Meagan Turns 26, Shows off New Rack

The choices of ways to celebrate my slow march towards death were vast and alluring: an elephant parade down Jefferson Street, a private concert to be held at my apartment, featuring Jenny Lewis, Sufjan Stevens and others, a guest appearance on the Daily Show, a sophisticated fireworks display on Lake Ponchatrain, sponsored by The Society for Awesome People Recently Relocated to the South (SAPRRS).

But after considering the negative aspects of these possibilties--the tedious nature of air travel to New York, the amount of elephant poop someone would have to clean up, the noise complaints the concert would cause, the banality of fireworks, Erin and I decided on an Indian food extravaganza showcasing my spice rack, which, along with my cooking, has improved vastly since my move to Lafayette. Cardamon, cloves, curry powder, tumeric, cumin, garam masala, madras curry, whole nutmeg. Come on, folks. How can you deny the awesomness of a rack like that? Don't ya just want to just reach out and...

Okay, I don't really keep my spices in a rack persay. It's more a cabinet. But i've had just enough red wine such that rack jokes are funny.

Our plan seemed especially apropo considering there is no decent Indian food to be found within 40 miles of my city. Thus, over the course of several hours, Erin and I created what one 2nd year graduate student described as the best food he's ever had in Lafayette. Now the recipes behind the well-spiced magic:

We began with Sara Moulton's beautiful and very simple samosas (http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_27198,00.html). Don't be intimidated by the geometry of folding the dough. You're just making lots of small cones, filling them, and closing them up. It's quite relaxing, actually. Just make sure to squeeze the edges closed tightly, wetting your fingertips in a cup of water for each one.

Then there was this recipe for Sweet Potato Breadfrom my newly purchased Sunday's at Moosewood Restaurant Cookbook (1990 edition):

3/4 cup cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
1 tbs. oil or melted ghee
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup hole wheat flour
1-1.5 cups unbleached white flour
oil for deep frying pooris, or oil or melted ghee for cooking parathas

Combine sweet potatoes, oil, salt and cinnamon nd mix well. Stir in the whole wheat flour and enough white flour to form a workable dough. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for 5-1- minutes, adding at least one cup of the white flour as you go. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for at least 30 min.

Erin made the dough into 12 pooris, which are basically dense, sweet little balls of dough fried in 2 inches of vegetable oil until "puffed and golden", about 15-20 seconds. Press the pooris down as they rise to the surface of the oil.

Next time I might try turning the dough into parathas, which seem ideal for scooping up extra curry when you run out of rice. To make parathas: "cut the dough into quarters...cut each quarter in half...roll in your hadns to form eight balls. On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball into a 6-inch circle. Brush teh top of each circle with oil or melted ghee and fold in half. Sprinkle lightly with flour and roll out to form a six in triangle. Repeat with the remaining balls.


...Heat a heavy fryin gpan or griddle on medium for 2 or 3 minutes. PLace a paratha in thep an and cook for about 2 minutes or until brown flecks appear on the bottom of the bread. Brush the top with oil or ghee, and turn over. Cook for approximately one minute more and then remove it from the pan. Parathas may be kept warm in teh oven until all of them are cooked."

Next came two beautiful vegetarian dishes; Dal (ie; anything legume based in Indian cooking) with Tomato and Spinach, and an http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_35405,00.html?rsrc=search, both also from Linda Dickinson's India section of the Moosewood Cookbook. Both dishes were prepared essentially prepared by the lovely Erin, so while I can't comment much on process, I can say both were delicious and pass on the recipes to you:

Dal:

1 1/2 cups red or brown lentils, yellow or green split peas or split, hulled mung beans
4 cups water
2 dried chilis (we used red pepper flakes instead)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt
--
2 tbs. ghee or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 cup chopped onion
1 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger (make sure to use fresh...this really brought the dish together)
1 tbs. lemon juice
1/2-1 tsp. garam masala
salt to taste
4 cups spinach
1 cup chopped tomatos

Wash the lentils, peas or beans in severla changes of codl water. In a medium pot, cover them with te water and add te whole dried chiles, turmeric, and salt,. Bring to a boil, reduce th eheat and simmer, stirring often, until very tender This will take about 30 minutes for red lentils, 45 minutes for peas, or an hour or more for mung beans. It may be necessary to add more water to prevent sticking, but only 1/2 cup at a time, because the final consistency should be fairly thick. Use a heat diffuser if necessary.

When lentils are almost cooked, heat th eghee or oil in a small pan, add the cumin seeds, and cook for 10 to 15 seconds. Stir in the onions and ginger adn cook utnil the onions begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatos and spinach and cook for 5 minutes more.

When the lentils are tender, remove and discard teh hot peppers. Stir in the onion mixture, lemon juice, garam masala and salt to taste. Serve, passing additioanl garam masala to sprinkle on top, if desired.

The recipe for Eggplant, Spinach, and Tomato Curry has already been posted here:

http://www.recipeland.com/recipe/8439/

Finally, I made Nigella Lawson's Mughlai Chicken. The complex layering of flavors here made this dish transcendent. The color was beautiful. It smelled amazing. And it was just as decadent with half-n-half instead of heavy cream.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_35405,00.html?rsrc=search

At said birthday party a friend gave me Madhu Gadia's New Indian Home Cooking. Look for future posts on the lovely recipes to be found there, including Sweet and Sour Winter Squash. And remember, getting older should be about cooking better. Forget calls for increased maturity, self-knowledge, and success. Instead, ala Michael Jackson, take a look at your spice rack and make that change. Then, if you actually do accomplish something, you can celebrate it in an appropriatly tasty manner. Because really that's what's important.

Christine's 2006 Countown, Part 2

First, a sincere apology about some recipes in my last post. Black Bean soup definitely has at least 2 cups of broth in it, or else it wouldn't be soup. And Hoppin' John--well. Black-eyed peas, when dry, don't have to be soaked overnight at all--I cooked them without a presoak on New Year's Day (for prosperity, baby!) with no problem at all. And there's a dash of basil in there, and I don't usually use cayenne, so I have no idea why I put that in the list. Also, when I make these on the stove from canned peas, I add no more than a cup of broth, unless I'll be cooking rice with it. Maybe Erin's really is better, or at least more structurally integrated.

Secondly, sorry there aren't any recipes in this post yet. I'm in the middle of revising a 15 page paper on poems about trauma. It's all a mess. Posting recipes in a few days will be a joy. So trauma-free, recipes.

And on to the final five--

5. Nana's (and Paula Deen's) Gooey Butter Cake

I literally have been looking for this recipe for the last decade. Oh Paula, a void in my taste memory is complete. With most of a pound of butter.

4. Kugel with Shredded Apples to Make All Jewish Men Cry for Their Mothers

This kugel won the knock-down Kugel Cook-Off of 2005. Take that, Koritz!

3. Pear Cake with Riesling and Olive Oil, so good I can't even explain it. I will say that more than one beautiful person has requested I make this cake this year. As in, it's so memorable that you will crave it and shrug off how much olive oil you're using. In a cake.

2. Cilantro Ravioli with Pumpkin Filling, and a side of roasted fennel with parmesan is an absolute must--the only time it's been worth it to make my own pasta so far.

1. Corn and Cheese Beggar's Purses. Just wait for the recipe, then you can make them, eat them, and die a delicious death. It's phyllo! And muffin tins! And oh man I'm getting hungry already.

There are so many others that almost made this list:
Tassajara whole wheat bread;
Giada's tuna and artichoke salad with olive tapenade;
snickersnap cookies;
carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and candied carrot peel decoration;
Cooking Light's Roasted Shallot and Butternut Squash Baked Penne;
brownies from a box from Aldi ... that save my life ...
my aunt's signature chicken salad ...
Easy Breezy Apple Cake ...
red wine ice cream ...
lavash crackers and hummus and pan-fried zucchini;
my favorite lasange, and on and on and on. It's been a year of good food. Let 2007 be the same.

Erin's Top Ten Cooking Countdown of 2006 (2/2)

So it's New Years Day, and I'm sitting in my cozy little Mississippi apartment thinking of resolutions for the new year. More complicated baking? Check. Even fewer animal products from the year before? Check. Learn to make pear butter? Check. But in 2006, I got a few things right as well. So let the final half (and I know you've been aching to know!) of my 2006 Best Of list commence!

5.) Pumpkin Ginger Bread

Thanks to Meagan and Martha Stewart for this one. It's easy, portable, and enjoyed by all who have good taste. If you have fresh pumpkin, all the better!

Ingredients:

12 tbsp (1.5 sticks butter), unsalted, melted, plus room-temperature butter for pan.
2.5 cups all purpose flour (spooned and leveled) plus more for pan
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree (1 and 3/4 cups)
3 large eggs
sugar glaze (see below)


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter and flour two 8.5 by 4.5 inch loaf pans. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, ginger, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugars, pumpkin, melted butter, and eggs; add flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted into center of loaves comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes. Invert pans and transfer loaves to a wire rack to cool completely. Glaze if desired.

For the sugar glaze, in a small bowl, mix 1.5 cups confectioners'' sugar with 2 to 3 tablespoons water until mixture is smooth but thick. Place waxed paper under rack for a quick cleanup. For easy pouring, transfer glaze to a liquid-measuring cup and drizzle over loaves. Let dry 15 minutes before serving. Makes enough for two loaves.



4.) Butternut Squash Soup

This is a simple, elegant, and surprisingly heavy soup. I like to garnish it to make it look pretty (cilantro and pumpkin seeds work better than cheese) and serve it with a light salad. (Christy salad perhaps?) Maybe some bread? And half & half works just as well as cream, in fact, perhaps better simply because the soup is so heavy to begin with.

3.) Hungarian Lentil Stoup

Technically I first made this dish last year and while I have pleasant memories of an unhappy time that are directly attached to the ingredient shopping, garlic chopping, and soup consuming, I try to divorce it from that as much as possible. In fact, when Meagan and I made this again last month pretty much everything in my otherwise depressed world was excellent. Sure you could change some of the ingredients around, but why? It's pretty much perfect as is. And if it's cold where you are (which means anywhere in the United States, with perhaps the exception of South Florida), make this. And pretend it's not a RR recipe. Because her ubiquitousness is pissing me off. And I'm continuing the hate and the boycott.

2.) Salmon with Avocado

This is classy enough for company. Easy enough for a night alone. And requires nothing else to make it a meal except perhaps some coconut rice with some chopped cilantro. Buy Aldi salmon and it's even cheaper. Or if you're in the Hattiesburg area, check out Save-Rite's ridiculously underpriced salmon (color added . . . ew) and you're golden.


1.) Shrimp & Grits

Served now for two birthdays. Made five times this year alone. Being Southern and somewhat amused by my own heritage has made this my signature dish. It's spicy and warm and creamy and has pretty much everything you need right in a heap of delicious. Serve with some collard greens, and you make Paula Dean herself look like a Yank.



So that's it, folks. Erin's top ten dishes of 2006. Tune in soon for a holiday cooking update (brussell sprouts are indeed excellent, Allison) with stories of cauliflower and scallop soup, wasabi sweet potatoes, and cookies aplenty. Happy 2007, all. And remember, you get three opportunities a day to eat. Don't fuck them up.