Breadwinning

I've been staying up past my bedtime baking bread.

I know, I know -- it's pretty edgy. (That was what you were thinking, right??) But seriously, folks, I've been thinking about learning a new skill or two, and now with all this free time on my hands, I can finally get started! While I'm pretty adept in the kitchen and can pull together a decent meal on most days,  I want to delve deeper and get really good at something. Bread-baking seems like a sensible idea since the product is a kitchen staple and is easily gift-able (friends, get ready!). Plus, after dabbling in it in the past, I would like to have it be closer to second-nature instead of something I have a 50% success rate at.

Despite simplicity of the ingredients, baking bread seems rather like voodoo. Not even going into specific recipes, the number of ways to go about it (knead or no knead? Starter or no?) is totally mind-boggling. And even after settling on a basic recipe, understanding how all the variables interact just seems to take experience and practice.

My first loaf was a Joy of Cooking basic white bread, which didn't use a starter but needed plenty of kneading. But despite my heavy-handedness, I had a tender loaf with a fine crumb. I finished the entire loaf in two days, eating it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner -- it was that good!

The only downside to making bread in house is the time it takes. Many of the recipes I've seen requires checking on the dough every few hours, making baking bread a commitment. But almost always, the results are worth it -- there really is nothing like the smell of bread baking in the oven or the satisfaction of smearing butter and honey on a still-warm loaf. I'm so excited about my new journey to becoming a bread baker!

Mushroom and kale risotto

Risotto is a labor of love, which I guess makes it fitting for this time of year. It usually involves standing over a stove and stirring the pot's contents for a good half hour. As someone who makes rice by sticking everything in a rice cooker without a second thought, I've always been a bit baffled by the effort involved in making rice the Italian way. But the results are always worth it -- having a creamy, rich, and flavorful pot of rice instantly soothes my tired stirring arm.

I made a butternut squash risotto last winter, but it was so rich that it was hard to eat for multiple meals during the week. This mushroom and kale risotto is the exact opposite. It derives its flavor from the mushroom broth and is lightened by all the vegetables, which offer a nice contrast in texture to the rice. There is also less cheese involved -- just enough to contribute to the dish's creaminess. And for garnish, I used a bit of fresh thyme, which added a hint its fresh, citrous-y flavor to tie the mushrooms' earthiness and the savory Parmesean together.

Roasted carrot and red lentil soup

With this winter's unpredictable temperature, I haven't entered full-on soup mode like I did by this time last year. But after today's flurries (!), maybe this means that I can forget that there are cherry blossoms down the street and cook as if it's actually winter?

This soup is so comforting and good. I love that the red lentils fall apart after absorbing all the flavors of the stock. I love how the three peppers add multiple dimensions of spice. And I love the roasted onions and carrots' subtle sweetness, which perfectly balance the kick from the peppers. Sop up the soup with a piece of crusty country bread or sourdough, and make it again and again.

Happy 2012!

Falafel and tahini sauce

Sometimes, I'll start a recipe thinking that it'll be a piece of cake (so to speak) and then have it dirty more pots than I own and  take an hour longer than originally planned. This soup immediately comes to mind. It's a great recipe but takes more work than a pureed soup should take. (Frankly, the eight-ingredient garnish should have been a dead giveaway) So it's nice to have recipes take less effort and turn out better than expected once in a while. It's like an unexpected bonus, or like having an experiment work out on the first try...



This falafel recipe was one of these pleasant surprises. The falafels were tender and flavorful, and despite my initial fear of balls falling apart during frying, or the deep frying itself, it was definitely easier than I expected. During the frying process, I actually decided that being a fry cook might not be a bad career after all. I can kind of see myself reigning over the greasy corner of a diner, shrugging off oil burns to produce batches of golden, glistening fried goods.



I used my 3 quart cast iron fryer for this and it worked out great. The pot was small enough that it didn't require an excess amount of oil (1 liter for an inch deep). The additional benefit was that this process more than re-seasoned my pot and now it's absolutely nonstick. Lovely. The other lesson I learned from this first foray into deep frying is that it really doesn't use all that much oil. I started with a liter of oil and pretty much ended up with a liter minus a couple of tablespoons after frying 40 balls of falafel. But this begs the question: what do I do with a liter of used falafel oil?

Happiness is a warm bowl of minestrone

Technically, I broke in my newest kitchen toy, a beautiful 6 quart Staub enameled cast iron pot, with the no-knead bread. But since that loaf turned out much more like a rock than expected, I will erase that from the official records and say instead that this absolutely wonderful soup is the Staub's first food product .

Why on earth does it matter what I cook as a first meal in this thing? Well, it matters, because I had been deliberating on this rather large purchase for what seems like forever. Ever since I read about it on my very favorite food blog quite a few years ago I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Le Creuset or Lodge or any other brand aside, I knew that I could have no other.

But now that I have it in my kitchen, I honestly can't figure out why it took me so long to get it. Having a really big heavy pot ROCKS. I can keep adding random stuff from my freezer in it and IT WON'T OVERFLOW. As an added bonus, the heavy material allows the contents to heat evenly and I don't have to continuously stir the contents until my arms falls off. And now that it's officially autumn, I can make as much soup as my heart desires and not worry about having to leave the stove on for hours, which is the time required to cook almost anything in this magnificent beast.

I recently discovered the cookbook section of the DC public library and have been eagerly checking out new cookbooks ever since. The only problem with this system is that lugging big cookbooks such as the NYT one from the library to my apartment is pretty hard work. That's why I ended up taking the light and carry-able New Moosewood Cookbook with me. Almost all of the recipes in this book are simple but delicious sounding vegetarian dishes.

I was looking for a good, hearty soup, and this recipe is definitely it. I think many sub-par minestrone tend to taste too much like canned tomato sauce, but the fresh tomato in this recipe solves that problem without sacrificing tomato flavor. The original recipe also called for celery and eggplant but I didn't have them on hand at the time. Lastly, I un-vegetarianed this recipe by adding a cup of chicken stock and some chicken tenders, both of which can be easily omitted.

Shrimp Scampi

All of my writing energy is going towards secondary applications for medical school right now, so postings will remain pretty sparse for a while. But I've really missed writing about food. Maintaining this blog really forces me to step outside of the typical meal rotations of soup, salad, and cereal and keeps me excited about my new-found situation of cooking for one everyday.

I'm really glad I found this recipe because it's super quick to throw together on a weeknight. It's also a really bright-tasting dish and a nice change from a tomato-based pasta sauce. Plus, since most of the ingredients are usually in my fridge anyway, as long as I remember to buy shrimp ahead of time, it doesn't take any advanced planning. Lastly, for quite a few reasons, I'm trying to incorporate more animal protein in my diet and shrimp seems to be an easy way to do it.

A dinner party for very important folk

The amazing, world-stomping (17 countries in one year!), Alphorn-tooting Madeleine Abromowitz graced the DC population with her presence this weekend. To commemorate the event, I threw a dinner party. And since the party was to be attended by Watson fellows and a Fulbright scholar, aka people who are "kind of big deals," I knew that I had to try my darndest to whip up the best that my little kitchen can come up with.



I had in mind a light summery meal of fresh bread, antipasti, and salads and my friends were nice enough to accommodate their contributions to that theme. On the menu were:

Two loaves of freshly baked bread
Roasted red peppers + mozzerella
Ina Garten's marinated artichoke hearts (recipe below)
Feta + watermelon + spinach + arugula salad
Pearled cous cous salad
Two types of quinoa (red and white!) salad by Rob and Roz
Zucchini corn cake by Colin
Potato salad by Helen and Bobby
Bean salad by Jess Engebretson
A fantastic peach pie by Madeleine
Chocolate cake