blog birthday

October 2, 2009

Posted in misc food No Comments »

lemon juice

September 4, 2009

A few days ago a friend of mine returned from a trip to south Florida.  He was staying with another (mutual) friend who has a plethora of citrus trees on his property – everything from oranges to grapefruit to lemons.  Being the kind of guy he is (and also in hopes that I’d make lemon curd for the holidays), my local friend brought me two large boxes of lemons.

Needless to say, my evenings have been spent zesting and juicing lemons like crazy.  But what do you do with nearly 30 lbs of lemon?  Well, make lemon tart, make preserved lemons, make the aforementioned lemon curd, make limoncello, and just plain freeze zest and juice.

I zest the lemons first and the zest goes into a small glass jar for freezing. Then the naked lemons get juiced and the juice gets strained through a fine sieve:

The best thing about these lemons is that they have so much more juice than the ones you buy in the grocery store.  A quick zap (10 secs or less) in the microwave helps make sure you get the most out of them.

I like to use my silicone muffin pan for freezing juice and liquids. Each muffin cup holds a little over 1/2 of a cup of liquid. I also have a silicone mini-muffin pan that holds about 2 tbsp per cup, for freezing smaller amounts. I actually use the silicone more for freezing juices and other things (pesto, fruit purees, etc.) than I do for baking!

It takes about an hour or so for the juice to freeze solid.  Then you just pop the little frozen rounds of lemon juice right out of the pan and do it all over again.

About 6 rounds will fit into a 1 qt freezer bag, which is labelled and put back in the freezer.

Now, in the winter when I really want the bright fresh zing of lemons, I’ll have juice and zest to add to my baking and cooking.

Posted in basics, fruit, ingredients, preserves+canning 5 Comments »

fried green tomatoes

September 1, 2009

I don’t know if it’s the blight that everyone has talked about, spreading this far south, or if it’s been the cool weather, or what, but my farmer’s market has had a plethora of green tomatoes lately. And actually that’s fine by me because I love the tangy tartness of a green tomato – fried, grilled, or chopped up in a quick relish. Being a Southerner by birth, though, I have to admit my very favorite way of eating green tomatoes is fried.

I made this last night for dinner – it’s quick, easy, filling, and healthy.  It’s so easy I don’t even have a recipe for it … I just make it.

Start with 1 or 2 really green tomatoes.  I mean green and hard and not a bit of red on them.

Slice them into thin rounds – about 1/8th of an inch or so.  I used a sharp knife, but if you have a mandoline (I was too lazy to get mine out), it’ll make slicing more than 1 or 2 tomatoes a breeze.

Dip the tomato slices into a 50/50 mixture of corn meal and corn flour.

Then fry them in a hot skillet (my 12″ cast iron is my skillet of choice) in about 1/2″ of canola oil

When they’re nicely browned and soft, take them out and drain them on some papertowel or newspaper.  Then, sprinkle with salt and pepper, top with a little tomato sauce, and some shredded parm if you have it.

Voila – a quick and easy weekday meal.

Posted in entrees, vegetarian, veggies 3 Comments »

monday morning links #4

August 31, 2009

Another Monday morning links list … and an image from the archives, since I’m still without cameras and am likely to be for the foreseeable future. The image below is from one of my very first Tuesdays With Dorie postings. I still love the way the individual chocolate tart shells turned out.

And here are the things that caught my eye from last week:

Jamie’s Chicken w/ Lemon & Milk: I took a whole chicken out of the freezer this morning so I can make this tomorrow. It sounds heavenly and I know I have all the ingredients on hand. I might be able to snap some images with my camera phone – so I’ll fill you all in later this week.

Cherries in wine: This just sounds heavenly. I can see using these as a dessert, or adding them to something like venison or buffalo after roasting. I have a half a bag of cherries in the fruit bin that I need to do something with anyway.

Food Timeline: This is fascinating. I don’t know entirely how accurate it is, but it sucked up at least 2 hours of my attention the other night. It definitely appeals to the historian in me.

Cold Noodles and Peanut Sauce: Is there anything more to say? This sounds like a perfect summer dish – I need to hurry up and make it before summer is over!

Tomato, White Bean & Bacon Soup: And sliding from the end of summer right into fall – there’s this soup. Doesn’t that sound heavenly? I love soup in the fall and winter anyway. It’ll be nice to have another to add to my menu.

Sweet & Sour Meatball Skewers: I’m not so much on the sweet and sour part (although H is) but the idea of meatballs on skewers definitely intrigues me. With as much as I grill over the summer, you’d think this one would have occurred to me before! I’m definitely trying this with my turkey meatball recipe soon!

Salmon Burgers: I have been looking for a salmon burger recipe forever. Really. Forever. I keep trying ones that just don’t work for me for various reasons. The capers intrigue me and besides, this looks like it would be super easy to make.

5 Reasons Frozen Shrimp is Better: This article really resonated with me. I buy frozen shrimp from Costco at least once a week (yes, I eat that much shrimp). When you don’t live near the coast, frozen shrimp is actually fresher than the “fresh” shrimp that you can buy at the fish counter.

Slow Roasted Tomatoes: I can’t count the number of times I’ve tried to roast my own tomatoes and failed. Either I cut them too thin and wind up with something blackened and stuck to the cookie sheet, or I forget about them, or … something. I’m determined to follow this recipe to a T and make my own slow roasted tomatoes.

Katherine Hepburn Brownies: I’d make these just because I’m a huge Katherine Hepburn fan anyway, but even without that draw, these brownies sound exactly like the kind I love – rich and fudgy (rather than cakey). They’ll have to wait a few weeks, however, since my household is currently on a no-sweets regime. Gotta knock off a few pounds this month.

Salsa Verde: It wouldn’t be a Monday links list here without at least one salsa/spicy food recipe, right? This is another one that I think I might have to try for canning and gifting this year. I just need to find a sufficient quantity of tomatillos.

Non Food Related:
Subway Tiles in the Kitchen: I love the look of subway tiles and I keep thinking that one day I’ll redo my kitchen (or my bathroom) in them. But this picture – I’ve never seen them used vertically before. Now I’m even more determined to find a use for them somewhere in my house.

Oh and a final PS – be sure and check out my new amazon.com store, linked in the header or on the right side of the page.  I’m still adding my favorites and will probably be updating for a few days yet!

Posted in monday links No Comments »

meatballs and sauce

August 28, 2009

As anyone who follows me on Twitter knows, I’ve been slightly obsessed with Gordon Ramsay lately. Thanks to hulu.com I’ve watched 2 seasons of Kitchen Nightmares back to back and I’ve caught up on the last season of Hell’s Kitchen and The F Word.

On a previous season of Kitchen Nightmares, he gave a meatball recipe to one restaurant owner which turned into a huge success for them. Of course I immediately went on a search for the recipe online and found it. I made it the other night (with variations for what I had on hand) and … mmm … it’s going to become a favorite for sure.

Here’s my version of the recipe I came up with, loosely based on Gordon Ramsay’s Italian meatball recipe from “The F Word”:

1/2 lb lean ground beef
1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 medium yellow onion, minced
3 tbsp breadcrumbs
1/8th cup milk (approx)
flour
olive oil

Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk (just enough to cover), then drain. Mix together all the ingredients except the flour. Form into small meatballs (I used a cookie scoop to get the right size). Roll the meatballs in a thin layer of flour and then pan fry in olive oil.

Remove the meatballs from the frying pan, place into a baking pan, top with tomato sauce of choice, and bake at 325 for a further 10 minutes.

Although the recipe calls for the meatballs to be fried in olive oil before being baked, the calorie and fat count remains reasonable. However, you could probably reduce both by spritzing the meatballs with oil and frying/oven baking them on a cookie sheet, and then moving them to the pan/sauce to finish up. I might try them that way next.

This recipe makes about 4 servings. Nutritional info for each serving (including about 1/4 cup of tomato sauce for each person): 342 cals, 13.9g fat, 15g carbs, 37.5g protein. (Source: Calorie Count Recipe Analyser)

Enjoy!

Posted in beef, entrees, pork 1 Comment »

pantry staples

August 27, 2009

So this isn’t technically a gadget or utensil, but I figure it sort of qualifies as things I use a lot! One of the things I get asked pretty frequently is what I keep in my pantry on a regular basis to make planning easier.

So here’s a list of what I try to have on hand. As long as these items are around, I know I can pull out a healthy meal for any number of people at the drop of a hat.

• oatmeal – The rolled kind – it’s a great filler, makes a good flour when ground, can be used for a crumble crust, or breading on an oven fried food, or even in a pinch just to make a bowl of oatmeal.
• steel cut oats – This is my standby breakfast in the winter. It’s warm, filling, full of protein and fiber, and makes a great breakfast on cold days.
• pasta – The whole grain variety and I’m partial to rotini because it cooks quickly, has enough shape to hold on to sauces, and works well in casseroles of all kinds. But I also keep lasagna noodles and usually some form of spaghetti on hand as well.
• beans – Dried and canned, in all varieties, usually bought in bulk from someplace like Sam’s Club or Costco or the local farmers/Asian market. Right now I have cans of black beans, and jars of dried navy, pinto, and garbanzo on hand.
• olive oil – I rarely cook with any other kind of oil.  I go through a large bottle of this each month. I keep Whole Foods brand around for most of my cooking because the flavor is good and the cost is reasonable, and then I buy specialty brands for drizzling on veggies or making salad dressing – anything where flavor is crucial.
• kosher salt – Not just for cooking, but for scouring out the cast iron skillet. I buy this in the biggest boxes I can find.
• canned tomatoes – I buy canned tomatoes by the case from Costco or Sam’s Club – diced, paste, sauce, and whole. Diced tomatoes are a key ingredient in my homemade tomato sauce as well as being a really healthy addition to just about any casserole.
• Rotel – Anyone who grew up in Texas or the Southwest knows why Rotel is a pantry staple. Think of it as canned tomatoes on steroids. If you can’t get it in your grocery store, you can order it by the case from amazon.com.
• brown rice – I make a batch of baked brown rice at least once a week. It’s good for lunch, as part of the filling for stuffed veg (zucchini, tomatoes, and bell pepper all come to mind), as a base for veggie stir fry, and a dozen other things.
• onions and garlic – I have a basket in the bottom of the pantry that always has yellow onions, red onions, and a handful of garlic bulbs. Anything is better with onions and garlic, IMO.

There you have it. Next time I’ll tackle the fridge and what I keep on hand there.

Posted in misc food 2 Comments »

hamburgers and healthy eating

August 26, 2009

One of the things that comes up frequently when people talk about losing weight or eating healthily is the idea that you have to give up your favorite foods forever. I’ve heard people say “I just don’t know how I’m going to give up hamburgers” or pizza or ice cream or … whatever their food of choice is.

Me? I don’t believe in giving up food forever. I think when you tell yourself that you can never ever eat a favorite food again, you are already setting yourself up for failure. Eventually you’ll cave – you’ll have to have whatever it is you’ve denied yourself, and then you’ll decide that since you “failed” at that, you might as well give up for good. (That’s the way it seems to work for most people, I’ve noticed.)

What I’d rather do is learn to make healthy versions of my favorites – like the burger below:

This hamburger was made with 4 oz of 93% lean ground beef, 1 Pepperidge Farm whole wheat bun, 2 bibb lettuce leaves, a nice thick slice of tomato, 1/2 ounce of sharp cheddar cheese, and some Dijon mustard on the bun. Total calories – 320. It also has 14g of fat, and 32g of protein.

Pair this with a side of fruit salad or some cabbage slaw and you have a good, filling meal for under 500 calories.

If you’re really watching your calories, you can leave off the top of the bun and eat the sandwich open faced, to drop about 40-50 calories.

Here’s a great way to spice up plain lean ground beef:

1 lb 93% lean ground sirloin
1 tbsp dijon mustard (or 1 tbsp A1 steak sauce, or both)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Mix all these ingredients together thoroughly (I use my hands) and divide into 4 portions. Flatten the patties out and use your thumb to make a depression in the center of the burger (this insures that it cooks evenly and doesn’t “dome” up). Grill over a medium flame for 4 mins on each side.

Enjoy!

Posted in beef, healthy eating 2 Comments »

spicy pickled okra

August 25, 2009

I’m one of those people who have a love-hate relationship with okra. I love the flavor of it – and being from the South, I grew up eating fried okra in quantity. On the other hand, I’m not so fond of the sliminess that cooked okra has. It’s a texture thing. I recently learned that the “slime” factor kicks in when the okra is cut before being cooked – that when the insides of the pod aren’t exposed to air, the okra stays dry. I experimented with this by grilling whole okra and, lo and behold, it’s true. Uncut, whole okra don’t get slimy. Now I’m thinking about roasting them in the oven just to further the experiment.

But I digress. A couple of Mondays ago I posted a link to a spicy pickled okra recipe and it sounded like it was right up my alley. Whole okra (so no slime), and spicy? Hello? What’s not to love. So on Friday I made an experimental batch of these.

I didn’t have all the ingredients from the original recipe on hand, so I just punted. I started out with a little over 1/2 lb of fresh okra (I tried to pick the smaller pods so they would make good one-bite snacks), some cider vinegar, garlic, dried chili peppers, some pepper flakes, mustard seed, a few whole allspice, and some salt.

I packed the okra, garlic, and dried chilis into a quart canning jar. Then I boiled the vinegar, pepper flakes, and salt and poured them over the okra. After the mixture had a chance to cool a bit, I topped off the jar with water, capped it, and pushed it to the back of the fridge. I topped it off with more water on Saturday afternoon, as I found that the okra absorbed quite a bit of the liquid over the course of the first 24 hours.

Sunday, I pulled one out and tried it. Mmm. Crunchy, spicy, and tart. I’m thinking these need a few weeks to really pickle up nicely and they’ll be perfect for serving with sandwiches, garnishing a bloody mary, or even just snacking on as they are.

Posted in condiments, vegetarian, veggies No Comments »

monday morning links #3

August 24, 2009

I finished the week thinking that this would be a lean “links” Monday, but as I started looking back through my saved links, I realized I’d tagged a whole bunch of stuff that looked interesting.

I thought I’d also share my two finds from the outlet stores this past weekend. The first is the mixing bowl (which I love love love and am going to go get a 2nd one): the color is that creamy jadeite color and it’s the perfect size for mixing medium batches of anything. I’ve already used it twice this weekend. I got it at the Williams-Sonoma outlet for $6. The second are the darling little Tiffany-blue condiment bowls (you can’t tell from the photo, but they each hold about 3/4 of a cup) from Anthropologie. I found them for $2.50 each and I’m tempted to go back and get 4 more in a different color.

Ok, on with the links and good stuff!

Charred Tomatoes: I will eat anything that’s on the verge of burnt. It started with Mark Bittman’s Burnt Onions, and last week I saw this recipe for charred tomatoes. I’m thinking mixing the two might be just my idea of heaven.

Bacon Egg and Toast Cups: I’ve wanted to make these adorable breakfast cups for a while, but they’re not exactly diet friendly. I’m thinking I might stash this recipe aside for Thanksgiving when the whole family is going to be in town.

Northwest Bruschetta: I seriously started drooling at the photo of this savory-sweet variation on a traditional bruschetta. Cranberries, apples, feta, and crunchy toast rounds. Mmmm.

Bacon Chipotle Twice Grilled Potatoes: Another somewhat diet-unfriendly recipe, but holy moly these look good. Bacon *and* chipotle? And potatoes? How can you go wrong with this? I have a dinner party to go to on Thursday and I might just have to use that as an excuse to make these.

Banana Ice Cream: I am dying to try this. I bought a dozen bananas this weekend and am just waiting for them to get to the right stage of “nearly overripe” that the recipe calls for. I’m thinking this “ice cream” with a couple of ‘Nilla Wafers might be a good, healthy, and reasonably low cal dessert.

Chermoula: If you’ve read this blog long enough, you know I’m somewhat obsessed with hot sauces and spicy marinades. So this one is right up my alley.

Roasted Eggplant w/ Prawns and Soy Sauce: Seriously what else is there to say about this recipe? Eggplant, prawns, chillies … ? I’m thinking this would make a great lunch to take to work.

Posted in monday links 2 Comments »

fresh eggs

August 19, 2009

Just in the last month I’ve started buying eggs from a friend of mine. He and his wife started raising chickens back earlier this year. When they started laying, he contacted me, knowing of my interest in fresh, local foods.

So now once a week we meet for lunch and I pick up a dozen eggs from him.

It’s fun to see what I’m going to get each week in the carton. Some of the eggs are brown, some are blue-ish, some are speckled. The sizes aren’t always consistent, so when I bake, I’ve taken to weighing my eggs (in the US a large egg = about 57 g).

The flavor of these eggs is wonderful. They’re rich and eggy and the yolks are a brilliant yellow. If you have a resource for eggs – eggs from chickens raised locally and allowed to roam and graze (do chickens graze?) – I highly recommend you try them. They’re worth a little extra effort and money.

I hope I never have to go back to store-bought eggs.

Posted in eggs+dairy 2 Comments »