I love pepper so much that I went through a phase where I kept a grinder in my bag.  Is that weird?  Don’t answer.  Now, I hate to complain when it comes to the convenience and economy of grocery store pepper mills, but inconsistent grinds and large chunks can easily overpower the other flavors in a dish.  McCormick now has a better option.  Their new adjustable mill allows for the choice of fine, medium, or coarse grinding.  Switching between the notches is effortless and the results are consistently impressive between the three.

This nifty device makes shelling hard-boiled eggs almost enjoyable.  That’s a compliment.   It works by slipping in between the shell and the white, making it possible to pull the entire shell off in one go.  Unfortunately, I bought it in Japan and have yet to see one in the US.  If you happen to come across one of these nifty little devices, buy, buy ,buy!

Ingredients

red seedless grapes

dash of salt

olive oil

white or regular balsamic vinegar

ricotta *

roasted garlic *

rosemary

pepper

french bread

1. Heat the oven to 400.
2. Lightly coat the grapes in olive oil, balsamic and salt.  Wrap in tinfoil and cook until the grapes begin to shrivel, about 20 minutes.
3. Cut the bread into one inch slices and toast until lightly browned.
4. Once the grapes have cooled slightly, cut in half.
5. Spread the roasted garlic over the bread, layer with ricotta, and top with grapes.  Sprinkle with finely minced rosemary and pepper.

Note: What I like about this recipe is that it’s built upon small ingredients with big flavor.  This is very much about personal taste.  Roast the grapes without the vinegar or substitute rosemary for thyme.  Regardless of variation the result is the same: a savory sweet toast that is easy to prepare.

* see recipe post

If you’re looking for dinner napkins or kitchen linens with a bit more personality, you may be impressed with the collection of hand sewn monograms at Leontine Linens.  They take a modern approach to the monogram with designs that are full of character and shy away from the staid classic styles many of us remember from our L.L. Bean backpacks.  It’s as if the poster font from Where the Wild Things Are was inspired by their catalog.

Ingredients

2 quarts whole milk

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt

candy thermometer

..

1. Cover the bottom of a pot with the slightest bit of water (think a couple of tablespoons at most).  This will prevent the milk from burning on the bottom of the pan.
2. Heat the milk over medium-low heat until it reaches 200 degrees, stirring occasionally to prevent a film from forming over the milk.  This will take about 30 minutes.
3. Once the temperature reaches 200, remove the milk from the heat and stir in the lemon juice.  Let sit for 15 minutes.
4. Drain the milk over a colander or cheesecloth, separating the curds from the whey, and add the salt.  The longer the ricotta drains, the denser the  finished cheese will be.

…

I call this part one because I plan on trying a second batch using buttermilk.  This recipe shouldn’t be called ricotta at all as it is not made with whey as in the traditional process.  This is very similar in style and flavor to paneer, though less dense.  It does taste like ricotta, and not the gritty, bland supermarket variety but fresh and with the slightest hint of lemon.  Homemade ricotta with freshly chopped herbs makes a wonderful addition to a cheeseboard.

PLEASE NOTE:

• You cannot make ricotta from the left over whey because the albumin protein in the milk was released by exposing it to acid and heat.  As a result, there is nothing left over in the remaining whey to make whey ricotta.
• Do not use aluminium or copper as they react to the acids in the milk.

From Thanksgiving Day through December 1, Amazon will be offering a yearlong subscription to Food & Wine magazine for just $5.00.  Are such rock bottom prices perhaps a sign that yet another food magazine will soon be folding?  Open communication through the Internet has made us all magazine publishers, recipe testers, and content editors, so get your $5 subscriptions while you can.

Roasted garlic sounds like a no brainer.   All too often though the result is bitter, inedible mush.  Roasting at a high temperature as you would for most vegetables just doesn’t work for garlic.  The secret is low and slow, as in temperature and time.  The result is a garlic deeply flavored and slightly sweet.

Ingredients

1 head of garlic

1 tsp olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 325.
2. Remove just enough off the top of the garlic so all cloves can be covered in olive oil.
3. Drizzle with half of the olive oil, let saturate, and drizzle with remaining olive oil.
4. Wrap in tin foil and cook for one hour or until garlic is golden and some of the larger cloves have popped slightly from the paper.

Roasted tomatoes add depth of flavor

Ingredients

1 1/2 TBL olive oil

1 1/2 cups diced chopped celery

1 1/2 cups diced carrots

1 1/2 cups diced onions

1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes, in juice

1 28 oz. can plum tomatoes

1 1/2 TBL brown sugar

2 cups tomato juice

3 TBL honey

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

..

1. Heat the oil in a stockpot over medium high heat.  Add celery, carrots and onions.  Cook 3-4 minutes.  Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking for five minutes or until the onions are soft and translucent.
2. Add the crushed tomatoes in juice, tomato juice, honey, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium low, leave lid partially uncovered, and simmer 30 to 45 minutes until vegetables are tender.
3. While the soup is simmering, adjust the oven rack to the upper middle position and heat to 450.  Drain and de-seed the plum tomatoes.  Line a baking sheet with foil and place the tomatoes on the sheet in a single layer.  Sprinkle with brown sugar and cook until the tomatoes begin to color, about 30 minutes.
4. Combine the soup with the roasted tomatoes and leave to cool slightly.  Puree or blend until smooth.  Add the cream and adjust seasoning to taste.

Ruhlman delivers another cookbook classic.

It’s difficult to find a cookbook for less than $30.  And when you consider that at most you might try four or five recipes before putting it back on the shelf, it makes free recipes from the Internet that much more appealing.   Great cookbooks however are part art and part build your own adventure.  They can inspire, while at the same time serving as a source of reference.

Buying a cookbook can feel like a splurge, but for every cookbook addict out there, check out Swaptree.  The site lists close to 50,000 available cookbooks for trade.  List the items you have to get rid of (“have it”) and tag the items you want (“want it”).  Swaptree creates trades by matching members who have books/CDs/DVDs to get rid of with other members looking for the same items.  There are no fees and everything is free.  The only cost is shipping.

My “Want it” List

The Art of Simple Food, Alice Waters

Ad Hoc at Home, Thomas Keller

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, Jeff Hertzberg

Baking, Dorie Greenspan

Breakfast, Lunch, Tea, Rose Carranini

The Elements of Cooking, Michael Ruhlman

The Gift of Southern Cooking, Edna Lewis

A Handbook of Native American Herbs, Alma R. Hutchens

Top Secret Restaurant Recipes, Todd Wilbur

Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World, Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Bored at work?  Convinced that you have conquered the World Wide Web and there is no site left unvisited?  Answer trivia questions at FreeRice and feed someone in need.  Run by the United Nations World Food Program, FreeRice is a non-profit website that seeks to end hunger through advertising.  Here’s how it works:  For every trivia question answered correctly corporate sponsors will donate 10 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program.  While an amount so small may not sound impressive, depending on how many you choose to answer, the program will donate up to 5,000 grains a day per person.  Coupled with the number of people worldwide accessing FreeRice and the impact becomes astounding (44 million grains in 2008).  Topics range from art, chemistry, vocabulary, math, geography, and language.

.

Here are some examples of where FreeRice rice has been distributed:

• In Bangladesh, to feed 27,000 refugees from Myanmar for two weeks.
• In Cambodia, to provide take-home rations of four kilograms of rice for two months to 13,500 pregnant and nursing women.
• In Uganda, to feed 66,000 school children for a week.
• In Nepal, to feed over 108,000 Bhutanese refugees for three days.
• In Bhutan, to feed 41,000 children for 8 days.
• In Myanmar, to feed 750,000 cyclone affected people for 3 days.

.

Here’s an easy way to test that your grill is ready.  Once the coals have gone gray, remove the grill and place your palm at grill level.  You will be able to gauge if the coals are at the proper temperature by how long you are able to keep your hand above the coals.

HOT (SEARING) = 2 SECONDS

MEDIUM-HOT (GRILLING) = 3 SECONDS

MEDIUM (GRILLING) = 4 SECONDS

MEDIUM-LOW (COVERED COOKING) = 5 SECONDS

LOW (COVERED COOKING) = 6 SECONDS

On another note, I suggest checking out the photography of Peter Sutherland.  His work makes the everyday seem a bit more stylish, without the obnoxious or precious element that usually attaches itself.

JANUARY: blood oranges, grapefruit, guava, kiwi, kumquats, mandarins, oranges, pears, quinces, tamarind, and tangerines

FEBRUARY: avocados, blood oranges, grapefruit, oranges, pears, tamarind, and tangerines

MARCH: avocados, blood oranges, grapefruit, guava, oranges, and tamarind

APRIL: avocados, grapefruit, oranges, papayas, rhubarb, and tamarind

MAY: apricots, avocados, blueberries, cherries, mangoes, oranges, papayas, peaches, raspberries, rhubarb, and tamarind

JUNE: apricots, blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, cherries, lychees, mangoes, melons, nectarines, passion fruit, peaches, papayas, raspberries, and strawberries

JULY: apricots, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, currents, lychees, mangoes, melons, nectarines, peaches, raspberries, and strawberries

AUGUST: blackberries, blueberries, cherries, currents, figs, gooseberries, huckleberries, lychees, mangoes, melons, nectarines, peaches, plums, raspberries, and strawberries

SEPTEMBER: apples, dates, figs, gooseberries, grapes, huckleberries, mangoes, melons, nectarines, peaches, pears, plums, raspberries, and strawberries

OCTOBER: apples, cranberries, dates, figs, gooseberries, grapes, kumquats, pears, persimmons, plums, pomegranates, quince, raspberries, and star fruits

NOVEMBER: apples, clementines, dates, grapefruit, grapes, kiwi, kumquats, mandarins, oranges, pears, persimmons, pomegranates, quince, star fruits, tamarind, and tangerines

DECEMBER: blood oranges, clementines, dates, grapefruit, guava, kiwi, kumquats, oranges, pears, persimmons, pomegranates, prickly pear, star fruits, tamarind, and tangerines

Maggie Beer: Australia's Alice Waters

Verjuice; Verjus: An acidic, slightly sour liquid made from unripe grapes, though less commonly from apples.  The origin is French (vert jus), for green juice, and takes its name from the green grapes that were thinned from the vine before ripening, resulting in a high-acid and low-sugar grape.  Similar to lemon juice or vinegar, verjuice is used in the preparation of sauces, salad dressings, with mustards to boost flavor, and as a deglazer.  A staple of the Middle Ages, it has recently made a comeback.  The Australian cook Maggie Beer has popularized it more recently, making it a rather common ingredient in Australian restaurants. Known as ab-ghooreh in Persian cusine, it is still popular in Northern Iranian and Azerbaijani cuisine, as well as in Syria where it’s Arabic name is husroum. Verjuice can be refrigerated for up to three months.

Posted in DIPS, SPREADS AND SAUCES, FOODICTIONARY ]]> http://foodworthy.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/foodictionary/feed/ 0 34.052234 -118.243685 34.052234 -118.243685 REW Verjuice-verjus http://foodworthy.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/cooking-contests/ http://foodworthy.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/cooking-contests/#comments Sun, 09 Aug 2009 21:09:57 +0000 REW http://foodworthy.wordpress.com/?p=226 ]]>

I have found two great sources for anyone interested in entering a cooking contest.  

Foodreference.com & Contest Cook

Ingredients

6 white corn tortillas

olive oil

sea salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Brush both sides of each tortilla with olive oil.
3. Stack and cut into 8 pieces.
4. Spread on a baking sheet and season with sea salt.
5. Cook for 15 minutes.

TRASH DONKEY BY KRISTINA JUG

While people love to talk about the importance of where our food comes from, where our food goes seems to have been somewhat ignored.  The New York Times has an article on America’s self-indulgent relationship with food.  It will probably blow your mind, befuddle, and enrage you all at once to know the amount of food that Americans throw out in a single year.  Oh, I’ll just tell you – 27% of all food available for consumption ends up as waste.  And before you scream that there are starving people in Africa who would gladly take that food, hold up, the news gets worse.  Due to lack of technology and infrastructure, some parts of Africa see 25% or more of their usable crops go to waste before they even have a chance to be eaten.  It’s a great article.  Depressing, but great.  Read it.

However, there’s always a silver lining and that silver lining is Jonathan Bloom.  He has decided to devote his attention to the topic at wastedfood.  Described as part blog and part call to action, his website came about in 2005 after volunteering at D.C Central Kitchen.  There’s a wonderful section with tips on how to reduce one’s waste and, in turn, consumption.

Actually, forget trash being the depressing topic.   Check out the hooves on that donkey.

Hideous, yet somehow captivating. I must own it.

Order your very own buddy big boy snacks and sweets server from reclaim2fame.  The company has been around for over 15 years salvaging materials and turning them into bizarre and lovable creature-servers.  Oh, and if that’s not enough, he’s also wearing wingtip oxfords.

You deserve a pancake breakfast.

Dry Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup mesquite flour

3 TBL packed brown sugar

1 3/4 TBL baking powder

1 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients

1 1/2 cups milk

3 TBL brown butter (from 6 TBL butter)

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
2. Combine all ingredients.  Be careful not to over mix.  You want the ingredients to just come together.  It is ok if there are still pockets of dry ingredients that are not wet.
3. Ladle 1 TBL of batter onto a heated, nonstick pan (30 seconds on each side for silver dollar pancakes).
4. Transfer to the oven to keep warm until ready to serve.
5. Drizzle any remaining brown butter over the pancakes.

• Important Tips for Consistent Pancakes:
• Do not overbeat, mixing only enough to incorporate the wet into the dry.
• If possible, let the batter rest, refrigerated, for 3-6 hours.
• Because variations in moisture content with flour, make a test pancake.  You can always add more flour or water.
• If you are using a nonstick surface, there is no need to add butter.
• Test the pan by dropping a little water onto the surface.  The pan is ready when the water turns into little bubbles, jumps around, and quickly evaporates.

*** I found mesquite flour at Erewon on Beverly in LA.  Call around to local health food stores or visit Casa de Fruta to order it online.

*** Chowhound has a great visual on the perfect brown butter.