Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Braised Tofu

Recipe Source: Song, Young Jin.  The Korean Kitchen.  Anness Publishing, London, 2010 p. 138

Here's another recipe for which pictures are completely lacking.  Again, I remember taking them.  I think they must be on someone's phone.  I guess that's okay.  The important thing is that I still have the notes from this recipe.  I write my notes down on these little pieces of paper which works fine when I'm in the kitchen - as long as I can transcribe them or write up the recipe very quickly.  If I cannot write up the recipe for, say, a month, the piece of paper either gets lost or gets eaten by the dog (no joke) or ceases to make sense.  After all, what does "1 bx ps" really mean?

Anyway.  Vegetarian dining doesn't have to be a penance and tofu doesn't have to taste like whale snot.  Done correctly, and by "correctly" I mean "in a way where it is not pretending to be some sort of animal product" tofu can be an excellent source of protein.  Unfortunately almost all tasty vegetarian and vegan food seems to come from points east of Italy, starting with Greece and really picking up momentum in India.  Tofu, of course, comes to us from East Asia where they have many dishes that in no way, shape or form involve "chicken" or "beef" or "cheese" or any other "food."  It's tofu, it is what it is and it's good.

I made a few changes to the original recipe.  I used light tofu here because I am very anxious to lose weight and I will take whatever help I can get at this point.  I used vegetable broth in place of seafood stock to keep the dish vegan.  I also omitted the honey.  I added a habanero because I intended to serve this just to my husband, although that's not what actually happened.  Finally, I added peas.  An entire 1 pound bag of peas had been thawed for my daughter, but no 2-year-old needs to just eat a 1-pound bag of peas for dinner.  I took the leftovers and added them to the pot so they wouldn't go to waste, and I think that while that's not necessarily the most authentic way to present the dish it was still delicious.  I'd like to point out that our dried kelp actually came from Maine, which makes it much more local than some of the imported dried kelp I've seen on the market.

Braised Tofu (serves 4; approx. $1.16/serving)

1 block firm light tofu, diced

1 cup vegetable stock

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 sheet dried kelp, chopped

8 garlic cloves, crushed

1 onion, finely chopped

1 serrano chili, sliced

1 red chili, sliced

1 habanero, sliced

1 tablespoon chili powder

8 ounces frozen peas, thawed (approx.)

Equipment:

• Large saucepan

1. Combine the tofu with the stock, 1 cup water, the soy sauce and the kep.
2. Add the garlic and bring to a boil.  Cover and boil 5 minutes.
3. Add the onion, chiles and chili powder.  Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes further.
4. Serve.

 

Recipe: Honey-Oatmeal Sandwich Bread

Recipe Source: King Arthur Flour Whole Wheat Baking.  The Countryman Press, Woodstock, 2006 pp. 197 - 8.

So, for my daughter's birthday I decided not to do anything too fancy.  I mean, she's two.  It's not like she'd remember a big elaborate meal, and it's not like that would really be appropriate for the middle of the day anyway.  Furthermore, I was going to be entertaining relatives the whole weekend.  I didn't have time do do something big and elaborate.  I decided that I would do some fairly simple hors d'oeuvres - vegetables and hummus, baguettes with cream cheese and smoked salmon, that sort of thing - with a sandwich board.  I decided that I would bake my own bread for the sandwich board.  This may seem like a big deal, especially if you haven't made bread in quantity.  The thing is, though, bread is mostly waiting.  Take some stuff, mix it together, wait.  Deflate it.  Shape it.  Wait again.  Put it in the oven.  Wait some more.  Remove from oven.  Wait.  Wait wait wait.  Eat.  Bread freezes very well.  If you plan enough ahead of time you and have an appropriately-sized freezer you can make enough bread to feed quite a lot of people right there in your home kitchen.  As I type this I'm in the middle of a project - 75 pounds of bread for a historical re-enactment event.  Making a few loaves a day it isn't an onerous task, and not only is homemade bread much healthier than store-bought (fewer chemicals, etc) it's much, much cheaper.  I knew I could pull off bread for this party.

The problem is that I wanted a variety of breads.  I made some white bread because there are, for some reason, quite a few people who actually prefer white bread.  I don't get it myself.  I've read that white bread may contain compounds that help you sleep, but I've only seen that in one place and I'm not sure I'm buying it.  I've so gotten over the white-bread thing that now when I see raw white bread dough I find it a little nauseating.  It looks kind of like paste and I suppose that's not far from the truth.  Anyway, I made some normal whole wheat sandwich bread, and then I decided I would make some rye sandwich bread.  I had a new cookbook I was dying to try out - Peter Reinhart's book using the delayed fermentation method for whole grain breads.  I tried to make one of the rye bread recipes and it was a total failure.  I'm fairly certain the problem is with me and not the book, but either way I didn't have time to try it again.  Since the delayed-fermentation method takes several days to complete I couldn't use it again.  In desperation I flipped through my stand-by baking book until I found something that appealed to me and here it is.

I can't see why I haven't made this sandwich bread before.  You can't go wrong with honey and oats.  The smell was phenomenal, the crumb delicious, and there were no leftovers.  I did make a few small changes - I'm still not so confident as a baker that I'm willing to risk big changes.  I used all whole-wheat flour instead of mixing in some white flour.  I'd love to tell you that I did it out of some kind of principled objection to white flour but the truth is that the sack of white flour lives in another room while the whole-wheat flour is on the counter.  I omitted the optional nuts since we're still not supposed to let Fearless Baby eat nuts.  I used active dry yeast instead of instant.  I've always thought it was just an even exchange, but when I was reading the above-mentioned Peter Reinhart book he said specifically that you need to increase the amount of yeast by 25% when you make that change.  When I'm using recipes I've made before with an equal exchange I don't mess with it, but going forward I'm going to follow that advice.  (That would be on p. 81 of Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads, if you're looking to check me.)  I needed to increase the liquid to accommodate the switch to 100% whole grain, but since I needed to wake the yeast up anyway I just dealt with it there.)

Honey-Oatmeal Sandwich Bread (makes about 10 generous slices; approx. $0.14/serving)

10 ounces boiling water

3 1/2 ounces old-fashioned rolled oats

1 ounce butter, cut into 3 pieces

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 ounces honey, plus about a teaspoon

11 ounces whole wheat flour

1 ounce nonfat dry milk

2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/4 cup lukewarm water

Equipment:

• Small bowl
• Stand mixer with dough hook attachment
• Loaf pan
• Cooking spray

1. Combine the boiling water, oats, butter, salt and 3 tablespoons butter in the bowl.  Stir and set aside until lukewarm.  This doesn't take nearly as long as I thought it would, just so you know.
2. Combine the yeast, 1 teaspoon honey and the lukewarm water in the small bowl.  Set aside until the yeast is foamy.
3. Combine the flour and milk in the bowl of the stand mixer.
4. Add the oat mixture and the yeast mixture.  Knead until the dough is soft and smooth.
5. Cover and set aside until doubled in bulk.  I like to do this in a new clean bowl, but that's probably because I need to use the stand mixer right away for another loaf.  I cover with plastic wrap; I've seen some recipes call for a clean dish towel.
6. When the bread is doubled in bulk, grease the oaf pan with the cooking spray.  Punch the dough down and shape it into a log as long as the loaf pan.
7. Put the log into the pan, cover and allow it to ruse until it rises 1 1/2" over the lip of the pan.  If your kitchen is normal temperature it should take about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
8. Near the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 350°.
9. Make a cut lengthwise down the length of the loaf.  It doesn't have to be a super-deep cut, just down to about the rim.
10. Bake 45 minutes or until done.  I use an instant-read thermometer to determine doneness - anything over 190° is done.
11. Cool completely before cutting.

Recipe: Creole Lamb Shanks

Recipe Source: Fitzmorris, Tom.  Tom Fitzmorris' New Orleans Food.  Stewart Tabori & Chang, New York, 2010 pp. 190 - 1.

The first time I went to New York City I dined with my now-husband at a restaurant called Molyvos.  It's probably still there - it's been ages since I've been for anything but Thanksgiving dinner.  Anyway, I had a dish called youvetsi, which involved slow-cooked marinated lamb shanks.  I fell in love with it.  I still get cravings for it.  That's not important right now.  The only reason I'm mentioning it right now is because that was the first time I'd ever encountered lamb shanks.  To this day they are my favorite cut of lamb.  Yes, yes, I like lamb roasted, and grilled.  I like lamb chops.  I like ground lamb.  I like leg of lamb, I like lamb steaks.  I like all sorts of lamb.  But there is no cut of lamb that I like better than or even as much as lamb shanks.  As lamb goes, they're some of the more affordable cuts.  This may be because lamb shanks are mostly connective tissue and require long, slow cooking in order to reach their full potential.  Whatever, I don't care, I love them and I'm always happy to find a new and different use for them.

This is one of those new and different uses.  It's a low-and-slow recipe like youvetsi, but it is flavored very differently from my Greek favorite.  According to the source it's a popular daily special in New Orleans restaurants.  I've never been to New Orleans and the chances that I'll ever make it down there are minimal so maybe someone with more direct experience can confirm that statement.  I can't find my notes from this cook, which dates to the day the Patriots made it into the Super Bowl.  I think I can remember most of the changes I made though.  I reduced the olive oil on general principles.  I omitted the salt because my guests that day were very sensitive to salt.  I replaced it with chili powder because, well, just because.  I substituted parsnips for carrots because carrots are the Devil's food and not in a good chocolate way.  I increased the celery mostly to use it up and get it out of my fridge.  I increased the garlic because garlic is good for you.  I increased the marjoram, which I used fresh, and I increased the rosemary as well.  The orange was a blood orange.  The wine was not Gewurztraminer, but it was white.

This recipe was very well-received by my guests, my husband and by me.  I could have wished that it was less well-received by the guests.  Then I could have sneaked into the kitchen late at night and finished off the leftovers when no one could see me.  (I'm not in the habit of doing that, the recipe was just that good.)  It also made the kitchen very inviting on a cold, dreary, soggy day.

Creole Lamb Shanks (serves 4; approx. cost per serving not available.)

4 lamb shanks

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 onions, chunked

2 massive parsnips, cut into thick coins

8 celery stalks, cut into pieces

15 cloves garlic, crushed

2 bay leaves

4 sprigs fresh marjoram, leaves only, finely chopped

3 sprigs fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1 blood orange, cut into eighths

1 1/2 cups white wine, plus more for the cook if desired

Equipment:

• Large oven safe skillet or roasting pan
• Large, deep skillet

1. Preheat your oven to 350°.
2. Heat the oil in the skillet.
3. Season the lamb shanks and brown on all sides.  Remove the pan from heat and reserve.
4. Transfer the shanks to the roasting pan.  Add all the other ingredients except for the wine.
5. Add the wine to the skillet in which you browned the shanks.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  Whisk constantly to dissolve the pan bits - these have a fancy culinary term and are very important.
6. Boil 2 minutes, then pour over the lamb shanks.
7. Add water, if necessary, to bring the liquid about 1/3 of the way up the sides of the shanks.  Cover and roast 90 minutes.
8. Turn the shanks every 30 minutes.
9. After 90 minutes remove the cover.  Turn the shanks and roast, uncovered, another 30 minutes.
10. Continue to cook uncovered until the meat is falling off the bone when lightly touched with a fork.
11. Serve and enjoy.

Recipe: Stuffed Cabbage

Recipe Source: Holmin, Dalal A. & Maher A. Abas, M. D.  From the Tables of Lebanon.  Book Publishing Company, Summertown, 1997 pp. 86 - 7

Growing up I worshipped my grandmother - my mother's mother.  She was the best cook in the whole world, and the best human being at least as far as I was concerned.  (I've never met anyone who had anything to say to the contrary either, so as far as I'm concerned I was right.)  She was not a fancy cook - far from it, she prided herself on the simplicity and "ordinariness" of her cooking.  Of course nothing ordinary ever came out of her kitchen, but she wasn't the kind of cook to experiment with the exotic or unusual.  She knew what she wanted to make and she knew exactly how to make it happen.  Her house always smelled divine and I used to spend hours upon hours in her kitchen, wrapping myself up in the smells of Paradise.

There was one dish she never liked to make, and it was stuffed cabbage.  She never liked to make it and I was never even really encouraged to eat it.  Not that I can remember anyway.  My mother liked it, though, and every once in a while she would make it to gratify her daughter.  What I remember most about those times was the smell.  The perfumes of Paradise were exchanged for the stink of Hell, and if I go to Hell when I die I am certain that it will smell like cooking cabbage.  That smell turned me off cabbage for decades and until I started this website I would not permit cabbage in my home.  I've been working my way toward the stuff slowly but surely.  When I was entertaining relatives for my daughter's birthday party I decided that maybe I would try to serve them stuffed cabbage.  My mother, at least, would probably like it.

As it turns out, everyone liked it.  Everyone but me, that is.  I've figured out what it is besides the hideous smell that I don't like about cabbage.  It is sweet.  I do not do sweet.  At least now I know, right?  I made a few changes tot he recipe as you might well expect.  I used brown rice instead of white because that's what I keep around.  My husband is allergic to mint so of course that was right out; instead I used dill.  I couldn't get my hands on white onions so yellow were used and I increased the garlic on general principles.  My mother cannot eat cinnamon so that was left out too, and I reduced the amount of olive oil on general principles.  I didn't have tomato puree.  What I did have was my own home-canned tomatoes, which I pureed myself.  If I used a little more than originally called for, well, lycopene is good for you.

Like I said, everyone liked it but me, but it didn't turn out the way I envisioned.  The cabbage rolls did not stay rolled.  They mostly fell apart.  That's why I'm listing this as a "fail" even though it was well received.  I guess appearance counts for less than some writers would have us think!

Stuffed Cabbage (serves 6; approx. $1.99/serving)

1 cup uncooked brown basmati rice

1 large bunch fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 bunch fresh dill, finely chopped

1 bunch scallions, finely chopped

8 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground allspice

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cabbage, leaves separated and deveined

8 more cloves garlic, chopped

1 1/2 cups canned whole tomatoes with their juices

Water

Equipment:

• Large deep pot
• Large bowls
• Immersion blender
• Heat resistant plate

1. Rinse the rice and drain.
2. Combine the rice with the herbs, onion, first 8 cloves garlic, spices, lemon juice and olive oil.  Mix well and set aside.
3. The original recipe called for the cabbage leaves to be briefly blanched.  I tried that.  It made me curse and didn't work for the purpose intended.  So I stopped.  It's your call.
4. Spread the cabbage leaves out on a work surface of some sort.  Fill with some of the filling toward the middle-bottom of the leaf.  Fold in the sides and roll up.  Put it in the pot.  Stack in layers.
5. Combine the remaining garlic with the tomatoes in the other large bowl.  Use the immersion blender to puree.
6. Cover the layers of cabbage with the pureed tomatoes.
7. Add water to the pot.  The water should come up 1/2 inch taller than the tallest layer of cabbage.
8. Weight the leaves down with the heat-resistant plate.
9. Cover and bring to a boil over medium heat.
10. Reduce heat to low and simmer 20 minutes.
11. Serve.

Recipe: Turkey and Bean Chili

Recipe Source: Bonom, David.  "Food: Recipes."  Better Homes and Gardens October 2011 p. 180

Okay, I cannot think for the life of me where this photo might be.  I guess that's what I get for waiting so long to write up the recipes!  I knew I wanted to make this recipe as soon as I read through this issue of Better Homes and Gardens. Unfortunately for me, it kept being put off.  Then I did make it and at the last minute we decided to go out instead, so I froze it.  Whatever.  We did eat it.... eventually.  And we took a picture of it because I remember talking about taking its picture.  The picture is not on my phone and it is not on my computer.  I'm sorry but I just can't find it.  I'm not going to let it go to waste just because I can't dig up the recipe though.  This was a great chili and you deserve to know about it, even if you can't see what it's supposed to look like.  That's okay.  Chili isn't really very pretty anyway.

I made some changes to this recipe.  I used ground turkey instead of ground beef as part of my attempt to lighten my recipes.  I added 6 serranos to the 4 jalapenos called for in the original - we were only supposed to be eating this amongst ourselves so I felt free to go to town.  Then we brought it over to a friend's house.  I had run out of cumin - shocking but true - so I substituted ground coriander.  I also added one teaspoon of ground turmeric because I really, really like it.  I increased the beans because they'd been taking up a lot of space in my freezer and they just had to go - this meant using frozen white kidney beans instead of canned beans, but that's not a big deal.  In fact it's probably healthier because I froze the beans myself so they had nothing but beans going in with them - no salt or whatever.  I increased the garlic.  While the original called for jarred tomato sauce I just can't stomach that stuff, so I used some tomato juice I had on hand instead.  We omitted the corn chips on general principles.

Like I said, I really enjoyed this dish and I think my guests did too.  Sorry you can't see it, but your imagination can probably make up the difference.  Some of my Texan friends may object to the use of beans in chili (or turmeric, for that matter.)  I'm sorry.  The beans add fiber and flavor while the turmeric adds turmeric.  All of these things felt necessary, but if it's any consolation at least I'm not presenting it as authentic Texas chili.

Turkey and Bean Chili (serves 8; approx. cost per serving not available)

2 pounds ground turkey

2 onions, chopped

10 garlic cloves, minced

4 jalapeno peppers, finely chopped

6 serrano chiles, finely chopped

2 tablespoons hot chili powder

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

32 ounces tomato juice

45 ounces frozen cooked white kidney beans, thawed

1 ounce dark chocolate chips

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Equipment:

• Dutch oven

1. Brown the turkey in the Dutch oven.
2. Add the onions, garlic and peppers.  There should be enough fat to cook them without burning but turkey can be pretty lean.  If you need to you can add about a tablespoon of olive oil.  Either way, cook until almost tender.
3. Add the spices.  Cook until fragrant.
4. Add the juice.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium-low.  Cover and simmer 10 minutes.
5. Add the beans and return to a simmer.  If you want to mash some of the beans as called for in the original go ahead; I didn't bother.
6. Cook 5 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and add chocolate.  Stir until melted.
8. Add the cilantro and serve.

Recipe: Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Gratin

Recipe Source: Bocar, Shira and Lindsay Funston.  "The Side Show."  Whole Living no. 61, November 2011 p. 99

Wow, here's another recipe that's been lingering in my to-do box for months.  I think I've just been blocking it.  I made this as a Thanksgiving side dish.  You may be looking at the title and thinking, "But Fearless, you hate sweet potatoes!  And you've always been deeply suspicious of gratins."  Both of these statements would be true.  I have always been deeply suspicious of gratins.  I've had a few that I've liked but at the end of the day I just don't trust 'em.  And I hate sweet potatoes with a passion usually reserved for centuries of ethnic feuding.  But certain things are expected at Thanksgiving and well, sweet potatoes are an important part of the winter culinary landscape whether I like them or not.  They grow very well here in New England, for example, and they are full of all sorts of nutritious gobbledygook that I'm not really qualified to discuss.  All that means is that, in general, people want sweet potatoes.  I figured that Thanksgiving was a good time to add them to the table, if only because there would be enough other things on the table that I would not be forced to touch them.

I was not, in fact, forced to touch them so I can't tell you for certain how they turned out.  I know there were no leftovers which is usually a good sign.  My daughter liked them as she would anything orange.  I made a few changes to the original recipe as I'm sure you expected.  I omitted the crispy sage leaves.  I know it's possible to crisp them in the microwave but I just didn't trust it and frankly given the health-conscious mindsets of most of my Thanksgiving guests I didn't think they would even want "crispy" anything.  I did increase the non-crisp sage because sage is good.  I used two percent milk because that's what we keep on hand - only my daughter actually drinks the stuff and I'm not taking up valuable real estate in the fridge with something she won't drink.  I can't for the life of me remember why I decided to use chickpea flour here, but my notes say very firmly that I did and so I must believe them.  You can use all-purpose or (better yet) whole wheat.  My cheese, finally, was Pecorino Pepato instead of the Parmesan required by the original.  It seems like a minor change but frankly decent Parm is prohibitively expensive whereas I can get pecorino relatively cheaply.

Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Gratin (Serves 8; approx. $3.22/serving)

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons chickpea flour

1 cup 2% milk

1 cup water

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon grated Pecorino Pepato

About 20 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced

1 head cauliflower, peeled and sliced

Equipment:

• Baking dish
• Cooking spray
• Saucepan

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Heat the oil in the saucepan over medium heat.
3. Add the flour and cook for about a minute.  The flour may start to change color and that is a good thing, just don't let it get too dark!
4. Add the milk and water very slowly, whisking constantly.
5. Cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
6. Remove from heat.  Stir in 1/4 cup Pecorino and the sage.  Season to taste.
7. Lubricate your baking dish.
8. Pour about 1/3 of the sauce into the bottom of the baking dish.
9. Layer about 1/2 of the sweet potato and cauliflower slices onto the bottom of the dish.
10. Repeat with the remaining sauce, then the remaining vegetables, then the rest of the sauce.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
11. Bake about 1 hour.
12. Increase temperature to 425°.  Bake another 20 minutes.
13. Let stand 10 minutes.
14. Serve.

Recipe: Duck with Olives

Recipe Source: Clements, Carole & Elizabeth Wolf-Cohen.  French.  Anness Publishing, 2006 p. 141

So I've been trying for some time to lose weight and that has meant restricting certain parts of my diet.  I've been trying to reduce the amount of meat in my life, for one thing.  When I do eat meat I try to make sure that it's a lean protein - fish or turkey or something along those lines.  Even red meat, such as beef or lamb, can be lean if you play your cards right.  Of course, I've had absolutely no success whatsoever, and this is frustrating to me.  Every once in a while, I admit it, I lose patience, let my frustration boil over and eat something that is firmly on the no list.  I don't do this very often because frankly my system can't handle it all that often, but sometimes you just have to let go and indulge a little.  It makes it easier to be good the rest of the time.  One food that is very firmly on the "no" list is duck.

Duck just isn't healthy.  I've never found a duck that hasn't been just full of fat.  In fact, that's been an ongoing problem in our attempts to cook duck.  Still, if I'm going to indulge I might as well go all the way, right?  I decided a few weeks ago that we were going to enjoy some duck and that was all there was to it.  I found a recipe that worked for me and I went with it.  This one looked simple enough, but it needed a few additions.  I added two small zucchini because I had them left over from some other adventure and I didn't want them to go to waste.  Besides, adding vegetables to a dish is always good, right?  I added some garlic.  Rather, I added quite a lot of garlic.  My bouquet garni was sage, rosemary and thyme.  I'm very much aware that that is not a traditional bouquet garni but that's what I had on hand.  I had it on hand because that's what I like.  I also used vegetable broth because that's what I had on hand.  Finally, I only used one duck.  There are only three of us, and duck is plenty rich without overindulging.

The end result was a pretty tasty dish if I do say so myself.  I certainly enjoyed it.  My husband ate quite a bit of it and the daughter declined to share it with the dog, which is about as much as you can ask of a kid that age.

Duck with Olives (serves 6; approx. $6.02/serving)

1 very large duck, cut into pieces

1/2 pound pearl onions

14 garlic cloves, whole

2 tablespoons whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups red wine, plus extra for the cook if so desired

2 cups vegetable broth

2 small zucchini, sliced

about a handful of a combination of sage, rosemary and thyme, tied together with kitchen twine

1 cup green olives with pits

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Equipment:

• Large Dutch oven

1. Put the duck pieces, skin side down, in the saute pan.  Cook over medium heat until well browned, turning frequently.  Work in batches if you need to - I did.
2. Pour the fat off the pan and reserve.
3. Return 1 tablespoon of the duck fat to the pan and reserve the rest for another use.  (You'll see what I did with it tomorrow.)
4. Add the onions and garlic.  Cook over medium-low heat until browned.  You should cook this in a covered pan but still stir frequently to prevent burning.  I know it sounds fussy and it probably is but it is definitely worth it in the end.
5. Sprinkle with the flour and cook uncovered another 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
6. Add the wine.  Bring to a boil.  (Be careful here!)
7. Add the duck pieces, broth and your little bundle of herbs to the pot.  Return to a boil.
8. Reduce heat, cover and simmer VERY gently about 40 minutes.  Stir from time to time.
9. Add the olives and zucchini to the pot.  Continue cooking another 20 minutes.  The duck should be very tender.
10. Transfer the duck pieces, olives, garlic, onions and zucchini to a plate.
11. Discard the bouquet garni, strain the cooking liquid and skim off as much fat as possible.
12. Return the liquid to the pan.  Bring to a boil and reduce by 1/3.
13. Return the duck and accompaniments to the pot and heat through.
14. Serve.

Recipe: Fearless Baby's Birthday Cupcakes

Recipe Source: King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking.  The Countryman Press, Woodstock, 2006 pp. 368 - 9.

Fearless Baby had a birthday recently.  This is a big deal.  She turned two.  This technically means that she is no longer a baby and I should be calling her Fearless Toddler.  It's strange, though.  When I close my eyes I see her as she is now, long hair and distinct features and a human walk and human gestures.  When I look directly at her though she looks no different to me than she did when they first brought her to me in my hospital room.  Maybe this is normal and hormonal, something that happens to your neurochemistry once your body realizes that it is no longer pregnant.  Maybe my eyes need to be checked.  I don't know.

Anyway, this is not a Mommy blog, this is a food blog.  Birthdays mean food.  I tried not to do too much for this party, because I was already stretched to the fraying point before the party and at the end of the day it's not about the food it's about the toddler.  Still some things are expected.  Food is expected; I served a sandwich board with homemade bread, some basic hors d'oeuvres, chips, popcorn.  And cake is expected.  Fearless Baby is two.  She is not the neatest of eaters on the best of days.  Furthermore, she is a very mobile eater.  She wanders through the house gnawing her way through house and home.  (Before you criticize our parenting and say, "Well you need to strap her down and force her to sit still when she eats," this has been tried without success.  I will spare you the details but suffice it to say that the dog gained about a pound and we continue to pick peas out of the moulding.)  I decided that while I would infinitely prefer a chocolate cake, the guests would prefer not to have chocolate ground into their clothes.  Furthermore, chocolate is bad for dogs, so I left it out.  I made a few small changes to the recipe.  I made this a 100% whole wheat cake instead of mixing white and whole-wheat flour as called for in the original.  Everyone on our guest list is concerned for various reasons about health and sweets and I have really come to prefer whole-wheat products to white flour.  This necessitated adding more liquid in the form of yogurt.  Turning the cake into cupcakes was another alteration, although not exactly rocket science.  I frosted the cake with stabilized whipped cream, which is nothing more exciting than whipped cream with gelatin.

So there are two things to note about the results.  Flavor-wise I was very happy with them.  Structure-wise I was also very happy with them.  The color was less enthralling.  Originally I had intended to have a koala-themed party in honor of Fearless Baby's best friend in the whole wide world, Little Bear.  Unfortunately the party store had absolutely no koala bear things at all.  It became a Hello Kitty party very quickly, and I bought the official Hello Kitty food colorings.  When I was adding the official Hello Kitty Food Coloring to the stabilized whipped cream I sneezed.  This resulted in a whole lot more food coloring being added to the cream than intended.  I guess the color is okay.  I mean, I always kind of wanted hair that color.  The problem is that it stains, oh yes it does, which made avoiding chocolate kind of moot.  We have not yet received any dry cleaning bills.

The other item of note regarding this event is attendance.  So far Boston has received precisely one "storm" and it hit on the day of the party.  It's not so much the storm that kept people home, though.  It's the idiots.  Honestly.  People around here were for the most part born and raised in the same town where they currently reside.  It snows every year and has snowed every year since they were born.  Somehow, though, the snow makes people drive like flaming, flying morons.  While my perfectly sensible friends were more than capable of driving themselves in the snow they feared the morons on the road and stayed home.  Those who did show up proved the absentees right: there were spinouts all over the place (for the record, all-wheel drive does NOT mean impervious to snow and ice!) and at least one snowplow driving the wrong way on the high way.  At 50 miles per hour.  To make matters worse, about half my guest list attended a major science-fiction convention here in Boston the week before the party.  The main feature of said convention appears to have been an outbreak of norovirus, which then made the rounds of my friends and resulted in several very sensible cancellations.  So I had more food than it turns out I needed, but under the circumstances that's okay.

Fearless Baby's Birthday Cupcakes (makes 36; approx. $0.66/serving)

15 1/4 ounces whole wheat pastry flour

8 1/2 ounces whole wheat all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 sticks butter

21 ounces raw sugar

2 teaspoons salt

8 eggs

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

20 ounces low-fat Greek yogurt

Stabilized whipped cream

Equipment:

• Cupcake tins
• Cupcake liners
• Cooking spray
• Stand mixer with paddle attachment
• Disher
• Bowl
• Pastry bag with wide star tip

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Line the cupcake tins with the cupcake liners.  Spray the liners with cooking spray.
3. Combine the flours, baking powder, and baking soda in the bowl.  Set aside.
4. Combine the butter, sugar and salt in the stand mixer.  Cream until light and fluffy.
5. Add the eggs one at a time.  Scrape the bottoms and sides of the bowl frequently, after each addition is a good start.
6. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture.  Beat well.  Scrape.
7. Add 1/2 of the yogurt and 1/2 of the vanilla.  Mix well.  Scrape.
8. Repeat 6 and 7 in order until the ingredients are all mixed together.
9. Use the disher to portion out the cupcake batter between the tins.
10. Bake 22 - 24 minutes or until a tester inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.
11. Cool completely before frosting.
12. Load your frosting into the pastry bag with the wide star tip.
13. Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.  I decorated with an additional Hello Kitty decoration.  You can leave it out.
14. Serve.

Recipe: Baghdadi Yogurt Dip

Recipe Source: al-Baghdadi, Muhammad b. al-Hasan b. Muhammad b. al-Karim.  A Baghdad Cookery Book.  Charles Parry, trans.  Prospect Books, Totnes 2005 p. 88.

I have two copies of A Baghdad Cookery Book.  One is translated by A. J. Arberry.  It came out, I believe, sometime in the 1930s and was later included in a much larger volume entitled Medieval Arab Cookery.  The other was published as its own volume and was cited above.  This was the first book of medieval recipes I ever owned.  It has, unfortunately, been lost somewhere in the recesses of my house for quite some time.  Recently the house decided to cough up the book.  I don't know why.  It was just suddenly on the shelf again.  This happens sometimes, I don't know why.  Anyway, I prefer to work with this translation rather than the other.  I don't feel that I'm qualified to comment on the quality or accuracy of the translations themselves, but the style of English in the Perry translation is much easier to work with.

Anyway, the book made its re-appearance in time for me to start work on our New Year's Eve celebration.  I wasn't necessarily setting out to make a medieval dish for the party, but I happened to be flipping through the book and saw the recipe and decided that it looked good. I like that about a lot of the recipes from the medieval Middle East.  I mean, medieval people had taste buds too, and food for the classes that left recipes didn't need to taste like dust.  But a lot of the medieval Middle Eastern recipes fit right in with modern tastes and preferences.  You can mix them right into a modern dinner or party and no one would ever know the difference.  Try this one at your Super Bowl party.

As is usually the case when I'm trying to re-create a medieval recipe I didn't make a lot of changes.  The original wanted mint.  My husband is allergic to mint so I left it out.  I substituted tarragon.  The two are nothing alike of course, but I really like tarragon and it at least has a similar strength to mint.

Baghdadi Yogurt Dip (serves 16; approx. $0.51/serving)

1 large leek, finely chopped

4 celery stalks, finely chopped, leaves separated

1 small bunch tarragon, finely chopped

1 large tub Greek yogurt

1 cup chopped toasted walnuts

Kosher salt to taste

1/2 teaspoon ground mustard

Equipment:

• Large bowl

1. Combine the leek, celery stalks, celery leaves, tarragon and yogurt in the large bowl.
2. Mix well.
3. Sprinkle the salt, mustard and walnuts over the top.
4. Transfer to a serving vessel and serve.

Recipe: Halibut Chowder

Recipe Source: King, Shirley.  Williams-Sonoma Fish.  Simon & Schuster, New York, 2002 p. 14

It's funny how some things get ground into your psyche.  I hail from upstate New York.  Geographically it's a lot more like New England than downstate, but it is still 100% New York.  The language is New York.  The sports teams are all New York - I see more Yankee hats there than I do in Manhattan - and the attitude is New York.  You would think, therefore, that it would be the Manhattan version of chowder that would be pre-eminent there.  You would be wrong.  I didn't even know that more than one type of fish chowder existed until I was well into my twenties and living in New England.  By that point the New England version of fish chowder had become canonical for me, and I can't think of the Manhattan variety without a shudder.  (I strongly suspect I would prefer it if I didn't know it was supposed to be chowder, but there you go.)  Of course, I also grew up in a Southern Italian family where the combination of dairy and fish was always kind of viewed with suspicion at best, but somehow these concerns were laid aside for Chowder.

Now, I love chowder but I really have to be extremely careful about where I buy it.  Traditionally chowder is made with bacon.  Not all manufacturers make chowder with bacon, but that's the traditional recipe and omitting it kind of makes for a vastly inferior product.  Also, the tendency toward food allergies is supposed to be inherited.  (How this explains me when no on in my family has a food allergy I don't know.)  The pediatrician therefore wants us to hold off on introducing certain common allergens until she's older.  One of those common allergens is shellfish.  I've usually seen chowder as clam chowder.  Clams are shellfish.  I'm trying to avoid cooking with things that my daughter cannot eat, since she often wants to try our food.  That means I've had to hold off on making my own chowder... until now.  I finally found a chowder recipe that wasn't written for shellfish!  And it had been lurking in my library the whole time!  I just had to go with it.

I made a few changes, of course.  I used beef bacon instead of regular bacon.  This increased the cost per serving but kept me from dying so I'd call that a win.  Halibut was cheaper than cod that week so that's what I used.  I didn't have seafood stock - they didn't have it at the grocery store that week, and clam juice is expensive.  I used vegetable stock that I already had on hand.  I wound up having to freeze it and serve it at a later date but that was okay.  I knew I'd done well when I smelled it.  "Smells right," I said to myself.  When I tasted it I was beyond delighted.  It tasted exactly like I wanted it to taste.  It was also very filling - we didn't need any side dishes, not even bread.

Halibut Chowder (serves 4; approx. $6.02/serving)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 package beef bacon, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

6 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons whole wheat flour

1 cup half-and-half

1 1/2 cups milk

2 cups vegetable stock

1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup water

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

3/4 pound small potatoes, diced

1 lb halibut fillet

Equipment:

• Large, deep saucepan
• Slotted spoon

1. Heat the oil in the saucepan.
2. Add the bacon.  Fry until crisp.
3. Evacuate the bacon with the slotted spoon and set aside.  If your bacon is very fatty (which, frankly, is the nature of bacon) pour off all but two tablespoons.  Mine was not terribly fatty so I skipped this step.
4. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and saute until soft.
5. Add the flour.  Cook for 30 seconds.
6. Add the half-and-half, milk and stock.  Bring slowly to a boil.
7. Reduce the heat to low.  Stir in the cornstarch mixture.
8. Mix well, then simmer 1 minute.  Season to taste.
9. Add the potatoes.  Simmer, uncovered, until nearly tender.
10. Add the fish and the bacon.  Cook until the fish is thoroughly cooked.  This shouldn't take long.
11. Serve.  Wallow in the deliciousness.  Go ahead.  You know you want to.