a simpler dinner, for a more junior faculty age

I roasted some butternut squash with olive oil, curry, and kosher salt tonight.  It takes about 30 seconds to prepare, but it's a flavor explosion I promise.  I've been gradually refining a roasted squash recipe the last few weeks... I tried it with cinnamon, but that was too sweet for me.  I think next week I'll try it with about twice as much curry as this week.

I hope I can keep up making pre-made frozen lunches for myself this semester.  I was just way too stressed and exhausted all the time last semester to do it, and my health suffered from eating frozen Wegman's prepared meals every day for lunch.  This way is a lot better....

Learning something new every day... about food!

Yesterday I learned that, contrary to my implicit belief, hamentashen are not hanukah cookies!  They are instead traditionally eaten for Purim, making it all of a sudden weird that the huge holiday cookie tray I bought at the grocery store yesterday had a whole bunch of hamentashen prominently stacked at the top.

I'm gonna make some on monday, I think.  Also today I think I'm making bimbimbap.  It's the week of finally getting to cook now that the semester is over and coincidentally choosing to cook dishes with names that are fun to say!

Spitesgiving: A Retrospective

I've basically been too afraid of making the Spitesgiving post all month, because I didn't feel up to the challenge!  I'm going to go the photo blitz route, because I think that's the only way I'll ever get over my intimidation of this Major Eating Event in order to actually make the post.  

There was some total bullshit, like a selection of mixed fruits:

Note the lack of Meat or Cheese

There was supposed to be mango in that fruit salad but we wisely used the mango to make margaritas instead.  Which we then wisely consumed while playing soul calibur.  Ivy FTW!!!!  "Exxxxtend!"

But after the momentary insanity that came from preparing such a minimally healthful dish (pineapple, at least, is like the least healthy possible fruit), we got serious and threw some korean style ribs on my ersatz grill:

I'm too scared of setting my house on fire to use my actual grill

 Bobby Flay claims that this is his recipe, but even the most cursory search on the internets reveals that actually this is a traditional Korean recipe that was probably invented centuries before Bobby Flay was even a twinkle in his mother's eye.  So, there's a fun fact for the Bobby Flay haters among my readership.  AS and I carefully selected the actual asian sesame oil instead of the proudly labeled "ASIAN FOODS" version for the marinade, although CA reminded us that that probably means there is much more Rat, Dog, and Lead (etc) in this marinade than there would have been otherwise.  These ribs really did have an amazing flavor.  They were pretty easy to make, but they do have to marinate for like 3 hours so I don't know if I'll do them again prior to a future Spitesgiving.  We did put away about 6lbs of ribs between the 3 of us over the course of 1.5 days.

We put away the quiche (and tequila, for that matter) much faster:

I don't really remember how the tequila got in this shot... we didn't have any of it with brunch

Ok, there are like 8 eggs in this quiche (not to mention the bacon or two cheeses), and there was only ONE PIECE LEFT after we got up from our epic 4 hours around the brunch table (not an exaggeration).  I'll share with my readership a "secret" that seemed to be of interest to the spitesgiving constituents:  I added about 1 cup of crumbled feta to this quiche, to make it saltier.  Everyone loves a nice, salty quiche, but adding actual salt to the quiche just gives the eggs a funny texture after a certain point.  Adding feta instead makes the egg mixture more creamy, and still ups the salt into instant heart attack levels.  A good trick to have in the quiche making toolbox!

We selected a nice, thick, handmade wheat bread for the French Toast by committee at the Wegman's (note to self for next year, AS doesn't like raisins!)

Can you see the french toast under all the powdered sugar?

 There were only like 2 pieces of french toast left after brunch too!  How did we eat all that?  I think the answer can be found in the photo of me laying sprawled out on the ground in between rounds of brunch (not pictured).  One might believe that I could eat that much, but tiny little CA and AS had to have put away about 3x their body mass right in that one meal!  Kudos!

Here's the full brunch spread.

We did actually eat all the fruit eventually.  I think we ended up blending a lot of it into subsequent margaritas.  

 AS took this fantastic photo of pure, unadulterated BUTTER, and I think it lends a bit of authenticity to the themes of Spitesgiving that I am trying to convey.

For National Security Reasons, I'm not going to share how much butter was consumed during Spitesgiving

**New Header** Spitesgiving Dinner


CA expressed to me prior to Spitesgiving that one Theme she would like to see implemented in the menus was Blue Cheese at Every Meal (there wasn't a picture of the potted stilton from brunch).  Eager to comply, I prepared these blue cheese, bacon, and scallion "puffs."

God, seriously, looking back on this now... how did we EAT all this?

 I think we ate about 25 of these at dinner.  In theory, these should be great, because they are bacon, blue cheese, and scallions.  I think the blue cheese taste kind of got lost in them though, and I'm not sure I'd make them again.  For people that like blue cheese, I don't feel that they were pungent enough, and for people that DON'T like blue cheese, they are probably too gross tasting.  Maybe I could try them again with like a cheddar or something.  That might be worth a shot, as they are pretty easy to make and would probably go over well at events where lots of alcohol is being consumed.

The main event was osso bucco:

Yeah, I braised the shit out of that veal

I had made this exact preparation of osso bucco before, but because of how long it took to prepare all the other dishes, it ended up braising much longer this time around.  I think there was nearly universal agreement that this was right up there on the Most Tender Meat I've Ever Eaten list for all parties present.

We were fortunate to be able to sop up the osso bucco gravy with biscuits at all, but the experience went into fantasyland because we were able to do so with starfleet shaped biscuits.  

Eat long, and prosper

 Thanks AS for this spectacular, nerd and eating themed Spitesgiving Craft!  Especially since CA and I both didn't make our crafts.  Oops.

We rounded out the epic with an 8 layer celebration cake:

When there are 8 layers of cake, there are 9 layers of frosting

I had challenged myself to make double digit layers prior to the weekend, but I foolishly forgot to buy parchment paper (I KNEW we would forget something at the grocery store, even though we took an extremely efficient team approach to the shopping), so I didn't want to risk layers any thinner than this.  Honestly, I'm surprised that I was able to get layers even this thin out of my pans WITHOUT the parchment paper.  I give all the credit for the exceptional nature of the final product here to my stand mixer.  It created a batter that was of a texture that I had never known was possible before, despite my years of consuming butter and sugar.  The egg white mixture was a lacy froth, the egg yolk mixture was like spackle.  It was truly amazing.  Even though I keep a regularly updated list of my best cakes:

• 26th birthday red velvet
• Chocolate Amaretto
• Alton Brown's Tres Leches

This one clearly was, by miles and miles, the best baked good I've ever made (see, all credit to stand mixer).  I will definitely make it again, but only when I have 3 hours (and parchment paper).  I'll make it up to double digit layers someday, just see if I don't!

Beef with Broccoli

I made beef with broccoli this evening, and it definitely wasn't my greatest culinary triumph (especially because I didn't have any sambal so it's not even spicy!)  I didn't even take a picture of it because it was kind of sad and brown and wilted.  Probably the most interesting part of the whole endeavor is that I sustained my first non-trivial oil burn by means of not paying enough attention when I dropped the beef strips into the boiling sesame oil.  What surprises me the most about this oil burn is that it took me this long to get one-- I really can't remember ever raising a blister from burning myself the whole time I've been cooking.  My previous worst cooking related discomfort was as banal as rubbing my eyes with jalapeno hands.

So, now I've gotten that out of the way.

osso bucco

Ok, I had a major Success this weekend, by spending most of both days involved in Meat Work of some type.  Meat Research to find out if I could use a veal chop instead of a veal shank in my osso bucco.  Meat Comparison Shopping to find out where to get the best veal in binghamton.  Then today, best of all, Meat Braising, as the osso bucco braised in my dutch oven for 3 hours.

I was having such a good time I documented the process more than usual.  For example, I took a picture of the assembled ingredients:

I did it because I just liked the look of the basil plant with the bread and my cool purple flowering tree outside.

I also got a shot of the browned veal, before I set it to braise:

This one I took because I thought the veal looked amazing at this point and I was afraid I was sure to fuck it up some time in the next three hours, so I thought I had better get some evidence that it had looked good at one time.  My meat comparison shopping really paid off here, because these chops were fantastic.  I could tell from the minute I took them out of the brown paper that I had some nice cuts of meat on my hands.  I also learned during my meat comparison shopping that Wegman's (local nice grocery store) will do special cut orders for you if you call them a mere 3 days in advance!  So next time I could actually get a shank, if I so desired (although I loved the chop, so I'm not sure I would bother.)

There were some appetizers before the main event:

I believe that the highlight of the cheese plate is the habanero cheddar to the right.  I think it actually has habaneros in it!  Anyway, it is very hot.  Not as hot as my spicy asian soups, but quite hot for a dairy product. The sausage was an impulse buy-- they were sampling it when I went shopping for the cheeses so I grabbed a stick, but I don't think I'd buy it again.  The gimmick with this sausage is that it is pinot grigio cured, but I felt that the wine curing gave it a kind of weird sour chemical taste that didn't do it for me in a sausage, which in my book should be Salty, Fatty, and Hot, in that order.

I also served some dates with goat cheese, basil, and prosciutto:  

  

I made these before (for the karafete), so I don't have too much to say about them-- I knew they were easy and end up looking and tasting good.  I felt last time that they had Too Much Date (although KDF and EW politely assured me that there was Just Enough Date), so this time I cut each date in half while I was seeding it and stuffed each half separately.  I think this was an improvement, and it involved essentially no extra work or alteration to the recipe, so I think I will do them again this way in the future.

The main event was the osso bucco, served with risotto milanese (a saffron risotto preparation):

Although I made risotto like every weekend last winter, there were several firsts for me with this one.  I had never worked with saffron before, and I also had never made a risotto with tomato broth.  I was informed by the internet, and by james beard, that when serving a risotto with osso bucco, it should be prepared ala milanese (which as far as I can tell just means a simple preparation with saffron), and using hot tomato juice instead of chicken broth to cook the rice.  I think that I did NOT like the saffron, but I did like the tomato broth.  Saffron is WAY TO EXPENSIVE to taste like that!  I was expecting a total expensive party in my mouth but I think it basically tasted like the tomato juice had been sitting out too long and had gone bad.  I don't think I'll be buying any $1 / thread saffron again in the forseeable future.

I loved the tomato juice spin though.  I usually love to serve risotto with a ton of parmesan cheese, and I felt like the tomato juice both changed it up a little from the normal broth risottos I make and also went quite nicely with the parmesan.  I would make it like this again-- maybe adding some hot italian sausage if I were going to do it as a Frozen Cube Lunch. 

The osso bucco.... it was amazing.  The meat literally did fall off the bone!  It was so soft.  I guess it should be, since it basted in its own juices for 3 hours on ultra low heat.  I don't even know how to describe it.  The fact that it was veal instead of beef gave it just a hint of pungency that set it far apart from a beef stew.  I served it with some carrots, onions, and potatoes that had been soaking up the fat and gravy in the braising pan for three hours, and they were some of the best vegetables ever, probably because they were about 2/3 vegetable and 1/3 beef fat.  That's the way to eat a vegetable!  

I am seriously considering osso bucco for spitesgiving dinner.  It is so delicious, but very easy to make and has the huge advantage of making the house smell like braising veal for hours on end.  AND we could actually have 3 roasted meats this way because the veal braises on the stovetop, which would leave 2 ovens available for roasting other meats.

I'll definitely make this again, it's too easy and good not to.  It's like "serve this for christmas dinner" level good.  I'm just sad I only made 3 chops (for 3 people.)  Although, 4 probably wouldn't have fit in my dutch oven.  

Critical Success!

Fourth of July Apple Pie V

Happy Apple Pie day, friends!  Making an apple pie on the fourth of july is maybe my only "tradition," and I think I've made this pie more times than I've ever made any other dessert.  I don't even like apple pie!

This year I forgot to adjust for the fact that I have a convection oven now. :(  So the crust got a little crispy before the apples got all the way cooked through as much as I would have liked.  It still got ALL eaten at the bbq I went to though.  One person ate three slices, AND scraped the pie plate afterwards!  Numerous testimonials were offered but I forgot them already.  

On the bright side, this year I remembered to do everything I had noted to myself to do to the base pie recipe in the previous 4 years, because I actually typed up a NEW recipe!  This was part of my long weekend recipe organizing bonanza.  So now I shouldn't have to review several years worth of pie baking notes the next time I have to bake this pie although, if I do check back here next year, I should remember:

--YOU HAVE A CONVECTION OVEN.  Lower the first baking temp to 400, and definitely don't bake for more than 30 minutes in the second stage.

--Probably I also don't want to pour quite so much caramel over the crust either.  This year I finally remembered to actually double the caramel (last year I doubled the butter but not the sugar), so I think I poured too much on the top of the crust, which contributed to the over-browning. I should have poured a higher proportion of it into the apples.

Anyway, regardless of my convection oven tomfoolery, and the fact that I burned the crap out of my tongue by stupidly dunking an apple in the caramel about 2 seconds after it stopped boiling, the pie was in fact all consumed.  Fifth Annual Pie Success!

bbq beans

I made the bbq bean recipe from my southern living cookbook this weekend, but my camera battery was out when they finished baking and I couldn't wait for it to charge before diving in after spending 2 hours breathing in the maple bacon bbq air.

The maple bacon was really the star of that dish, even though I made it with "half bacon."  The preparation was very easy, I think the "full bacon" version would be a great party dish in the future.