JulieLeung.com: a life told in tidepools » food

Eat the hype: I choose the dark side

jjl — Thu, 19 May 2005 11:18:50 +0000

Ted went out with friends to the midnight showing at the movies tonight so I’m home alone with chocolate. It’s not sour grapes; instead it’s sweet. I couldn’t resist trying these new colors of MnM’s, although I don’t know why these pastel hues are considered Jedi tones. Then at another store, I found the Darth Mix, dark chocolate coated in some of my favorite colors. It’s clear to me which side I will choose.

Crab cakes and cobbler

jjl — Sun, 03 Apr 2005 11:12:53 +0000

For a special treat last night I made crab cakes and tartar sauce:

served with baby potatoes, spinach salad, rustic bread and our current favorite white wine, Hofer’s Gruner Veltliner 2003. I bought two Dungeness crabs, cleaned, removing the meat and mixing it with bread crumbs, spices, egg and mayonnaise. Capers, pickles, parsley and scallions flavored the tartar sauce.

While we ate dinner, I baked a cobbler containing pears, dried cherries, almonds and chocolate chips tucked beneath a coconut-sprinkled crust. We ate the dessert, still warm from the oven, in bowls with scoops of raspberry sorbet.

An edible experiment Miss Muffet might enjoy: Making Palak Paneer (Indian Spinach and Cheese)

jjl — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 10:34:22 +0000

When I saw Barrett’s post in the multi-authored-blog Too Many Chefs titled Curds and Whey – Indian Panir/Paneer – Easy Cheesy, I knew I had to try it, especially since the subsequent recipe for Palak Paneer – Indian Spinach and Cheese – First Version is one of my favorites to order in a restaurant. Making cheese made an excellent experiment for the girls as we cooked and curdled the milk, conducting chemical changes.

Using heat and lemon juice, we separated the milk proteins. As a child, I first heard of curds and whey in Miss Muffet’s classic tale of arachnophobia. I think this was one of the first times I have consciously cooked with curds and whey. While I stirred, I read to the girls simplified snippets from Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking, explaining what was happening to the milk. Susan Kitchen’s post earlier this year reminded me of the wealth in that book.

Following the blogpost instructions, I removed the white chunks of curd and wrapped them in cheesecloth, hanging the bundle from a cupboard knob in the kitchen, catching the dripping whey in a bowl.

Opening the cheesecloth package three hours later, I discovered cheese, the size of a softball.

I put the cheese in the refrigerator overnight. Today I made the Palak Paneer, taking an extra trip to a large grocery store in order to find garam masala. I didn’t make ghee but chose to save time and use butter. It was delicious. The girls agreed.

Our menu tonight:

Palak Paneer
Leftover Chicken Curry with potatoes, tomatoes and peas
Hot white rice
Orange slices
Bits of gingerbread
Pineapple coconut juice mixed with seltzer

The crew of Too Many Chefs + Harold McGee make great instructors together, inspiring me to want to try more kitchen experiments with the kids…

If you ever decide to make me breakfast in bed

jjl — Sun, 06 Feb 2005 09:15:11 +0000

Scheherazade began a scrumptious post on Eggs and Bananas with the sentence:

If you ever decide to make me breakfast in bed, you should know that my favorite thing is eggs over easy, with maybe some toast or, even better, some spicy black beans and a couple of warm corn tortillas.

She fried a banana alongside her eggs. I’ve never tried that.

My favorite breakfast is pancakes. Plain or oatmeal. With maple syrup or raspberry jam. No butter. I think I like buttermilk or oatmeal pancakes plain rather than stuffed with MnMs or blueberries even.

On the weekends we kids stayed with our dad, he often made us pancakes. Perhaps he cooked them when he still lived at home but I don’t remember. My father’s creativity in the kitchen emerged as a result of the divorce, also creating a number of now-legendary stories around his original recipes, our own culture for our times at his places. One of my siblings refused to eat pancakes so Dad would top them with chocolate syrup from the Hershey’s can in the fridge or mixed from hot chocolate powder, to make them easier to swallow.

Mom made pancakes too, ones she called German pancakes, the size of the electric skillet, spread with butter, then applesauce or powdered sugar, and rolled. Usually she served them for supper. I liked them too, but I liked the idea of the heritage that came with the family recipe more than the taste which seemed too strong on the eggs.

If I make pancakes, I make them with a pinch here and there, off the cuff, improvising on a Saturday morning when we have some time to spare. We also have a waffle iron with heart shapes but I don’t know when I last used it. Ted isn’t a morning man so a simple breakfast is what I most often choose for the girls and me, such as cereal or scones.

My other favorite breakfast though would be cinnamon rolls, hot from the oven and homemade. The girls and I made some Christmas morning, refrigerating the dough overnight. They don’t taste the same the next morning but at the time they are fresh, they are delicious. Bakery rolls with their preservatives can’t compare As I pull apart the concentric circles to taste the cinnamon flavor, wrapped with raisins and bits of crust from baking, I know fresh yeast breads are the best.

While discussing breakfasts, I must confess a certain weakness for Dunkin’ Donuts oat bran blueberry muffins. When I was a college student and during the years we lived in Providence, I’d indulge in a stop at that coffee shop from time to time. I like muffins, and the oat bran blueberry had the pretense of health. The Dunkin’ Donuts near campus was the site of many a morning meeting with friends.

Eggs. I do like eggs although my cholesterol level (inherited?) would warn me otherwise. So I try not to eat them often. I like eggs scrambled. When I was younger I used to like eggs fried sunny side up or I’d even eat them raw. Now I like them mixed together to a fluffy yellow and tossed in the pan until nearly dry. I’m amazed at how fast I can eat them. My girls make them disappear too. We can eat a dozen in a morning.

Breakfast is my favorite meal. I was delighted when two of my babies were born in time for breakfast (the third one arrived in time for dinner). I was born in the morning myself and it is my favorite time of day. Since I married a nocturnal creature, and especially since I started staying at home, I haven’t fared so well with my early routines. But on an ideal day I wake early with time for reading and meditation, perhaps a little planning. Then a time of walking and running around the neighborhood in the cool air is followed by a warm shower with scented soaps. Maybe I’ll scramble some eggs, find time to knead scones, or bake a pan of oatmeal while the girls get up. We sit down together at the dining table and greet the day. A warm breakfast eaten with those you love makes the morning. It makes memories.

Maple snow 2005 version

jjl — Sat, 15 Jan 2005 23:55:29 +0000

2004 version here (except photo error). For 2005 we used Vermont maple syrup, as linked in the post above, and created candy.

Our 2005 New Year’s Day dinner

jjl — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 18:10:20 +0000

New Year’s Day dinner menu included:

Peking Duck (marinated overnight in local Hood Canal Brewery Agate Pass Amber)

Stir-Fried Broccoli

Rice

Almond Jelly, Lychees and Fortune Cookies

Asian Pear Wine

Notes:

One college friend gave me the Peking Duck recipe years ago, and another provided the Almond Jelly recipe when we were living in RI. Thanks Y and E for the friendship and memories through the years!

I became curious to try the Asian Pear wine after reading the article Enoch Choi linked in his del.icio.us feed (this feed is recommended reading!). Article quote: From Washington state, AP Wine makes a unique wine from Asian pears and gives all its profits to affordable housing in the islands.. Website link: The story of AP Windfall Winery.

Elisabeth said fortune cookie for the first time, requesting her treat, and she said it well. This time I bought the cookies, rather than trying to make them myself. My two fortunes were Your lover will be true to you (okay, I traded Abigail for hers) and You will be admired for your internal beauty….not a bad way to begin a new year!

Sorry to have missed Lisa and family’s Tuesday Night Family Dinner: Welcoming the New Year with Dim Sum: yum!

Homemade marzipan

jjl — Fri, 31 Dec 2004 09:25:24 +0000

As requested (by Katherine in the comments to this blog entry), I’ve posted a picture of our homemade marzipan from Christmas.

This was the first year we tried to make our own although I’ve thought about it for years. I grew up enjoying marzipan bought from the local grocery store bakery (Safeway) however marzipan fruits no longer seem to be as common as they were during my childhood.

We used canned marzipan as a base and then added a few other ingredients, including food coloring. I forgot to take a picture of the fruits until we had eaten all but a few. Since we are studying German, this recipe brought a good occasion to practice our produce vocabulary. Creations included red apples, green apples, strawberries, watermelon slices and various other edible ideas. The girls want to do it again next year. I do too.

Ham brined in Coca-Cola

jjl — Wed, 29 Dec 2004 10:10:24 +0000

Some may be wondering what happened to me this Christmas. I don’t think I am quite myself. As evidence, I present our Christmas masterpiece: Ham brined in Coca-Cola. A few weeks ago I heard someone mention she had tried it and I became curious. I found this recipe on the Internet and didn’t plan to follow it exactly. All that motivated me was the cola brine, and I ignored the rub and glaze ingredients…but then had to improvise on Christmas Day.

Ted was skeptical and took this picture of our countertop when I was creating the brine, around midnight on Christmas Eve. The hardest step was scoring the skin of the fresh (not cured) ham. I feared we would have a strange story to tell an ER doctor so I encouraged Ted to stop.

The ham stayed in the brine (4L Coca-Cola, 1.5 cups kosher salt, garlic cloves, bay leaves, peppercorn) for 15 hours. I didn’t have the fresh herbs (sage, parsley) so I did a rub with salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil and dried sage.

Next the ham roasted for 2 hours but probably could have roasted a little longer. Every 45 minutes I doused it with a glaze made from brown sugar and, yes, more Coca-Cola. I’d never brined, baked or boiled soda until last Saturday! The skin, due to the glaze, rub and brine, was a lovely caramel color.

The ham tasted delicious, better than a cured one, although I do wonder what kinds of chemicals are in the meat…and what happened to all that caffeine? After dinner we flipped through our kitchen book collection, hoping to find answers to our questions.

Ham science here

I turned to food scientist Dr. Eric Decker, from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to find out just what the Coke brine was doing. While Coke has about the same amount of sugar as orange or apple juice, he explained, it has roughly 27 times that of our brine. This higher sugar concentration flavors the meat. Coke is also considerably more acidic than our brine; it has a pH level of 3.3, while our brine is relatively neutral, hovering untangling (or denaturing) the strands, much like a marinade. Luckily, this sour, acidic flavor is balanced by the sugar and that unique Coca-Cola flavor, resulting in a ham you won’t soon forget. -J.C.

And here’s a column at NewJersey.com that explains a bit of the history…

The recipe was unearthed by Elizabeth Candler Graham, the great-great-granddaughter of Asa Griggs Candler, founder of Coca-Cola. As far as food historians can tell, it was created sometime in the 1880s in or around Atlanta.

Ted’s skepticism disappeared as he tasted the ham. It was delicious. Especially warm from the oven on that Christmas Day. He said I was adventurous but it’s only because I become bored doing the same dishes all the time. Why not try something strange and fun? This year too I think I needed the challenge of the experiment as a distraction. And I also like the education that comes with the cooking, both science and history in a ham…homeschool and Christmas supper all in one!

Turkey cookies

jjl — Sun, 28 Nov 2004 18:05:22 +0000

While not professionally-decorated turkey cake, I thought that these homemade turkey cookies were fun. The girls and I each drew and cut our own turkey design on paper to use to shape the dough. Then we decorated with an assortment of sprinkles, chocolate chips and almond slices. No meat products were employed in the making of this dessert.

I made most of these.

Abigail and Michaela’s cookies.

Michaela put pink candies on her cookie for her scar.

Abigail’s cookie has a scar too. (?!)

Brining and blogging

jjl — Sun, 28 Nov 2004 17:55:55 +0000

Friday I wanted to try to write some posts but I ended up spending most of the day brining a turkey. The bird had been a bargain and a bit of an impulse buy. On Thursday we went to visit friends who hosted and cooked most of the meal. But in the grocery store on Monday, the thought of 20 pounds of turkey for 3 dollars was too good not to put in the shopping cart. So I found myself on Friday wondering what to do with the massive bird that had been defrosting in the refrigerator all week.

Sitting down at my desk in the kitchen, I decided to try local blogging couple Troy and Gay’s recipezaar.com. Scrolling through the turkey recipe selection, “Good Eats” Roast Turkey, one that Gay had posted appealed to me, especially with its high number of reviews (18) as well as a high star ranking (4.5/5). From reading Andrew Grumet and Enoch Choi, I’d heard of Alton Brown, also a blogger. Looks like Gay put this turkey recipe in her cookbook for their celebration yesterday.

Next year if we brine a turkey I will head to the hardware store and buy a big bucket. That was one detail that would have benefitted from foresight. Instead I ended up trying to use a spare plastic bag, one that I used to like to use for cooking the turkey. When I tried to rotate the turkey in the brining, the bag burst open….

But the brine was simple and worth the effort. I followed the recipe but made a few substitutions, adding a little powdered ginger since we didn’t have the candied kind, using mostly water with a little broth and a few ounces of white wine leftover in the fridge. Oh, I just realized I forgot to add the peppercorns! But I did put the apple, onion, water, cinnamon stick and rosemary aromatics inside the bird to roast it. No sage in the house though but we still have rosemary growing in the garden.

The turkey tasted juicy and flavorful. It was probably one of the better birds I have done. The white meat was moist and even after a day of refrigeration it’s still yummy. As I wrote this, the carcass was simmering on the stove for soup.

Thanks, Troy and Gay! I think I’ll be brining the turkey again next year. With a bucket! Although Glenn Reynold’s rosemary-crusted bird sounds tempting. And Betsy Devine’s Killer brownies and biscuit-crust vegetable pot pie.

What do brining and blogging have in common? Blogging encouraged me to try brining. And as I’ve been preparing a turkey for cooking and doing other holiday preparations this week, I’ve been marinating some posts in my mind. I hope to have some time to catch up…and I hope that what I write is tastier for the time it’s spent incubating….but in the meantime, when I haven’t been at the computer these past couple days, we’ve been having a lot of fun as our little family of five, staying at home, carving turkey and being together….