful farm box I recently had lots of zucchini and cucumbers on hand. I wanted something crisp and fresh for dinner, but I also had a craving for pasta.

Since it was about 100 degrees in our house even with the A/C on (it's a small window unit) and I didn't want to cook so much as a pot of boiled water I decided to cut the veggies into thin noodle-like strips.

The soy garlic ginger batch was done by hand, not something fun or recommended to do in a 100 degree kitchen, ugh. The pesto batch I broke out the mandolin for. I usually kinda hate my mandoline*, but this made it worth it. Although looking at the two pictures I find the less-than-perfect hand cut strips more appealing, but spending an hour cutting two small zucchinis and one cucumber, no thanks.

These are two sauces/ marinades I use all the time, varying the ingredients slightly to suit my mood and what I happen to have on hand. They go great on all kinds of vegetables, starches and tofu; either one would be good on chicken, but beef works better with #1.

Marinade #1

• minced garlic
• finely chopped ginger root
• soy sauce
• rice wine vinegar
• sesame oil
  
• fish sauce (optional)
  
• red pepper flakes
  

Sauce #2

• chopped basil
• minced garlic
  
• olive oil
• chopped walnuts
• salt & pepper
• chopped tomatoes (optional)
  

If you eat these immediately they are fresh and crunchy, the longer you let them marinate, the more chewy and noodle-like they become. Either can be made up to a day ahead of time and left covered in the fridge, the veggies just absorb more marinade and become more intensely flavored.

*Can anyone suggest a good mandoline? One that can slice hard vegetables, like carrots (mine fails here) and isn't completely terrifying to assemble/disassemble and clean?

a hero

Douglas Adams is one of my heroes.

Growing up reading the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and all the ensuing sequels, shaped (or fit) my sense of humor and personality.

Shortly after I moved to Davis I was watching public access TV to avert the loneliness and clicked upon a lecture filmed at UCSB a week or so prior to Adams' (early, tragic) death.

He reads and retells stories from his non-fiction account of traveling the world in search of endangered species Last Chance to See. Adams and his traveling companions try to catch glimpses of animals from a New Zealand flightless parrot called the Kakapo to the now (tragically, sadly) "functionally extinct" Yangtze river blind dolphin the Baji.

Everyone should read this book. If you have read it, listening to the lecture and hearing some of the stories in Adams' own voice is wonderfully touching.

But it is the last 10 or 15 minutes of the lecture that really get me.

Adams talks about the incredible simultaneous tragedy and hope humans find themselves in, of how we've come so far to being able to rectify some of our mistakes in relation to Earth's other inhabitants, and how inevitable it seems we'll just keep going as we have been, as is in our nature to do.

You can almost hear his voice cracking.


Parrots the Universe and Everything:



The lecture is over an hour long, so you might want to switch over to youtube and watch it full-screen, or just listen.