The whole family now knows how to skip.*
*Except for the cats, as Julie is quick to point out.
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December 07, 2006
The Dress
I don't travel in the kind of circles where one worries about wearing the same party dress as someone else, but I had to chuckle when I saw that four different women all wore the same $8500 (!!) Oscar de la Renta dress to a White House function! And, as if that weren't enough, one of the women was Laura Bush! She apparently went upstairs and changed into something else, but not before posing for the annual holiday photo.
And this comes right on the heels of my hearing this joke:
Jennifer's wedding day was fast approaching. Nothing could dampen her excitement—not even her parents' nasty divorce. Her mother had found the PERFECT dress to wear and would be the best-dressed mother-of-the-bride ever!
A week later, Jennifer was horrified to learn that her father's new young wife had bought the exact same dress! Jennifer asked her to exchange it, but she refused. "Absolutely not. I look like a million bucks in this dress, and I'm wearing it," she replied. Jennifer told her mother who graciously said, "Never mind sweetheart. I'll get another dress. After all, it's your special day."
A few days later, they went shopping and found another gorgeous dress. When they stopped for lunch, Jennifer asked her mother, "Aren't you going to return the other dress? You really don't have another occasion where you could wear it." Her mother just smiled and replied, "Of course I do, dear. I'm wearing it to the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding!"
December 06, 2006
December 05, 2006
December 04, 2006
December 03, 2006
Annoying, Delicious Recipe
I've ranted before about the thoroughly confusing and counterproductive way that the recipes in Cuisine at Home magazine are presented (two columns, instructions all over the place). They also present the ingredients in a way that's the opposite of how it's done in every other magazine or cookbook. For instance, in any usual cooking mag, if you see "1/2 cup peanuts, finely chopped," that means you measure out the peanuts and then chop them. If, on the other hand, you see "1/2 cup finely chopped peanuts," you need to chop up a bunch of peanuts and then measure them out. The latter would require many more peanuts than the former. But Cuisine at Home presents all their ingredients the former way, so you never know if they want you to measure before or after chopping. In some cases it's obvious (like "1 cup onion, diced"), but most definitely not always. Idiots.
But they do frequently have dishes that turn out quite nice, so I plod through. And for you, my dear blog readers, I will take the trouble to retype them in a more sensible way (and then I'll also have the benefit of having it to follow next time).
Shrimp and Scallops with White Beans, Spinach, and Bacon
3 Tbsp panko
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp olive oil
¼ tsp paprika
¼ tsp cayenne
1 15-oz. can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed; divided (I couldn’t find cannelinis, so I used Great Northern.)
¼ cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 thick strips bacon, diced
1 cup diced onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
6 cups fresh spinach (I used a 5-oz. bag.)
½ cup chopped roasted red peppers from a jar
1 tsp lemon zest (I just did a few swipes with my Microplane right into the pot.)
8 large shrimp, peeled and deveined, about 5–6 oz. (Mine weren’t very large, so I used 12.)
6 sea scallops, about 6–8 oz.
1 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp unsalted better
¼ cup sherry
Preheat broiler to high with rack 8” from element.
Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl and set aside
Purée 2/3 cup of beans and broth in food processor with immersion blender until smooth; set aside. Reserve remaining beans.
Brown bacon in a large pot over medium-low heat until crisp, 10–12 minutes. Remove bacon; increase heat to medium-high. Sauté onion, garlic, and pepper flakes in bacon drippings for 2 minutes. Add spinach, roasted peppers, bean puree, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until spinach wilts. Remove from heat and stir in reserved whole beans and lemon zest.
Season shrimp and scallops with salt and pepper; toss with cornstarch. Melt butter in a sauté pan over medium-high heat, then sear scallops for 30 seconds per side. Add shrimp; sauté for 30 seconds. Add sherry and cook until reduced to a glaze, 2 minutes.
(At this point there was a whole part about heating individual serving skillets under the broiler. Not likely. So here's what I did.) Offload shrimp, scallops, and sauce from skillet into any of the other dozens of dirty bowls this recipe requires. Put the bean and spinach mixture in the dirty skillet, then put the shrimp and scallops on top of that layer, sprinkle the bacon on top of that, and top with the panko crumb mixture. Broil until browned, 2–3 minutes.
December 02, 2006
A Need for No-Knead Bread
The foodie corner of these here Internets has been all abuzz in the last few weeks over a recipe that the thoroughly unlikable Mark Bittman shared with the NYT. It's adapted from Jim Lahey of Manhattan's Sullivan Street Bakery. Over at CooksTalk, we've had more posts on this thread than any other in anyone's memory. It's created a remarkable stir.
Before I had kids, I used to bake bread frequently. Baguettes at least weekly, the occasional challah or toastbread loaf, a batch of rolls or breadsticks. I think it's fair to say that since starting our family 10 years ago, I have made bread fewer than a dozen times. It's not that it's so hard or so time-consuming; it just rarely occurs to me to do it these days. Well, this recipe is so quick and so easy that you will be tempted to make it every single day. (When I say quick, I of course mean the active time; the secret to the no-kneading method is a l-o-n-g first rising time.) I promise you, if you've never made bread or if you've had only disastrous results from traditional bread recipes, you can do this one. And if you keep yeast in the house, you can begin this recipe anytime and have gorgeous fresh bread the next day.
My first loaf was slightly underdone, but that didn't stop me from scarfing down almost the entire thing myself. My second loaf was prettier. The folks have CooksTalk have used every possible combination of flours, extended the rising time by hours, and used a variety of different baking vessels. Everything works. This is an extremely forgiving formula. (Update 12/9: Mark Bittman has published an addendum of sorts, with more guidelines for varying this recipe.) So here you go:
No-Knead Bread
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting (I used all-purpose flour the first time and bread flour thereafter. Bread flour is better; I just didn't have any on hand the first time I did it.)
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast (The original recipe calls for 1/4 tsp, but the CooksTalkers recommend upping that to 1/2 tsp for better rise. Update: Yikes! A reader just pointed out to me that I had been using one entire envelope of yeast, which contains 1/4 oz., or 2 1/4 tsp! Thanks, Jon!)
2 teaspoons salt (The original recipe calls for 1 1/4 tsp, but I thought it needed a touch more flavor.)
In a large bowl combine flour, yeast, and salt. Add 1 1/2 cups water (I used very warm—but not hot—tap water. The original recipe called for 1 5/8 cups, but the accompanying video, and lots of users' recommendations, say 1 1/2 cups works better.) and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70°.
Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour (or cornmeal); put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour (or cornmeal). Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450°. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. (I used my #28 Le Creuset. Bittman says that the plastic knob can withstand temperatures up to only 400°, but I called Le Creuset and was told that 450° was fine. I had to call them anyhow, because Andy dropped the lid when we were making arroz con pollo and the knob shattered into a bazillion pieces. They're sending me a new one, free of charge!) When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is OK. (This sounds more complicated than it is. Just dump the dough into the pot any old way.) Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. (And even if it doesn't, your finished loaf will have that "artisanal" look!) Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.
Here's how my third one came out:
Here's how the interior texture looks:
If you try this technique, let me know how it turns out!
MEOW!
It seemed as though everyone was sharing cat photos over at CooksTalk, so I had to join in.
Without further ado, here's Mr. Jones:
and Gracie:
December 01, 2006
Friday's Feast
This time I submitted all the questions except for the Salad!
Appetizer: Have you ever flown in a helicopter?
No.
Soup:
What color is your warmest coat or jacket?
Black.
Salad: What is your favorite rainy day activity?
Not that I ever get to do this, but I'd love to curl up on the couch under a cozy afghan (a knitted or crocheted blanket, not a dog or person from Afghanistan) and a good book.
Main Course: Describe your hands.
Kind of small, but with relatively longish, thin fingers. Lots of signs of age (visible veins, spots, bumps, scars). Short nails. Here's my left hand—although it looks like it's my right hand because the Photo Booth does mirror images:
My pinkie isn't broken; it just looks like it's at a funny angle in this photo.
Dessert: If you could eat only one nut for the rest of your life, what nut
would you pick?
Roasted and lightly salted cashews.
