Flash-cooked hominy with kale and broiled chicken cutlets with cracked pepper. Delicious and easy.
I almost completely stopped cooking this summer, but recently, there have been two near-miraculous developments in my life that are getting me back in my kitchen:
- A Whole Foods opened in my neighborhood (the previous supermarket closed in February)
- I started the Apartment Therapy Fall Cure
One of the assignments for week 2 of the Cure is to cook a meal in your kitchen. So I looked at my farmers market finds–kale, beets, and a lot of cooking pumpkins from a trip to Farmer John’s pumpkin patch–dusted off How to Cook Everything and found some recipes.
For dinner tonight, I made flash-cooked hominy with kale and broiled chicken cutlets with cracked pepper. And, I think I stumbled across a perfect weeknight meal. Not only did the chicken cutlets help me finally use some boneless skinless chicken breasts (ugh! I hate chicken breasts! so bland!) that were in my freezer (using the food you have on hand is part of the Cure), but…they were delicious! Bittman recommends soy sauce as a non-fat basting liquid, and it added so much flavor. Broiling, even in my wonky oven, was super quick.
The hominy and kale took a bit longer–about a half hour total, once I chopped the kale. But it’s so delicious and a great new recipe to add to my “winter green” repertoire. You need some fresh recipe blood, I think, especially with those winter greens that are so exciting and novel right now but will get a little repetitive by spring.
Right now, though, I am loving the fresh apples, winter squash, and greens at the farmers market. Yay for good food!
Recipes: Broiled chicken cutlets with cracked pepper (HTCE p. 381), flash-cooked hominy with kale (HTCE p. 193)
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Tags: dinner, easy dinner, hominy, kale, recipe
Two-timing Bittman
Before I had Bittman, I had Martha. For 10 years, I was a faithful subscriber to Martha Stewart Living, marveling over the simplicity of every Good Thing, coveting every other month’s collectibles (you can’t win them all), and cooking up her dinners in under an hour in under an hour. My favorite things to make–chocolate pots de creme, lemon-thyme chicken paillards, apricot-dijon chicken, and tomato tart. My favorite grilling marinades even came from Martha.
Then MSL hired Michael Boodro as the editor, and the magazine went immediately down the toilet. The Good Things became fussy and overly complex (doilies, really?), the recipes were unappetizing, and the home dec adopted the style of stuffy stereotypical WASP. I canceled my susbscription.
Then Bittman came into my life, filling the void of virtual cooking partner that Martha had left. The simple, step-by-step instructions reminded me of the best of Martha, but with even more of the whys and hows. The theme-and-variations approach helped me improve my general skill level. Once again, I discovered my passion for cooking.
But lately, I’ve been craving the slightly more complex Martha style of cooking. Maybe it’s from reading My Life in France and thinking about how Martha coached me through m first coq au vin. Maybe that dash of richness feels like an affordable treat during the recession-era austerity. Maybe it’s because it’s the closest I’ll get to the lovely summer homes she shows every issue, with the homemade decorations, rough-hewn dining tables, and palpable sense of comfort, family, and home.
The only answer is to make room for both in my life. So, today, cooking for a friend who is recovering from a nasty medical treatment, I am cooking Bittman:
- Hanoi Noodle Soup (or, as I like to call it, Faux Pho)
- Baked Ziti with Radicchio and Gorgonzola
- Peach and Ginger Pie (made as Pie Pops)
But tomorrow, I’m revisiting some Martha summer favorites:
- Tomato Tart
- Lemon-Thyme Chicken Paillards
The best of both worlds.
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Almond-orange granola
Almond-orange granola. Looks nice, doesn't it?
One of the reasons that I fight the feisty, aging hippie crowds at the Berkeley Bowl on a weekly basis is the granola. The number of varieties is stunning. Strawberry hemp, cranberry orange, vanilla macaroon, maple ginger pecan… they’re all good. (And I’ve tried most of them.) But a few weeks ago, a friend came to stay with us and as a thank you, he brought with him a jar of homemade granola that he had carefully wrapped in clothes at the bottom of his suitcase. It was delicious and it made me wonder why I’ve been such a slave to one grocery store’s idea of the best granola combinations. I would design my own.
… or I would at least try one of Bittman’s combinations first and then be more adventurous. I decided on almond-orange. Key ingredients: almond paste, almonds, orange zest, golden raisins, dried cherries.
So my first mishap occurred when I starting charring the oatmeal. I had it in a roasting pan on top of two burners and after just a few moments of inattention, my granola started to turn black. Second mishap: 1/2 cup of almond paste. Third mishap: In an attempt to make my granola full of nice, big clusters of oats, I tried mashing the oats together with almond paste the same way you would say, mix butter together with oatmeal and flour to make the topping for a fruit crisp. I didn’t realize how big a mistake this was until the next morning when I proudly poured myself a bowl of my homemade granola. Almond paste doesn’t melt the way butter does. It stays together like big hunks of sugary wax and sinking my teeth into the super sweet paste at 7:30 in the morning was enough to make me feel ill until lunchtime. Fourth mishap: I made 6 cups of this stuff.
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The fallback dinner
bread, caramelized onions, swiss, prosciutto
Once my schedule settles back into a somewhat reasonable pattern, I promise fewer posts about the speed at which I can get dinner to the table. But until then… you get my fallback dinner. But I’m pretty sure that even if I did have tons of time to cook every night, I’d probably still make this at least once a week (which is what I do now).
It’s Bittman’s frittata. I know, I know, Nicole — you don’t like eggs for dinner. But this is really good. And here’s the bonus: you can use frittatas to use up leftover food. It’s brilliant!
Here’s the basic recipe (HTCE p. 741): Scramble 6 eggs (Bittman says 5-6, but I always use 6 because I tend to load up on the toppings). Pour a couple of glugs of olive oil an oven-proof skillet and heat over medium. Combine toppings (see below) with egg and pour into skillet. Cook about 8-10 minutes undisturbed until bottom sets. Then pop into the oven at 350 degrees for another 8-10 minutes.
I was waiting tables in NY at the fantastic August restaurant when I first learned about the frittata as the perfect vehicle for leftovers. Every Saturday and Sunday August serves a frittata of the day and most mornings it contains something the kitchen has too much of. Usually there would be a starch like stale bread or cooked pasta, a vegetable, sometimes cured meats and a bit of cheese.
Here are some of my favorite combos of late:
- roasted red peppers, chorizo, goat cheese
- tomatoes, cilantro, salsa
- bread, caramelized onions, swiss, prosciutto, sprinkle of dill
- asparagus, goat cheese, dill (because I put dill on everything)
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Grilling with Bittman
Grilled lamb shoulder chops and asparagus
Last year, I moved into a garden apartment with a backyard, and bought a grill just in time for my 4th of July barbecue (in fact, about two hours before it was supposed to start, I bought the last one they had at the hardware store across the street). I fell in love with grilling.
As much as I love How to Cook Everything, Bittman doesn’t go into great detail on his grilling instructions. Occasionally he’ll mention how hot the coals should be, but not always. Fortunately, my other favorite cookbook is The Cook’s Illustrated Guide to Grilling and Barbecuing*, the ultimate geek-out grilling guide. This summer, I resolved to grill every week, and I’ve been using the magic combination of Bittman’s recipes and Cook’s Illustrated’s techniques.
Tonight I grilled up a few of my farmer’s market buys from Saturday: Prather Ranch lamb shoulder chops and asparagus (I forget who the vendor was). I decided to go simple and made the Basic Grilled Lamb Chops and Grilled Asparagus.
The lamb was so easy to prepare: rub with garlic, sprinkle with salt and pepper, grill. I used a two-layer fire, per Cook’s Illustrated, and browned the chops over the medium-high heat for two minutes on each side before moving them to the medium-low heat to cook through. I generally don’t get my coals hot enough, so the chops were browned but not well-browned (also, it was getting dark by then, and my headlamp only throws so much light). I moved them to the medium-low coals and cooked them for about 8 minutes total, aiming for medium but getting medium-rare.
Bittman and Cook's Illustrated: The ideal grilling combo
Still, it was really good. Bittman recommends cooking shoulder chops medium, and I bet they would have been even more flavorful if I had cooked them a bit longer. Lamb is my favorite meat, and these chops were really flavorful and nicely chewy, but not at all tough.
When I moved the chops to the lower heat, I put the asparagus on. I put them on a single skewer so they wouldn’t fall in, but they did spin around a bit. Normally I char asparagus, but I kept to Bittman’s recommended cooking times and they kept a nice crunch. I was tempted to grate some parmesan over them, but I held back. I was glad I did. It was perfect with a little salt and lemon.
The woman at the farmer’s market said that they’ll probably only have about two more weeks of asparagus. I can’t imagine how sad my face looked when she said that.
Recipes: Basic Grilled Lamb Chops, HTCE p. 478; Grilled Asparagus , HTCE p. 538
*Oh my lord, it’s on sale. Buy it. Seriously. If you grill, you won’t regret it.
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I once dated someone who thought fruit only belonged in desserts or in fruit salad, never in savory dishes. This recipe proves just how misguided he was.
Sweet, salty, and delicious.
The first time I made it was for some friends who don’t eat red meat, so I used turkey sausage. This time, making it for myself, I used Italian sausage. It’s delicious either way, but it is so much better with the real thing. I may have used kale instead of broccoli raab (it was more than a month ago that I made it).
To use it over pasta, Bittman recommends skipping the grapes and adding more liquid, but I left the grapes in and was glad I did. Delicious. I love this recipe. It’s a great, unexpected side dish for pasta meals.
Recipe: Brocoli Raab with Sausage and Grapes (HTCE p. 545).
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Stir-Fried Bok Choy with Tofu
I eat a lot of meat and a lot of carbs. I realized that after I made the beef-and-basil stir-fry. I like the simplicity of Bittman’s meat stir-fries, but they don’t have many vegetables in them. Since I like stir-fries because they’re usually one dish (plus rice) meals, it makes it harder to get a well-balanced dinner.
Somewhat inspired by my friend’s decision to go veggie for six months (someone bet him he couldn’t do it), I tried to go vegetarian for April. I didn’t make it, but it did inspire me to seek out more vegetable recipes.
The stock burns off the stir-fry as it cooks, slightly braising the tofu.
This was a Bittman/inspired by Bittman meal. I followed his Stir-Fried Cabbage recipe, but added tofu, a la Spicy Tofu with Ground Pork (HTCE p. 526), which is one of my absolute favorite Bittman recipes. I never quite manage to get restaurant-tasty tofu when I make it, but it was close enough and the bok choy with ginger was delicious.
Recipe: Stir-Fried Cabbage (HTCE p. 550)
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Tags: bok choy, stir-fry, tofu
Stir-Fried Spicy Beef with Basil
I haven’t had much time to cook lately. In fact, I’ve basically been watching food go bad in my fridge and agonizing over spending too much money eating out (taco trucks and Bar Tartine are the recent favorites). A few weeks ago I had time to cook AND take photos, but not enough time to blog. So here are some Cooking Everything Bittman photo essays without the essays.
Let the basil and beef sit for about an hour so the basil permeates the meat. Mmm.
This was far more delicious than it looks in this photo.
Recipe: Stir-Fried Spicy Beef with Basil, HTCE p. 440.
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Eggplant feta sandwiches
The other day I came upon quite possibly the most useful Minimalist column ever. It’s from July 2007: Summer Express: 101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less. 101 meals?! Granted, a few these I will probably never try, like the fried calf livers, but the vast majority of these ideas are inventive and tasty sounding. They also kind of make you wonder, “why didn’t I think of that?”
Tonight I tried #20:
Cut an eggplant into half-inch slices. Broil with lots of olive oil, turning once, until tender and browned. Top with crumbled goat or feta cheese and broil another 20 seconds.
Eggplant and feta sandwich
To make this a full meal, I turned them into basically healthier (and fresher tasting) eggplant parm sandwiches. Drizzle a french roll with olive oil, top with a sprinkling of minced garlic and broil until golden. Then lay your feta-topped eggplant slices on the bread and top with marinara sauce, fresh basil and thinly sliced red onion. I’m pretty sure this is my new favorite sandwich.
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Egg-Lemon Soup
Egg-Lemon Soup
There’s a Mediterranean restaurant near me that serves the same soup du jour nearly every day — lemon chicken. While I like nearly everything at this place, that soup always seems to have so much promise, yet it never quite lives up to how great it smells. Anyway, as I was looking in HTCE for a way to use up the chicken and stock I made, I found a similar-sounding recipe for Egg-Lemon Soup, which Bittman calls a “Greek standard.”
With the stock already made, this soup was really quick to pull together. Just simmer some carrot, celery and rice in the stock and add the chicken. But what makes the dish really stand out is the fresh lemon juice that you whir together in a blender with an egg and some hot stock and then add back into the soup. The result is a soup with some body to it but still light and incredibly bright in flavor. Plus, it’s dinner for two nights.
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