Random Bit of Info

Y'all have been documenting such wonderful things lately (births, birthdays, cross-country moves, deliveryman debacles, etc.), and I've been meaning to post comments on all of them but haven't had time. (I will, though. I really will.) So, while not as monumental as your recent events (well, except for BB's -- haha!), I thought I'd just drop a quick post about the last week of my life. As a favor for Tonya, one of my best friends, I catered (almost all of) the food for her wedding reception Saturday night. We ended up with about 125 people, but, as I discovered, I made enough for about double that. She had wanted to do southern food with a twist. So, the main course menu included a shrimp and grits bar (served in martini glasses and topped with shredded cheese, crumbled bacon and green onions), seafood Brie mac and cheese (with lobster, crab and crawfish), vegetable tian (which I "southerned up" with the addition of squash, pepper jack cheese, and a crumbled cornbread topping), cabbage, apple and pear slaw (with a whole grain mustard vinaigrette), and watermelon salad (with 24-hour pickled red onions, feta and mint). And, even though they aren't southern, I made (a kajillion...ok, 7 dozen) Parisian macarons tinted to the pale blue of the flower arrangements (the cookies themselves were vanilla-almond and filled with lemon buttercream). I shopped, prepped and cooked for three straight days (over 36 hours total, by my calculation) and, without the assistance from some of my friends (I had three of them peeling and deveining over 600 shrimp until midnight on Friday, while two others were breaking down red and yellow watermelons), I wouldn't have made my deadline.

I felt confident in cooking all of the dishes in small batches, but I was a little concerned that the quality would be diminished with such quantity (I cooked over 20 pounds of pasta for the mac and cheese, if that gives you an idea). However, everything came together, and the food was well received. Most importantly, though, Tonya and Scott were happy. In fact, Tonya, at the end of the night and after a few cocktails, offered me their firstborn, to which I quickly and instinctively replied, "Uh, I don't want your kids." Perhaps I should have been a bit more gracious, but oh, well. They did give me a brand new Cuisinart (mine recently died), which was a much more appropriate gift.

All in all, it was probably the most physically and mentally draining experience of my life, and I loved every minute of it. Just before dinner was served, a friend's mother asked me what medications I was on to be so calm, and I realized that I had been having such a good time I hadn't felt stressed or frustrated at any point over those three days. And it was an amazing learning experience. I talked to Diana Bratton yesterday (who owns Cafe 1217 and Taco Mama), and when I told her how exhausted I was, she simply said, "I know you are, but I can tell you have the bug now. I can hear it in your voice." So, while I may never cook on that scale again, I'm fairly confident that I can handle just about anything in the kitchen from here on out. And I'm already jonesin' for my next gig.

And now it's off to Austin on Thursday for the 10th anniversary ACL -- it's going to be strange that MRJKMC won't be there this time! Miss and love y'all and hope to see you soon! -Sus

A fast Cooks Illustrated recipe! It has been found!

The recipe book has drawn me in again, this time with the words "15-minute" and "fudge" - great combination. Go to page 22 of Jan/Feb and you'll find "Simplifying Fudge"; It honestly was easy and fast and marvelous. I made the varient of the original, Chocolate Walnut Fudge, which looks even easier.

15-minute Rocky Road Fudge
makes about 2 1/2 pounds (I doubled this using a 9 x 13 pan, worked perfectly)

16 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped fine (I used choco chips)
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp table salt
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1 c. miniature marshmellows
1 c. coarsely chopped peanuts (I used "party peanuts" w/salt b/c I couldn't find unsalted at the store, and it seems fine to me)
1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips

note on chocolate - they suggest using Ghirardelli, which is what I did. I imagine any good chocolate is great. . .

1. Fit foil into 8"square pan, allowing excess to overhang sides. Coat with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Toss chocolates, baking soda, and salt into heatproof bowl until baking soda is evenly distributed. Stir in sweetened condensed milk and vanilla. Set bowl over saucepan containing simmering water (i.e. make your own double boiler b/c most probably aren't big enough for all this esp. if you double it. I used a big metal bowl over a simmer saucepan of water.) Stir w/ rubber spatula until chocolate is almost fully melted and a few small pieces remain, 2 to 4 minutes (make sure you get it off the heat before it's melted. otherwise the chocolate will start to separate if it's overcooked and you'll have greasy fudge)

3. Remove the bowl from heat and continue to stir until smooth. Add the marshmallows, peanuts, and choco. chips, then transfer to prepared pan and spread w/ spatula. Refrigerate until set, about 2 hours. Remove fudge from pan using foil and cut into squares.

Skillet-Barbequed Pork Chops, p.6 of Sept./Oct.

My conclusion about these Cooks Illustrated recipes is this: I'm not willing to make the time on an everyday basis. They always taste great, but because they're doing it the best way, there are too many steps for an average day. And for some reason my kids need attention (?!) and other things have to get done around here. So while I like having the recipes for experimenting or when Keri is watching the kids while I spend the afternoon cooking, they aren't practical for every day.

For example. These pork chops. Took forever. But they were really good, as expected, and really nice with the Helen Corbitt's corn pudding I love, and some nice green broccoli. So make them if you have the time! We had quite a lovely dinner this evening.

Even after I write all that, I'm still going to make the pound cake recipe in this cookbook tomorrow. I can't help myself. This cookbook keeps luring me in! Bill, Bill, why did you do this to me? I can't stop!

Coq au Vin

This is the Coq au Vin recipe I keep raving about. I'm making it again this week for some friends coming for dinner. I've been leaving out the bacon and cognac, for reasons of fat and cost, respectively, and it's still divine, especially when served with cornbread stuffing.

Eggplant Stackers

Okay, so maybe you're tired of my blogging recipes, but too bad. I started this blog and I'll do what I want! And I want to record this recipe for safekeeping because it was so good. It's a Martha recipe that Emily made last summer and Keri made for us the other night. Instead of oil-frying, she roasted the eggplant with Pam and sprinkled it with Cavendars (Sarah's contribution b/c she introduced it to us all).

An Easier (and Better) Bran Muffin, p.24 of May/June

These were truly fabulous muffins, and after trying my 3rd recipe in this Cooks Illustrated compilation I'm wondering why I'm reviewing these recipes. I mean, it's Cook's Illustrated. They've reviewed dozens of recipes to get to this one.

And these bran muffins are marvelous, worth me writing out the recipe for anyone who doesn't have this cookbook. They are SO good. But I must say not easier (as in faster) than the bran muffins I've made before; I think they call it easier because you don't have to go to the health food store. MAKE THEM! Both the texture and flavor were perfect. And thanks again, Bill.

Another note: Keri figured out that each muffin has about 8 grams of fat, and I used full fat everything, so next I'll try half fat butter and low fat yogurt. I think those egg yolks are really needed, though.

1 c. raisins (I used white raisins, which I think is better in bran muffins)
1 tsp water
2 1/4 c. All-Bran Original Cereal (we didn't have enough so used 1/2 c. wheat germ)
1 1/4 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. table salt
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
2/3 c. packed light brown sugar
3 T mild or light molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 3/4 c. plain whole milk yogurt

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray standard-sized muffin pan with nonstick spray. Combine raisins and water and microwave them with plastic wrap w/ steam vents for 30 seconds. Let them stand for about 5 min. and then dry with paper towel.

2. Process half of the bran cereal in food processor until finely ground. Whisk flours, baking soda, and salt in large bowl to combine. Whisk egg and yolk together in medium bowl until well combined and light colored, about 20 seconds. Add sugar, molasses, and vanilla; whisk until mixture is thick, about 30 seconds. Add melted butter and whisk to combine; add yogurt and mix to combine. Stir in cereal and let mixture sit until even moistened, about 5 minutes.

3. Add wet ingredients to dry and gently mix just until combined and evenly moistened. Gently fold in raisins, divide into muffin tins, and bake about 16 to 20 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins. Best bran muffin EVER.

Thai-Style Chicken Soup, p.14 first mag

Bill gave us daughters-in-law all the same cookbook for Christmas, actually the compilation of the 2007 Cooks Illustrated magazines, with the intention of us trying recipes and reviewing them here. Tonight I made Thai-Style Chicken Soup for us here in Flagstaff.

1 tsp. vegetable oil
3 lemon grass stalks, tough outer leaves removed, bottom 5 inches halved lengthwise and sliced thin crosswise.
3 large shallots, chopped
8 sprigs fresh cilantro, chopped coursely
3 T fish sauce
4 c low-sodium chicken broth
2 14-oz cans coconut milk, well shaken
1 T sugar
1/2 pd white mushrooms, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 pd boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced thinly
3 T juice from 2 to 3 limes
2 tsp Thai red curry paste

Garnish:
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
2 serrano chiles, sliced thin
2 scallions, "
1 lime, cut into wedges

1. Saute in oil the lemongrass, shallots, cilantro, and 1 T fishsauce until just softened, 2 to 5 min (should not brown). Stir in chicken broth and 1 can coconut milk; bring to simmer over high heat. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until flavors have blended, 10 min. Pour broth through fine-mish strainer and discard solids in strainer. Rinse saucepan and return broth mixture to pan.

2. Return pan to medium heat. Stir remaining coconut milk and sugar into broth mixture and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium, add mushrooms, and cook until just tender, 2 t0 3 min. Add chicken and cook, stirring constantly, until no longer pink, 2 to 3 min. Remove soup from heat.

3. Combine lime juice, curry paste, and remaining 2 T fish sauce in small bowl; stir into soup. Ladle soup into bowls (over jasmine rice if you'd like) and garnish with cilantro, chiles, and scalles. Serve immediately with lime wedges.

Our thoughts: very good and very pretty, a creamy white broth with the white mushrooms and chicken. I would have liked it spicier (more red curry paste) but was making it for the kids too, so the serrano peppers on top added good kick. I didn't use the lemongrass stalks, but found everything else easily in the small local Bashas here. I didn't clean out pot, just used a sieve to fish out the solids as stated, used white onions instead of shallots, and half whole and half light coconut milk. We used rice at the bottom of the bowl but I thought it diluted the flavor - everyone else preferred the rice. I also doubled this and it'll feed us all for 2 dinners and a lunch.

Worth making again! The kids even liked it. Not hard or very time consuming.

It's Whats for Dinner

I made this for dinner tonight and thought it worth sharing, as it meets so many dinner criteria in my mind: healthy, low fat (when you use lean sausage), pretty fast, not too expensive, and tasty! I also need to write it down for later, as I've soaked my copy with tea treated with cream and honey. It's from the Feb 2005 Real Simple. I used lean sausage & didn't use any oil. I also roughly 2/3rded (?!) the recipe and used a 9x13 baking dish.

Cannellini Bean and Sausage Gratin

3 T olive oil
4 sweet Italian sausages (about 1 lb), casings removed
1 small bulb fennel, chopped (I added another onion in place of this, as the fennel was expensive)
1 small onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 T chopped sage (I used dried ground)
1 bunch swiss chard, stems removed, chopped
1/2 c chicken broth
2 15-oz cans cannellini beans, drained
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 c seasoned bread crumbs
1/3 grated Parmesan

Preheat oven to 350. Coat an 8-by-10-inch baking or gratin dish with oil (Pam). In a large skillet, cook over medium-high heat, crumble the sausages and cook, breaking up, until golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove the sausage from skillet and set aside (I actually needed to cook the onion and garlic with the sausage because it had too little fat to brown properly). Add the fennel and onion to skillet and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and sage and cook 1 minute more. Add the Swiss chard, a handful at a time, sitrring until slightly wilted. Stir in the broth, beans, sausage, salt, and pepper. Spoon the mixture into the baking dish and set aside. In a small bowl, sitr together the bread crumbs and Parmesan with the remaining olive oil. Sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture on top and bake until golden brown and bubbly, about 30 minutes.