One Gorilla Kitchen

On Gefilte Fish

Bee (on the verge of potential pre-bedtime meltdown):  I'm hungry!

Slim:  Why don't you have some gefilte fish?

Me:  Wondering whether I will, in fact, ever eat the jar of gefilte fish I bought a couple of months ago.

Bee: I want 'filtafish!  I want 'filtafish!  I. Want. 'Filtafish!

Me:  It's chopped-up fish.

Bee: ...

        I don't want gefilte fish.

 

*    *    *    *    *    *

Also, it occurs to me, now, that I'm going to have to be the one who introduces her to the food of my ancestors.  Will look more closely at this recipe.  Also, ask my mother's friend for her recipe, because her gefilte fish is the best I've ever had.  (Which means better than exactly the following:  (1) gefilte fish in a jar, and (2) my paternal grandmother's gefilte fish, which I only grew to enjoy as a university student, but not consistently.  I say this to clarify that I am no gefilte fish expert.  Not at all.) 

Melting chocolate

Now is when I would call my mother to confirm that each square of Baker's(R) chocolate is an ounce.

Even melting chocolate in a small saucepan reminds me of her: 

The solid bars kissing the bottom of the pan-- you know when they just start to melt? 

The smell that wafts up, just at that point. 

Before the chocolate burns.

Creamy macaroni & cheese with pancetta, asparagus, peas and lemon

Brilliant accidental dinner inspired by "What am I going to do with this?" asparagus and "I can't believe we have no tomatoes, canned or fresh, in this house!" pancetta, which I bought on Sunday with tomato sauce in mind.

And this recipe, from bon appetit, which I found at epicurious. 

Cool, right?  A perfect match, including some of my staples (lemons, parmesan, onions, garlic, pasta) and a timely treat (cream) except I didn't have fresh basil or parsley. Or green onions.  But I would have been inclined to skip them, anyway.

Here's what I did do:

Creamy macaroni and cheese with pancetta, asparagus, peas and lemon

• A bunch of small noodles (Bee's going through a bow tie phase)
• A few slices of pancetta
• A handful of asparagus, trimmed and chopped up
• A sprinkling of peas (mine were frozen)
• A glop of cream (The other recipe calls for heavy whipping cream, but I had table cream.  I don't actually know what the difference is.)
• About half a lemon (Just the juice.)
• Parmesan cheese, grated
• Onion and garlic
• Salt and pepper

I chopped the pancetta up, and then fried it until it was a bit crispy.  Moved it to a paper towel with a slotted spoon.  Removed a bunch of the leftover oil, but left about a teaspoon in.  Fried the chopped asparagus until it was a bit tender (about 3 minutes).  Added the onion and garlic and peas, and fried until tender.

Meanwhile, I cooked the pasta.  And then I drained the pasta.  Wasn't exactly sure how to save the liquid (any tips?), which is what the other recipe recommended.  Ended up draining it over a big bowl.

Plonked it back into the pot, and added the veggies.  Dumped some parmesan in.  Added some cream.  Stirred.  Squeezed half a lemon in.  Decided to mix the pancetta bits in, instead of sprinkling it on top.  Added salt and pepper.

It was soooooo gooooood.  All three of us agreed, and that's rare. 

Mashed potato cakes

... and I'm JOLTED back into blogging my recipes after wasting at least twenty minutes (again), looking for "that yummy recipe that uses up leftover mashed potatoes". 

I always go to Easy Indian Cooking (Suneeta Vaswani) first, where I flip through "vegetables" first, and then every other chapter.  No, it's not the pea filled potato cakes.  And it's not the potato and pea turnovers. And then I have a vague sense that it should be in the "stuff to do with leftovers" section-- except this book doesn't have one.  The leftovers section is in Indian Every Day (Anjum Anand).  Except then I also remember that it's not in that section, because Anjum's recipe calls for boiling potatoes and then mashing them up with grated carrots and green beans, and then cooking them until they're soft.  So ... I suppose I've altered her recipe by being lazy. *Note to self:  See? They're in the "lazy grazer" section.  Duh!

It totally doesn't matter.  Try them:  they're awesome.  I'm going to start making extra mashed potatoes (or ... asking Slim to, since he's in charge of our mash.  Also, I've wanted to call mashed potatoes "mash" every since I first read I Will Never Not Ever Eat A Tomato to Bee.)  I like the extra buttery creamy flavour of yesterday's mash in my potato cakes.

Mashed Potato Cakes

*A brilliant leftover mashed potato recipe

• Mashed potatoes (Leftovers, if you can!)
  
• Boiled peas.  (Leftover, if you can!)
• Breadcrumbs
• Ginger (fresh, grated)
• Garam masala
• Dried mango powder (amchoor)
• Chili powder
• Fresh cilantro (optional)
• Salt to taste
• Vegetable oil

I just mash it all together.  Since I use leftover potatoes, I never bother measuring how much I've got.  I add breadcrumbs until it seems like a good consistency, and spices until I like the intensity of flavour.  Fry in oil until the outside is crispy. 

If you try this recipe, I'd love to hear what you think.  I'd also like to know what you think about using this recipe for latkes-- or is shredding raw potato and filling your home with fried onion smell just supposed to part of the latke-making experience?

 

Macaroni and cheese

So ... can you tell me why I would want to bake my macaroni and cheese instead of just throwing it together in a pot on the stove?  I was hoping that my brand new copy of How to Cook Everything would explain, but it doesn't.

I boil my noodles (macaroni, penne or rotini) in one pot.  Make a white sauce (butter, flour, milk) in a smaller pot.  Add cheese (usually cheddar and parmesan).  And we like the zing a bit of Dijon mustard adds. Drain the noodles, mix together (sometimes with fresh cherry tomatoes or whatever) and serve.

Would baking the whole she-bang (thus making my hungry kid wait, like, another hour before eating) make it taste that much better? 

No, seriously:  I'm asking.

Feta & lime slaw

Also part of the Rob & Naomi combo:  feta and lime cabbage slaw, from Jeannette Ordas, at everybody likes sandwiches.  It spent a couple of months on my 'mental note' sidebar list, and I finally pulled it out for their visit.

• 1 cabbage
• 1 lime
• olive oil
• honey
• salt & pepper
• feta cheese

I did actually use a whole head of cabbage (sliced thinly), and I'm glad because the leftovers were yummy for the whole week. 

I used Manuka honey, because it was all we had-- but it added a pretty strong honey flavour, and I wouldn't mind checking whether a milder honey would blend a bit better. 

And I used "Canadian" feta, this time, made from cow's milk.  I didn't actually measure the feta; I just crumbled an amount that looked about right.  Slim said it was the perfect amount:  added just enough salty tang that didn't overpower the other flavours.

Naomi tried adding it to her non-falafel, and Rob added it to his faux shawarma (recipes to come), and they said it worked.  I imagine it would be a decent substitute for pickled turnip, which is the only thing missing from my faux Middle Eastern food, now that I've realized what a difference Israeli pickles make. (I can get mine at my supermarket.)  Don't go adding any vinegar-dill-polski-Kosherdill-whatever pickles to your falafel, dude.  And while I'm on that subject, save your tzatziki for the souvlaki!  Grr.

Reader tips: Tinfoil potatoes, Crispy kale chips and Korean beef shish kebab

Tinfoil potatoes

• Rebecca and co. add onion soup mix to their potatoes.
• Karen adds "lots" of chopped garlic, "a generous amount of cumin", chili powder and salt to hers.

Crispy kale chips:

• Erica figured out that 7-8 minutes in a convection oven set to 325 was long enough to crisp the kale.  She also said: 

delicious! we love them. even O. who isn't so into vegetables. but they are very crumbly so mostly he just squishes them to smitherines in his hand and them licks them off. not so elegant, but effective. thanks for helping me get some greens into him!  Heh.

• And Sister Carrie and I commiserated about how hard it is to sprinkle with the right amount of salt.  She said:

I made these last night! They turned out great. The thin ones practically melt in your mouth. I can see that getting the salt balanced is hard. Some had too much and some not enough. But they disappeared anyway.

I wondered if one of those fancy salts might have a milder zing (Fleur de sel? what's that like?) and Sister Carrie thought maybe bacon salt.  Which is ... er ... kosher, apparently?           

Korean beef shish kebab:

• Amina said:

FYI- This recipe works well even if you A) Don't read it all the way through and add the brown sugar to the marinade instead of massaging it into the beef B) You don't even have the energy to put the meat and peppers onto kebab sticks so you just make a stir fry and C) you don't have a bbq anyway. Thanks Alisa! 2 of 3 children ate it.

Thanks for the tips, guys!

Tabasco & asparagus quinoa

I think this recipe, from 101 cookbooks, may have sparked a love affair with quinoa (ahem - for me, not the rest of my family. Yet.)

Cooking quinoa

Heidi says to boil 2 cups of quinoa in 3 cups of water. I haven't looked elsewhere for instructions.  I only had a cup of dry quinoa-- slightly less than a cup, actually, because I was just experimenting when I bought it.  Didn't pay enough attention when I added the water, and I'm sure I added too much.  Didn't matter.  The texture was awesome.  Simmered for 25-30 minutes, like she says, until the little curlies appeared.  So yummy!  Just as good as rice, if not better!  Need to convince Slim to give it a chance.

The Tabasco butter

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 25 drops Tabasco sauce
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Heidi says to mix it all up in a food processor, but I thought I'd try to do it by hand.  I didn't feel like I needed a whipped butter consistency for this-- but come to think of it, would mixing the butter mechanically like that have changed the flavour?  Interesting question.  Maybe I should try it next time.  

Meanwhile ... the asparagus

Boiled it. 

Mixed the butter-- 3 tablespoons butter for 4 cups of cooked quinoa, Heidi says.  I estimated that.  Added the asparagus.

She also recommends adding pine nuts-- and I have some in my freezer!  But forgot.  Bummer.

Mental note:  This recipe worked well as part of the Rob & Naomi combo.

Cardamom Vanilla Pound Cake

I swear I don't bake.  Once in a blue moon.  Over the last year I've baked maybe two batches of brownies, I stumbled across a really great strawberry-rhubarb pudding thing that I have to remember to add to my cookbook, and that was about it.  Maybe a crisp or two (apple)-- except President's Choice (President's Choice!) came out with a really awesome, inexpensive apple crisp (regular, not blue menu*), and then ... why bother making one from scratch?

So to have baked brownies and this cardamon vanilla pound cake in the same weekend is weird for me, and it's totally the mixer.  You'd think (I'd think) it would be a pain in the ass to clean, or move, or ... something.  But it's not.  I leave it out on the counter, back under the cabinets, and I pull it out a few inches when I need it.  It's heavy, but I'll survive.  And I love that I can leave it mixing and just walk away to go get something.  (Though I make Bee stand back with her hands crossed behind her back, just in case.)  And I love watching the paddle-mixer-thingy scallop through the batter.  It just feels really easy and accessible and fun.

It's also the fact that I'm finally putting my recipes (new ones and old ones) in the same spot. (Here, I mean.) And I'm feeling enthusiastically compelled to see if they're worthy of hanging onto.  I'm tired of filing recipes away just because they look good.  I want to see if they taste good.

Which is why I decided to make the cardamon vanilla pound cake last week, even though Slim doesn't like cardamom.  It was Mother's Day, and I decided that I was entitled.  I love cardamom.  It reminds me of the first Indian sweet I ever had, at my first best friend's house, when I was about five.  I made a mental note (see list in sidebar) of this cake months ago, when it was featured on the epicurious home page.

It totally worked, and even though I haven't eaten much pound cake in my life, I would guess that I could leave out the cardamom** and it would be a really great basic pound cake recipe.  But honestly, the cardamom flavour is really, really subtle.  Everyone who tasted it thought so.  It's firm, not too sweet, moist, and the top gets a nice, kind of somewhat gooey but also crackly top.  Sugary. 

Cardamon Vanilla Pound Cake

Kay Chun, via Gourmet, via epicurious

Confession:  I substituted a glug of pure vanilla extract for two vanilla beans.  Yes, a glug: about a-teaspoon-except-maybe-it needs-a-little-bit-more kind of sploosh.  I'll bet using an actual vanilla bean would make me swoon, but vanilla extract was beyond fine.  

•  3 cups all-purpose flour
•  1 teaspoon ground cardamom
•  1 teaspoon baking powder
•  1/2 teaspoon baking soda
•  1/2 teaspoon salt
•   2 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
•   1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
•   4 large eggs
•   1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
•   1 cup whole milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

I beat the butter and sugar until it was pale and fluffy, added vanilla, and beat it into the butter-sugar mixture.  Added eggs, then lemon juice.  I alternated between the flour and the milk, at low speed.  I did the whole "beginning and ending with flour", too -- the alternating, I mean.  But honesty, it felt like I was doing voodoo to make my cake turn out well.  Beginning and ending with the flour mixture?  Why? 

I poured the batter into a greased-up (butter) bundt pan, and baked it for an hour.

_______________________

*This is mostly a note to my brother and sister-in-law, who just moved (back to) Canada.  The concept of President's Choice Blue Menu products is awesome. But I don't need my crisps to be healthy.  See what you think.

**When I told Slim that I could leave the cardamom out next time, he goes, "Why didn't you do it this time?" Uh ... because I LOVE CARDAMOM and it's Mother's Day and you don't like cardamom? Too bad, so sad, dude!

Baked apple pancake revisited: ricotta

I added ricotta to the baked apple pancake, this morning.  I had half a container in the fridge, and when Bee asked for the pancake this morning, I thought I'd experiment with adding protein.  I wasn't sure where I should add the ricotta, and decided that it would be better to hide it in the batter. 

It hid well, and the pancake tasted exactly the same, though it was a bit heavier.  So ... would some baking powder help with that, or what?  

Also, how wacky would it be to add some sunflower seed butter (my new favourite) to the mix?  Or am I dreaming?