foodfluency.com

I’m learning.

I can tell because I made this Chicken and Egg with Pastina Soup, and I didn’t even have to look up what pastina meant.

Little pasta, for those keeping track. But, it doesn’t even matter really. Pasta that you would be comfortable eating in soup. I don’t even know the name of what I grabbed from the store. That’s how comfortable I was.*

I also learned a lot about making soup. This was the first time I actually made a stock. Check this out.

It’s not fully homemade. I bought the chicken preroasted. It was also a method of cooking the chicken further. HOLY MOLY was that some tender chicken by the time it was done. It just fell over all over the place. It practically shred itself.

It was also scary, because I was so excited that I kept moving the chicken around, breaking things. For example, I broke its spine. Oops. For some reason I expected the spine to be more substantial. I forgot that chicken bones are light, because birds are meant to fly. So, I had an anatomy lesson as well as a cooking lesson. Win.

But the part that was really cool to me was the egg part. I was so excited, I kept calling it the egg soup, which just confused the people I was talking to. You can’t taste the egg. It’s just there to make the broth thick and creamy. As a non-dairy person, I miss creamy. So I will be using that technique for other things in the future. I’m thinking of making something akin to mac and cheese.

As much fun as it was to make this soup, the taste was only okay. I love lemon, and I love dill, but they are both “high” to me. They taste high and cut through everything. This soup had no low. It was like eating a song of piccolos and cymbals. It needed a bass line.

It is possible that the cheese garnish added some depth, but, I wouldn’t know.

So, I kept some in the fridge so I could experiment with some additional ingredients later. I think nutmeg, or allspice, or something else warm that could bring it all down a bit. I had the best of intentions, but, too much time has passed and now I’m afraid to eat it. I’m not good with leftovers. So, I’ll have to try it again.

You’ll also notice that the picture is not one of mine. I meant to take a photo of the final experiments. So, now I’m just stealing from the Food Network.

* I know sarcasm and self-depreciation don’t come across well on the internet, but, if you are even in any doubt, err on the side of me mocking myself. And feel free to mock me back. It’s how I roll.

In a lot of ways, this was the meal of things that annoy me.

I don’t like apples. It’s something about their slimy texture and round shape. They provoke a distaste in me that has no real logic, but, disgusts me nonetheless.

When I don’t like a food, it helps me to chop it up small, so it’s less recognizable. I’m fine with the taste of apple. I’ll eat a slice of apple pie if it’s the only dessert there (gotta have sweets). So, I decided to make some apple chutney. To go inside some crepes.

I don’t like French, the language that is. It was the only thing I was ever bad at in school. I remember one day I had a cold and my teacher was all excited because my stuffed up nasal passages gave me some semblance of a correct accent. On that day, studying French crossed the line from “annoying” to “downright stupid” and it hasn’t gone back since. Even when I had a boyfriend from the actual place of France. We didn’t last long.

Crepes have always been alright though. For some reason, I’ve always been good at making them. It’s the savant in me. Maybe I was already annoyed by the apples, but the crepes were seeming extra French to me as I was making them, so they annoyed me too.

The poor roasted chicken almost didn’t stand a chance. Except, I bought it from the store already roasted. I so cheated!!! But I think if I hadn’t, something really bad would have happened, so it’s just as well. I like chicken. I’d hate for it to annoy me too.

Anyhoo, I had to use a non-dairy crepe recipe. I didn’t have any soy milk around, so I used the vanilla almond milk I had made a cake with earlier this week (which turned out to be a train wreck that I’d rather not talk about). I was worried the crepes would turn out too sweet for a savory meal. I almost added some allspice that I was using in the chutney, but I decided not to to test how sweet they would be without it. But, in the end, you couldn’t taste the vanilla at all. So feel free to sub away with what you’ve got hanging around.

This was the chutney recipe I used, with golden delicious apples. It turned out really well! The only thing that didn’t work for me was the amount of red wine vinegar. It just kept simmering away. I kept waiting for the juice from the apples to kick it up in the liquid end of things, but, that never happened. At least not to the extent I needed it to. So I kept pouring in more vinegar. I probably used three times as much as the recipe calls for. And that was perfect. Everything was moist and yummy. I think I’ll use this recipe as a base for future chutneys. I’d like to add some nuts next time, to give it some crunch.

Soooo… even though I was slightly annoyed most of the time I was cooking, everything turned out really well. That makes me happy because inevitably, you are going to be annoyed sometimes, for one reason or another. At least you can eat well.

I’m a little too old to party all the time. And if you got that reference, you’ll agree with me. So, I’ve spent the past few New Year’s Eves with my husband, cooking up delectable dinners with our favorite wine (A Rhone Valley red for him and some Malbec from Argentina for me), and snuggling into bed. It’s all very relaxed and happy.

As an added bonus, this year, we went out and bought a cream whipper. Although the instructions said it was to be used to make whipped cream ONLY, the husband ignored all that. As well he should.

Project Number One: Carbonated Strawberries. It was a subtle effect taste and texture-wise, but you hear them crackling, which was hilarious.

Project Number Two: Jello/Foam Cucumber. I’m not really sure what was going on here. I got him the book, “Cooking for Geeks” as a stocking stuffer. He already is a fantastic cook, but, it’s time to dabble in molecular gastronomy. So, jello/foam cucumber. Yeah. It tasted just fine, but, I’m not sure what one would use it for.

Project Number Three: Coconut Whipped Cream. I’ve been missing whipped cream really bad since the whole non-dairy thing started, so, he put some coconut milk and sugar in the can, and voila. It was delicious. It’ll taste even better with some vanilla in it, I think.

Then it was onto actual dinner. For our entree, the husband made chicken wrapped in prosciutto, atop pasta with homemade veggie sauce and basil herb sauce. We often have components of this dish for quick and easy dinners, but tonight he threw it all together. Delicious.

It was my job to make dessert. I still haven’t reached the point where I can cook too much without a recipe (though sometimes I can and I’m much better at not using the measuring cups for every little thing!), and I especially can’t bake anything without a recipe. So I used a recipe. Two actually.

The first was this lovely recipe from Chef Chloe, a well-known and respected vegan chef, for chocolate strawberry shortcake cupcakes.

I was really wary of the espresso powder. I hate coffee. I love the smell, hate the taste. No one really understand how I can love dark chocolate, love “wine that tastes like dirt”, and still find coffee too bitter, but, there you are. But it was a small amount, compared to the overall volume of batter, so, I thought it would be okay. Then I mixed everything up, and the smell of coffee was so strong. And you could taste it in the batter. ARGH!!! But, then I baked it and all was well. You could not taste it in the final product. Yay!

I must also talk about the frosting. My nana has a frosting that I associate with wonderfulness and childhood joy. Probably because it’s made from Crisco. lol. Everyone I’ve made it for in my adult life has honestly not known what to make of it and has backed away slowly but firmly. But whatever. It’s good! And this frosting had that same oily texture. It was great. I was so excited! “See?” I said. “This recipe won a contest on Food Network. So there!” I feel a tad vindicated.

I wanted to add some chocolate ganache on top. So I searched the web for dairy free grenache. Then I laughed really hard because grenache is a grape and of course that is dairy free. After ten minutes of forcing myself not to ask the husband, who would make fun of me, I remembered the word was ganache and found this. I halved the recipe, because who needs two pounds of ganache? I was especially happy with it because it turned out nice and shiny. Ganache needs to be shiny, imho.

So then we ate. Here you can see the husband’s hardworking hands.

The cat enjoyed some nibbles too.

UPDATE: After sitting out on the counter all night, the cucumber mint jello foam has formed a new consistency. THIS is what you can do with it, the husband tells me:

I still dare him to eat it.

Happy 2011 everybody!

What? I’ve been busy. Such is life. As far as cooking and food are concerned, I’ve had two very important developments.

One, my new kitchen. Mock the suburbs all you want. Yes, I’m talking to you, the snooty people that read food blogs. I love my suburban kitchen and all its glorious counter space.

Look at it!

Now imagine it with this!

Cause that’s what we bought when we moved in! Purdy, isn’t it?

I’m not nearly as enthusiastic about the second development. I’ve discovered that I’m either lactose-intolerant, or allergic to milk. I don’t think it’s a full blown allergy. I hope not. I’m allergic to everything else (dust, cats, mold, pollen, grass, etc.), so I worry. But, I’m also tested a lot. No one said a thing about milk last time. The time before that they did though. :/

All I know for sure at this point, is that I haven’t had milk for about two months, and I feel better than I have in years. I miss the taste, for sure, but I don’t miss how I used to feel. So I’m not tempted to have any. At some point (after the holidays, probably) I’ll figure out of it’s a lactose thing or not, and that will inform my diet. But, expect a lot more dairy-free recipes. No milk. No butter. No whey. No cheese. It makes cooking problematic, but, not as much as I would have thought. It’s a lot harder to go out to eat, because you become that person asking the server 12 hundred questions. You also become the person no one invites over for pizza, because you ruin all the fun. Oh well. Such is life. Again.

Pesticides are good in some ways, don’t get me wrong. I’m all about a good mosquito killer. But that doesn’t mean I want to be ingesting them. I’m not all fanatical about buying organic food, but, if I can help it, a food’s organic-ness is a factor in my purchasing.

A friend of mine pointed out this recent study, on the “Dirty Dozen” fruits and veggies that apparently run amok with pesticides. And conversely, fruits and veggies that stay fairly pesticide-free, organic or not.

Onward with smart purchasing decisions!

“You can reduce your exposure to pesticides by up to 80 percent by buying the organic version of the Dirty Dozen.”

• Celery
• Peaches
• Strawberries
• Apples
• Domestic blueberries
• Nectarines
• Sweet bell peppers
• Spinach, kale and collard greens
• Cherries
• Potatoes
• Imported grapes
• Lettuce

The “Clean 15″ contain little to no pesticides.

• Onions
• Avocados
• Sweet corn
• Pineapples
• Mango
• Sweet peas
• Asparagus
• Kiwi fruit
• Cabbage
• Eggplant
• Cantaloupe
• Watermelon
• Grapefruit
• Sweet potatoes
• Sweet onions

Okay, it’s not real Cuban mojo sauce. Real mojo sauce looks crazy dangerous. I didn’t feel like setting my kitchen on fire (we’re renting), so, I went with this “new take on mojo.”

Behold… Shrimp Escabeche with Blood Orange Mojo

It’s a lovely, light, summer dish. I had it with a Corona.

I was pretty much drooling when I boiled the orange/lemon juice with garlic. I wouldn’t have thought to put those two together, but it smelled fantastic. There was a lot of chopping involved, but, that relaxes me now, after a long work day. Fun to make. Fun to eat. Two thumbs up.

I still don’t like bell peppers though, so I picked those out for mine.

My husband actually found this recipe. Then he told me I had to find a recipe for him to make tomorrow. I told him I didn’t like this change of rules, lol. So then he had me pick two number. I picked 12 and 52. He used them as latitude/longitude and came up with a space between Yemen and Somalia. Now he gets to make a Yemenese dish. ha

Behold, the crazy pasta maker.

It’s kind of old. And foreign. It was generously passed down from the husband’s Italian grandmother. No pressure.

Today was the first day I used it by myself. It’s pretty simple to use, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a death trap. It’s mechanical, so, if your finger gets in there, it’s going… I kept all my fingers, so I guess it was a success!

I found this recipe the other day, carrot tagliolini with zucchini walnut pesto. I thought it sounded delish, and more exciting than regular pasta, so, that’s what I made today. It’s Sunday. I have HOURS to dawdle away in the kitchen.

The dough was a pain in the ass, because I kneaded it by hand. Well, I kneaded for half an hour, and my husband went for another 10 minutes or so. We didn’t have the carrot issue that the original recipe maker had. No added flour here! I don’t think I pureed the carrots enough though, so maybe they were less watery. Instead of having orange-colored pasta, mine was yellow with pretty orange flecks.

Here it is hanging on a microphone stand in our kitchen. We didn’t know where else to put it, lol.

We have a ton extra, actually. Yell if you want some.

I only used one zucchini for the pesto, too. Coincidentally, I didn’t need to add extra oil. It came out good. I still like traditional pesto with pine nuts and basil best though.

Here’s the final product.

Homemade pasta is so good. This tasted nice and fresh. And no, you couldn’t taste the carrots. The recipe gets a thumbs up from me!

My absence can be summed up in one sentence:

“The boyfriend” shall now be known as “the husband.”

I just helped him make tsatsiki. AND he just got me a beer. I’m going to like the married life…

Now that all the rigmarole has died down, it’s time to get back to the blog. Allow me to jot down a few thoughts I’ve had regarding food and weddings.

1) We attempted to introduce our friends and family to the wonders of asparagus by including it on our reception menu. But it was soggy. Damn it. Now we’ll have to invite them over to dinner one by one to make them some good asparagus, just so they don’t keep the wrong idea.

2) You know how you are supposed to freeze some wedding cake and then eat it on your first anniversary? Yeah, our freezer isn’t that big. We’re eating it now instead. Screw it. It was a delicious carrot cake tier and I would rather eat it sans freezer burn anyway.

3) The wedding even helped me in my attempt to recreate Chipotle’s chicken. I stopped in on my way back from my hair and make-up trial. There was some 16-year-old kid behind the counter who got all slack-jawed and was like, “You have beautiful eyes…” “Hey, thanks. So…. what do you put in the chicken?” heh heh heh. More on that in a later post.

4) We went to Sonoma/Napa on our honeymoon, so we tastes a lot of wine. Our favorite was Bartholomew Park in Sonoma. They don’t distribute, but you can buy online. We ended up buying the cab (2005) and the sauvignon blanc (2006). The sauvignon blanc was actually a big deal for us, because we don’t like white wine all that much. Damn, I’m using “we” already. It’s true though! The husband likes it a wee bit more than me though. But this was pretty tasty, so we decided to go with it.

Stag ’s Leap was delicious too, especially their premium stuff. But it costs way too much money. I’m also happy to report that Malbec is popping up in Napa here and there. If you aren’t aware, I’ll drink Malbec with anything. It’s my favorite. The Napa versions weren’t as good as the stuff from South America, but, I’m glad they are trying.

5) We bought a lovely set of Riedel Vitis champagne glasses for our toast. If you are looking for a high-quality set, I recommend them. Especially if you are a giant, because they are enormous.

6) A channel wedding ring makes cooking… interesting.

7) Licking envelopes still tastes nasty. I’m waiting for someone to invent glue that tastes like cupcakes.

All in all, my cooking skills have grown tremendously. I’m reaching the point where I don’t need a recipe anymore. That’s huge! One night, my husband even reached for seconds of something I made. That’s even huger than the no-recipe thing, because he never gets seconds of anything. We alternate cooking nights, so I’m always on the lookout for fun and interesting new food to try.

It’s nice to be back!

Have I ever mentioned I’m a Taurus? And therefore, stubborn as hell?

I’m still on a mission to master chipotle chicken. As in, duplicating the flavor you get at the fast food place. I knew my latest attempt wouldn’t be spot on, because it looks totally different, but, I was hoping to learn a little more about the flavors used in various chipotle chicken recipes. That’s the plan anyways.

There are certainly enough chipotle chicken recipes to learn from. My goodness. My boyfriend tells me that chipotles became quite “trendy” a few years back. That would certainly explain the 33 pages of chipotle chicken recipes found on epicurious.com. When I search for “chipotle” alone, I got a whopping 266 pages. Holy crap. Whadda think? Should I change this blog to a chipotle cooking blog? A recipe a day? Think I’ll get a movie deal?

The recipe I used comes from Gourmet magazine. I changed it up a teeny bit, by using chicken breasts instead of two whole chickens. My cat’s on a diet*, so, I was just cooking for me and the boyfriend. We don’t need a chicken apiece.

Therefore, I had to guess on the cooking time. I think, just by comparing pictures, that I cooked it less than they did in the magazine. But I’m cool with that. It came out really tasty.

That first night, we had it in tacos. Like the last time I mixed chicken with taco ingredients, the flavors were overwhelmed by the other taco ingredients. It was still tasty, but, it just tasted like ordinary (yet moist) chicken.

The next day at lunch, I had the leftovers with some mashed potatoes. That was delicious. I didn’t even care about the chicken actually, I was just sucking all the sauce off. That pretty much made it BBQ chicken, but, mmmmm. Tasty.

So yeah, it still tasted nothing like the stuff in the restaurant, but I was really happy I made it. I’ll be making it again. The directions were easy to follow, and we had all the non-fresh ingredients in the cupboard. I love it when that happens.

* She’s lost three pounds! I’m so proud.

I made wiener schnitzel again!

I even remembered to save some lemon for garnish, and to put my greens on the plate. See, I’m learning! The point of this project, actually, was to play around with a different breading technique.

I used panko this time. That’s not too crazy. I doubled it again. That’s not too crazy either. But it was a little much. Double panko tasted great, but it also stuck together to itself and totally ditched the veal. It was almost like oil and water. I couldn’t get them to stay together no matter how hard I tried.

A slab of unbreaded veal looks pretty gross, for the record.