I should have posted this weeks ago. This is the dessert that I did for Mother's Day, and I was pleased with how it came out. It's not complicated, but it tastes good and I like simplicity when it come to my desserts. The lemon and mint infusion in the syrup gives this a hint of sophistication, and the handmade whipped cream is a nice homey touch. Overall, it's something that can be made ahead of time and stuck in the fridge until you need it, at which point it's impressive. My kind of dessert.
Fancy Strawberries
1 lb fresh strawberries
1 1/4 cup sugar
Zest from 1 lemon
Zest from 1 small lime
4 fresh mint leaves (No, extract won't do. It's got to be fresh mint on this one, but pretty much any kind of mint will work.)
1 1/2 cup heavy whipped cream
Start by making a simple syrup: combine 1 cup of the sugar and 1 cup of water in a saucepan over medium-high heat, and stir it until all the sugar has gone into solution. Turn the heat down to medium, then add the zest from both the lemon and the lime, and the mint leaves. Let these infuse for 5 minutes or so, and then run the whole thing through a strainer covered with cheese cloth to get out the mint leaves and zest scraps. The syrup should be clear (DO NOT let it caramelize. If it caramelizes, you've got your heat way too high), and you should taste both the citrus and the mint if you sample it.
Wash your strawberries, and slice them horizontally into 1/4 inch circles, discarding the leafy tops. Dump your sliced strawberries into your syrup, and sit it in the fridge to chill out until you are ready to serve it.
When you're ready to serve, add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar to the 1 and 1/2 cups heavy cream in a large mixing bowl. Taste this mixture. It should taste pleasantly sweet, like cool whip in liquid form, except better. If you like your whipped cream sweeter, add more sugar. This is a to-taste thing, there's no science to making whipped cream. When the mix of cream and sugar tastes right to you, use a whip to beat it into fluffy peaks. This should take about 3-5 minutes of rapid whipping. It's really not that difficult, I'm not sure why so many people seem intimidated of making their own whipped cream.
Serve the strawberries by spooning them into bowls, and drizzling syrup over them. Spoon some whipped cream on top, and drizzle a little syrup over that too. Serve immediately.
Servings: I have no idea. 8-10, probably.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Shrimp, Squash, and Asparagus Linguine
This is a quick dish that I made last week when I was at a loss for dinner ideas. It turned out really good, so I thought I'd jot it down for future reference.
Now, I don't usually cook with shrimp. Especially recently, when all food seems expensive, but meats and particularly seafood seem very expensive. But for this one I forgive myself. A pound of cooked medium cocktail shrimp was $13, but that will stretch for at least three meals, and I comfort myself with the knowledge that this will give me something a little special in my repertoire for the next few weeks at less than $4.50 a meal, which seems more reasonable.
This recipe was also a good excuse for me to use a new birthday present: a mandoline. This is basically an inclined plane with a blade embedded in it, which you can adjust to make various thicknesses of slice. You just slide your veggie (or item-to-be-sliced) across it, and it very quickly renders thin, perfectly uniform slices. I love it. It's no substitute for real skill with a knife, of course, but in cases where you need things thin and fast, it's perfect.
This pasta was very good, by the way. I'm a big linguine fan, I like it better than spaghetti, and this is a simple way to really let the fresh summer vegetables that are just coming into season shine. Despite the presence of the shrimp, it's the asparagus and squash that really make this dish, and a simple cream sauce sets them all off perfectly. This tastes like something you'd pay a good bit for at a restaurant, but it comes together in about 20 minutes, and the hardest thing about it is making sure the pasta is al dente. Perfect for those nights when you want to cook, but don't need a huge production in the kitchen.
Shrimp, Squash, and Asparagus Linguine
1/3 lb linguine (whole grain is good if you can find it)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 scallion
1/2 bunch slender green asparagus, washed with tough ends snapped off
2 medium squash, washed
2 cloves garlic
1/3 lb shrimp (I used 1/3 of a frozen bag of already-cooked, but you could use fresh if you wanted)
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp chopped chives
Salt
Pepper
Start by putting water on to boil for the pasta. Toss a palmful of salt in there with it to season the pasta, and add noodles when it starts to boil.
While your pasta is doing you thing, slice the veggies. I used my new mandoline on the squash, which made the slicing fun and novel, but a knife would be fine. Just go for thin slices. Slice the asparagus into bite-sized pieces. If you're using frozen shrimp, run water over them for a few minutes to defrost them, and remove the tails. Dice the garlic finely. Slice the scallion thinly.
In a large saute pan, pour in the olive oil and add the squash. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let the squash cook over medium-high heat for 3 or 4 minutes, then add the garlic and scallion. Let that cook another 2 or three minutes, until the scallion is starting to turn translucent. The squash should be starting to get soft by this point. Add a little more olive oil if you need to so that nothing sticks. Add the shrimp and asparagus. Let that cook for another 2-3 minutes. The asparagus should be just starting to get bright green and a little softer, and the shrimp should be heated through.
By this point, the pasta should be done. Dump 1/2 cup or so of the pasta water into the saute pan with your veggies and shrimp, then drain the rest of the pasta and add it to the saute pan while it's still hot. Add the cream and the chives. Stir it all around a little, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Let it simmer, stirring so that the cream doesn't stick, until the sauce thickens up appropriately. If you want to speed that process along, add a few pinches of cornstarch to the sauce, and stir vigorously to incorporate it. When it's been simmering for about 5 minutes, you should see the sauce really start to stick to the pasta, and it's done. Taste it, then add salt and pepper to season to taste. Remove from heat, and serve immediately.
Servings: 4
Now, I don't usually cook with shrimp. Especially recently, when all food seems expensive, but meats and particularly seafood seem very expensive. But for this one I forgive myself. A pound of cooked medium cocktail shrimp was $13, but that will stretch for at least three meals, and I comfort myself with the knowledge that this will give me something a little special in my repertoire for the next few weeks at less than $4.50 a meal, which seems more reasonable.
This recipe was also a good excuse for me to use a new birthday present: a mandoline. This is basically an inclined plane with a blade embedded in it, which you can adjust to make various thicknesses of slice. You just slide your veggie (or item-to-be-sliced) across it, and it very quickly renders thin, perfectly uniform slices. I love it. It's no substitute for real skill with a knife, of course, but in cases where you need things thin and fast, it's perfect.
This pasta was very good, by the way. I'm a big linguine fan, I like it better than spaghetti, and this is a simple way to really let the fresh summer vegetables that are just coming into season shine. Despite the presence of the shrimp, it's the asparagus and squash that really make this dish, and a simple cream sauce sets them all off perfectly. This tastes like something you'd pay a good bit for at a restaurant, but it comes together in about 20 minutes, and the hardest thing about it is making sure the pasta is al dente. Perfect for those nights when you want to cook, but don't need a huge production in the kitchen.
Shrimp, Squash, and Asparagus Linguine
1/3 lb linguine (whole grain is good if you can find it)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 scallion
1/2 bunch slender green asparagus, washed with tough ends snapped off
2 medium squash, washed
2 cloves garlic
1/3 lb shrimp (I used 1/3 of a frozen bag of already-cooked, but you could use fresh if you wanted)
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp chopped chives
Salt
Pepper
Start by putting water on to boil for the pasta. Toss a palmful of salt in there with it to season the pasta, and add noodles when it starts to boil.
While your pasta is doing you thing, slice the veggies. I used my new mandoline on the squash, which made the slicing fun and novel, but a knife would be fine. Just go for thin slices. Slice the asparagus into bite-sized pieces. If you're using frozen shrimp, run water over them for a few minutes to defrost them, and remove the tails. Dice the garlic finely. Slice the scallion thinly.
In a large saute pan, pour in the olive oil and add the squash. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let the squash cook over medium-high heat for 3 or 4 minutes, then add the garlic and scallion. Let that cook another 2 or three minutes, until the scallion is starting to turn translucent. The squash should be starting to get soft by this point. Add a little more olive oil if you need to so that nothing sticks. Add the shrimp and asparagus. Let that cook for another 2-3 minutes. The asparagus should be just starting to get bright green and a little softer, and the shrimp should be heated through.
By this point, the pasta should be done. Dump 1/2 cup or so of the pasta water into the saute pan with your veggies and shrimp, then drain the rest of the pasta and add it to the saute pan while it's still hot. Add the cream and the chives. Stir it all around a little, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Let it simmer, stirring so that the cream doesn't stick, until the sauce thickens up appropriately. If you want to speed that process along, add a few pinches of cornstarch to the sauce, and stir vigorously to incorporate it. When it's been simmering for about 5 minutes, you should see the sauce really start to stick to the pasta, and it's done. Taste it, then add salt and pepper to season to taste. Remove from heat, and serve immediately.
Servings: 4
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Not a recipe
This isn't cooking-related, but I had to post it.
Today, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality. Barring an improbable Constitutional amendment in November, California is now the second state in the union that allows gay marriage with full and equal rights.
There's an old adage that as California goes, so goes the nation. God willing, it's true.
Today, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality. Barring an improbable Constitutional amendment in November, California is now the second state in the union that allows gay marriage with full and equal rights.
There's an old adage that as California goes, so goes the nation. God willing, it's true.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Quiche
This recipe is designed for a deep-dish quiche. I use a deep pie dish when I make my crust, and that gives me enough room to just barely manage to fit all the filling in. A shallower dish would still make a good quiche, but you'd have some egg mix left over, and you'd miss out on the unique texture the custard in the quiche takes on when you get it to a certain thickness.
Quiche
1 Simple Pie Crust, set and cooled to room temperature
Filling Ingredients, cooked until ready (i.e.: if you want your quiche to be a mushroom and onion quiche, you would need to saute the mushrooms and onions. For ham, you'd need to cook the ham)
5 eggs
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
2 tsp salt
Pepper to taste (a little less than 1/4 tsp is generally what I use)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
Approx. 3 cups coarse grated cheese, loosely packed (I like a mixture of cheddar and Jarlsberg for this)
Preheat the oven to 325F.
Begin by scalding the cream and milk. Heat them in a pot over medium heat until a thin film forms on top of the mixture, then remove them and let them sit for 10 or so minutes to cool (if they're too warm they'll cook the eggs when you try to mix them).
In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, milk mix, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and vanilla. Whisk as quickly as you can for three minutes. The goal here is to produce a fluffy quiche by incorporating as much air into the egg mix as possible. Let the egg mix rest for a few minutes, and saute your filling. When the filling is finished with its saute, collect the egg mix, the pie-dish with the crust, the cheese, and the filling in one location.
Assemble your quiche. Sprinkle about half the cheese evenly over the bottom of the crust. Top this with about half your filling ingredients. Whisk the egg mixture vigorously for another two minutes or so, then pour in enough of the egg mixture fill the crust half-way. Sprinkle most of the remaining cheese in another layer, followed by all the remaining filling ingredients. Pour on enough egg mixture to completely fill the crust. You may not use all the egg mixture, but get as much of it in as you can. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the whole thing.
Carefully put your quiche in the oven, on a rack in the center. Bake the quiche for 7 minutes. The fillings and egg mixture should settle and deflate a little, so pull it out and fill it back up to the top with any of the remaining egg mixture. Again, you may not use all of it, depending on things like the thickness of your crust and the depth of your pie-dish. Slide the filled quiche back into the oven, and cook for another 1 hr and 15 minutes. The quiche is finished when the top is an even, deep golden color, and the center is set relatively firmly (it should only jiggle a very little when you wiggle the dish).
When the quiche is finished, remove it from the oven and sit it on a cooling rack for 15 or 20 minutes. It will deflate a little, this is to be expected. Serve warm, or (if you're making this in advance) refrigerate and serve chilled later.
My Favorite Filling Ingredients, and how to prepare them:
- Shitake mushrooms (approx 10 large mushrooms) and red bell pepper (1 pepper): Wash the mushrooms and remove the woody stems. Slice the mushrooms into 1/4 inch strips. Remove the seeds from the bell pepper, and slice it into quarters lengthwise. Slice each of the quarters into 1/4 inch thick strips, then cut these long strips into more bite-sized pieces (aim for the pepper pieces to be the same size as the mushroom strips). Saute the mushrooms in 3 tbsp olive oil for 5 minutes (or until soft), then add the peppers and saute for another 3 minutes.
Servings: 8-10
Quiche
1 Simple Pie Crust, set and cooled to room temperature
Filling Ingredients, cooked until ready (i.e.: if you want your quiche to be a mushroom and onion quiche, you would need to saute the mushrooms and onions. For ham, you'd need to cook the ham)
5 eggs
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
2 tsp salt
Pepper to taste (a little less than 1/4 tsp is generally what I use)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
Approx. 3 cups coarse grated cheese, loosely packed (I like a mixture of cheddar and Jarlsberg for this)
Preheat the oven to 325F.
Begin by scalding the cream and milk. Heat them in a pot over medium heat until a thin film forms on top of the mixture, then remove them and let them sit for 10 or so minutes to cool (if they're too warm they'll cook the eggs when you try to mix them).
In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, milk mix, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and vanilla. Whisk as quickly as you can for three minutes. The goal here is to produce a fluffy quiche by incorporating as much air into the egg mix as possible. Let the egg mix rest for a few minutes, and saute your filling. When the filling is finished with its saute, collect the egg mix, the pie-dish with the crust, the cheese, and the filling in one location.
Assemble your quiche. Sprinkle about half the cheese evenly over the bottom of the crust. Top this with about half your filling ingredients. Whisk the egg mixture vigorously for another two minutes or so, then pour in enough of the egg mixture fill the crust half-way. Sprinkle most of the remaining cheese in another layer, followed by all the remaining filling ingredients. Pour on enough egg mixture to completely fill the crust. You may not use all the egg mixture, but get as much of it in as you can. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the whole thing.
Carefully put your quiche in the oven, on a rack in the center. Bake the quiche for 7 minutes. The fillings and egg mixture should settle and deflate a little, so pull it out and fill it back up to the top with any of the remaining egg mixture. Again, you may not use all of it, depending on things like the thickness of your crust and the depth of your pie-dish. Slide the filled quiche back into the oven, and cook for another 1 hr and 15 minutes. The quiche is finished when the top is an even, deep golden color, and the center is set relatively firmly (it should only jiggle a very little when you wiggle the dish).
When the quiche is finished, remove it from the oven and sit it on a cooling rack for 15 or 20 minutes. It will deflate a little, this is to be expected. Serve warm, or (if you're making this in advance) refrigerate and serve chilled later.
My Favorite Filling Ingredients, and how to prepare them:
- Shitake mushrooms (approx 10 large mushrooms) and red bell pepper (1 pepper): Wash the mushrooms and remove the woody stems. Slice the mushrooms into 1/4 inch strips. Remove the seeds from the bell pepper, and slice it into quarters lengthwise. Slice each of the quarters into 1/4 inch thick strips, then cut these long strips into more bite-sized pieces (aim for the pepper pieces to be the same size as the mushroom strips). Saute the mushrooms in 3 tbsp olive oil for 5 minutes (or until soft), then add the peppers and saute for another 3 minutes.
Servings: 8-10
Simple Pie Crust
One of my favorite parts of summer is the fruit. I love fresh peaches, strawberries, blackberries. And with fresh fruit, comes fruit pies.
I find that a lot of people are intimidated by pie crusts, which always strikes me as funny. A good pie crust is no more difficult to make than a simple cookie recipe, and the buttery, flaky crust is what makes or breaks a pie for me. No store-bought cardboard-tasting crusts here, thanks, I'll make my own.
This is the recipe that my mother has used for years for pie crusts. It's remarkably easy, and I think it originally came from a Southern Living cookbook. It makes a single crust (just the bottom layer). If you want a double crusted pie (bottom and top) just double the recipe. Below the pie recipe, I've included the directions for setting a pie crust, which is the most important part of pie making that most people don't do. It involves crisping the outside of the pie crust, so that when you fill the pie with a liquid and bake it, the crust stays crisp instead of absorbing so much liquid that it turns to mush. More pie-makers than you would believe allow their crusts to turn all mushy because they neglect to set the pie properly, but it always tastes much nicer when the crust is still crisp, even on the bottom.
Simple Pie Crust
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening (you can substitute unsalted butter here, but I find that shortening makes a more flaky crust)
4 or 5 tbsp water
Stir together the flour and salt, mixing them thoroughly. Add the shortening, and cut it into the flour until the shortening is in pieces the size of small peas. Add the water one tbsp at a time, tossing the dough and mixing after each addition. After the fourth or fifth tbsp, the dough should suddenly assume the consistency of proper pie-crust, almost as if my magic. Stop adding water immediately; the goal is a dough that is moist and very faintly sticky, but never wet. Form your dough into a ball. It should stick to itself easily, but shouldn't stick to your hands if you've got the consistency right.
Flour a large flat surface lightly, and flour a rolling pin. Roll out the dough into a round sheet, about 1/8 - 1/4 inch thick. When the dough is properly thin, grab your pie dish. Fold the dough in half, the into quarters and lift it into the pie dish. Unfold it, and press it into the corners of the dish. There should be some crust that hangs over the edges. Trim this crust off with a paring knife, and use the resulting scraps to patch any holes, cracks, or thin areas of the crust. If you want to be artistic, you can flute your crust by pressing the edges between your fingers and repeating as you move around the pie-dish.
Set the crust by lightly beating one egg white with a tsp of cold water, then brushing this mixture over your crust. Poke holes all across the bottom of the crust, then refrigerate it for 30 minutes. These two steps will keep your crust flat while you bake it by preventing airpockets and hot-spots. Bake the crust for 5 minutes at 450F, then allow it to cool to room temperature before adding whatever liquid filling you've got in mind.
Very Important Note: Your pie crust will shrink as it sets or bakes. This means that when you trim the crust, you should not trim it too close to the pie-dish, or you will end up with a crust that is shorter than your dish. When in doubt err on the side of too long when it comes to trimming pies.
I find that a lot of people are intimidated by pie crusts, which always strikes me as funny. A good pie crust is no more difficult to make than a simple cookie recipe, and the buttery, flaky crust is what makes or breaks a pie for me. No store-bought cardboard-tasting crusts here, thanks, I'll make my own.
This is the recipe that my mother has used for years for pie crusts. It's remarkably easy, and I think it originally came from a Southern Living cookbook. It makes a single crust (just the bottom layer). If you want a double crusted pie (bottom and top) just double the recipe. Below the pie recipe, I've included the directions for setting a pie crust, which is the most important part of pie making that most people don't do. It involves crisping the outside of the pie crust, so that when you fill the pie with a liquid and bake it, the crust stays crisp instead of absorbing so much liquid that it turns to mush. More pie-makers than you would believe allow their crusts to turn all mushy because they neglect to set the pie properly, but it always tastes much nicer when the crust is still crisp, even on the bottom.
Simple Pie Crust
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening (you can substitute unsalted butter here, but I find that shortening makes a more flaky crust)
4 or 5 tbsp water
Stir together the flour and salt, mixing them thoroughly. Add the shortening, and cut it into the flour until the shortening is in pieces the size of small peas. Add the water one tbsp at a time, tossing the dough and mixing after each addition. After the fourth or fifth tbsp, the dough should suddenly assume the consistency of proper pie-crust, almost as if my magic. Stop adding water immediately; the goal is a dough that is moist and very faintly sticky, but never wet. Form your dough into a ball. It should stick to itself easily, but shouldn't stick to your hands if you've got the consistency right.
Flour a large flat surface lightly, and flour a rolling pin. Roll out the dough into a round sheet, about 1/8 - 1/4 inch thick. When the dough is properly thin, grab your pie dish. Fold the dough in half, the into quarters and lift it into the pie dish. Unfold it, and press it into the corners of the dish. There should be some crust that hangs over the edges. Trim this crust off with a paring knife, and use the resulting scraps to patch any holes, cracks, or thin areas of the crust. If you want to be artistic, you can flute your crust by pressing the edges between your fingers and repeating as you move around the pie-dish.
Set the crust by lightly beating one egg white with a tsp of cold water, then brushing this mixture over your crust. Poke holes all across the bottom of the crust, then refrigerate it for 30 minutes. These two steps will keep your crust flat while you bake it by preventing airpockets and hot-spots. Bake the crust for 5 minutes at 450F, then allow it to cool to room temperature before adding whatever liquid filling you've got in mind.
Very Important Note: Your pie crust will shrink as it sets or bakes. This means that when you trim the crust, you should not trim it too close to the pie-dish, or you will end up with a crust that is shorter than your dish. When in doubt err on the side of too long when it comes to trimming pies.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Parmesan-Crusted Salmon Ceasar Salad
Boy, I wrote that title and thought, 'Wow, it makes this salad sound fancy!' And to some degree, it is. This is a classy dish that just screams summer to me. Fresh, crunchy lettuce, plump little tomatoes, a tangy twist on classic Caesar dressing, and salmon pieces wrapped in a delicate Parmesan-breadcrumb crust make this a light, healthy meal that leaves you full but not stuffed. I don't think I've ever eaten a restaurant salad that left me with the same feeling of full flavour, but healthy calorie-count.
I'm not usually a salad person, but I had some lettuce languishing in my fridge after making burgers and gougeres, so one day when I needed something clean and light I thought I'd try to gussy it up into something that even my non-salad-eating self would like. Most of my original recipes happen this way, I think: I'll look into the fridge and think "Oh, that needs to be used before it goes bad. What sort of thing could I do with it that doesn't require a trip to the grocery store?" Laziness and thrift are the mothers of my culinary invention.
This particular gem was inspired by the lettuce I needed to use, and the fact that I'd frozen a salmon steak earlier in the month, so I had some salmon on hand. I'd thought about using chicken originally (and you could probably substitute chicken for salmon here and still have a great salad), but I didn't have any chicken on hand. It was late in the week, and I needed to get to the grocery. So salmon it was, and I think it ended up being a fortuitous choice. Chicken, while a nice all-purpose meat, can't rival salmon for both clean, healthy flavor and a certain classiness that salmon conveys. Salmon has long been my go-to meat when I need to feel like I'm being good, when I feel like I've eaten to much fried or cream-heavy stuff for a few days. Salmon is a palate cleanser, and pairing it with the refreshing salad makes for a really healthy, sort of Zen meal.
I will definitely make this one again, and I foresee it becoming a staple in my summer repertoire. As long as there are fresh veggies and swimsuit figures to consider, this salad is a great way for me to feel like I'm doing something good for myself, as well as good for my tastebuds!
Parmesan-Crusted Salmon Caesar Salad
For the dressing:
1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
A scant 1/2 cup olive oil
About 1/2 - 1 tbsp finely chopped cooked salmon (I just microwave a small chunk off the salmon I'm about to cook anyway, then mince it with a sharp knife)
3 loves garlic, very finely chopped
1 egg
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 cups lightly packed Parmesan or Parmegiano-Reggiano, finely grated
Salt
Pepper
For the salmon nuggets:
1 lb salmon fillet (salmon steaks don't work so well for this, and fillets are cheaper anyway)
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan
1/2 cup plain or Italian fine, dry breadcrumbs
1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 eggs
3 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
Salt
Pepper
For the salad (use your favorites here, obviously, but here's what I used):
Romaine lettuce
15 cherry tomatoes, halved
15 baby carrots, sliced into small circles
2 eggs, boiled and sliced into quarters
1 cucumber, sliced into circles
Begin by making the dressing. Combine the vinegar, oil, minced salmon, a pinch of salt, and a sprinkling of pepper in a small mixing bowl and whisk thoroughly. Add the egg and a few sprinkles of the cheese, whisk those in, and taste it. Add more salt or pepper as necessary. Add the lemon juice, and whisk that in. Taste it again, first by itself, then on a piece of your lettuce. Adjust the dressing to suit the taste of the lettuce -- if the lettuce is very sweet, it may be fine as is, but if the lettuce is a little old or minerally, you may want to add more lemon juice to pull out brightness, more garlic to spike up the fresh flavour a little if the lettuce is bland, or a pinch of sugar to mitigate the acid in the dressing if the lettuce runs toward the minerally. I usually just go with whatever my instinct is, and use a combination of the above techniques to achieve a balanced taste. The key is to add things slowly, so that you don't ruin the dressing. When in doubt, spoon a small amount into another cup, adjust that and taste it until you've got it right, then adjust the rest when you know what needs to be done. When you've got the dressing to your taste, whisk it once more for good measure and stick it in the fridge to chill out while you do the rest of the salad.
Next, make the salmon nuggets. Use a very sharp knife to remove the skin from your salmon fillet. Next, salt and pepper the fillet on both sides, then cut it into nugget-sized chunks. 1 - 1 1/2 inch squares is usually what I go for. In a small mixing bowl, mix together the Parmesan, breadcrumbs, parsley, 1/2 tsp pepper, and 3/4 tsp salt. Stir this until completely combined. In a separate bowl, beat the egg lightly.
Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Dredge the salmon chunks in the egg, then coat them in the breadcrumb mixture. Set them in the pan to cook, turning them occasionally so that all side of the breadcrumbs get browned. Cook until salmon is done through (about 2 minutes per side, in my experience), then remove the chunks to a paper towel and allow them to drain. Not all of the chunks will fit in the saucepan at once (you don't want them to crowd each other overmuch, it will interfere with their browning process), so you'll probably have to do these in a few batches. When the salmon nuggets are finished, they can be put in an oven or toaster on 200F to keep warm while you prep the rest of the salad.
The final step is salad preparation. Assemble your lettuce into the bowl, and retrieve your dressing from the fridge. Drizzle the dressing very lightly over the lettuce, then toss to ensure that all lettuce pieces are covered in a thin film of dressing. Dust the whole thing with the remaining cheese (remember how you only used a few sprinkles earlier?), coating each piece of lettuce in a 'dust' of grated cheese. Add whatever other salad toppings you're using (tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, croutons, etc), and pour any remaining cheese over the top. Place the salmon nuggets on top of the salad, and serve the remaining dressing alongside for people to spoon over the salad as they please.
Servings: 2-3, depending mostly on how much salmon everyone like to eat
I'm not usually a salad person, but I had some lettuce languishing in my fridge after making burgers and gougeres, so one day when I needed something clean and light I thought I'd try to gussy it up into something that even my non-salad-eating self would like. Most of my original recipes happen this way, I think: I'll look into the fridge and think "Oh, that needs to be used before it goes bad. What sort of thing could I do with it that doesn't require a trip to the grocery store?" Laziness and thrift are the mothers of my culinary invention.
This particular gem was inspired by the lettuce I needed to use, and the fact that I'd frozen a salmon steak earlier in the month, so I had some salmon on hand. I'd thought about using chicken originally (and you could probably substitute chicken for salmon here and still have a great salad), but I didn't have any chicken on hand. It was late in the week, and I needed to get to the grocery. So salmon it was, and I think it ended up being a fortuitous choice. Chicken, while a nice all-purpose meat, can't rival salmon for both clean, healthy flavor and a certain classiness that salmon conveys. Salmon has long been my go-to meat when I need to feel like I'm being good, when I feel like I've eaten to much fried or cream-heavy stuff for a few days. Salmon is a palate cleanser, and pairing it with the refreshing salad makes for a really healthy, sort of Zen meal.
I will definitely make this one again, and I foresee it becoming a staple in my summer repertoire. As long as there are fresh veggies and swimsuit figures to consider, this salad is a great way for me to feel like I'm doing something good for myself, as well as good for my tastebuds!
Parmesan-Crusted Salmon Caesar Salad
For the dressing:
1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
A scant 1/2 cup olive oil
About 1/2 - 1 tbsp finely chopped cooked salmon (I just microwave a small chunk off the salmon I'm about to cook anyway, then mince it with a sharp knife)
3 loves garlic, very finely chopped
1 egg
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 cups lightly packed Parmesan or Parmegiano-Reggiano, finely grated
Salt
Pepper
For the salmon nuggets:
1 lb salmon fillet (salmon steaks don't work so well for this, and fillets are cheaper anyway)
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan
1/2 cup plain or Italian fine, dry breadcrumbs
1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 eggs
3 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
Salt
Pepper
For the salad (use your favorites here, obviously, but here's what I used):
Romaine lettuce
15 cherry tomatoes, halved
15 baby carrots, sliced into small circles
2 eggs, boiled and sliced into quarters
1 cucumber, sliced into circles
Begin by making the dressing. Combine the vinegar, oil, minced salmon, a pinch of salt, and a sprinkling of pepper in a small mixing bowl and whisk thoroughly. Add the egg and a few sprinkles of the cheese, whisk those in, and taste it. Add more salt or pepper as necessary. Add the lemon juice, and whisk that in. Taste it again, first by itself, then on a piece of your lettuce. Adjust the dressing to suit the taste of the lettuce -- if the lettuce is very sweet, it may be fine as is, but if the lettuce is a little old or minerally, you may want to add more lemon juice to pull out brightness, more garlic to spike up the fresh flavour a little if the lettuce is bland, or a pinch of sugar to mitigate the acid in the dressing if the lettuce runs toward the minerally. I usually just go with whatever my instinct is, and use a combination of the above techniques to achieve a balanced taste. The key is to add things slowly, so that you don't ruin the dressing. When in doubt, spoon a small amount into another cup, adjust that and taste it until you've got it right, then adjust the rest when you know what needs to be done. When you've got the dressing to your taste, whisk it once more for good measure and stick it in the fridge to chill out while you do the rest of the salad.
Next, make the salmon nuggets. Use a very sharp knife to remove the skin from your salmon fillet. Next, salt and pepper the fillet on both sides, then cut it into nugget-sized chunks. 1 - 1 1/2 inch squares is usually what I go for. In a small mixing bowl, mix together the Parmesan, breadcrumbs, parsley, 1/2 tsp pepper, and 3/4 tsp salt. Stir this until completely combined. In a separate bowl, beat the egg lightly.
Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Dredge the salmon chunks in the egg, then coat them in the breadcrumb mixture. Set them in the pan to cook, turning them occasionally so that all side of the breadcrumbs get browned. Cook until salmon is done through (about 2 minutes per side, in my experience), then remove the chunks to a paper towel and allow them to drain. Not all of the chunks will fit in the saucepan at once (you don't want them to crowd each other overmuch, it will interfere with their browning process), so you'll probably have to do these in a few batches. When the salmon nuggets are finished, they can be put in an oven or toaster on 200F to keep warm while you prep the rest of the salad.
The final step is salad preparation. Assemble your lettuce into the bowl, and retrieve your dressing from the fridge. Drizzle the dressing very lightly over the lettuce, then toss to ensure that all lettuce pieces are covered in a thin film of dressing. Dust the whole thing with the remaining cheese (remember how you only used a few sprinkles earlier?), coating each piece of lettuce in a 'dust' of grated cheese. Add whatever other salad toppings you're using (tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, croutons, etc), and pour any remaining cheese over the top. Place the salmon nuggets on top of the salad, and serve the remaining dressing alongside for people to spoon over the salad as they please.
Servings: 2-3, depending mostly on how much salmon everyone like to eat
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Pepperjack Gougeres, BLT Style
Man, has it ever been a long time since I posted here! I'm not dead (yet), I'm just busy. And for me, busy usually means resorting to cold cuts and apples for all sorts of meals. Yesterday, I ate an apple for breakfast, a turkey sandwich for lunch, and an apple and a turkey sandwich for dinner. You've no idea how much it pains me to admit that. I hate feeling uncreative.
The good news is, last weekend I managed to find time to test a new recipe, and it turned out splendidly. It's my take on Judy Rodgers's (of Zuni fame) recipe for gougeres. What, you ask, are gougeres? They're little cheesy puff pastries, like what might happen if you took a cheese biscuit and inflated it. They're also bite-sized, which was a nice change of pace for me. I love making whole meals out of appetizers. I always find myself tempted to eat too many if the appetizer is good, so turning them into a whole meal lets me combine this tendency with my love of interactive food. Appetizers are sort of interactive, right? You can eat them with your fingers, at least.
Anyway, where normal people would eat one or two gougeres for an appetizer, I eat seven or eight for a meal. And they're fabulous done this way: cheesy little puffs stuffed with the makings of a BLT, my all-time favorite sandwich. I took Judy's excellent recipe and toyed with it (as I'm wont to do), adding a Southern twist by incorporating pepperjack cheese into the puffs. You could probably also add pimentos, and do a riff on pimento cheese with these, which I think would be both clever and tasty. Maybe I'll try that next time I get a hankering for mini-sandwiches. You could also fiddle with the stuffings for these, and turn them into just about anything you need. Ham and scrambled eggs could be added for a breakfast sandwich (Yum! They're really good this way), or fill them with whatever you've got in your pantry. I just love BLTs, and these make a great little conduit for that passion.
Pepperjack Gougeres, BLT style
For the gougere batter:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup chicken broth (I know I always say use stock, but I used broth here, because this should really only be a hint of flavor, not a whole shebang)
3 tbsp unsalted butter (use the European kind if you can get it)
1 tsp salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup Gruyere, grated
1/2 cup pepperjack cheese, grated
To stuff the gougeres:
10-12 slices bacon
8 or so leaves Romaine lettuce, washed and de-stemmed
1 pint cherry tomatoes
Preheat the oven to 400F.
In a large saucepan, bring the water, butter, and salt to a simmer over medium heat. Pour in the flour (yes, all at once) and stir with a wooden spoon or a very stiff spatula until the batter pulls away from the edges of the pan. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and let the batter cook for a few minutes, until it seems almost stiff and fairly shiny.
When it reaches the shiny stage, remove it from the heat and add an egg. Stir vigorously with the spoon or spatula until the egg is incorporated. At first, the egg will not seem to incorporate at all, but gradually, with lots of stirring, it can be coaxed into the batter to mix in completely. Have patience, and a strong stirring arm. It takes me five minutes or so of stirring to incorporate the egg. The batter will at first seem like slabs of slippery paste, but should eventually return to the sticky point once it's absorbed the egg.
Repeat this process for the other two eggs, stirring until each is completely mixed in before adding the next one. It's okay if the batter cools quite a bit during this process. Once you're done adding the eggs, season with pepper, then add all the cheese. Fold the cheese into the mix. Some of it should melt, but it's okay if you have pieces that don't. That makes it even better.
Using a large spoon, dollop the batter onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, about 1 tbsp per gougere. They should come out looking like little mounds. These don't have to be perfect, pointy bits that stick off will just add a hint of crunch to them.
Bake your gougeres until they are golden-brown and and firm. In my oven, this took 30 minutes, but set your oven's timer for 20 and check them often after that so that they don't overcook. To check if they're done, remove a single gougere from the parchment and pry it open. The inside strands of dough should be tender and moist, but not mushy. If it's underdone, just stick it back together, put it back on the parchment, and bake for a few more minutes.
While the gougeres are cooking, get out a pan and your bacon. Cut the bacon strips in half, one 1/2 strip per gougere. When I'm making these to eat, I sually don't cook all the bacon at once. I only cook enough for the gougeres I'll eat at that meal, and leave the rest for when I eat the others later. Bacon always tastes best when cooked fresh. Cook the bacon in the pan over medium-high heat until crispy, turning once or twice to crisp all sides. Drain the bacon pieces on a paper towel.
Tear the lettuce into manageable pieces, about the same size as a cooked 1/2 slice of bacon. You'll want about two pieces of lettuce per gougere. Slice the cherry tomatoes in half. You'll want 3 tomato halves per gougere.
To serve the gougeres, split them down the middle with a fork. Pack in a slice of bacon, two slices of lettuce, and three tomato halves, then close the top back down on the little sandwich. These are best when warm, so you can eat them fresh from the oven, or if you're eating them later, microwave a few for 30 seconds or so to warm them back up. As I said before, I recommend cooking the bacon fresh just before you eat the gougeres, so that it tastes best.
Servings: 20-25 gougeres
The good news is, last weekend I managed to find time to test a new recipe, and it turned out splendidly. It's my take on Judy Rodgers's (of Zuni fame) recipe for gougeres. What, you ask, are gougeres? They're little cheesy puff pastries, like what might happen if you took a cheese biscuit and inflated it. They're also bite-sized, which was a nice change of pace for me. I love making whole meals out of appetizers. I always find myself tempted to eat too many if the appetizer is good, so turning them into a whole meal lets me combine this tendency with my love of interactive food. Appetizers are sort of interactive, right? You can eat them with your fingers, at least.
Anyway, where normal people would eat one or two gougeres for an appetizer, I eat seven or eight for a meal. And they're fabulous done this way: cheesy little puffs stuffed with the makings of a BLT, my all-time favorite sandwich. I took Judy's excellent recipe and toyed with it (as I'm wont to do), adding a Southern twist by incorporating pepperjack cheese into the puffs. You could probably also add pimentos, and do a riff on pimento cheese with these, which I think would be both clever and tasty. Maybe I'll try that next time I get a hankering for mini-sandwiches. You could also fiddle with the stuffings for these, and turn them into just about anything you need. Ham and scrambled eggs could be added for a breakfast sandwich (Yum! They're really good this way), or fill them with whatever you've got in your pantry. I just love BLTs, and these make a great little conduit for that passion.
Pepperjack Gougeres, BLT style
For the gougere batter:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup chicken broth (I know I always say use stock, but I used broth here, because this should really only be a hint of flavor, not a whole shebang)
3 tbsp unsalted butter (use the European kind if you can get it)
1 tsp salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup Gruyere, grated
1/2 cup pepperjack cheese, grated
To stuff the gougeres:
10-12 slices bacon
8 or so leaves Romaine lettuce, washed and de-stemmed
1 pint cherry tomatoes
Preheat the oven to 400F.
In a large saucepan, bring the water, butter, and salt to a simmer over medium heat. Pour in the flour (yes, all at once) and stir with a wooden spoon or a very stiff spatula until the batter pulls away from the edges of the pan. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and let the batter cook for a few minutes, until it seems almost stiff and fairly shiny.
When it reaches the shiny stage, remove it from the heat and add an egg. Stir vigorously with the spoon or spatula until the egg is incorporated. At first, the egg will not seem to incorporate at all, but gradually, with lots of stirring, it can be coaxed into the batter to mix in completely. Have patience, and a strong stirring arm. It takes me five minutes or so of stirring to incorporate the egg. The batter will at first seem like slabs of slippery paste, but should eventually return to the sticky point once it's absorbed the egg.
Repeat this process for the other two eggs, stirring until each is completely mixed in before adding the next one. It's okay if the batter cools quite a bit during this process. Once you're done adding the eggs, season with pepper, then add all the cheese. Fold the cheese into the mix. Some of it should melt, but it's okay if you have pieces that don't. That makes it even better.
Using a large spoon, dollop the batter onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, about 1 tbsp per gougere. They should come out looking like little mounds. These don't have to be perfect, pointy bits that stick off will just add a hint of crunch to them.
Bake your gougeres until they are golden-brown and and firm. In my oven, this took 30 minutes, but set your oven's timer for 20 and check them often after that so that they don't overcook. To check if they're done, remove a single gougere from the parchment and pry it open. The inside strands of dough should be tender and moist, but not mushy. If it's underdone, just stick it back together, put it back on the parchment, and bake for a few more minutes.
While the gougeres are cooking, get out a pan and your bacon. Cut the bacon strips in half, one 1/2 strip per gougere. When I'm making these to eat, I sually don't cook all the bacon at once. I only cook enough for the gougeres I'll eat at that meal, and leave the rest for when I eat the others later. Bacon always tastes best when cooked fresh. Cook the bacon in the pan over medium-high heat until crispy, turning once or twice to crisp all sides. Drain the bacon pieces on a paper towel.
Tear the lettuce into manageable pieces, about the same size as a cooked 1/2 slice of bacon. You'll want about two pieces of lettuce per gougere. Slice the cherry tomatoes in half. You'll want 3 tomato halves per gougere.
To serve the gougeres, split them down the middle with a fork. Pack in a slice of bacon, two slices of lettuce, and three tomato halves, then close the top back down on the little sandwich. These are best when warm, so you can eat them fresh from the oven, or if you're eating them later, microwave a few for 30 seconds or so to warm them back up. As I said before, I recommend cooking the bacon fresh just before you eat the gougeres, so that it tastes best.
Servings: 20-25 gougeres
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