blue artichoke

My drive back home to the Midwest yesterday was much less eventful than my drive to east TN. The only noteworthy event was my bypassing a ghost story. Soon after I got on the road, between Knoxville and Nashville, in a craggy, rocky, wooded section of the interstate, I spotted a little boy with brown hair dressed in shorts and a white t-shirt, sitting cross-legged on a rock set back a bit in an opening in the trees. He was looking down as if he had a book in his lap. There were no cars pulled off on the side of the road, or any sign of anyone else with him. Just a boy on a rock by the road. I thought about pulling over to see what was up, if he needed help, but then I decided that the boy was probably the ghost of a boy who died 20 years ago but still haunts the rock or watches over traffic. I didn't stop. GC has a better explanation, one that doesn't disrupt an entire lifetime built on reason; he supposes the boy lives in a house nearby, shielded from view by the trees, and sits on the rock when he's bored. That sounds more likely.

As I drove, I set small goals for myself. If I can get to Paducah by 2:00, I can stop there for lunch. If I reach Mt. Vernon in the next half hour, I'll stop for gas and a snack. I didn't get my snack and almost ran out of gas on a long stretch of desolate highway, but was able to fill up at an overpriced gas station in the middle of nowhere. No snack. A good road snack has to be something bite-sized that isn't covered in salt or powdered flavoring and won't melt. Ideally, it won't create a lot of crumbs or stain your shirt or pants if you occasionally miss your mouth. On the road trip to Atlanta, I discovered that Honey-Sesame Almonds and Chocolate Cat Cookies for People (both from Trader Joe's) are great road foods. A chocolate protein bar, however, is not. It's rather difficult to lick melted chocolate and marshmallow from a wrapper at 70 mph. Chips aren't great either, especially the cheesy ones like Doritos, because you end up with salty chip dust stuck to your fingers. Chex Mix also isn't great, because the little pieces break and are difficult to get out of the bag without tipping your head back (and taking your eyes off the road) and pouring the broken remains into your mouth. My usual road trip treat is Combos; they don't melt, stick to your fingers, require a napkin or get pulverized into bits.

Getting to Know All About You: What's your favorite road trip snack?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

My trip to my mom's hasn't been all girls-weekend in Atlanta and combing syrup out of Willie Nelson's braids. I've been working too. We've moved furniture, primed and painted my mom's office and primed and painted new baseboards. Still left to do is the measuring, cutting and installing of the baseboards, returning the furniture and hooking up the various computer parts.

I've also set up a little jewelry-making sweatshop, churning out necklaces for an upcoming craft show; collected donations of craft materials for a charity tag sale; and helped Blue Grilled Cheese purge her downstairs living room of an inappropriate number of Easter bunnies.

This morning I took a short drive through the mountains, enjoying the beautiful views and winding roads. Soon I will return to the land of only so-so views and few hills. This afternoon I plan to do some serious baking in the plush comfort of central air-conditioning. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

BA: Is that my pie?
BGC: No, it’s a bush.

Blue Grilled Cheese, Purple Pasta and I have returned from our weekend in Atlanta, and have discovered how old-ladyish we have become since high school. Or maybe just since we all turned 30. I won’t tell you how many conversations turned to topics such as bunions or ironing, but I will tell you that we spotted our 80-year-old future selves, clutching purses and smuggling snacks into the Atlanta aquarium. I love aquariums, including the Atlanta aquarium, but I think the Chattanooga aquarium is better. I’ve been to one super awesome aquarium with my friend Bubba, but I can’t remember where it was. Baltimore?

We took a slight detour on our way out of town to stop by Your Dekalb County Farmer’s Market, which is sort of a misnomer because the produce comes from all over the place (shockingly, the peaches were from New Jersey!). I like the big tubs of dried beans and exotic grains; look forward to reviews of purple polenta.

The trip wasn’t all swollen ankles and wicker (“Oh, baskets!”). I managed to work in a few things to add to my 30 New Things list. All related to clothing, though, so they’ll be counted as just one new thing. I wore shorts, a tank top and a thong on purpose, all day and in public. I haven’t worn shorts socially since high school; the only tank top I can remember wearing in a nonathletic setting was one I borrowed from Blue Grilled Cheese during middle school spring break in Panama City. We played putt-putt, and I have the pictures to prove it. I’m just not the type to reveal my limbs; I prefer the mystery of sleeves. And the thong? I think I bought it during college but never got drunk enough to actually wear it; I found it a few weeks ago in a bag full of pantyhose. I decided to take all three garments to Atlanta, and that’s all I packed (besides pjs and a bathing suit). No opportunity to chicken out. Surprisingly, none made me feel uncomfortable or self-conscious; I guess it was just hot enough for me to appreciate the extra ventilation. I’m not saying that I’m going to cut the sleeves off of all my t-shirts now, but I may occasionally venture forth from the house dressed a bit skimpier than usual.

Getting to Know All About You: Aquarium or zoo?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

It was the best of drives; it was the worst of drives. Mostly the worst of drives.

My trip to my mom’s yesterday was fraught with setbacks. The first came about a half-hour down the road when I looked down and realized I didn’t have my purse –no wallet, no money, no license, whoops! I turned around and headed home to fetch my purse. Trip to my mom’s, round two, began an hour and 15 minutes later. About 45 minutes down the road this time, I was pulled over for doing 77 in a 55 (luckily, I had my wallet then!). The cop wrote it down as 70 and gave me a warning; thank goodness I’m totally cute and charming.

I stopped in St. Louis to pick up a case of wine and snacks; in Trader Joe’s a little girl followed me around, asking for a red & white balloon. The cashier told her I wasn’t an employee, and she ran off. I remained puzzled for the rest of the day.

Soon after I left St. Louis, the sky turned dark and the air dusty. Trees blew all over the place. I called GC to ask him to check the weather radar, thinking I might be driving right into a tornado or big storm. He confirmed a storm to the north/east of me, but thought I’d miss it when I turned south at Mt. Vernon, IL. Satisfied that I would miss the brunt of the storm, I settled back to enjoy it. The sky was eerie and beautiful, the air full of debris and cars alternately reckless and over-cautious. Suddenly, my rearview mirror started shaking and shimmying, focusing now on the backseat, now the sky. I tried to tighten it, but couldn’t get a good look at it, so left it alone and looked for an exit. Before I found an exit, the whole thing just fell off, dangling by a wire. Oh, crap. The sky was still dark, traffic erratic, and I was trying to drive while holding up my rearview mirror. No wonder in the midst of all this, I missed the split for I-64. I continued on I-70, oblivious to my mistake, until traffic thinned and I had an opportunity to pull onto the shoulder and fix my rearview mirror. That done, I kept driving until I realized that instead of signs for Mt. Vernon, I was seeing signs for Indianapolis. Oh, crap. I pulled out my atlas and found the closest connection to I-64 (Effingham), and continued driving straight into the storm that I would have bypassed had I not missed my exit earlier. There was a wonderful lightning show, close, in the distance, and on both sides of the Interstate. And then the sky opened up and rain poured. Traffic crawled. Once I reached Mt. Vernon (now 6 hours after I first started on this trip, usually a 3-hour drive!), the rain stopped, the sky cleared and the temperature, which had plummeted to 68° in the midst of the storm, rose to 101°. I got back on the correct road and it was fairly smooth sailing from that point on. I did, however, see a wreck when the car in front of me plowed into the back of the car in front of it on an exit ramp.

I also had a tense half hour when a motorcyclist – who didn’t wear a helmet or sunglasses (I have no idea how he kept his eyes open at 70 mph) and drove one-handed – kept pace with me. Motorcyclists make me very nervous. I always imagine them tripping on some road debris and falling right under my tires. Gruesome. No matter how fast I drove or how much I slowed down, this guy kept pace right alongside me, driving on the edge of his lane, close to my car. I was white knuckled until he finally exited. Whew! I rolled into my mom’s driveway exactly 12 hours after my first false start from home, road-weary and exhausted, but safe and intact.

Tonight’s adventure will take me to Atlanta, with Blue Grilled Cheese and Purple Pasta. We’re celebrating my 30-½ birthday. Details on Sunday.

Getting to Know All About You: Tell me one of your road trip stories.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 05:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm not really a morning person, but once I wake up, that's it, no going back to sleep for me. Such was the case yesterday; I can get a lot accomplished when I wake up early. I can make desserts. Still on the pie kick, I turned a crate of quickly ripening giant peaches into an awesome peach pie, with a double crust. The pie was particularly exciting, as it was my first double crust pie. It was much easier than I expected, and looked amazing. I took a picture of the little beauty cooling on the windowsill, but I was salivating too much to hold the camera steady. Just picture the cheeriest golden-brown topped pie you can imagine; that's what it looked like.

Summer Peach Pie with Vanilla and Cardamom

No need to peel the peaches – the peel provides great color, texture and flavor. Just gently rub off the peach fuzz with a kitchen towel.

2/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons sugar
½ vanilla bean, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon (scant) ground cardamom
3-¾ pounds firm but ripe unpeeled peaches, halved, pitted, each half cut into 4 slices (about 10 cups)
2 Best-Ever Pie Crust dough disks*
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Whipping cream (for glaze)
Vanilla ice cream

Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 400°F. Combine 2/3 cup sugar and vanilla bean in processor; blend until vanilla bean is very finely minced. Sift vanilla sugar through strainer into large bowl; discard any large bits in strainer. Mix flour and cardamom into vanilla sugar. Add peaches to flour-sugar mixture and toss gently to coat.

Roll out 1 pie crust disk on floured surface to 12-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Trim dough overhang to 1/2 inch. Spoon peach mixture into crust; dot with butter. Roll out second pie crust disk on lightly floured surface to 12-inch round. Drape dough over peach filling; trim overhang to 1 1/2 inches. Fold top and bottom edges under, pressing together to seal. Crimp edges decoratively. Using small sharp knife, cut 2-inch-long X in center of top crust to allow steam to escape. Brush crust lightly with whipping cream; sprinkle with remaining 2 teaspoons sugar.

Place pie on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until crust is golden, peaches are tender, and juices bubble thickly through cut in top crust, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Transfer pie to rack and cool until lukewarm, about 2 hours.

Serve pie lukewarm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream.

Serves 8.

Best-Ever Pie Crust
2 ½ cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
½ cup chilled lard or frozen nonhydrogenated solid vegetable shortening, cut into ½” cubes
5 tablespoons (or more) ice water

Blend flour, sugar, and salt in processor. Add butter and lard; using on/off turns, blend until mixture resembles coarse meal. Transfer mixture to medium bowl. Add 5 tablespoons ice water and mix with fork until dough begins to clump together, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dry. Gather dough together. Divide dough in half; flatten each half into disk. Wrap each disk in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour. DO AHEAD Can be made 3 days ahead. Keep refrigerated. If necessary, soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.

Makes 2 pie crusts (enough dough for 1 double-crust pie, 1 lattice-topped pie, or 2 single-crust pies).

Bon Appétit, July 2007

To go along with this awesome pie, I made homemade vanilla ice cream (round 2). This batch was much better than the first in the flavor department. It used only 3 egg yolks and a real vanilla bean, so it tasted more like traditional vanilla ice cream and less like the vanilla-flavored egg custard I made the first time around. The texture, though, was decidedly subpar, more like iced milk than ice cream. It had none of the smooth creaminess of the first batch, probably because it used 5 fewer egg yolks. I'll try adding another egg yolk or two in the future; perhaps I'll be able to find the delicate balance between the vanilla flavor of the second batch and the creaminess of the first batch.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Substitute two teaspoons pure vanilla extract if you don't have a vanilla bean. The most reasonably-priced vanilla beans I've found are at World Market.

3 1/3 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
1 cup half-and-half
1 (6-inch) vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 cup sugar
3 large egg yolks

Combine milk and half-and-half in a medium, heavy saucepan. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean; add seeds and bean to pan. Bring milk mixture to a boil. Remove from heat. Remove bean; discard.

Combine sugar and egg yolks; beat with mixer at high speed until thick and pale. Gradually add half of hot milk mixture to sugar mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Return milk mixture to pan. Cook over medium-low heat 2 minutes or until thermometer registers 160°; stir constantly.

Place pan in an ice-filled bowl. Cool, stirring occasionally. Pour mixture into the freezer can of an ice-cream freezer; freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. Spoon ice cream into a freezer-safe container; cover and freeze 1 hour or until firm.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 3/4 cup)

CALORIES 213(30% from fat); FAT 7.1g (sat 4g,mono 2.3g,poly 0.5g); PROTEIN 5.9g; CHOLESTEROL 96mg; CALCIUM 186mg; SODIUM 76mg; FIBER 0.0g; IRON 0.3mg; CARBOHYDRATE 32.1g
Cooking Light, JULY 2006

As if those desserts weren't enough, we had quite a tasty dinner that was healthy enough to justify such indulgent treats. This is a great summertime recipe because it is light and quick to prepare; also, it is one of the best assembled-from-packaged-foods meals that I've had in a while.

Greek Pasta With Tomatoes and White Beans

You can vary the recipe by using chickpeas instead of cannellini beans and grated Romano cheese in place of feta. I used the called-for cannellini beans and a whole package of feta, which I think is 4 oz. I also used spinach penne, and plenty of salt and pepper.

2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano
1 (19-ounce) can cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained
1 (10-ounce) bag fresh spinach, chopped (about 8 cups)
4 cups hot cooked penne (about 1/2-pound uncooked tubular-shaped pasta)
½ cup (2 ounces) finely crumbled feta cheese

Combine tomatoes and beans in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes. Add spinach; cook 2 minutes or until spinach wilts, stirring occasionally. Place 1 cup pasta on each of four plates; top each serving with 1-¼ cups sauce and 2 tablespoons cheese.

Yield: 4 servings

CALORIES 474 (12% from fat); FAT 6.4g (sat 2.5g,mono 1.3g,poly 1.6g); PROTEIN 22.5g; CHOLESTEROL 13mg; CALCIUM 343mg; SODIUM 1553mg; FIBER 10.6g; IRON 8.3mg; CARBOHYDRATE 84.7g

Cooking Light, JANUARY 1998

Getting to Know All About You: Have you ever been mugged?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 05:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Favored in the Middle East, particularly in Turkey; Imam Bayildi translates literally to “the priest fainted.” There are several interpretations to the name. Some say that the Imam fainted from sheer gastronomical delight when presented with this dish. Others maintain he loved the dish so that he fainted when he was refused the dish. Another line is that he fell flat on the floor when he realized how much olive oil was used in the dish and how much it cost. The Greeks have eaten this dish for hundreds of years, using the Turkish name. Why? Because the Greeks maintained that the Imam tasted the dish in Greece, and fainted there!

GC and I ate this dish without fainting, although the bits of torn-up bay leaves did pose a choking hazard. I'd recommend leaving the bay leaves whole and removing before serving. This dish is OK. I like it because it looks nice, uses lots of healthy summer vegetables and is pretty much left alone to cook, once assembled. I omitted the currants because I couldn't easily find any.

Imam Bayildi (Eggplant Turkish Style)

4 med ripe tomatoes
3 med eggplants, ~1# each
2 T. salt for draining
2 T. olive oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed
3 med yellow onions, peeled and sliced
¼ c. chopped parsley
¼ c. dried currants, optional, but delicious
S/p, to taste
½ c. olive oil
½ t. whole thyme
2 bay leaves, crumbled
1 t. sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

Dice tomatoes; drain in colander for 1 hour. Discard the juice.

Choose long and narrow eggplants, if possible. Cut off the stems and cut the plant in half, the long way. Using a vegetable peeler, remove 3 long pieces of the peel, each ~1” wide, the long way. Move the peeler back and forth. This will help moisture flow out of the eggplant. Using a large metal spoon, scoop out a bit of the eggplant, leaving a boat with thick sides and bottom. Coarsely chop the scrapings and reserve.

Sprinkle the salt equally on each boat and set on a rack to drain, skin side up, for 45 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the filling.

Heat a large frying pan and add the 2 T. olive oil and garlic. Sauté for a moment and add the onions and chopped pulp from the eggplant. Sauté until onions are transparent, but not discolored. Remove from heat. Place the onions, garlic, eggplant scrapings, tomatoes, parsley and currants in a bowl. Mix gently. Add s/p to taste.

Wipe out the eggplant boats with paper towels. Fill each with an equal amount of the filling and place in an ovenproof casserole just big enough to take them comfortably. [I used a heavy 12" skillet with a lid.] Mix the ½ c. olive oil with ½ c. water, thyme, bay leaves, sugar and lemon juice. Pour 2 T. of this mixture on the top of each boat and pour rest in bottom of pan. Bring to a simmer, cover and simmer until eggplants are quite soft, ~1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool with the lid on. Serve cold or at room temp.

Great as a veggie meal or as an appetizer.

Serves 6 as a meal, more as an app.
The Frugal Gourmet Cooks with Wine, Jeff Smith, 1984

We had a wonderful windstorm last night, with gusts as fast as 60 mph in some places (not here). It blew down my neighbor's tree and knocked down lots of tree limbs and branches. I rushed outside to see what was going on and saw my potted plants flying across the porch. I hurried to bring them in (only 2 broke!), and to tell GC that it was really scary outside, come see! Our across-the-street neighbors were watching from their porch; we all convened in the street to watch the lightening and listen to the cracking of tree branches. One branch hit my neighbor in the face, cutting him in an almost Harry Potter lightening-bolt on the forehead. We were all jealous of his injury. The wind eventually died down and we went inside, to snuggle in our warm bed in our cool bedroom, safe from flying tree limbs.

Getting to Know All About You: Do you have any neat scars?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today is the hottest day of the heat wave so far; no muffins. GC and I went out to a decent brunch buffet instead. Now I'm hot, fat, happy and a little bit sweaty.

The last corn recipe of corn week comes from Argentina, and is surprisingly awesome. I thought it looked quite like mush as I was making it; it's definitely not haute cuisine.

Humitas (Pureed Corn with Scallions, Green Pepper and Cheese)

I omitted the green pepper, because I didn't have one, but I added more flavor by using chipotle butter to saute the scallions and fry the corn mixture. It was a really nice blend of spicy-hot and sweet. I think it would be fairly easy to fancy-up the presentation by reducing the milk in the corn puree and making sort of a fried pancake shape.

4 c. fresh corn kernels, cut from ~8 large ears of corn, or 4 c. frozen corn, defrosted
1/3 c. milk
2 eggs
2 t. paprika
½ t. salt
Freshly ground black pepper
¼ c. butter
½ c. coarsely chopped scallions
¼ c. coarsely chopped green pepper
1/3 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Combine corn and milk in the jar of a blender and blend at high for 30 seconds. Add eggs, paprika, salt and pepper; blend 15 seconds, or until thick and smooth.

In a heavy 10” skillet, melt butter over moderate heat. When the foam subsides, add the scallions and green pepper; cook, stirring, for 4-5 minutes, or until veggies are soft but not brown. Pour in the corn mixture, reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring frequently for 5-7 minutes, or until mixture thickens somewhat. Stir in grated cheese and, as soon as it melts, remove the skillet from the heat. Serve as an accompaniment to meat dishes.

Serves 4-6.

Foods of the World: Latin American Cooking, Time-Life Books, 1968

GC and I escaped the heat for a little while yesterday by going to the movies. We saw The Simpsons Movie. Pretty darn funny.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The weather turned to a cool 97 yesterday; despite the heat warnings, I headed out for a morning walk to the post office and an evening walk around the neighborhood, racking up steps on my pedometer. I tried to stay in the air-conditioning during the heat of the day. Again, it was too hot to cook, so we had leftover pork tacos for dinner and this awesome no-cook corn salad, despite GC's speculation that eating raw corn might mess you up. (It doesn't, by the way).

Fresh Corn Salad

Fresh sweet summer corn requires no cooking, which makes this a particularly appealing warm-weather side dish for grilled fish, poultry, or meat. Just add crumbled feta cheese, grilled shrimp, or chicken to make it an entrée.

3/4 cup light sour cream
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
3 cups fresh corn kernels (about 5 ears)
1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 cup finely chopped green onions

Combine first 3 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add corn and remaining ingredients, stirring to combine. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: about 1/2 cup)

CALORIES 112 (21% from fat); FAT 2.6g (sat 1.3g,mono 0.3g,poly 0.5g); PROTEIN 4g; CHOLESTEROL 8mg; CALCIUM 13mg; SODIUM 94mg; FIBER 3.1g; IRON 0.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 22.2g

Cooking Light, AUGUST 2007

I also made another batch of ice cream - strawberry cheesecake. This was by far the easiest ice cream to make; cream cheese takes the place of the custard, and thus requires no cooking. Just mixing: cream cheese, strawberry puree, lemon juice, vanilla and half-and-half. Unfortunately, it was also my least favorite ice cream to date. It was definitely cheesecakey, but had a sour undertaste. Good enough to eat on a hot summer's night, but not good enough to make again, or share with you. You deserve better.

Getting to Know All About You: What's the best movie you've seen this summer?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I know we're fully a week into August, and we're feeling the heat here at Blue Artichoke headquarters. I've complained about the heat before, and I'm still complaining. It's about 100 outside, 90 in my office and 85 in the living room (with a window A/C unit). Sheesh. I curse August weather, but I embrace August produce. Here's a list I copied of what is in season this month:

What's In Season? August

n = newly in season
p = peak of season
w = winding down

Vegetables
• avocado, Hass
• basil
• beans: green (p)
• beans: fresh shelling-cranberry (n)
• beans: fresh shelling-black-eyed pea (n)
• corn (p)
• cucumber (p)
• eggplant
• garlic (p)
• okra (p)
• onion (p)
• peppers, bell
• potatoes
• squash, summer (p)
• tomatillo (p)
• tomatoes

Fruits
• apple:Gravenstein (n)
• berries: blackberries (w)
• berries: blueberries (w)
• berries: raspberries (p)
• figs: Adriatic (p)
• figs: Black Mission (p)
• figs: Brown Turkey (p)
• figs: Calimyrna (p)
• figs: Kadota (p)
• grapes: Red Flame (p)
• grapes: Thompsn seedless
• limes (w)
• melons (p)
• nectarines (w)
• oranges, Valencia (p)
• peaches (p)
• pears: Asian (n)
• pears: Bartlett (p)
• plums (p)

It's too hot to cook in these parts, so it's a good thing that most of these seasonal items can be enjoyed raw, once I muster the energy to peel myself off of the couch in front of the AC to head to the sweltering kitchen to slice a cantaloupe, wash berries, shuck corn or slice a tomato. And leaving the house to pick up those items? Sheesh, that's an epic, sweat-drenched journey.

Getting to Know All About You: What do you do to stay cool in this heat?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 06:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've been curious to try out this recipe for a while, but had been unable to find tamarind puree. Tamarind is a tropical tree native to east Africa but prolific throughout Asia, Australia, Latin America and the Caribbean. It produces a seed pod full of fruit pulp and hard seeds; it is the pulp that is used in cooking, and as a spice ingredient in Worcestershire sauce and Jamaican Pickapeppa sauce. It is most often used in Indian cooking, and can be found in Indian grocery stores. Or, in my case, the local international foods grocery store.

Dried tamarind

I first tasted tamarind in the form of a powdered juice packet, bought in Mexico along with other "exotic" fruit juice flavors such as guava, hibiscus, coconut, mango and peach. All the juice flavors tasted similar, though, rather like watermelon (except the coconut, which tasted like cinnamon milk), so I really had no idea what tamarind tasted like going in to this recipe. As it turns out, it tastes sweet-tart, and is difficult to describe. Here's the recipe:

Picadillo Con Carne de Res (Potato-and-Beef Hash)

2 pounds small red potatoes, cubed
1/2 pound ground round
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup Tamarind Purée
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Tangy Tamarind Sauce

Place the potato cubes in a Dutch oven; add water to cover, and bring to a boil. Cook for 8 minutes or until tender. Drain and set potato cubes aside.

Cook meat, onion, bell pepper, and garlic in pan over medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Stir in potato cubes, Tamarind Purée, chopped cilantro, cumin, salt, and pepper. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally. Serve with Tangy Tamarind Sauce.
Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

CALORIES 230 (27% from fat); FAT 6.9g (sat 2.7g,mono 2.9g,poly 0.4g); PROTEIN 11.3g; CHOLESTEROL 26mg; CALCIUM 44mg; SODIUM 236mg; FIBER 4g; IRON 3.6mg; CARBOHYDRATE 31.8g

Cooking Light, APRIL 1995

Tamarind Purée

1 (8-ounce) package wet tamarind pulp
2 cups hot water

Combine tamarind and hot water. Let stand 1 hour; then using your fingers or a fork, break tamarind into small pieces while it is still in the water. Let tamarind soak an additional 3 hours.
Press tamarind mixture through a sieve, reserving liquid; discard seeds and fibers.
Yield: 1 1/2 cups

Cooking Light, APRIL 1995

Tangy Tamarind Sauce
Serve this sauce with Gallo Pinto (rice & beans), grilled meats, chicken, or fish, or use it as a marinade.

1/2 cup Tamarind Purée
6 tablespoons water
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 large jalapeño pepper, halved and seeded
1 garlic clove

Combine all ingredients in a blender, and process until smooth.

Yield: 1 cup (serving size: 1 tablespoon)

CALORIES 5 (0.0% from fat); FAT 0.0g (sat 0.0g,mono 0.0g,poly 0.0g); PROTEIN 0.1g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 3mg; SODIUM 74mg; FIBER 0.1g; IRON 0.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 1.1g

Cooking Light, APRIL 1995

The meal was good, but rather potato-heavy. I used slightly less than 2# potatoes, in a mix of red, yellow and purple. I halved or quartered them, but should have cubed them smaller to mix in better. I also used a whole pound of extra-lean ground beef because 1/2# seemed rather paltry with all those potatoes. It was better with the Tangy Tamarind Sauce. I probably won't make this recipe again. It was good, and interesting, and a nice introduction to tamarind, but I just wasn't wild about it. I do have 1/2# of tamarind puree left over, so I'll try to find a good use for that soon.

By the way, did you notice the tamarind picture? That's the very first picture I've put on my blog, because I've been too lazy to learn how. It's much easier than I anticipated. Look forward to seeing more.
30 New Things #11: Learned to post pictures on my blog.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 02:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday didn't lend itself to fancy cooking, so we will wander to Costa Rica tonight and I'll post the results tomorrow. Last night we had Latin-Style Flank Steak and Argentinian Grilled Eggplant leftovers from Saturday night, for the first time I can remember serving leftovers the day after serving the original meal. I did make a new side dish, though, so it wasn't a complete repeat meal. Using the extra corn I had grilled, I made Creamed Grilled Corn. The steak and eggplant were pretty good too, so I'll share all three recipes.

Latin-Style Flank Steak

Steak had a really nice flavor, but I overcooked it somehow. I grilled for ~15m and it temped 137 in the thickest part; removed it from the grill and let it sit for ~10m. It was well done in the thinner part and medium-well in the thick part. Next time, I'll check it after 10m. Flavor was really good, though, and it was easy to prepare. Chipotle butter was good on the steak (and in the omelet I made the next morning). I have a lot left over; so halving the butter would be better. It’s pretty hot, even with decreasing the amount of chipotle.

Rub:
2-½ T. ground cumin
1 T. chili
1 T. ground coriander
1 ½ t. freshly ground black pepper
½ t. ground cinnamon
½ t. dried oregano
Steak:
1 ½ - 2# flank steak, trimmed of any excess fat and membrane
1 t. olive oil
1 t. kosher salt
1 recipe Chipotle Butter*

Rub: Mix all in a small bowl.
Grill: 30m before grilling, coat the steak with the oil and pat on all of the rub, coating evenly. Heat a gas grill to med high (you should be able to hold your hand 2” above the grate for 3-4s) or prepare a med-hot charcoal fire. Sprinkle both sides of steak with salt. If your grill has a hot spot, position the thicker end of the steak near the hottest spot. Grill until med-rare, 12-15m, turning steak every 3-4m to ensure even cooking. The thickest part of the steak will register 135-140 on an instant-read thermometer. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest 3-5m. Slice as you like. Portion onto dinner plates. Immediately cut the chilled butter into ¼” slices and set a slice or two on each serving while the steak is warm, using a scant T. of butter per serving.

Serves 4-6.
Serve with beer, such as pale ale.

*Chipotle Butter:
¼# (1/2 c.) unsalted butter, completely softened at room temp
2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo, stemmed, seeded and minced
2 T. fresh lime juice
Scant t. ground cumin
½ t. kosher salt; more to taste

In a small bowl, cream butter with a wooden spoon ‘til smooth. Add rest, blending until evenly incorporated. Taste and add more salt if needed. Using plastic wrap to shape and smooth, mold butter into a log ~1 ½” in diameter. Wrap well in plastic and transfer to the fridge (or freezer if in a hurry) to firm.

Yield: ~8 T.

Use leftover chipotle butter on hamburgers, grill pork tenderloin and corn on the cob.

Fine Cooking, June/July 2003

Argentinian Grilled Eggplant
Used one white and one purple-and-white-speckled eggplant from the farmer’s market. Good. Had too much spice blend; should have halved it, but the eggplant grilled well, didn’t stick to the grate and wasn’t oily tasting at all. Omitted hot red pepper flakes because I was serving the eggplant with Latin-Style Flank Steak with chipotle butter. Thought hot red pepper would be too hot with the chipotle butter too.

2 cloves garlic, minced
3 T. olive oil
1 t. dried oregano
1 t. dried basil
½ t. dried thyme
1 t. hot or sweet paprika
½ t. hot red pepper flakes (optional)
3 eggplants, cut crosswise into ½” slices
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat grill to high.

Mix minced garlic with oil in small bowl. Mix herbs, paprika and pepper flakes together and set aside.

Brush one side of each eggplant slice with garlic oil and place oiled side down on grill. Brush top side with oil. Cook slices until browned, 3-5m; turn. Sprinkle eggplant with herb mixture and add salt and pepper to taste. Cook another 3-5m. Serve hot.

Serves 6-8.

Creamed Grilled Corn

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 50 min (includes preparing charcoal grill)
I used skim milk and 4 ears of fresh farmer’s market corn, grilled and cut from cobs the day before. This dish comes together really quickly. I used my Magic Bullet blender to puree the corn with the milk, so it didn't make a lot of dirty dishes. Excellent. Really sweet, but naturally so; rather light and refreshing. I love corn.

4 ears corn (2 lb total), shucked
1/2 cup 2% milk
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

If using a charcoal grill, open vents on bottom of grill, then light charcoal. Charcoal fire is hot when you can hold your hand 5 inches above rack for 1 to 2 seconds. If using a gas grill, preheat burners on high, covered, 10 minutes.

Grill corn on lightly oiled grill rack, uncovered, turning, until kernels on all sides are tender and browned in patches, 10 to 15 minutes total.

Cut corn off cobs (discard cobs) and purée 1/2 cup kernels with milk in a blender until smooth. Pour purée into a 2-quart heavy saucepan and stir in basil, salt, pepper, and remaining corn kernels. Cook over low heat, covered, stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 5 minutes.

Cooks' note:
•If you aren't able to grill outdoors, cook corn ears in a hot lightly oiled well-seasoned ridged grill pan over moderately high heat. Each serving contains about 96 calories and 2 grams fat.

Makes 4 servings.

Gourmet, August 2003

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 03:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's just too hot to turn on the oven, and a pain to make muffins in multiple batches in the toaster oven. So we had spinach & mushroom omelets, soysage and cantaloupe for breakfast. Healthier, for sure.

Here's a story about an amazing spider that illustrates how mean I can be. Several days ago while watering the plants on the front porch, I found an unusual looking spider. It was a fat spider, mostly black but with odd white blops and line markings, and it hopped from leaf to leaf on the plant I was watering. We've had our share of scary inside spiders and even scarier invisible spiders that bite us during the night, so I'm not such a fan of spiders, but I tend to leave outside bugs and spiders alone. But, I trapped this guy in a small jar, screwed the lid on tight and set it aside to identify later. I forgot about it; left the poor thing in a closed jar outside in 90+ degree heat for several days. At least it was in the shade. Even so, I figured I broiled the guy. I went outside this morning, opened the jar and found that he had spun a mighty web across the opening of the jar, and was inside, still alive! He jumped out onto my hand, I screeched, shook him off and dropped the jar. He scurried under a chair. I retrieved the jar (unbroken) and clamped it down on top of him and drug it back out from under the chair. When I lifted the jar, I discovered that, in dragging him, I had removed five of his rear legs, leaving him with the two front long ones and one shorter one on one side. Little fellow started dragging himself back under the chair with his remaining legs. He's a survivor, that one. I felt so bad that I had ripped off most of his legs. I let him go. He's really a neat looking spider. I looked him up and found out that he's a jumping spider, who stalks prey and leaps on top for the kill. Now I feel worse. Gimpy spider can't jump with just 3 legs, so after surviving extreme heat, oxygen deprivation and dismemberment, he'll starve to death. I feel terrible. I'm tempted to go offer to let him bite me for revenge, or to euthanize him with my flip flop. Either way, I'm expecting some sort of full scale spider retaliation.

In other news, corn and I are BFF, and to prove my devotion, this is Corn Week. I bought a dozen ears of fresh corn at the farmer's market yesterday. We had grilled corn on the cob last night for dinner. I grilled some extra ears for a corn salad later in the week. (I tell you what, it's way too hot to be standing over a grill. My grilling days are over until autumn!). I'll post corn recipes throughout the week. For the grilled corn, I shucked several ears and grilled over med-high heat for 12 minutes, turning every 3 minutes to evenly brown the kernels. I served it with chipotle butter, which I made by softening 1/2 cup of unsalted butter, then mixing that with 1 minced chipotle pepper and some adobo sauce, 1 T. lime juice, 1 t. cumin and 1/2 t. salt. Form a log, wrap in plastic and refrigerate to firm up. I have quite a bit of this butter left, so I used some of it this morning to make omelets. Yum.

Getting to Know All About You: What would you have done if you had spotted this beautiful jumping spider on your porch?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 02:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I "highlighted" my hair.

I should have known better.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 02:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I know, this one has been going on for a long time. Instead of prolonging the inevitable, I'm going to announce the winner by fiat: Grandma's Banana Bread. There were many good ones, some even as good as Grandma's, but none could surpass her recipe. That's the only recipe I'll keep for classic banana bread. Here it is:

Grandma’s Banana Bread

This bread is really moist, sweet and delicious. It's also really simple and quick to assemble, without dirtying too many dishes (always a plus). I sometimes make it just as is, but usually I lighten it by replacing half of the oil with applesauce and substituting an equal amount of Splenda for the sugar. I also usually use three medium-sized bananas. For best banana flavor, put ripe bananas in the freezer until the skins turn black. The bananas will be mushy when thawed, but the flavor will be concentrated and much more pronounced (plus, you won't have to mash the banana).

½ c. oil
1 c. sugar
1-¼ c. flour
2 eggs, beaten
½ t. salt
¾ t. soda
1 t. vanilla
2 large bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix oil, sugar and eggs. Add flour, salt and soda. Blend. Add vanilla and bananas, blend.

Pour into greased pan. Bake as follows:
2 small loaf pans – 40-45m
1 small Bundt pan – 35-45m
18 muffins – 30-35m
1 large loaf pan – 45m-1h *recommended
4x soup cans – 30-35m
or until browned on top and slightly pulling away from sides of pan...

As I said, that is the only recipe for classic banana bread I'll make from now on, but you might want to try a few other recipes to find the one that suits you best. After the jump you'll find recipes for the top contenders in the Ultimate Snackdown Banana Bread Battle.

Treebeard's Banana Bread

Rotten Tomatoes, a friend of my mom's, sent me this recipe with the following note: "I know everybody has their favorite banana bread recipe including me, which I usually make, but decided to try something different and make this recipe from one of Houston, Texas top restaurants. It came out with a really great texture and taste and very light tasting. It was really super good and super easy." I just want to point out that the favorite recipe she usually makes is my grandmother's recipe. She's right, though, this recipe is super easy to make and really super good to eat. Easy cleanup too. Other than planning ahead enough to let everything come to room temp, which you should do anyway, this was easy, if a little different from other banana bread recipes in the mixing technique. The texture was really moist and soft with a very banana-y flavor and nice balanced sweetness. Plus, it looks great. I think it might be as good as Grandma's, but probably not better.

½ cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1 cup white granulated sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1 t. dark vanilla extract flavoring
3 large very ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups white all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Allow butter or margarine and eggs to warm to room temperature, about 20 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile, lightly grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan; set pan aside.

In a bowl with fork or potato masher, mash ripe bananas until mushy, set aside. Beat butter and sugar at med speed until light and fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. When batter is well blended, beat in the salt, baking soda, vanilla extract and mashed bananas until blended in. Then gradually beat in flour until all of the flour is mixed in. Stir in chopped nuts, if using. When batter is well blended, pour into prepared baking pan. Let pan sit for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 300 degrees. Bake bread for 1 hour and 20 minutes (80 minutes) or until bread is baked and a cake tester or toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. When bread is baked through, remove pan from oven and set on a wire rack to cool.

Makes 1 loaf.

Banana Nut Bread

Years ago, Rotten Tomatoes made a hand-written cookbook for my mom with all of her (Rotten Tomatoes) favorite recipes. I borrowed that cookbook last year to copy several recipes, including this one. Rotten Tomatoes usually makes my grandmother's banana bread, and had forgotten about this recipe until I made it for the Snackdown. I think she had actually lost her copy of this recipe, so I sent it back to her. This was probably the most fun recipe I made in the course of the Snackdown, because I enjoyed watching the batter transform from a super thick blob to a more workable consistency. Because it is all mixed by hand, there are banana chunks throughout the bread. I don't usually keep whole milk around, so I added a dab of butter to skim milk. That worked fine; the loaf had a very dark-dark brown top and crust that looked moist and shiny and the inside had a deep golden brown color. The flavor was super sweet, but in a good way. GC's review was vulger, so won't be repeated, but was extremely complementary. This was one of the best breads.

In large bowl, mix 2 c. sugar, 2 ¼ c. flour and ½ t. salt. By hand, mix in ¾ c. oil, 3 eggs and 1 t. vanilla.

Sour milk by adding ¼ t. vinegar to ¼ c. whole milk. Add 1 1/3 t. baking soda and let sit until dissolved. Add to mixture. Stir in 1 c. chopped nuts and 4 large ripe bananas, well mashed. Bake 1h in the top half of a 350 oven, in a loaf pan or large cake pan.

Freezes well.

Banana Bread

Another of my mom's friends is "famous" for her banana bread, which comes from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook. This recipe really is super fast and easy to assemble; I had the batter in the pan and the dishes washed before the oven was preheated! Made a big loaf, puffed up a lot. The top was really dark, looked almost burned in some spots. Cooked for 1h at 350, then turned off the oven and returned bread for another 15m. Really tasty; banana-y and sweet, but not overly so. Excellent; gives Grandma’s a run for the title. I'm curious to try the whole-wheat version, or a mix of whole wheat and white flours.

2-1/2 c. flour
1 t. salt
2 t. baking soda
1 c. veg shortening
2 c sugar
2 c. mashed ripe banana, about 6
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 c. chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour the loaf (9x5x3).

Stir and toss together the flour, salt and baking soda.

In a large bowl, mix shortening, sugar, mashed banana, eggs, and walnuts. Add the combined dry ingredients and stir just until the batter is thoroughly blended. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 65-70 min or until a broom straw inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for about 5 min. then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

2 small loaves-bake 1 hour.

Whole-wheat banana bread: substitute 2-1/4 c whole-wheat flour for the 2-1/2 c all-purpose flour.

Classic Banana Bread

We love this bread's moist texture and simple flavor. Banana bread should form a crack down the center as it bakes--a sign the baking soda is doing its job.

This one also gave Grandma’s recipe a run for the money. The bread formed a slightly chewy, dark brown crust and a golden interior with flecks of banana. The key to it’s greatness, though, is its moist and springy texture.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Yield: 1 loaf, 14 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

CALORIES 187(21% from fat); FAT 4.3g (sat 2.4g,mono 1.2g,poly 0.3g); PROTEIN 3.3g; CHOLESTEROL 40mg; CALCIUM 20mg; SODIUM 198mg; FIBER 1.1g; IRON 1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 34.4g
Cooking Light, SEPTEMBER 2003

Cook’s Illustrated Best Banana Bread

Another moist, sweet loaf with definite banana flavor.
The Problem: Too many banana bread recipes turn out bland, flat, heavy, dry, and/or gritty loaves.
The Goal: A basic banana bread with deep banana flavor, plenty of moisture, and a nice, light texture.
The Solution: Use older, darkly speckled bananas, which are both sweeter and more moist than younger bananas; add yogurt for a nice tang and even more moisture; and use the "muffin method" to mix the wet and dry ingredients for a delicate, golden brown loaf of decent height. Greasing and flouring only the bottom of a regular loaf pan causes the bread to cling to the sides and rise higher. If using a nonstick loaf pan, on which the sides are very slick, grease and flour sides as well as the bottom.

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 1/4 cups toasted walnuts chopped coarse (about 1 cup)
3 large bananas very ripe, soft, darkly speckled, mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 large eggs beaten lightly
6 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of regular loaf pan, or grease and flour bottom and sides of nonstick 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan; set aside. Combine first five ingredients together in large bowl; set aside.

2. Mix mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter, and vanilla with wooden spoon in medium bowl. Lightly fold banana mixture into dry ingredients with rubber spatula until just combined and batter looks thick and chunky. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan; bake until loaf is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 01:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)