dirtylibrarian | Entries tagged with cooking

Bold the ones you have and use at least once a year, italicize the ones you have and don't use, strike through the ones you have had but got rid of.

"I wonder how many pasta machines, breadmakers,juicers, blenders, deep fat fryers, egg boilers, melon ballers, sandwich makers, pastry brushes, cheese boards, cheese
knives, electric woks, miniature salad spinners, griddle pans, jam funnels, meat thermometers, filleting knives, egg poachers, cake stands, garlic crushers, martini glasses, tea strainers, bamboo steamers, pizza stones, coffee grinders, milk frothers, piping bags, banana stands, fluted pastry wheels, tagine dishes, ~~conical strainers~~, rice cookers, ~~steam cookers~~, ~~pressure cookers~~, slow cookers, spaetzle makers, ~~cookie presses~~, gravy strainers, double boilers (bains marie), sukiyaki stoves, ice cream makers, fondue sets, healthy-grills, home smokers, tempura sets, tortilla presses, electric whisks, cherry stoners, sugar thermometers, food processors, bacon presses, bacon slicers, mouli mills, cake testers, pestle-and-mortars, and sets of kebab skewers languish dustily at the back of the nation's cupboards."

I just made this yummy lunch:

Curried Salmon Pasta Salad

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

* 1 cup dry pasta, such as macaroni or small shells
* 8 ounces cooked, skinned salmon
* 1/2 cup minced red or yellow onion
* 1 cup diced celery
* 1 medium red apple, diced
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or dry-roasted, unsalted peanuts
*
* Dressing:
* 1 (6 ounce) container fat-free yogurt
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 tablespoon curry powder
* 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
* 2 cloves garlic, crushed
* 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
* 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
* Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

* add to recipe box Add to Recipe Box
My folders:
* add to shopping list Add to Shopping List
* Customize Recipe
* add a personal note Add a Personal Note

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook pasta per package directions; drain and rinse. In a large bowl, combine first six ingredients. In a small bowl, combine dressing ingredients. Pour dressing over salad; toss. Refrigerate, or serve at room temperature.

SUBMITTED BY: USA WEEKEND columnist Jean Carper

Well, this was originally cook one new thing a month for a year, and at this point I think I'm ready to call it good if I've just done 12 different recipes since I started the 101 list. So, here they are:

fajitas, chicken-mushroom-zucchini fried rice
chicken taco salad,
Asparagus and Mushroom Frittata
meatballs and spagetti
roasted root vegetables
ham!
Curried Cous Cous
Strawberry Mango Cobbler
Chocolate-Cornmeal Waffles
Savory Cold Mango Soup
Beet Salad
Cod Satay

Hopefully this will have me in the habit of trying new recipes out on a regular basis!

While down in Portland last month, I had a great conversation with

pfarley about food, and I remembered that I really do love cooking, and meaning to do more really isn't the same as just doing it. My excuse for some time has been that I feel I've developed some social anxiety around cooking, linked into my frequently paralyzing fear of letting people down. But inspired by all the great food I ate while in Portland, and the realization that I have a ton of kitchen equipment that I either need to use or get rid of, I finally plunged back into to entertaining tonight.

Savory Cold Mango Soup - recommended by

lord_whimsy
Beet Salad
Cod Satay - modified in that I did not bed on asparagus, but instead pea greens cooked with garlic. And, of course, I forgot to marinate it 24 hours, alas. But it was still tasty!

My friend Julie brought pina colada fixings, to which I added fresh chunks of pineapple, and my pals Ron and Margret brought some sort of delicious apple baked thing along with incredible Snoqualmie Gourmet Ice Cream in two incredible flavors: Danish Vanilla and Ginger(!)

And then we watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which I think is one of the sexiest PG rated movies of all time.

Overall an excellent evening. I need to do this a least once a month, if not once a week.

Here is a recipe I tried this week that came out pretty darn tasty:

CHOCOLATE-CORNMEAL WAFFLES

Makes 3 waffles (4 squares each)

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup stone-ground cornmeal
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 oz semisweet chocolate, finely grated
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup 2 percent milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, separated
Vegetable oil cooking spray
1/4 cup nonfat vanilla frozen yogurt (per square)
1 tbsp chocolate sauce (per square)
Fresh raspberries (optional)
Confectioners' sugar (optional)

PREPARATION
Heat waffle iron. Combine first 7 ingredients in a bowl. Stir in milk, oil and 1/2 cup water until just combined. Add vanilla, but don't stir. Add yolks to batter; stir until just combined. Beat egg whites in another bowl until they just hold firm peaks; fold whites into batter until combined. Coat waffle iron with cooking spray. Cook batter in batches, 3 to 6 minutes. Break waffles into 4 pieces; top each square with frozen yogurt and drizzle with chocolate sauce. Garnish with raspberries and confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Current Mood: relaxed

Yesterday I had a BBQ to attend, and was feeling very undermotivated. I looked in the fridge and saw a bunch of strawberries and a mango which desperately needed to be used. Googled strawberry mango recipes and got this at the top of the list:

Strawberry Mango Cobbler

2 pints fresh strawberries, sliced
2 cups fresh mango, peeled and cubed
1 Tbsp. crystallized ginger, chopped
1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup butter, melted

In a large bowl, combine fruit, ginger, flour, sugars and oats.
Place in a slightly greased 13 x 9 inch-baking pan.
Sprinkle lemon juice and melted butter over cobbler and cook for 40 minutes at 375 degrees.
Allow to cool and serve with ice cream if desired.

What are the odds I'd have crystallized ginger sitting around? However I was out of oats (I have some of that rough cut stuff that takes forever to cook, but didn't think it would work). So instead I put in 3 packs of maple brown sugar instant oatmeal. It worked just fine!

I hate it when I bring something to pot-lucks and it barely gets touched. But this was a hit from the second I put it down! There was a side dish contest, and one of the kids in attendance gave me his vote token, even though I wasn't entered. It was very flattering. And the whole thing was gone before I left. Success!

Current Mood: accomplished

Today I finally had time to make turkey soup with the remains my aunt gifted me. I decided that since Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food was due back at the library, I had better try a recipe from it. So I made Turkey Soup with Kale. I had not cooked with kale before, and found it quite nice. Brings an added dimension of texture and color to things.

After making this soup, though, I feel I must apologize to all the turkey carcass's that I boiled the hell out of before. I was wrong. I have learned my lesson. Meat off first. Onion and herbs in early. Boiled scraps are for the kitty. This soup is so much better than my old soup (which I liked just fine at the time).

I was happy also to use the soup pot I picked up a while back...most useful while the stock pot was busy with stock, and my other big pot was cooking the kale.

Anyone have suggestions for the extra kale? Preferably not a soup...my freezer will be full now.

I've liked soft and hard boiled eggs in varying degrees throughout my life, but didn't really enjoy them as a regular part of my diet until until I finally learned how to cook them properly. After speaking with

lara7 today about it, and promising to send the directions on to her, I figured y'all might benefit, too:

To cook eggs in their shells, place a single layer of them in a saucepan and top with at least 1 inch of water. Cover and bring to a boil, then remove from heat and let stand. Large soft-cooked eggs should remain in the water for 1 to 4 minutes; large hard-cooked eggs for 15 to 17 minutes. After the eggs are cooked as desired, drain off hot water and immediately cover with cold water, add a few ice cubes and let stand until cool enough to handle for soft cooked eggs, until completely cooled for hard-cooked.

Cooling eggs in very cold or ice water prevents a dark gray-green surface from forming on the yolk.

from The Food Lover's Tiptionary

Cooked this way they are far tastier, less rubbery, nicer to look at, and just all around better. Do yourself a favor and get cage-free eggs for even lovelier and tastier yolks. I like a couple of soft-boiled eggs after a workout, and try to keep a few hard-boiled ones in the fridge for those times I get home from work starving and won't have dinner prepared for a while. Just a bit of salt and pepper is perfect topping. You read a lot about cooking just with whites, or using substitutes but I strongly feel that, like butter, it is better to eat smaller quantities of the high quality, than to stuff yourself on inferior substitutions.

Today seems to be all about the pumpkin.

I met

jillbertini at a bagel place this morning and had a pumpkin bagel with cream cheese and some plum juice. Then we walked downtown and caught a 10:05 showing of Superbad. It was everything I expected. Obnoxious. Crude. And pretty darn funny.

Then we headed back up Capitol Hill (my exercise for the day), and went to the Farmers Market. I ran into 3 people I knew. One woman I know only from skinny-dipping parties, and totally could not place with her clothes on. Two gay guys who I know from entirely different circles, but were together...one a former Portlander I know from Burning Man, the other the contractor who is doing the finish work for my bathroom. Funny.

I bought a nice pumpkin, sampled pricey cheeses, and picked up a couple pieces of fruit. Then I went back to

jillbertini and her partner's apartment and had some delicious soup, yummy bread, and freshly harvest honey. Then we made greeting cards for a few hours. I love stationary, but have resisted stamp-art crafting up to this point. But I really needed some thank you notes, and haven't been able to find any I liked, so it was pretty nice making my own. And I loved using the embosser. It reminded me of when I used to do el-wire projects. I like making little things. What I really miss is making bassoon reeds, but until the day I have my own bassoon, there is absolutely no point in making those. Perhaps I'll try and get some of these neglected sewing projects done instead.

Back home, I brutalized the pumpkin and put it in the oven, where it is now roasting and filling the house with a delicious aroma.

Tomorrow night I will make:
Curried Pumpkin Soup
Curried Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin Scones

All new recipes I've been sent this month.

Now, I will relax and enjoy my Pumpkin Ale.