ta name="google-site-verification" content="LnUtT_d1nKFEi6qCVRa2VtURKXcUowdpcm2UMwFTZUk" /> hummus recipes: February 2009

Monday, February 23, 2009

I'm a Carnita-vore


Carnitas. One of the best preparations of pork that was ever created, Mexican style. The foundation of one of the best tacos that you can eat.

What a perfect candidate for our new best friend, the Slow Cooker.

Here's an example of what the best about slow cookery: turning the everyday into the divine. I bought a 3 lb. boneless pork shoulder at the market, a most humble piece of meat, which cost around $7.00. I cut it up into 1 - 2" chunks, seasoned it with salt, pepper, Mexican oregano, and a bunch of other spices (truth be told, my husband came home and "doctored" it according to his tastes, which are very good - I saw garlic salt and fresh-squeezed orange juice go into the pot). I topped it with roughly chopped onion, set the heat on low, and walked away.

6 hours later, the meat was fragrant and falling apart, ready to be hand-shredded. Now, the key to carnitas is the 2nd step, which is putting the cooked meat into the oven. It lets the juices settle into the meat, and the top gets crispy crunchy which is so important for the depth of texture and taste. I have found that slow cooking meat usually has 2 steps, either browning before it goes into the pot, or roasting afterwards - otherwise you end up with mush - tasty mush, but mush.


Everyone has their own opinion for what makes a great taco, but this combo worked great for me: carnitas, avocado, tomatoes, onions, salsa verde, sour cream, and lots of cilantro on a handmade corn & wheat tortilla.


Talk about economical - the 3 lb roast made enough for more than 3 days worth of meals. Because I bought all of the produce at a local fruit & vegetable stand, I don't think I spent over $15.00 total. It would be great for a family meal or having a few friends over for movie night, with lots of good beer on hand, of course.

Raw Goodness


Last week, I went with my friend Jude to a sushi restaurant that I have been wanting to try for a long time - Tataki. There are hundreds of Japanese restaurants in San Francisco, and a handful of good ones. What makes Tataki different is that it is only one of two restaurants in the world that only serves fish from sustainable sources.

I was kind of shocked to learn that this practice is not more widespread. Sustainability is not something new, but I guess it is new to a cuisine that has become commonplace to the average American diner - clearly, the demand for unagi, sake, and maguro is alive and well, and thiving in a city near you. I love all of these fish and eat them whenever I can, so I don't pretend to be as thoughtful as I could be about the origins of what I eat.

My desire to try Tataki was out of curiosity, sort of like when I try vegetarian restaurants. What would they do to offer the discerning diner a sushi experience that was familiar and satisfying, yet in keeping with their philosophy?

Easy. They serve beautiful, fresh, delicious fish. They have found substitutes for the familiar varieties that look like and taste as good as (if not better than) what you know. We kept it simple, which you have to do since the menu is pretty tight.


So what we had above was the Chef's Choice Sashimi. Looks like your typical Sake, Hamachi, and Maguro, right? It was Iwana (closed farm arctic char), Suzuki (closed farm California striped bass) and Maguro (handline yellowfin tuna, not the more common bluefin). Every pieces was flavorful, delicate, silky, delicious. I was especially impressed with the char, and as salmon is my favorite, the fact that I never missed it says a lot. We just had to have more, so we asked the chef for a recommendation for some nigiri.


Oh my goodness gracious. This was the Kona Kampachi (farmed Hawaiian almaco jack) - so lovely, so buttery, so tasty. The kampachi I had in Hawaii last year did not even come close. And the color - variegated shades of silver-flecked pink fading to white - simply beautiful.

All of this plus a seaweed salad, some light and tasty soba noodles, and green tea made a perfect, healthy lunch for two.


There is a website dedicated to sustainable sushi, where you can read more about it and see additional photos from Tataki. There is also a book called Sustainable Sushi by Casson Trenor (he was in the restaurant the day that we were there) - you can get it at Tataki or on Amazon. Were the recession not choking the hell out of us, I would have picked up a copy. As it is, I am saving my pennies for my next meal at Tataki - Poseidon willing, may it be sooner rather than later!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Double Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

I made these for just the occasion. What occasion? What else other than Valentine's. I have no idea why something heart-shaped or chocolate means Valentine's. I guess because Hallmarks said so. These are my normal chocolate shortbread cookies (no chili) dipped in melted white chocolate.


Cutout cookie dough before baking.


These were quite excellent. But I'm chocolate overload. I still have boxes of chocolate given to me since Christmas. I acquired a bit more on Valentine's. No. It's nothing romantic. I threw a dinner party for my single friends. And I found a package left in my kitchen after everybody left.



Maybe I'm just bitter. But I'll swear off chocolate for a while. I mean for 2 days...

Monday, February 16, 2009

Tom Kha Gai - Lemongrass Coconut Soup with Chicken and Oyster Mushrooms

Something is wrong with my camera. It gave my pictures a red tint and a red strip on the top. I guess it's time I get a new one although this camera wasn't that old. It was a refurbished camera which I got to replaced another broken Cannon in the Spring of 2005. Almost 4 years old. I guess that's old for electronics.

Back to the food - Tom Kha Gai. This was the first Thai dish I learned to make when I first moved to New York. It's extremely easy to prepare once you have all the ingredients. In some Thai restaurants, they call this dish white curry. But I don't think this is qualified as a curry. It doesn't have all the spices normally used in curry and it's not as thick. The soup is actually a little light and refreshing because of all the lime in it.



Ingredients
  • 4 stalks of lemongrass

  • 3-inch knob of galangal (called Kha in Thai - it's a root that looks like ginger but smells lemony.)

  • 10 lime leaves or a tablespoon of lime zest

  • 4 limes

  • 3 pounds chicken breast

  • 1/2 pound oyster mushrooms

  • 3 cans coconut milk

  • 2 cups water

  • 15 fresh Thai chilies - cut in half lengthwise

  • Fish sauce

  • 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Directions
  1. Clean the lemongrass, discard a few outer barks. Trim about 2 inches of its green tip and chop of its root. Cut diagonally into 1 inch stalks.

  2. Peel galangal and slice to make thin discs.

  3. In a large stock pot, heat coconut milk with lemongrass and galangal on a medium heat. Take care not to let the coconut milk boil.

  4. Clean the chicken and cut into small cubes. Add to the soup. Roughly tear lime leaves over the pot and add to the soup. Add water as needed.

  5. When the chicken is cooked. Tear mushrooms out of its stalks and add. Season with lime juice, fish sauce and chilies. The soup should be dominantly sour followed by salty and a little spicy from fresh chilies. The coconut milk will give the soup a little sweetness.

  6. Right before serving, sprinkle chopped cilantro. Served with steam rice or rice noodle. This recipe was enough to serve 9 people after 2 appetizers.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

My Bloody Valentine


Ahh, Valentine's Day. What could be more sweet than a Red Velvet Cupcake with little candy hearts?

I hadn't made Red Velvet in over a year, mostly because the amount of dye in the recipe kind of grosses me out (4 oz. total) - and I can always taste it. But everyone seems to love them, and they are very pretty to look at. I went to my local baking supplies store in search of a better dye, and I found it. Gel dye, much more concentrated than the grocery store kind, and so much more economical - a huge bottle is only $10. And no taste whatsoever.


Well, I should have known by the name "Super Red" that I should be cautious about the amount I used. Instead of being cautious, I was rather generous:


If you have made Red Velvet, you know that the batter is always much more vibrant than the finished baked product. In this case, there was not too much color loss:


Because the red was so deep, I decided to tint the frosting blue rather than my original idea of pink. I love light blue and red together, and the blue provided a great background for my little heart decorations:


I packed up some boxes for my friends, and took them to a dinner party that we were invited to. Well, of course we had to dig into them late in the night, and well, this is what told me that there may be such a thing as too much red:


Anyway, it's a great recipe - just follow what it says and don't overdo it on the red dye. Happy V-Day!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Cream Cheese Frosting

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease 12 cupcake cups or line with paper liners.
  2. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
  3. Add eggs and blend well.
  4. Make a paste of cocoa and food coloring and add to the butter mixture.
  5. Sift flour and salt togethr into this mixture.
  6. One at a time, add the following ingredients: buttermilk, vanilla, and water.
  7. In a small bowl, combine the vinegar and the baking soda. Fold it into the cake batter. Make sure it's incorporated, but don't beat it.
  8. Pour the batter into the cupcake cups. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the cake springs back when touched.
  9. Remove from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes, then turn out of pan and onto a rack to finish cooling completely.
  10. Cream Cheese Frosting: Blend together the following: 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened, 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened, 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Blend until smooth.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Quinoa Risotto with Peas

Still had more Quinoa left from the last risotto and breakfast Quinoa pudding. So I decided to make some more risotto except that this time I was not as prepared. No leftover wine, no mushrooms, no bacon, no nothing - just frozen peas and lots of butter. So that's what I used.

The dish came out a little sweet from the peas and a bit buttery. I was glad I used butter and not olive oil here.



Ingredients
  • 4 tablespoons butter

  • 1 onion - chopped

  • 5 cloves garlic - crushed and chopped

  • 1 cup Quinoa

  • 1 cup vegetable broth

  • 3 - 4 cups water

  • 2 bay leaves

  • 2 cups frozen peas

  • Salt and pepper

  • 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
  1. Melt butter in a pan. Add garlic and chopped onion. Stir until the onion becomes slightly brown. Add Quinoa and bay leaves. Alternately add broth and water 1/2 cup at a time after the liquid was absorbed.

  2. When Quinoa is cooked (the grains become clear without opaque middle), add frozen peas and season with salt and pepper. Cook for a couple of minutes more until peas are heated.

  3. Sprinkle with parmesan right before serving. Make 2 -3 servings.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Mexican Chocolate and Pecan Biscotti

What made these Mexican rather than just cinnamon chocolate biscotti? They are made from Mexican Chocolate (it said so on the package) given to me by my Mexican friend. There... double Mexican-ness.



This was my first batch of biscotti. They turned out good. They are great and relatively guilt-free chocolate fix. I almost chipped my tooth biting into one... which was good I guess. Because I learned not to eat too fast.

What more exciting is that I just discovered a new realm of baking. There are infinite possibility with this. So many flavor combination I can try. So many recipes I can experiment!



For this one I used this recipe from DavidLebovitz.com with a few substitutions. Chopped Mexican chocolate for chocolate chips and pecans for almonds.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Popcorn's New Wave


I've been sick lately (sinusitis & bacterial infection - you don't want to know, trust me) which has forced me to be home more than usual. On this Thursday night, a night usually reserved for going to our favorite French restaurant Garcon, I stayed home by myself and had movie night. I have been thinking of France a lot lately, and realizing that it was Francois Truffaut's birthday, I thought that a night of New Wave cinema would be the perfect night in.

Determined to make my living room as much like a movie theater as possible, I turned off the lights and fired up the DVD player, setting the TV screen to "Cinema". What was missing was popcorn. Now, I am not a huge fan of microwave popcorn - the kernels taste like styrofoam coated in plastic to me. But I really hadn't considered any other methods. I knew I had some corn kernels, and oil, and a pan...and soon realized that home-style popcorn was right in front of me. I read the directions on the package, got out a nonstick pan with a lid, and started the process.


It was remarkably easy. 2 Tablespoons of Canola oil to 1/3 cup popcorn. Heat oil and popcorn on medium, with a lid on top, tilted to let steam escape. Shake pan occasionally. Stop cooking when the popping stops.

It worked perfectly. Not one burnt kernel and not one left unpopped. It tasted great right out of the pan, but my husband reminded me that we had recently gotten some truffle oil to use on pizzas, and he knows that I love truffle oil popcorn, ever since having it at Supperclub a few years ago. I drizzled a small amount on the warm popcorn, added sea salt, and gave it a good shake. I loved the idea because of the similarity of the words "Truffaut" and "truffle" - accidental little details like that make me so happy sometimes! (yes, yes, I realize that all of this hermit time has made me a little bit insane...)


It was delicious! I happily munched away through "The Last Metro" and didn't have that awful sick feeling that I normally have after eating microwave popcorn. In fact, I felt so good that I watched "Jules and Jim" right afterwards - a double feature.

I was so pleased with the simplicity of the process - no fancy equipment, a minimum of ingredients, and hardly any cleanup. I can't wait to try different toppings, too. You can bet that this popcorn will be served at our next party - I even have the red & white cardboard boxes that I bought on whim awhile back.

(I would LOVE to hear any suggestions for popcorn toppings. Tell me all of your favorites!!)

When you consider the cost of a movie and popcorn in the theater, versus a night in, I think this is yet another way to combat this nasty recession. In fact, my friend Lisa recently told me that two industries that are doing well right now are movie rentals and alcohol. Right after I get off of these antibiotics, I will add adult beverages to movie night and the new Thursday night may be born.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Cherry Bakewell Cake


Hola ‘dear’ S&SB bakers, the votes have been cast and now tallied and we have pleasure in announcing our winner for this month’s bake ~ Cherry Bakewell cake. If you adore Bakewell Tart then you’re really going to find this cake irresistible with its moist and feather-light sponge and almond/ morello cherry flavour running through. Additionally if you find morello cherry conserve/jam difficult to source, substitute with raspberry conserve/jam and it will be just as delicious! A few glacĂ© cherries placed on top of the icing additionally with the flaked toasted almonds would also be a lovely.

The recipe can be found here

If you are a food blogger, we ask that you kindly write a post about your bake and link back to us here at Sweet and Simple Bakes. Let us know that you completed the bake and we'll list all the blogs that accomplished the bake. If you don't have a food blog and care to share how it went, feel free to contact us at sweet2simple[at]googlemail[dot]com

*Please Note Posting Date on your Blog*: The date of posting this bake on your blog will be the 1st of March 2009 for this event.

Happy Baking!


Rosie & Maria x