Holiday Gifts and Other New Arrivals

This Christmas season, we got a lot of cooking-related gifts, and we also purchased some kitchen-related items for ourselves. 

Almost all of my gifts this season were kitchen-related, which is just fine with me.  Some of the stand-outs include an immersion blender, a mandoline slicer and three new cookbooks.   The cookbooks are the new edition of the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, which features a new section of cookware ratings; The Best 30-Minute Recipe, also by the ATK folk; and Perfect One-Dish Dinners by Pam Anderson (the food writer, not the actress).  I've already made one dish featured in the Family Cookbook and used it to research ways of fine-tuning a couple of my own recipes.  It contains a lot of great stuff, including the cookware ratings section mentioned above, lots of product reviews and recommendations based on ATK taste tastes, which are sprinkled throughout the book, sidebars featuring helpful cooking tips, a table listing lengths of time for microwaving and steaming various vegetables and, of course, lots and lots of great recipes - more than 1200 in all, according to the book's cover.  So far I've only glanced at the other two books, but I expect to get a lot of use out of both of them.

The Christmas gift Juli's gotten the most use out of has been her Keurig B30 Coffee Brewer and a variety of K-cup packs for use with the Keurig.  It brews up a cup of coffee (or tea, or cocoa) in very little time and with no mess, which is great for busy workday mornings.  She'd been wary of buying one of these, as the reviews have not been uniformly spectacular, but so far this model has worked like a charm.  The K-Cup Carousel has been quite useful at keeping a selection of the little K-cups organized and ready.

Another stand-out recent arrival is my Lodge Enameled Cast-Iron 3-Quart Covered Casserole, which I purchased in emerald green.  It is quite nice, as it serves well as a back-up skillet and can go from stove top to oven without a problem.  It has already seen a fair bit of use the past few days.  Like all the Lodge enameled products, it heats uniformly and conducts heat wonderfully, and it cleans up from even the most sticky, burnt-on mess with virtually no effort at all. 

The biggest new arrival to our kitchen is our new Cuisinart 5.5-Quart 12-Speed Stand Mixer.  It wasn't a Christmas gift.  Our old KitchenAid mixer had served us quite well, but it was on its last legs, and I've been using a stand mixer an awful lot of late, more than enough to justify the purchase.  We picked ours in a spiffy-looking black finish.  It works like a charm - I've already used it to beat egg whites and make cookie frosting - and when we have a bit of spare cash, I'm looking forward to purchasing one of the optional attachments:  a meat grinder/sausage-maker.  That will have to wait for awhile likely as not, though... maybe a birthday present down the road.  We wouldn't have bought the mixer yet, but it was recently on sale at Amazon for a great price. 

One smaller, but nonetheless quite useful, addition to my bakeware collection is the Chicago Metallic Non-Stick Slice Solutions Brownie Pan with Lid.   It's a nonstick baking pan with a bottom insert that allows you to lift everything out of the pan, and another insert which allows you to bake up brownies, bars and what have you pre-sliced.  This came in quite helpful recently when I made up another batch of the Blackberry Bliss Bars featured in the most recent issue of Cook's Country.  They were a big hit at Thanksgiving, and just as welcome the second time around, and the pan's tight-fitting lid kept them fresh more than long enough for us to finish them off.

We also got a gift certificate for Penzey's from my son, which has of course been a great gift for us.  He also gave us a gift certificate for Half-Price Books, knowing that we both like to read - and that Half-Price has a large cookbook section, of course!

Shrimp Pad Thai

A long, long time ago, I lived in Oklahoma City.  As culinary adventuring goes, OKC didn't really have a lot to offer, but there was one restaurant I really, really loved:  the Bangkok.  It was a family-run restaurant, launched by a Fred Evans and his lovely and charming wife, Lida.  Back when I ate there, they and their children were very involved in the day-to-day running of the restaurant, which featured the family's own recipes, most of them developed (and usually cooked) by Lida.  The food was truly delightful:  Authentic Thai cuisine done right.  It's still among the very best Thai restaurants I've ever found. 

From doing some online research, I've learned that the Bangkok is still around, but that Fred and Linda sold it.  Reviews suggest that while it's still pretty good, the quality has - predictably - slid somewhat.  Thankfully, I've got a copy of the cookbook the Evans family put out for their customers (a photocopy, actually; my first wife has the original).  This was the first Thai cookbook I've ever owned, and it is still probably the best.

I haven't made Pad Thai in a long time, but I used to make the version included in the Evans' cookbook.  That recipe is written for a single (albeit ample) serving, as follows:

PAD THAI

1/4          pound rice noodles
5             shrimp, shelled and diced
1             egg, lightly beaten
1             cup bean sprouts
1             tablespoon ground peanuts, roasted
2             tablespoons vinegar
2             teaspoons sugar
2             tablespoons nampla (fish sauce)
4             tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4          cup green onions cut one inch long
1             teaspoon Dried Chili Peppers (optional)

Soak the rice noodles in warm water for about 20 minutes.  Drain.  In a hot fryng pan or wok put vegetable oil.  Then stir fry egg and shrimp until done.  Add noodles and fry until brown; then add nampla, vinegar, sugar and mix.  Add peanuts, bean sprouts, coriander leaves or green onions and stir fry until bean sprouts are cooked.  Put on serving plate and sprinkle Dried Chili on top, if you like it spicy.

(Source:  Oklahoma City's Bangkok Restaurant Cookbook, by the Evans Family, 1990)
(Note:  The mention of Dried Chili Peppers refers to roasted red chilis ground in a food processor, which the Bangkok included among its various garnishes)

That's an excellent Pad Thai recipe.  I've made it several times.  I've found from experience, though, that tryng to make up multiple servings at once is more than a matter of doubling (or quadrupling, or whatever) the ingredients.   Doing that results in soggy noodles and egg chunks, overcooked shrimp, mushy peanuts and limp bits of green onion, with the whole mess tasting unpleasantly fishy and vinegary.  So, I used the Evans' recipe as a starting point for making one of my own, capable of serving three or four people without sacrificing texture or flavor.

I knew from past experience that to do that, I'd have to vary the proportions of some ingredients and change the order in which some of them - most notably the shrimp - were added.   If you try to cook that many noodles after the shrimp is already cooked, the shrimp will end up with a texture resembling pencil erasers.  I'd need to use a lot less liquid to avoid making everything soggy as well, since lots of liquid doesn't absorb or cook down as quickly as smaller amounts.  So, after giving the matter some thought, I tossed together a recipe and gave it a try.

I'm pleased to report success.  My first try at this turned out a great pad thai, with firm noodles and lots of flavor.  Juli and I both liked it quite a bit.  Should the Evans family happen to hear about this, my hope is that they'd be pleased.   Their cooking certainly inspired me.

One of these days I'm going to have to give their homemade ice cream recipes - particularly the coconut and rum varieties - a try. 

Shrimp Pad Thai

yield = 3 generous or four modest servings

12             ounces rice noodles
5               tablespoons peanut oil
3               eggs, lightly beaten
10             ounces peeled, deveined shrimp
2               cups bean sprouts
8               green onions, white parts separated, with
                 white parts thinly-sliced, green parts sliced
                 in 1/2-inch pieces
1/4            cup unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts, coarsely
                 ground
2               teaspoons Asian (dark) sesame oil
6               tablespoons fish sauce
3               tablespoons rice vinegar
6               teaspoons sugar
1               tablespoon chopped cilantro leaves
1               tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes, roasted (optional)

Soak the rice noodles in hot water for 20 minutes.  Drain, then set aside.

Heat the peanut and sesame oils in a large skillet at medium-high heat.  When the oil is shimmering, add and stir-fry the egg.  When the egg is done, add the rice noodles and stir-fry.   After about 3 minutes, add the shrimp, the bean sprouts, the white parts of the green onion, the peanuts and sesame oil.  Continue to cook, stirring often. 

When the noodles have started to brown, add the green parts of the green onions,  fish sauce, rice vinegar and sugar.  Cook until the shrimp is done and most of the liquid has boiled off. 

Transfer to a serving platter and sprinkle with the chopped cilantro (and the red pepper flakes, if desired).

Shrimp Pad Thai and Zucchini with Chili-Orange Glaze

First Breakfast of the New Year: Pear Fritters with Lemon and Ginger, from Fine Cooking

Our New Year's celebration consists of a three-day weekend (Friday through Sunday).  Neither of us works on Sunday, which is a rarity for us, but we figured we'd go ahead and take off the whole weekend, since today is our eighth wedding anniversary.  I've been spending the bulk of the time in the kitchen, with some assist from Juli.   I'll be reporting on all the great cooking we're doing in the days to come, but I wanted to share what we had for breakfast on the first day of 2011. 

The latest issue of Fine Cooking (December 2010/January 2011) featured an informative article about pears - different types, their flavors and textures and which serve best for different sorts of cooking - and several recipes.  The recipe that caught my eye was for Pear Fritters with Lemon and Ginger.   Balls of tasty, moist dough made with ginger, lemon zest and diced pears, deep-fried then rolled in cinnamon-sugar... not exactly diet fare, but it sounded good for a holiday breakfast.  So, I tried out the recipe today.

I should note that I made a few changes from the recipe as written.  The written recipe called for both fresh lemon zest and freshy-grated ginger.  I love both, and normally I would have used those, but I wanted the pear flavor to dominate and I was also worried about the dough being too moist, so I used smaller amounts of powdered ginger and lemon zest while bumping up the amount of pear by adding an extra half pear. 

This recipe gave me a chance to try out something I got for Xmas:  a clip-on thermometer for use in deep frying, making candy and so forth.  I clipped it to the side of my small Tramontina Dutch oven, added a couple cups of canola oil and heated the oil.  When it was ready, I dropped groups of two-tablespoon globs of the dough (scooped out with a cookie scoop) into the hot oil, fried them until golden-brown, then transferred them to a plate lined with paper towels.  They were then rolled in the cinnamon sugar, and a few batches later, they were ready to eat.

These really were quite tasty.  They were so moist inside, I initially questioned whether they'd cooked through, but examining one showed that yes, they were done, but the bits of pear provided a lot of moisture.  The fritters were quite fluffy, due to well-beaten egg yolks having been carefully folded into the dough.  Our new Cuisinart stand mixer did a great job of beating the egg whites all nice and fluffy.

All in all, these fritters made for a pretty good breakfast.  I had mine with hot cocoa and a glass of milk, while Juli had coffee with hers.  We both thought this a pretty good start to a New Year.

Vegetable Curry with Winter Squash

This post features the second dish I made for our supper on Christmas day, to accompany Lamb Curry with Apricots.  As I noted when posting about the lamb curry, when making a curry dinner, I usually like to make two dishes:  One featuring meat, poultry or seafood plus a vegetarian curry.  In designing the second dish, I decided to come up with something that would feature red kuri squash.

The kuri is a thick-skinned winter squash with a bold red-orange color.  It looks something like a small, red pumpkin, but without the ridges.  Beneath the skin is the delicious, bright orange flesh. 

Kuri is our very favorite type of squash.   Its sweet, nutty flavor beats out even butternut, and you can use it for just about anything you might use any other type of squash for.  Soups, stews, stir-fries, casseroles, breads... even pies.   It's also ideal for stuffing. 

I decided that rather than make a dish featuring nothing but the kuri, I would make it the centerpiece of a curry including tomatoes, peas, chickpeas and coconut milk, while keeping the amounts of each other ingredient modest, to make sure the kuri would take center stage.   I'd have to say I succeeded.

The dish was sweet and tasty, with a slight undercurrent of heat provided by some chili powder and a single, medium-hot Serrano pepper.  The cubes of kuri squash were firm, yet tender, and the bit of acidic undertone provided by the tomato provided a nice counterpoint to the nutty-sweet squash.  This curry stood well on its own merits, and went along well with the lamb and fruit curry I'd paired it with.

We haven't noticed any kuri in the stores lately, and we have only a couple left from the several we bought at the end of farmer's market season.   I'm not sure yet what we'll use them for, but a second batch of this curry is a fairly good bet.

Vegetable Curry with Winter Squash

yield = 6 servings

2         tablespoons vegetable oil
1         large onion, chopped fine
1         Serrano chili, seeded and minced fine
1         tablespoon peeled, minced ginger
2         teaspoons minced garlic
1 1/2   teaspoons chili powder
1         teaspoon ground cumin
1/2      teaspoon coriander powder
1/2      teaspoon black mustard seed
1         kuri squash, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch pieces
1         15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2      15-ounce can diced tomatoes
1/4      teaspoon salt
1         cup coconut milk
1         cup frozen peas, thawed
2         tablespoons chopped cilantro

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering.  Add the onion and cook 2 minutes.  Stir in Serrano chili and cook, stirring often, until the onion starts to brown.  Add ginger and garlilc and cook 1 minute or until fragrant. 

Stir in chili powder, cumin, coriander and mustard seed and cook until fragrant.  Add squash and stir-fry 2 minutes.  Stir in chickpeas, tomatoes and salt and cook 3 minutes, then stir in coconut and 1 cup water.   Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a low simmer and cook 30 minutes. 

Stir in peas, cook 5 minutes, then transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with chopped cilantro and serve.

Note: 
In place of a kuri squash, you can use another sort of winter squash.  A small butternut squash would work well in this recipe.

Lamb Curry with Apricots

I've already shown what I made for lunch on Christmas day.  Christmas dinner featured two new Indian recipes, one of which is featured in this post.  The other will be covered in a separate post.

When I make Indian, I usually make a meat, poultry or seafood dish and a vegetable dish, plus basmati rice and naan.  The meat dish I made this time around was inspired by a recipe in Camellia Panjabi's 50 Great Curries of India.  I've had that dish before (or something quite a bit like it), and while I enjoyed the version I'd had in a restaurant, I had some ideas how to make it into something even more to my taste.  So, I took some basics from that recipe, changed around several things, added a couple touches of my own and got to work making the dish.

I was very pleased with the result:  Tender lamb, plump, juicy apricots, a nice balance of sweet and sour and an enticing cinnamon fragrance.  This isn't a spicy curry; I'd characterize it more as warm and inviting, and very flavorful.   The blend of rich and exotic flavors and pleasant textures is likely to appeal equally to those new to curry and those with more experienced palates.  I invite you to give it a try - and then to come back and let us know what you think of the recipe.

Our Christmas dinner.

Lamb Curry with Apricots

yield = 6 servings

4        ounces dried apricots
1/4     teaspoon cider vinegar + 1 teaspoon
2        tablespoons vegetable oil
1        large onion, chopped fine
1        teaspoon grated ginger
1        teaspoon minced garlic
1        cinnamon stick
1 1/2  teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
3/4     teaspoon powdered cardamom seed
1/2     teaspoon ground cumin
2        pounds stewing lamb, cut into small pieces
3/4     teaspoon garam masala
1/2     15-ounce can diced tomatoes
1/4     teaspoon black pepper
1/4     teaspoon salt
1        teaspoon sugar

In a small bowl, combine the dried apricots with 1/4 teaspoon cider vinegar and 1 cup of water.  Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 1 minute.  Allow the apricots to soak for 3 hours.

In a Dutch oven, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat until shimmering.  Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion starts to brown.  Add the garlic, ginger and cinnamon stick and cook for 1 minute.  Stir in the paprika, cardamom and cumin and cook for another minute, then stir in the lamb and garam masala and cook, stirring often, until the lamb is browned on all sides.

Right:  Lamb Curry with Apricots
Left:  Vegetable Curry with Winter Squash

Stir in the tomatoes, black pepper and salt and cook five minutes, then stir in 1 cup of water.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low simmer and cook 1/2 hour. 

Drain the apricots and add them to the Dutch oven.  Stir in sugar and one teaspoon vinegar, cook an additional 10 minutes, then serve.

Holiday French Toast

                                                                    

This recipe uses eggnog, which already has flavoring and spices added.  If you want, you can use regular milk and add 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla and a dusting of cinnamon instead of the nutmeg. It's a great way to use up bread that has gotten a little stale, and is a fast, easy thing to make when you have company.

I like to use our electric skillet so that I only need to stand at the countertop for one batch of French toast, and we can all eat together.

You can serve it with the syrup of your choice.  Plain old Mrs. Butterworth's is my favorite. This Christmas I served the French Toast with an Egg Scramble and pineapple juice.

Holiday  French Toast

2                           eggs, beaten

3/4 cup                eggnog

light dusting        ground nutmeg

6 slices                 white bread

1.  In a small mixing bowl, beat together eggs, eggnog, and just a trace dusting of nutmeg.  Don't go overboard with the nutmeg, it's a strong flavor!

2.  Dip bread into the eggnog mixture.  Coat both sides, and stack the wet bread on a plate.

 

3.  Spray the electric skillet with butter-flavor non -stick shortening, or you may simply melt butter or margarine, or add cooking oil.  Heat the skillet to a medium temperature.  Add the soaked bread slices and cook until done, turning the slices over half way through.

Pasta and Meatballs with Chunky Marinara Sauce

We had our Christmas dinner the weekend before Christmas, when Juli's son and his partner dropped by for a visit.  That dinner featured a ham, dinner rolls, and some festive sides.   By the time Christmas itself rolled around, we were pretty tired for various reasons, including dealing with winter weather, and neither of us was in the mood for a traditional Xmas feast.   Instead, I simply cooked something tasty for lunch and supper.

Lunch was pasta with marinara sauce and meatballs.  I made up a variation on my Quick Marinara Sauce recipe, mostly because we didn't have enough crushed tomato to make up a full batch of the basic recipe.  We had several cans of diced tomatoes, though, so I made up for what I didn't have in crushed tomato by adding some diced tomatoes.  The result was a chunky sauce.  It was, frankly, delicious... every bit as good as the non-chunky sauce. 

One of these days I'll have to get around to finding or making a good recipe for Italian-style meatballs, but this time around I didn't want to go to that much work, so I went with our standby:  Frozen handmade meatballs from Graziano Bros. Grocery.   Their excellence is the main reason I haven't really felt a strong need to find or come up with my own meatball recipe. 

For the pasta, I skipped the traditional spaghetti and cooked up some radiatore for something different.  We'd picked that up awhile back but hadn't gotten around to using it for anything.  It went great with the sauce and meatballs.  

Juli used a loaf of Italian bread we'd picked up the day before to make some garlic bread to go with our lunch.

Pasta with red sauce and meatballs might not be a traditional Christmas meal for most people, but it sure hit the spot for us!

Our Christmas lunch.
The garlic bread isn't pictured, as it was still in the oven.

Pasta with Chunky Marinara Sauce

yield = 6 servings

1        28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1        15-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
5        quarts water + 1/2 cup
2        teaspoons table salt, divided
24      frozen meatballs (optional)
2        tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1        large onion, minced
2        teaspoons minced garlic
2        teaspoons dried oregano
1        6-ounce can tomato paste
1/2     cup red wine
1        teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1        teaspoon sugar
1/8     teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3/4     pound uncooked pasta
1/4    cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
2        tablespoons freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
          + extra for serving
2        teaspoons dried basil

Christmas morning in the kitchen.
Left:  Stock pot with water boiling for the pasta
Right front:  Dutch oven with onions
Right rear: Saucepan with crushed and diced
tomatoes simmering.

Heat the crushed tomato and diced tomatoes in a large saucepan over medium heat and cook until it has thickened significantly.  Add 5 quarts water and 1 teaspoon table salt to a large pot over high heat and bring to a boil.  (If you are making the dish with meatballs, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and arrange the meatballs on a wire baking rack set over a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.  Place in the oven and cook for approximately 1/2 hour, or until done.)

Meanwhile, add the oil to a Dutch oven over medium heat.  When the oil is shimmering, add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until it starts to brown.  Stir in the garlic and oregano and cook for about 1 minute, then stir in the tomato paste and cook another minute.  Add red wine and water and cook for 1-2 minutes, then stir in the sugar, black pepper, salt and red pepper flakes.

By that point, the tomato mixture should have cooked down enough.  Add the thickened tomato mixture to the Dutch oven, stir thoroughly, reduce heat and cook at a low simmer.

When the water in the large pot has come to a boil, add the pasta and cook according to directions.  At the same time, add the cheddar cheese, two tablespoons Parmesan cheese and basil to the Dutch oven and stir in.  (If you are making the dish with meatballs, stir them into the sauce at this time as well.)

Drain the pasta and serve topped with the sauce (and meatballs, if desired) and with grated Parmesan cheese.