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: Rosemary Home Fries

I was fortunate enough to know both of my grandmothers.  Both of them were more than gifted when it came to the kitchen although it was in very different ways.  My father's mother's regular cooking was never really to my taste.  It was very Southern, and very WASPY, and just not what I was accustomed to.  I've been assured that her fried chicken was incomparable, but I've never been a big fan of fried chicken so that would have been wasted on me.  Same with her split pea soup.  As a baker, though, no one could really compare with her.  This is especially true when it comes to pastry.  My mother's mother was never a baker.  I literally don't think I can remember her ever making a dessert at home.  For proper cooking, though, she was a veritable deity.  I was fortunate enough to grow up more or less in her kitchen.  She's the one who formed my tastes and ideas about food.

One dish she used to make on a more or less regular basis was what she called "home fries."  Now, when I go to a restaurant and order home fries with brunch or whatever they bear no resemblance at all to my grandmother's home fries.  They are tasty and involve potatoes but that's about it.  My grandmother's home fries were whole potatoes, usually peeled, and sliced very thin.  They were accompanied by fat and onion and, sometimes, salt.  It is those potatoes that I still crave, and those home fries that inspired this dish.  I wanted to make a starchy side to satisfy my husband's need for carbs after a particularly intense workout.  I had all this duck fat left over, rendered from the duck recipe I posted yesterday.  I wanted to add a little flavor to the dish, to tie the different dishes together a little better, so I added some chopped fresh rosemary.  (Between the duck and the potatoes my poor rosemary bush is rather badly shorn, but it will grow back.)  The potatoes were exactly what I wanted them to be, and you can't ask for more than that in a dish.

Rosemary Home Fries (serves 4; approx. cost per serving not available)

3 pounds potatoes, washed and very thinly sliced

About 8 tablespoons cooking fat - I used rendered duck fat from another recipe and duck fat matches very well with potatoes, but olive oil would be healthier

2 onions, thinly sliced

2 - 3 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped and divided

Equipment:

• Very large saute pan

1. It may be helpful to have the lid to your pan nearby.  I've never had the pan catch fire on me and I've never heard that my grandmother did either, but that doesn't mean it won't catch fire on you.
2. Heat the fat in the saute pan until it is very hot.  
3. Add the potatoes.  Fry until about half done.
4. Add the onion and half the rosemary.  Fry until the potatoes are entirely done to your desired degree of crispness.  This involves careful attention, so make this the only dish you're focusing on right now.
5. Transfer to the serving vessel and garnish with the remaining rosemary.
6. 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: Whole Wheat Barley Bread

Some of you may have noticed that nothing has been posted for a few weeks.  It's not that I haven't been cooking.  It's that I haven't been writing.  Life has become a lot more complicated recently - mostly in good ways, or ways that could be reasonably interpreted as good anyway - and I haven't had more than a few moments to sit down and write anything up.  After a few weeks of frustration I asked my husband to stay home with our daughter for a day while I went off-site with a pile of sources and my computer.  Free from distractions I can focus, more-or-less, on writing up recipes.  Hopefully I can get my backlog under control!  Anyway, this recipe dates back to November 23.  That's right.  November 23.  That's Thanksgiving, for the record.  I haven't had a chance to write this one up since Thanksgiving.  It's almost Valentine's Day now.

There's a lot of tension about bread lately.  It was brought formally to my attention when I was reading Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads, which I received for Christmas, but I guess it's been hovering around the back of my consciousness for a while.  As a culture we went through a phase where carbohydrates were considered Bad.  I can kind of see it, actually.  Carbohydrates provide energy to the body.  When life was more physical - when people walked where they needed to go, and mostly worked at physically demanding jobs in factories or on farms - we needed lots and lots of carbohydrates to keep us going through the day.  Now most folks in the West at least - especially in the United States, much of which was designed around the car - people drive where they need to go and work at desks.  We don't need as much energy, but our culinary culture hasn't caught up with the times.  Energy means calories, and what the body can't eat it stores as fat.  A loaf of bread a day was fine a hundred years ago.  Now - not so much.  Bread, like most other starches, contains lots of calories.

The thing is, we still need energy.  We need less of it but we still need it, in quantities that depend on our activity levels and metabolisms.  I have no metabolism to speak of.  My husband's metabolism works best with lots of carbs, and if I try to cut them out there is Woe and Drama.  I decided to compromise by using whole grains.  Whole grains contain fiber, which everyone needs.  There are other nutrients in there, vitamins and other things the body needs.  I'm not a nutritionist, I'm a kind of harried mother, so I'll leave it at "fiber and stuff."  I try to make things that are healthy for my family and just eat less of the things with a lot of calories.

I developed this recipe myself, although I had a lot of help.  One source I reached for fairly frequently is the Basic Bread recipe from The River Cottage Bread Handbook by Daniel Stevens.  I don't feel confident enough in my own knowledge to know what proportions of flour and salt and whatnot without recourse to some sort of guidance.  It went over pretty well.  No one complained about the whole grain bread.  I feel like the barley flour gave it an interesting flavor, although that could be in my head.  Still, it was a decent bread and you could do a lot worse.

Whole Wheat Barley Bread (serves 10 generously; approx. $0.31/serving)

11 ounces whole wheat bread flour

11 ounces whole wheat all-purpose flour

13 ounces barley flour

2 1/2 cups lukewarm water

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1/2 tablespoon honey

1 1/2 tablespoons buttermilk powder

Equipment:

• Stand mixer with dough hook attachment
• Bowl
• Baking sheets

1. Combine the honey, water and yeast in the bowl.  Set aside until the yeast is frothy.
2. Combine the remaining ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer.
3. Add the yeast combination and knead on the lowest speed until the ingredients have blended more or less.  Add more water or flour as needed.
4. Increase speed very slightly and knead until the dough is smooth and just tacky and forms into a ball.
5. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.
6. Punch the dough down.  Divide it in half and shape into two loaves.
7. Cover and set aside until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
8. Preheat your oven to 425°.
9. Make three slits in the top of each loaf.
10. Bake 40 minutes, rotating the loaves halfway through baking.
11. Cool completely before eating.

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.