I've MOVED!

thanks for being such wonderful readers!

i have decided to move my blog to a new host. come check me out at

http://forkheartknife.wordpress.com/

yay! love, sierra

blood orange sorbet

at findlay this weekend there were some good looking blood oranges. so i loaded up on some and had visions of a super simple sorbet- just like the pineapple one- real pure fruit flavor. juiced 6 oranges for about 1 c. juice. added maybe 1 1/2 c. simple syrup and a shot of vodka and churned. wow wow wow. true to the fruit. refreshing and with that depth and zing you expect when you open up a blood orange and are shocked by the color!

another stew. same as all the others, but different. bell peppers, onions, shallots, garlic and ginger softened in butter. added lots of seasonings- curry powder, curry paste, chili paste. added new potatoes, cauliflower, brussels, carrots, and peas. then a few cans of coconut milk and stewed for a while until everything was all soft and flavorful and added a bunch of cilantro. the le creuset is knocking my socks off with the stewing power. i'm going to eat it tonight over basmati rice.

beet bites

on a stone thrown cracker from kimi in walla walla: beets blanched in salty water and sliced. drunken goat cheese. a plop of spicy zydeco mustard from the findlay market mustard king.

also on a cracker: a chunky dip of artichoke hearts. blanched, diced beets. mustards. mayo. lots of different shredded cheeses. lots of paprika and warmed til melty and gooey. the beets make it a crazy pink color that will maybe scare people away from it- more for me!

rumaki!

bacon! this is a wonderful appetizer in time for the SUPER BOWL! i made them yesterday for a birthday party celebrating one of my most favorite people...

this is a retro appetizer and i have never had authentic housewife rumaki- but this is how i imagine based on my research of the topic..

the first step is marinating water chestnuts in the special sauce. i do some garlic and ginger in a liberal amount of a lighter oil: vegetable, canola, salad oil. to that, i add about a cup of soy sauce, and a cup of red wine vinegar. from here, you can go a few ways based on how sweet/savory/spicy you want things to go. i added about 6 tbsp. brown sugar, 4 tbsp. ketchup, 4 tbsp. sriracha, 2 tbsp. chili paste, salt and pepper. this gives a sweet heat.

then i cut bacon in half and cook at 350 on a sheet pan for a few minutes. soft enough to work with, but getting the cooking started. maybe 5, 7 minutes? when it cools a bit, i put the water chestnut in the middle, wrap the bacon around both sides and stab with a toothpick through the center. i place these bundles on the sheet tray and sprinkle with brown sugar and bake at 400 until crispy.

meanwhile, put the sauce/marinade on the stove and cook it down a bit. this thickens the sauce, intensifying the flavo flave.

for serving, you could have the rumaki on a tray and dip in the sauce OR put everything together, which is what i did last night. smokey crisp bacon, crunchy water chestnut and a sauce that starts a warm burn on the way down.

pineapple sorbet

i have been enjoying lots of pineapples and they have been tasting SO good! like the taste of sunshine. i like to make jokes about the fruit curing me of wintertime induced scurvy. that is silly. but you guys know what i am talking about: mouth transportation from winter and cold and blah straight to sun and warm and tan.

this one was super easy. i cut off the skin and cut out the core and pureed the fruit. i strained the puree and got about 3 cups of juice. i added about 2 cups of simple syrup and maybe a large shot (2 oz.) of vodka for that smooth texture.

it is so wonderful. and in a way, delicate: when i pureed the pineapple, there was the juice and then this light, floating sort of foam that formed on the top. when churned, it made for such a wonderful, airy texture and color.

gypsy stew

i think that i was supposed to take the "le creuset" sticker off the front of my new pot, but i am just soooo in love with it that i went ahead and cooked with it on there...

i had a bunch of cous cous left from the other night and was thinking all day about a sort of gyspy soup (like from myra's dionysus) and having that cous cous , etc.

it turned out much more like a stew, since i just had a bit of stock and tons of veggies. softened fennel, onions, celery, shallots, jalapeno and garlic first. added a big can of diced tomatoes and a can of garbonzos. carrots, sweet potatoes and some stock. seasoned with lots of hot curry powder, smokey paprika, some cumin, a touch of cinnamon and lots of salt and pepper. simmered that for a long time then right before i was ready to eat, i tossed in a bunch of green beans and fresh spinach.

lemon poppy seed muffins

i always think of lemon poppy seed muffins as being kinda tricky. i think because sometimes you get them and they are soooo good. and sometimes they are so lame. i think this one is pretty nice. i did go extra heavy on the lemon zest to try to make them POP and i drizzled a special lemony glaze over the top. POW.

creamed together 1 1/2 c. sugar with 2 c. soft, unsalted butter and lots of lemon zest! lets say zest from four lemons! then 4 eggs. and the dry stuff- 2 1/2 c. ap flour, 2 teas. baking powder, 1/2 teas. salt and 3 tbsp. poppy seeds.

for the first batch, i followed the damn recipe off epicurious (cause i got the app on my damn phone) and it said to bake at 400. and i was just going through the motions and burned up the whole first batch- 2 dozen muffins! bad start. i ALWAYS bake around 350-375. 400 is for roasting vegetables not baking muffins!

and lemon glaze- fresh lemon juice and powdered sugar. lots of powdered sugar. then drizzle on the top!

berry muffins

i don't know where this muffin kick is coming from..

but! we decided it would be nice to deliver muffins to the nurses at children's tomorrow morning. a thank you for them being their wonderful selves. they would always fake like they weren't allowed to eat any of the food we were always offering them, so it will be interesting to see if tomorrow- they eat all 8 dozen of these muffins that i made for them!

i did mostly morning glory muffins, as i think i've got those down. but i also tried this one:

3/4 c. unsalted butter, melted and cooled. mixed with 2 c. packed light brown sugar, 1 c. whole milk and 2 eggs. to that i added the dry stuff- 3 c. ap flour, 3 teas. baking powder, 2 teas. cinnamon and 1 teas. salt. for the berries, i used a frozen "berry medley"- ran them thru the chopper once and folded them in.

sole

i have been messing around more with fish lately. i like walking to findlay market to get fun stuff. it feels all urban and exciting to walk around the hood to do my food shopping. and those guys at the fish stand have been hooking me up! i haven't had all that much experience with cooking meat and fish- but it is really fun trying my hand and this turned out pretty nice, if i do say so myself.

i was originally looking for some trout for this recipe, but ended up getting boston lemon sole instead- it looked way better and there was plenty for everybody i was cooking for. drizzled a sheet pan with olive oil and laid out the fillets. cranked some salt and pepper, and sprinked spanish paprika. then piled on the good stuff- a slice of pancetta on each fillet, fennel, olives, shallots and capers. i poured about an inch of riesling (2006, 4 legged white from dunham cellars- thank you, jenna) and put the trays in a 400 oven for about ten minutes, maybe less- it was quick!

served the fish on a pile of cous cous with a few steamed brussels for color and health.

in hindsight, i would not have seasoned the fish with any salt whatsoever. there was plenty coming from the olives and the pancetta. not that it took anything away for me, but it was good and salty. also, i wouldn't mind serving this in a shallow bowl with everything floating in more of a white wine, fennel broth. next time!

blueberry vinaigrette

inspired by a blackberry balsamic vinaigrette on a salad at !TAKE THE CAKE! this week, i used some blueberries we had laying around. macerated the berries in balsamic, with a bit of minced shallots, jalapeno, some garlic, and lemon juice. after an hour or two, ran everything thru the processor and slowly drizzled olive oil until the proportions were tasty. salt and pepper too.

the salad: celery for crunching, red grapes for sweetness, walnuts for nuts! and a real good goat cheese- drunken goat from spain to bring it home. pretty, huh?

banana coconut muffins!

i was aiming for another breakfasty muffin, but this one is way more like a cupcake, so i felt obligated to dress them up with a cream cheese icing..

for the cakes:
creamed together 1 1/3 c. sugar and 1 c. melted butter. added 2 eggs, 4 mashed bananas and 1 teas. vanilla. mixed in the dry stuff- 2 1/2 c. ap flour, 2 teas. baking powder, 1/2 teas. salt. i added enough coconut that the batter was spiked with it. about a cup of chopped pecans and a few handfuls of golden raisins.

for the icing:
8 oz. package of cream cheese and 1/4 c. butter at room temp. powdered sugar and vanilla. i use a wonderful vanilla bean paste- it leaves flecks of the bean in the white icing. yum. mixed until smooth and creamy.

smear the icing on the cakes and roll the tops in more coconut. a really nice sweet treat that goes down so nice with morning coffee!

believe it!

this is my friend, bill's food blog. his is far superior to mine, as he is a much more adventurous cook. he also takes better pictures and is a better writer. i hope that you guys will follow his blog too! i do, for inspiration and for appetite stimulation!

http://billievethat.wordpress.com/

comfort food

i'm a little behind on the blogging. this is from just about two weeks ago. a super rich mac and cheese. turns out we were carb loading for the home stretch...

cleaned up a bunch of chard. tore the stems from the leaves and blanched them separately. boiled the pasta in the same salty water.

meanwhile, i softened a bunch of onions and garlic in butter. chopped up the chard stems and did those too. made a roux in the same pan using about the same amount of flour that i had started with in butter, maybe about 1/2 c. once the roux had cooked a bit, i added about 2 c. milk and whisked everything together. at this point, you just wanted to be heating the milk- not letting it boil, so i took things off the heat and let the pan do the warming. added three kinds of cheese- smokey gouda, swiss and some manchego. i let all this melt into a sauce and poured it over the pasta.

in the casserole, i layered the cheesy pasta with the chard leafs. and topped the whole thing off with my new favorite breadcrumbs! (ran stale bread thru the processor and toasted in olive oil and garlic, then tossed with fresh parsley). baked the whole thing for about a half hour and it was soooo good.

sunshine and sad

i am just now today, on thursday, starting to realize what this means for me. i am sure that it will hit harder at different points along the way, but today, after all my friends are gone and things are starting to return to a bit of a daily routine, i am feeling how big it is that i can't call her and tell her all about the past weekend. about how many people came out to love on her and me and our family.

i have a hard time feeling so sad about this. i have a tendency to go down down down when i feel sad, and i am trying to make a conscious effort to stay alive and kicking and not to let myself go there. i guess i will have to heat up my new favorite thing ever! and cook myself happy.

cran/raspberry sorbet

getting back into a little bit of frozen sweet fun.. used some fresh cranberries from the holidays. cooked in sugar, pureed and strained. added an equal amount of raspberry puree, some fresh ginger, zest and juice from one orange, chambord liqueur and orange bols, a few sprigs of rosemary and let it hang tight overnight. before churning, i strained all the stuff and added a bit of simple syrup, then churned.

white beans: 2 of 2

so now i have cassoulet for days! as i did everything the long way, this took about four days to complete, i'll go through the different stages.. but let me start with: its so good and worth every step!

-BEANS! as i mentioned earlier, i soaked dried white beans (the cannellini kind) overnight with water covering. the next day, i stewed the beans in stock with lots of chopped onions, garlic cloves, a bouquet of herbs- parsley and rosemary- that's what i had. and also tossed in some dried thyme, crushed red flakes, a few cloves, quite a bit of salt and pepper. it took about two hours for the beans to be soft and flavorful.

-DUCK CONFIT! the next day i walked my self over to findlay market in hopes of finding somebody selling duck. i'd only ever bought duck at jungle jims and i've been trying to stay closer to home lately... so i was very please when i checked in with my old culinary school bud at luken's poultry fish and seafood stand. he hooked a girl up with the whole bird. i got home with it and butchered it into breasts, legs and wings. roasted the chunks. i guess technically not a confit- as i didn't use supplementary duck fat, but i'll tell you that the bird gave off a huge amount on its own and was quickly cooking away in a very clear, pungent fat. yum. made duck stock of the cavity, bones, carrots, onion, celery, garlic, herbs. reserved the fat. (breakfast today was red potatoes roasted in the duck fat. genius) after cooking and cooling, i chopped the breasts into smaller chunks and added to the beans.

-SAUSAGE! used a nice sausage that turned out to be pretty full of fennel, which i think is a wonderful quality in sausage. cooked them in the oven along side the duck. after cooling, i chopped and added to the beans.

-CASSEROLE! ladled the beans, sausage and duck into a casserole. topped with breadcrumbs- which deserve their own section. so easy and going to be a part of every casserole i ever make from now on:

-BREADCRUMBS!!! warmed duck fat on the stovetop. lightly toasted about 3 cloves of garlic. then i added about 3 c. of breadcrumbs. the loaf of bread i was working with was soooo stale that i was able to just shave off crumbs. added those to the garlic and fat and browned. seasoned with lots of salt, pepper, flakes and fresh chopped parsley.

with everything assembled in the dish, it just took about one hour at 350 to bake this guy to perfection. so rich and hearty and perfect for winter. wonderful side effects- stock and leftovers.

bananer muffins

made a few changes to my old standby- morning glory muffins. i didn't have apples or carrots, but i had some bananas in the freezer. swapped 3 bananers for the 1 apple and 2 c. carrots that i usually shred. seems like perfect substitution!

white beans: 1 of 2

this week i have been working on a great big cassoulet adventure. after the beans were done soaking and boiling in broth with bouquet garni, lots of onions, garlic cloves, etc- i fished some out and put over pasta. thru in some other stuff i had laying around- goat cheese, sundried tomatoes, rosemary, balsamic and lots of pepper flakes.

cheapo

heating water for this hydrated noodle business.. quick steamed the broccoli first, then brought the noodles back to life with the water. lots of sriracha and i think that i felt warm for the first time all week.

curry rice with kale

green peppers, jalapenos, onions, garlic sauteed. kale steamed in salty water. rice blend hydrated. almonds toasted. mixed it all together using the kale water to juice things up. seasoned with lots of curry powder and paprika.

the next night (in an effort to get excited about these leftovers) i made a quesadilla out of this mess. used pepper jack cheese and a tomatillo salsa and a mound of the rice. turned out tasting similar to a dilla from the comet with curry salsa. so not bad at all.

grilled cheese

there are a few things that i boast about being good at. one is rollerskating/blading and the other is making grilled cheese. you are probably better at everything else in the world. i'll let you have that.

having soup and grilled cheese on a cold day is the best. the soup has onions, leeks, garlic, shallots softened in butter, thickened with a bit of flour. add lots of water and potatoes and salt and cook till everything is soft. then i add a touch of cream.

the secret to the grilled cheese is BUTTER!

and i am starting to feel selfconscious about my winter eating habits. so i'm going to stop there.

turkey stock

this picture cracks me up, didn't get a good one from this batch with all the steam. i guess it is a shout out to my neighbor across the hall who reports "phantoms" in our building...

used the carcass from the holiday to make a really great stock. all the bones, carrots, onions, celery and garlic. with some random herbs. simmered on the stove for a few hours and strained. chilled overnight, actually over a few nights- then strained off the layer of fat that hardened over the top. used the stock to make soup. carrots, celery, leeks, potatoes, pine nuts and the really thick tongue coating stock. i used lots of basil, thyme and pepper.

curry

been cooking in december, i promise. i know it doesn't look like it on here- but its true. resulting from this past month's life shake-up, i have become a proud city dweller. i figured if i was going to stay put in these parts, i needed to be in my own space. i hadn't really expected to land in OTR, but have been loving being downtown. and you would think that i would be missing my mom's kitchen, but i have been pleasantly surprised by the workability of my kitchen. open storage, gas stove and a dishwasher! with the centerpiece being the butcher's block table that alaina helped me salvage from findlay market.

a huge part of the equation for having an apartment while not being fully employed has been trying to cook on a budget and to eat all my damn leftovers! i have always cooked for an army and not always been too keen on eating the same thing, day after day. but it is funny how being in my place and knowing if i heat up this curry again, i'll be able to pay my rent!

over jasmine rice (with peas mixed in, heavy on the peas!). onions, garlic, jalapenos sauteed in a hearty bit of butter. while steaming red potatoes, cauliflower, brussels, and carrots. tossed it all together with coconut milk, thai red curry paste, chili sauce, tons of hot curry powder salt and pepper. and more peas!