I own Anchovy Paste?

I wanted to share with y'all this lovely discovery I made today. I have been hankering to eat healthy lately - I feel like I am always saying that, but lately I've really been giving it the ol' college try. Probably a better college try than my university thesis, in fact, though both endeavours have been feeling really futile. I have been devoting so much time to the thesis and library, that my fridge is a bit of a barren wasteland. Sitting today, noshing on almonds, I thought about the contents of my fridge with despair. Greek yogourt, one egg, orange juice, a head of romaine lettuce, a chicken breast...hold up there. I think, somewhere in that mix, was the fixings for a chicken caesar salad. Did you catch it? Hint - I threw in the egg and orange juice as red herrings. "But Sydney," you may (or may not, if you don't really care) protest, "Greek yogourt does not equal caesar salad dressing." No reader, no it does not. But I thought "maybe it could!" and Reader - it could.

So I did some blog exploration on the subject and discovered a reference to a Jamie Oliver spin on caesar salad dressing that utilized Greek yogourt rather than egg yolk and oil (no - there is no cream in caesar salad dressing, in fact). It required a trip to the grocery store on my way home to grab Worcestershire sauce, garlic and, yeah, anchovy paste. But man, whip that stuff together with some lemon juice, salt, pepper and parmesan, and it is delicious!

I don't have pictures - I nommed that down far too quickly. But I wanted to introduce that to your worlds. You are welcome.

I Meet Your Four Cheese Gnocchi, and Raise you Homemade Pasta

That was gambling speak, and a reference to Chopper and I’s most recent recipe for the Black-Choptiany Bi-weekly Bi-Continental Culinary Throwdown. The Chop has been unable to complete the most recent gazpatcho recipe – which he has already ensured me he will do with great caution – because he’s in Italy! He’s there for an energy conference, and his university actually paid to send him to Rome.  So, inspired by his new surroundings, where he has been eating this nearly daily (motivated by both a genuine love of gnocchi, which I can attest to both of sharing, and, I suspect, the reality that no one in Europe knows what “vegetarian” means )  he suggested this Quattro Fromagi Gnocchi recipe – complete with video of actual Italian guy cooking!

 

So, while Chopper has been busy globetrotting and learning how to save the planet, I have been in southern California, working on my tan (I think they will make me an honorary Mexican soon) and very leisurely reading a book that is somewhat relevant to my thesis. But more the former than the latter, honestly. So I figured I would not only rise to the challenge of a holy shit so rich four cheese sauce, but I would try my hand at making the gnocchi myself. My mum has done it before (never for my benefit) and assured me that it is very manageable, and so with that, I bought me some russet potatoes and a ricer and got to work.

I had found a variety of recipes, but the one my mum recommended to me was this one, from epicurious.com:

Ingredients 

1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, scrubbed

1 cup (or more) all purpose flour

1 large egg yolk, beaten to blend

1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

Large pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F. Pierce potatoes in several places and bake until soft, about 1 hour. Cool slightly. 

Cut potatoes in half. Working in batches, scoop hot flesh into potato ricer or food mill. Rice potatoes onto rimmed baking sheet; spread out and cool to room temperature.

Line large baking sheet with parchment paper. Transfer potatoes to large bowl. Add 1 cup flour; toss to coat. Form well in center of potato mixture. Add egg yolk, coarse salt, and nutmeg; stir with fork until mixture is evenly moistened (mixture will look shaggy). 

Turn mixture out onto lightly floured work surface. Knead until dough comes together, sprinkling dough with flour very lightly only if dough is very sticky. Form dough into ball; divide into 4 pieces. 

Roll each piece between hands and work surface into 3/4-inch-thick rope. Cut each rope into 3/4-inch pieces. Place gnocchi on prepared baking sheet.

 I recommend it, if only because baking the potatoes saves you from having to clean a pot you would otherwise use to boil them.

One may be tempted to skip some steps in this – not using a ricer, and ricing the potatoes straight into the bowl, rather than dirtying a baking sheet were the two that I toyed with. Don’t. Ricing the potatoes gives them the necessary light texture for gnocchi and it allows for you to blend the flour in much more evenly (so says Bonny – and her culinary word is gospel!). And the reason for ricing onto a baking sheet, rather than into a bowl? The thing with gnocchi is that you really don’t want to the dough to be moist – then you get soggy dumplings (which sounds gross enough to be a deterrent, don’t even think about the reality of that in your mouth...). So, by ricing the potatoes onto the tray, you allow them to cool evenly, quickly and without trapping the moisture of the potato.  

Tricky parts? Well, probably the first half of my dough was too moist – I began mixing in more and more flour as I went along, testing to see which would be superior, the stickier or stiffer dough. It was definitely the latter. Also, I broke my dough into 8 pieces, since I found it hard to continue rolling out the dough into the necessary gnocchi “logs” if they got too long. Also, don’t bother making the round marks with your fork – it takes forever to do, and I prefer the rustic look of the plain gnocchi pillows.

The hardest thing I found with making this dinner was timing. I don’t mind spending forever in the kitchen doing prep work, but I get really stressed out when everything needs to happen in rapid succession. You should see me make pad thai – I’m a god damn crazy person. I opted to start the sauce first, to which I actually added a FIFTH cheese (take that, Choptiany) – gruyere. I know it totally throws off that Italian cheese thing, but I didn’t buy enough fontina, and Bon warned me against Mozarella, which she says doesn’t melt down well into sauces. So gruyere. We had it kicking around.

I stopped using the video as my guide – genuine Italian guy be damned! I waited for each cheese to melt down almost all the way before adding the next. Also, my gorgonzola did not look like video-guy’s did – it was firmer, and rather strong, so I added less than was called for. As I added the cream, it was time to pop in the gnocchi. This is where things got stressful. The sauce was simmering (and needs some pretty constant attention to keep the cheese from baking to the bottom of the pan or forming a skin on the top) and the gnocchi was quickly rising to the top of the pot (and I did get to experience the inevitable over-boil of pasta water, of course). 

Thanks to the gnocchi recipe, I made two, what I’m sure will prove to be life-long, changes to the way I make gnocchi. For one – the slotted spoon removal. Why did no one tell me this before? I started hating making gnocchi because of the mess it made of my colander. Well guess what – fuck the colander and use a slotted spoon, removing your cute little dumplings a couple at a time. And put them where? Into a frying pan! I had fried gnocchi once, but had never thought to do it myself. I think a little crisp coating (and the salt from the butter in the pan) goes a long way.   

And the sauce? Uh...I little runny. So Bon taught me a trick with a fancy name - beurre meuniere. It is actually just equal parts butter and flour, but it is great for thickening sauces (and explains my failed attempts at thickening stew with just flour, which floats to the surface and doesn’t blend...whoops...). So added a bit of that and it came along beautifully. Added the fried gnocchi straight into the saucepan and from there, to the table.

And it was really good. I mean, really good. I will definitely be making my own gnocchi again – it is the same sort of soothing process of making risotto. Those Italians must be the most blissful chefs.

Bon Appetito!

Construction and Cabin Fever

So I have been going a little stir crazy here in the retirement complex that is our gated Rancho Mirage community.

Distractions include: my dad cutting out power, internet, phone service, etc with his renovations, and the mounting anxiety of my archive trip next week.

However, my lovely lovely uncle has been around, and I have had the opportunity to meet his equally charming boyfriend. I love my uncle, and for the first time actually, I really love his boyfriend - we get along like peas in a shared pod. They came over for dinner two nights ago for which I prepared the side dish-cum-main attraction: lemon risotto.

I have made lemon risotto before, Jamie Oliver's asparagus and lemon recipe, and it didn't turn out how I would have liked; new to the world of risotto, I may have simply been taken aback by the refreshing lemon paired with the creamy sharp parmesan, but either way, I had been sticking to more traditional risottos. But it is far to warm down here for a creamy comfort dish, so I started trolling blogs, rather than google, for a new lemon risotto recipe. And I found the most amazing one on Cate's World Kitchen [though she adapted it originally from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison]. In true food-blog turn, I also made some adjustments; here is what I cooked up:

5 green onions, chopped

olive oil

salt and pepper

1.5 tetra packs of low sodium chicken broth

2 shallots, diced

1 1/2 cups (approx) arborio rice

1.5 cup white wine

1/2 cup chopped parsley

8 basil leaves

zest of one lemon

2-4 tablespoons of lemon juice (to taste)

1/3 cup grated Parmesan

 

Slice the scallions thinly. Cook them in olive oil until soft, about 3 or 4 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Put the stock in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.  Keep it simmering as you use it.

Chiffonade (which I just learned means to stack the leaves, roll and then slice thinly) the basil leaves and set aside.

Heat some more oil in a saucepan (I would recommend grapeseed or walnut oil, however - you will be sauteing shallots, and olive oil loses its nutrients at high temperature, while grapeseed and walnut oils do not).  Add the shallot and cook over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the rice, stir to coat the grains, and cook for 1 minute.

Add the wine and simmer until it’s absorbed.

Add the stock 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly, and waiting until the liquid is absorbed before the next addition.

When the rice is almost finished cooking, add salt and pepper to taste, stir in the scallions and lemon zest, and cook for one more minute.

Turn off heat, stir in the basil, parsley, lemon juice, and parmesan before serving - drizzle with olive oil and add parmesan as desired.

 

It was so complex and delicious - served with sliced steak and peas, it was so perfect.

Tonight? Chicken burgers with roasted grape tomato crostini and pineapple-cilantro quinoa, courtesy of keep it skinny. Culinary distractions abound as well. Keep posted for my return to the Black-Choptiany Bi-weekly, Bi-coastal culinary throwdown - Mother's Day style - tomorrow evening.

Racist Pastry Addiction

Ok. So I may have a problem.

I have found the font of the most amazing croissants.

I'm not too concerned with the anti-Islamic connotations - I would eat crucifix cookies if they were this delicious - I am more concerned that I am becoming alarmingly dependent on my morning pastry.

This is truly not like me.

This morning, after yoga, I stopped in at La Vielle Europe, where I've been grabbing my cappuccino and croissant for the past two and a half weeks, but lo and behold - no croissants! I looked at the other pastries, covered in pistachios or carmalized apples, and thought that a plain butter croissant was a big enough indulgence as is, so I left with my lonely cappuccino and a determination for finding some delicious sustenance for my post-yoga snack.

I actually started to get kind of worried about what I was going to eat! I have food in my apartment, but nothing really snack-worthy (deliberately so, because I am the WORST for subconscious boredom eating). And I remembered "Hey...I am pretty sure there is an actual bakery near my apartment. I will have to walk a half block out of my way, but it's nice out and they will probably have croissants..."

I will take you all home with me

I am actually walking out of my way for my completely superfluous pastry indulgence. Bad. Sign.

Worse sign? There was a line up at La Pain Dore of people wanting pastry. Read: They are damned god pastries.

And they don't even look like crescent moons, so my anti-Islamic indulgences aren't even remotely racist in shape!

And they are so good that, where I had been previously been considering kicking the habit, I am now convinced that I will be having daily croissants. I had been holding off on the weekends - there are other amazing decadent things to indulge in then. No more. Croissants every day-ay-ay, croissants every day.

I actually walked out of my house today, having just polished off my croissant-and-coffee-while-reading-a-fashion-magazine post yoga ritual, yellow patent leather ballet flats, rolled up cigarette jeans and aviators on, listening to Adele's new album, thinking "Who the fuck am I?"

Who indeed...

Pasta Ponza and Long Distance Party-Crashing

It's been a pretty good Friday night for a girl abstaining from drinking.

 Had JC over for dinner after yoga. I made the long awaited Pasta Ponza (I had it all prepped and ready to go for Wednesday, but ran out of time since I had a movie date with some girls from the History Department). It was delicious, and I am happy to say that I have ample leftovers. I served it with grilled endive as well. It doesn't make for a very colourful plate (which I thought it would have, actually), but it was super tasty. I had never cooked endives before, and I will be honest, I just brushed them with an olive oil-salt-pepper combo and threw them on my George Foreman grill that so rarely sees the light of day. I will definitely be having them again soon.

Then JC and I went around the corner to the pub for a beer (or soda water in my case). I did get to crash the King's Rugby's Athletic Awards afterparty courtesy of Chopper's iphone and some videoskype. I got passed around the party, lucky witness to all the drunken shenanigans. Miss those jokers. And, though she admits that she doesn't read my blog, I need to give a huge shout out to my darling Genny, King's Rugby's MVP this year. I couldn't have chosen better. Congrats girl - you're the you're the best.

Less Haut Couture, more Haut Cuisine

So as much as I would love this to be a fashion blog, I think my area of expertise inclines me more to comment on the contents of the kitchen than the couturier's closet. Sorry, no more bad alliteration.

I have been cooking up a storm the past two days. It is such a catharsis. I don't know if the release is in the cooking, or the devouring your own creation in some weird God-complex way, but either way, I enjoy it.

First off, I fulfilled my part of the throwdown challenge: Cauliflower Cheese Soup.

I followed my plan pretty exactly, and I am pretty pleased about the outcome. I would probably cut some of the dill - each bowl is reminiscent of mowing into a bag of Old Dutch, what with potato supplying the other main ingredient of the soup. Also, after a phone call with my parents (my father just realized he can send texts with his blackberry - sweet Lord...) I removed the buckets of soup that had been on the brink of hibernating in my freezer for the next month. Alert - cheese soups do not freeze well. The cheese separated upon defrosting and becomes very unappealing, according to madre Black. So, perhaps in future I wouldn't, in fact, make such an ample pot.

so much dill!

So much soup wouldn't probably be a problem if a) it wasn't mostly potatoes and cheese and I need to be in a bikini next weekend and b) if I didn't, the next day, try out a slow cooker chicken stew recipe.

Yule and I had planned a movie night and, knowing that she had inherited the cold I'd had the past couple weeks, I thought chicken stew would be the comfort food par excellence. That said, I've never found a good chicken stew recipe - I've always just done guess work, and while it always turns out delicious, I thought I would turn to the world wide web (yes, that is what www stands for, remember?) for some advising.

The comments I followed made the recipe so different that I may as well just copy for you the recipe here rather than direct you to allrecipes (my mom loves epicurious.com - I think allrecipes is the recipe website of the proletariat, and only in this am I in any way indie).

Slow Cooker Chicken Stew

Ingredients

1 white onion

1 tablespoon of oil (though I used reserved bacon fat from the cauliflower soup)

Cubed chicken breast (as much as you see fit, really)

3 cloves garlic, crushed

2 apples, peeled and cut into eigths

3 red potatoes, cubed

3 carrots, cubed

1 sweet potato

1 cup water

2 cup chicken broth

1 can condensed cream of celery soup

1 package onion gravy mix

Black pepper

Italian seasonings

Preparation

1. Sautee onions in a large skillet - I brought mine near carmelization, but to each their own

2. While onions are cooking, cube your vegetables (to which you can obviously add any you prefer, some broccoli would be a nice addition I think) and throw them in the slow cooker

3. Add cubed chicken and crushed garlic to onions and cook through

4. Mix condensed soup, water, broth and gravy mix in a seperate bowl (I did not do this, and found stirring everything together in the slow cooker somewhat difficult). Add to slow cooker

5. Add cooked chicken/onion/garlic mixture and stir everything together. Cook on low heat for 8 hours.

And voila!

It looked like chicken, but it smelled like bacon. Amazing.

 

I also think it needs salt, but don't think I have good enough judgment on that matter as to advise how much, so to each their own. But seriously, it is delicious.

Off to heat up leftovers.

On the 9th and 10th days of Christmas, may I recommend to you some fabulous baked goods?

Alright - I quite obviously did not budget my time well and have managed to run low on days of Christmas. I'll work on that in the New Year. This feels especially shameful in light of my morning, spent baking and watching Julie & Julia. Even it made fun of the narcissism of blogging.

However, I think that, as of late, I have been conflating narcissism and materialism. I am both, no doubt, but they should remain distinct. This is why I will share with you two of my favourite Christmas recipes, which my mum and I always distribute as gifts. Inexpensive and delicious!

Bacon Cheddar Cheese Muffins
Ok - I realize that many people will shudder at the idea of bacon in a muffin. Muffins are supposed to be sweet and delicious. Well that is just ridiculous. These savoury and fattening delicious muffins are truly irresistable. They are also rather labour intensive, which is why my mum only makes them once a year. But they are a Black family tradition and my mum has perfected this recipe over the years.

Ingredients

2 cups of flour

1 tablespoon of sugar

1 tablespoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of shredded orange cheddar

1 cup of shredded white cheddar

1 cup of cubed orange cheddar

1/2 cup of cubed white cheddar

18 thick slices of bacon

1 egg

1 cup of milk

1/4 cup of bacon drippings/oil

Directions

1. Dice your bacon while raw, cutting into approximately .5 centimetre pieces and cook carefully. You want the bacon to be cooked through, but remain soft since it is going to go into the oven to bake. Cook for approximately 10 minutes over medium heat. You may want to separate this into a couple rounds of frying to make sure each piece gets properly cooked. 

2. When you're done cooking your bacon, save the drippings! It is a great and flavourful substitute for oil!

3. Grate and cube your cheeses. This could take a while. My mum and I like to do these steps the night before.

4. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. 

5. Mix together your dry ingredients - flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, in case you forgot. Then add your cheese and bacon. Stir in well. Then add your oil, milk and beaten egg. My mum adds the beaten egg to the milk beforehand, and keeps both at room temperature - the oil needs to be liquid but not so hot as to cook the egg! A careful balance.

6. Distribute into muffin tins, filling so that they are just level (theoretically - the dough is quite thick, so there should be chunks and peaks and such - character!) 

7. Cook for 20-25 minutes.

8. Devour.

Sydney's Own Neiman Marcus Cookies

So you have probably heard the urban legend about the $250.00 Nieman Marcus cookie recipe. If not, the gist is that a woman asked to purchase the cookie recipe from the Nieman Marcus cafe, and the waitress told her she was authorized to sell the recipe for "two fifty," and the woman signed her bill without realizing the cost was two hundred and fifty dollars, rather than two dollars and fifty cents. So, motivated by a vindictive sense of justice, she shares the recipe around the world. A whole lot of bullshit, but a good story and a great cookie. I have tweaked the traditional recipe (which, honestly, comes in a wide variety, my favourite not being the one actually provided on the Nieman Marcus website) and here is the one I throw together.

Ingredients

1 cup of butter

1 cup of white sugar

1 cup of brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla

2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 1/4 cup of blended oatmeal

1 1/4 of quick cooking oatmeal

1 teaspoon of salt

4 oz of shaved dark chocolate

1 cup of chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups of chopped nuts (I recommend pecans and brazil nuts - I adore brazil nuts)

1/2 cup of espresso or mint flavoured chocolate (I usually split my batch in half and add both

Directions

1. Shave chocolate. It takes forever. Blend oatmeal. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and add to wet mixture. You know - the shit you do when you make any cookies.I am not pulling any punched here - the shaved chocolate and the blended oatmeal are what make these cookies special. That and my flavoured chocolate chunks. So add those about now.

3. Put spoonfuls of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Watch them though, because if they over cook, they're not great.

See - perfect gift. I win.

 

 

Dragging Things Together

Things are finally start to come together in Montreal.

I have a thesis topic. I need to start researching, but it looks like it will be an analysis of Weimar German directors who emigrated before the Second World War to Hollywood and how the depiction of women changed according to the change in audience. I need to discover a pithier description, but right now that is kind of all I have. But, that does mean that my lack of German is no longer an issue, and that I have some new ground to research.

I played in the B Team's game yesterday - they were scant for subs - and I don't know if it was because the pressure was off, or just because the overall level of skill allowed me to rise above, but it was the first game in a while where I was actually very happy with my performance. It has me excited to meet Ottawa again this Thursday.

My apartment is clean, I have been reunited with my cell phone, I have been getting my ass to yoga and, though I have certainly sabotaged myself by making some delicious peanut butter oatmeal cookies, I have been eating quite healthy as of late.

Life isn't so bad kids.


Since I am feeling magnanimous, here is my recipe for peanut butter oatmeal cookies

I have a very reflective desk...

ingredients:

1 cup salted butter
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/5 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup quick cooking oats
a bag of dark, bittersweet chocolate chips

directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, a la every baking recipe known to man
2. Cream together butter and sugar. Once done, add peanut butter and vanilla extract (you could, in theory, cream all of these ingredients together at the same time, but since I use crunchy peanut butter and do not own a hand mixer - I know, I know - I find it easiest to cream the butter and sugar first). Then add the eggs one at a time, mixing well (obviously...)
3. Add flour, baking soda and salt, and mix it up. Once mixed, add remaining ingredients.
4. Cook for about 10 minutes each batch on an ungreased baking sheet.
5. Eat inappropriate amounts of dough, making yourself too sick to actually eat the finished product.

Bon Appetit