french toast

Exactly a week ago today Mia and I had the most decadent of breakfasts.


We had French Toast with strawberries, Greek yogurt and powdered sugar. It was as would be imagined to die for. One of the things that really made this was that we went heavy on the vanilla in the "batter" for the toast, and didn't put nutmeg or cinnamon in at all. The vanilla really helped smooth the strawberry and yogurt tartness out. Also it is important to note that strawberries when used as a condiment like this always benefit from a bit of sugaring before hand.

a nothing

To me, a true sign of a good cook, is the ability to create something delicious out of nothing, in no time.

It is not everyday that you have the time or patience to go off and create labor intensive meals, certainly I love it, but the majority of the time lets face it, you arrive home from work starving and want something delicious and fast! There are some standards that work here, almost any stir-fry, the Ma-Po Tofu that I love to make, a quick fresh sauce for pasta, lots of things will be successful.

There are days when there is also not a great deal of ingredient in the house and you have not even the patience for these stand-bys. I will admit that on days like that I sometimes admit defeat and eat out of the fridge. However I find that egg-drop soup is an excellent solution for days like this. All you really need is chicken broth and an egg. The other night I was cold (this was a little while ago) and feeling a bit under the weather, so soup was exactly what I wanted. In addition to the broth and egg I added a dash of curry powder, diced jalapeños, and spinach. I am happy to report that it was a total success!

baking

I have always had a knack for baking with yeast. Part of this is practice, and part of this is pure luck it seems, because I've done some things that by all accounts should have ended in tremendous failure but didn't.

The best example I have of a should-have-been-failed endeavor was at my parent's house. I decided that I would make cinnamon rolls for the next morning's breakfast. I of course decided this rather late in the game so was trying to get about two risings and baking starting when I was already tired. This particular recipe (and I believe most for cinnamon rolls) has you scald and skim milk, then let it cool down until you can add the yeast to start in the milk. I scalded and skimmed, and then did not have the patience to let it cool down, but I knew it would kill the yeast if I didn't, so I stuck it in the freezer for as long as my patience would allow; which was probably a maximum of five minutes. I took it out added the yeast and went on my way, despite the fact that the yeast had formed balls and fallen to the bottom, something that I decided to just ignore.

Needless to say, when I returned to look at my dough, it was not risen. So I decided that I would start some yeast with sugar and water and then just knead it in with the appropriate amount of flour. This actually worked and the buns turned out just fine, not even particularly tough from being over kneaded. So yes I would say that this is an example of the luck that I so depend on in my knack for baking with yeast.

Recently I baked concha rolls to bring to a party at Alex's. I followed the recipe and was rewarded with really lovely dough, and some tasty buns, my only complaint was that the bottoms were a little too brown, I still have no idea how to bake in a gas oven

Mexican Concha Rolls

3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 packages (8 grams each) Active Dry Yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter or margarine, cut into pieces
2 eggs
Cinnamon-Chocolate Topping (recipe follows)

In bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt. Heat water, milk, and butter until very warm (120° to 130°F/50° to 55°C). Gradually add to dry ingredients; beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Add eggs and 1/2 cup flour; beat 2 minutes at high speed. With spoon, stir in enough remaining flour to make soft dough. Knead on floured surface until smooth, about 4 to 6 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top.

Cover; let rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 35 to 45 minutes. Punch dough down. Remove dough to floured surface. Divide dough into 14 equal pieces; shape into balls. Place balls on 2 greased baking sheets. With palm of hand, flatten each ball slightly. Flatten each portion of Cinnamon-Chocolate Topping into a 2 1/2-inch round; place 1 round on each dough ball. With sharp knife, make cuts, 1/4 inch deep, on rolls to resemble seashells. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 20 to 40 minutes. Bake at 375°F/190°C for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from sheets; let cool on wire racks.

Cinnamon-Chocolate Topping: In large bowl, stir together 1/2 cup sugar and 1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened. Stir in 1 egg yolk, 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa, and 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon. Divide mixture into 14 equal portions.

Chicken Bombs

so, there have been a few questions about my mention of "chicken bombs".

A chicken bomb is actually an imitation of a meal that I order sometimes at David's Place, a tasty dive on the way back from the beach in RI. Hopefully I'll get to go there on Monday as we're planning on going to the beach....I think I'll order the fried clams...

Anyhow there is a "sandwich" that they call a chicken bomb, so I call it that too.

It's vaguely like a fajita on a roll. Chicken cut into long strips that have been cooked on a griddle, preferably one full of "flavor" (read used to cook tons of stuff in a short order place). There are also lots of sauteed peppers and onions in long strips. This is all served on a roll with melty cheese on top. I don't have a picture 'cause we ate them too quickly this time.

They are best consumed outside at a picnic table with clam chowder to start and a root beer float to finish.

midnite snack

can't sleep:
made smoovie instead.
contents:
cantaloupe, orange juice, yogurt

picture won't load, but it looks just like this one, except the picture was taken tonight and it was in my hand, and the background was my room not the kitchen window sill.

Also you know the NYTimes' the Minimalist?
well I am currently addicted to his videos

Lunch success!

Today it was hot and humid. Finally. Really the weather has been less than springy. Of course we have now skipped straight to summer, but that's ok. We'll over look that weathorr because it doesn't matter what we think you'll do whatever it is you desire anyhow.

So normal lunchy things were not looking so appealing, too hot for things like a sandwich!

But I did have three cucumbers. So I decided to make cucumber yogurt soup. I've done this before, but this time I actually thought about it a little before having at it. So in addition to three cucumbers, the rest if the yogurt, salt and pepper. I also added walnuts, garlic, olive oil, and white vinegar. It was quite tasty, and far more filling that I would have anticipated.

There's no picture because it looks as you think it would: off white with little green bits.

Tonight, we're going to have a little thing that I like to call chicken bombs. This is when you explode a chicken and feast on it's charred remains.

Seriously

Drinks!

Summer is sneaking up on us, and that means that a lot of my food concerns move to delicious cool drinks. There comes a certain point when it's hot that I'm not interested in food. Really I would be ok if I could consume all of my food in milkshake/smoothie/lemonade form.

Sometimes I want thirst quenchers: like this raspberry lemonade that I whipped up the first warm weekend a week or two ago. All I did was muddle a few raspberries into some lemonade that I had whipped up (half a lemon and sugar to taste) for Mia and myself.

Then I want meals in drink form. My new favorite thing is an orange Julius. I had only known about these because I think in a childhood book "Where's Julius" they drank them. Mia suggested last summer when I was hungry, thirsty and hot that I make one. I immediately thought it sounded disgusting and didn't believe her. Blend yogurt and orange juice? nothing about that seemed like a good idea. But I guess it sounded good enough for me to try. I was proven delightfully wrong! It's delicious! I blend totally by eye orange juice, yogurt, sugar and vanilla together, I love it!

there has been food

I don't want you all to think that our vow to have a better culinary February (and subsequent months) went unfulfilled. We simply have been remiss in our blawging.

so I think that this will be a post of many pictures and some words of explanation, but no in detail description of the meals.

Hot and Sour soup and Hunan Beef with Cumin
These were both recipes that I had been wanting to try for a long time. I had Yotom and Alex over for dinner one night and we three made this dinner, it was ridiculously delicious.

Happy St. Patricks Day!
Even though the cake is green it was orange flavored.

Easter!
Alyssa and I had Pizza for Easter!! one was brie and pecans, another had mushrooms and artichoke hearts, and the third had asparagus, leeks, and asiago.

ok that's all I have the patience for

Update

Update: Since the last post was written, Mia's mom bought her jam. Thanks, Mom!

Also, check out her recipe for blue cheese meatloaf...

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches

After heading off to college, eating went from being effortlessly delicious to annoyingly unsatisfying. The dining hall at the UofC was actually very good compared to most and, once you learned the system, you could put together a pretty well balanced meal. It would probably cost a fortune and take half an hour to acquire since you had to go to three different stations and wait in three different lines, but it could be done.

Yet no amount of ice cream or Bartlett cookies could make up for not having a kitchen of our own and the ability to eat what we wanted, when we wanted. In addition to just craving home-cooking, everyone missed something a little different. For me, it was a good old peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Sometimes you just want something simple and easy on the palate and the stomach. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are the perfect combination of sweet and salty flavors and provide the whole grains and proteins we need to feel satisfied after a meal.

I could have made myself a PBJ at the dining hall, but the peanut butter and jelly were in tiny little packets and didn't taste very good. Plus, the cost of a PBJ (since you were charged per tiny packet of PB) was exorbitant and left you feeling unsatisfied, even if the sandwich tasted good.

I am reminded of all of this by the fact that I recently discovered that my parents have no jam! Seriously, none. When we were kids we usually had both store bought jam and homemade peach preserves. Thankfully my parents still keep peanut butter on hand and had some honey tucked into the back corner of a cabinet.

I suppose that they have graduated out of the stage of life when small children demand simplicity in the kitchen, but seriously, does anyone ever stop liking peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? Perhaps your tastes develop and you begin to use a heartier bread, unsweetened peanut butter, and more grown up flavors of jam, but PBJ's never lose their charm.

Any variety will do: peanut butter and some 'berry' jam is always good (especially when the jam is made by Emily's family!), apricot or peach preserves give it a nice twist, and of course there is the much loved peanut butter and honey combination, which when topped with sliced bananas and grilled is an amazingly grown up treat. Mhmm. Yum.

A Special Tasty for a Special Girl

Emily and I, as many of you know, do not agree on many things; however, one thing we have in common is a best friend named Sarah. No. It's not the same person. These Sarah's are distinct individuals. They might have the same name and the same hair color and the same complexion and the same cheekbones, but they are, in fact, not the same person.

Emily's Sarah, as I have her listed in my cell phone, came to visit this weekend. Since her flight got in at dinner time, Emily and I decided to have dinner waiting (or at least close to waiting) for her when she got in. Since the only easily accessible piece of meat in the house was chicken, we ate chicken.

One thing that Emily and I absolutely agree on, other than the fact that people named Sarah rock, is that raw chicken is disgusting. But Sarah, you are so loved, that we touched not just a little raw chicken, but a lot of raw chicken to make a tasty, tasty meal for your arrival.

The menu:

Flattened, breaded, butter fried chicken

We pounded the chicken flat and dipped it in egg and bread crumbs with cumin, paprika and kosher salt. Then we fried it in a combination of vegetable oil and butter. Yum.

Goo (interpretation on dirty rice technique, gone sorely awry)

We whir-whirred* a combination of bell peppers, jalepeno, onion, mushroom and spices to blend into cooked rice. While the fixings were delicious, the rice was astronomically overcooked. It's texture can best be described as mucilaginous (read: disgusting). We attempted to salvage the rice by turning it into an interpretation of polenta--what we ended up with can at best be called an interpretation of edible. We baked it, but not for long enough because we got hungry.

Homemade** Hot Fudge Brownie Sundaes.

However, all was made up for by this deliciousness. We started with a brownie mix my mom gave us to try then ran off to the White Hen while the brownies were baking (IN OUR NEW OVEN) and picked up some ice cream. When we got back we whipped up some hot fudge using a recipe from Emily's imagination and the intarweb. Then we combined all of the delicious ingredients into the perfect receptacles and 'eated them'***.

*verb meaning blended using an attachment to my immersion blender
**Everything except the Haagen Dazs Vanilla Bean Ice Cream was homemade
***colloquial form used in the Emily dialect found primarily in the West Loop and Windsor, CT

Good things come to those who wait....

Ha. Actually, good things come to those who wish and hope and demand. After resolving to ditch convenience and get back to the creative days of yesteryear (aka summer), I put in a phone call to our landlord explaining firmly that the lack of a functioning oven for the majority of our tenure was more than an inconvenience...it had, in fact, affected our entire way of life.

The next day Arthur brought us a brand new, never been used and definitely not broken oven. It was a wonderful day. We celebrated with muffins!

The funny thing is, all of our ovens are still on the premises. We have a bit of a habitat forming here in our building for old, abandoned ovens. They're really social creatures, you see, and feel the need to stay close to one another even in their old age.

The first is hanging out on our back porch serving as a perch for the neighborhood birds. It's getting pretty disgusting, as you might imagine. It has also been completely covered with ice at least twice in the past couple of weeks.

The second oven is on the landing downstairs outside of our neighbor's door. Sidney, we're sorry! Alas, with the never ending precipitation and vicious temperatures, Arthur has not made it back out to the apartment.

Many good things have been made and eaten since the arrival of our new oven...

Third time's the charm!

A case of the Januaries

January was a month of 'quick meals' for Emily and I. Gone are the days of leisurely cooking, namely due to our busy schedules and non-compliant oven.

We've perfected the art of the 20 minute meal, mainly by cooking simply, but I must admit we have on occasion reverted to college-esque cuisine.

Last night, for example, we made a meal of scrambled eggs with an abundance of mushrooms, onions, and asparagus, plus a few slices of fresh tomato on the side. While the meal certainly hit the spot, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed in my culinary creativity.

So, here's to February and high hopes for many delicious dinners to come.

oh Fudge!

sorry about the title....I needed to do it...

Dear Miss Emblies:
When making fudge, hard candy, dolche de leche or any other kind of candy there are certain chemical reactions that are necessary in the process. This is why we follow recipes because these reactions need to happen. Now I know you think you're a swell cook and everything, but sometimes you really can't just throw caution to the wind and ought to get rid of your pride and just follow a recipe.
Love,
Anyone who has ever made any of the above things before

Soooo, yes. I decided that because our oven is interminably out of commission(Shane I did an empirical test...it does not "just beep" it beeps because the oven does not light), and I can only go so long with out concocting sweets in the kitchen, and Mia had most of the fixings for fudge, I decided to make fudge. However we don't have sugar. Or rather we only have brown sugar and I didn't feel like opening the new brown sugar so I only used the bit that was left in the old bags. I figured that there would not be too great of a problem as I was using fluff and sweetened condensed milk and semi-sweet chocolate...and I was right in-so-far as the fudge being sweet enough goes...it's plenty sweet. However once I determined that I had these things I decided that I would just add a little of all of these ingredients and sort of see what happened.

Well the cooking of the condensed milk and fluff went as predicted, however when I added the chocolate everything went suddenly grainy. so I have not very smooth or pliable fudge...I mean if you can call it fudge.

I feel that I have reached a pinnacle of midwesterndom having cooked something with condensed milk and fluff. Condensed milk is surprisingly delicious on it's own...you can taste that with only a little patience and heat it will become dolche di leche. Fluff is as disgusting as previously anticipated.

Anyhow, I just think it's funny because if someone else did this I would look at them with that face that I make and be like..."of course it didn't work, you know there are chemical reactions that are necessary to make that work, and thus the proportions in the recipe are probably necessary." Fine fine, someone may be smug to me.

sad news

our new fantastic not broken oven...is also broken...
sad sad no oven still.
It beeps it's displeasure whenever it is plugged in. The control panel is broken. at least I don't fear a gas related fire any more. But really the sadness is beyond merely ironic.