All the goodness of chicken soup, with a satisfying creamy broth enriched with milk, mushrooms and parmesan cheese.
Ingedients:
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, chopped
3 tbsp whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp canola oil
1 large onion, chopped
5 carrots, sliced
1 celery stalk, sliced
1/2 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup cooking sherry or dry red wine
1 tsp chicken bouillon + 2 cups water, or 2 cups chicken broth
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, or 2 parsley herb ice cubes
1 small can evaporated milk
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, or to taste
Combine the flour, salt and pepper in a bowl. Add the chicken, and toss to coat.
Heat the oil in a pot over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and fry to golden-brown. Remove to a bowl. Bits will stick to the pan; this is okay.
Add all the vegetables and the wine, and use the liquid to deglaze the pan (that means, scrape up the tasty browned bits stuck to the bottom). Saute until the mushrooms give up their liquid, and add the broth. Bring to a boil, and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the chicken and all the other ingredients. Cook and stir until thoroughly heated and the cheese has melted into the broth.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
FUDGE!!!!
Yes, I just used four exclamation points. They were necessary.
Okay, so, back to the point. I made a little candy syrup recently to put on my Thanksgiving yams (recipe is here on the site). It was successful, and I immediately got a big head about my candy-making abilities. I've made caramel and taffy before, after all. Never mind that I was a kid at the time, and my mother was the one actually cooking.
I have to admit, now, that I am not actually as good and kind as I may seem at face value. I decided to try fudge because I remembered having been given fudge by a family member for Christmas many years ago, and, specifically, that the fudge was a little grainy. I wanted to do it better.
Yes, that's right. I wanted to one-up my little cousin. I'm a huge teabag.
That's not the whole thing, though. I also really like chocolate and fudge is really interesting, from a chemistry perspective. And I used to watch the fudge-makers in New Hampshire candy shops make their fudge on the big marble slabs, with the big copper kettles and the big wooden paddles, and it all just looked so totally cool.
So I did a whole lot of research and made my first batch of fudge. It turned into a solid, crumbly mass almost instantly. Upon reflection, I realized I'd used molasses instead of corn syrup - a seemingly minor difference, but corn syrup has a vital role in making fudge, and without it, you get... a solid, crumbly mass.
Second batch of fudge? Amazing.
Third batch of fudge? Amazing.
Fourth batch of fudge? So amazing I came over here to write this blog post.
This particular batch was created to please my lactose-intolerant family members, one of whom also doesn't like chocolate. (Don't get me started.) So I altered the recipe to use cream and a little water instead of milk, and, as always, I used natural sugar instead of white sugar. I also used my favorite brand of fancy European butter, though Land-o-Lakes would do fine, and the seeds from a vanilla bean.
It's buttery and sweet and complex. It tastes like homemade frosting. It tastes like hard-sauce. It tastes like being a little kid again, when candy was a mind-altering experience.
Here's the recipe, but I really, strongly recommend you go over to Science of Candy for a proper breakdown of the procedure - what's going on and why. It's really cool. Their recipe for chocolate fudge is also quite good.
Ingredients:
2 cups natural sugar or evaporated cane juice
1/2 cup light cream
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp premium butter (do not skimp, this is important)
1 tsp vanilla, or 1 tsp vanilla paste, or seeds from 1 vanilla bean
Combine the sugar, cream, and water in a small pot. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring, until it begins to boil. Attach a candy thermometer to the side and boil, undisturbed, until it reaches 238 degrees (soft-ball stage).
Put out a sheet of waxed paper and a spatula for later use.
Remove from heat and let sit, undisturbed, until it cools to 110 degrees. Put out a sheet of waxed paper and a spatula for later use.
When it's cooled, add the butter and vanilla, and stir, gently but thoroughly, until the candy lightens and stiffens. This happens gradually at first, then speeds up rapidly. When you find that the candy is suddenly stiffer now than it was a second before, IMMEDIATELY STOP STIRRING and scoop it out onto the waxed paper. Press another sheet of waxed paper on top of it, pressing it into a flat sheet about as thick as your thumb, or whatever shape you want.
Leave it alone until it's cool - it will magically turn into beautiful, amazing FUDGE.
Sources:
Wikipedia article on fudge, informative but dry
Science of Candy: Fudge, very helpful and explains WHY on every step, which I like
Okay, so, back to the point. I made a little candy syrup recently to put on my Thanksgiving yams (recipe is here on the site). It was successful, and I immediately got a big head about my candy-making abilities. I've made caramel and taffy before, after all. Never mind that I was a kid at the time, and my mother was the one actually cooking.
I have to admit, now, that I am not actually as good and kind as I may seem at face value. I decided to try fudge because I remembered having been given fudge by a family member for Christmas many years ago, and, specifically, that the fudge was a little grainy. I wanted to do it better.
Yes, that's right. I wanted to one-up my little cousin. I'm a huge teabag.
That's not the whole thing, though. I also really like chocolate and fudge is really interesting, from a chemistry perspective. And I used to watch the fudge-makers in New Hampshire candy shops make their fudge on the big marble slabs, with the big copper kettles and the big wooden paddles, and it all just looked so totally cool.
So I did a whole lot of research and made my first batch of fudge. It turned into a solid, crumbly mass almost instantly. Upon reflection, I realized I'd used molasses instead of corn syrup - a seemingly minor difference, but corn syrup has a vital role in making fudge, and without it, you get... a solid, crumbly mass.
Second batch of fudge? Amazing.
Third batch of fudge? Amazing.
Fourth batch of fudge? So amazing I came over here to write this blog post.
This particular batch was created to please my lactose-intolerant family members, one of whom also doesn't like chocolate. (Don't get me started.) So I altered the recipe to use cream and a little water instead of milk, and, as always, I used natural sugar instead of white sugar. I also used my favorite brand of fancy European butter, though Land-o-Lakes would do fine, and the seeds from a vanilla bean.
It's buttery and sweet and complex. It tastes like homemade frosting. It tastes like hard-sauce. It tastes like being a little kid again, when candy was a mind-altering experience.
Here's the recipe, but I really, strongly recommend you go over to Science of Candy for a proper breakdown of the procedure - what's going on and why. It's really cool. Their recipe for chocolate fudge is also quite good.
Ingredients:
2 cups natural sugar or evaporated cane juice
1/2 cup light cream
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp premium butter (do not skimp, this is important)
1 tsp vanilla, or 1 tsp vanilla paste, or seeds from 1 vanilla bean
Combine the sugar, cream, and water in a small pot. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring, until it begins to boil. Attach a candy thermometer to the side and boil, undisturbed, until it reaches 238 degrees (soft-ball stage).
Put out a sheet of waxed paper and a spatula for later use.
Remove from heat and let sit, undisturbed, until it cools to 110 degrees. Put out a sheet of waxed paper and a spatula for later use.
When it's cooled, add the butter and vanilla, and stir, gently but thoroughly, until the candy lightens and stiffens. This happens gradually at first, then speeds up rapidly. When you find that the candy is suddenly stiffer now than it was a second before, IMMEDIATELY STOP STIRRING and scoop it out onto the waxed paper. Press another sheet of waxed paper on top of it, pressing it into a flat sheet about as thick as your thumb, or whatever shape you want.
Leave it alone until it's cool - it will magically turn into beautiful, amazing FUDGE.
Sources:
Wikipedia article on fudge, informative but dry
Science of Candy: Fudge, very helpful and explains WHY on every step, which I like
Monday, December 13, 2010
Asian Fusion Apricot Chicken
The product of desperation became the subject of praise last night when
I threw together a stir-fry out of whatever I could find in our cupboards, and Ariel wouldn't shut up about how great it was. He was thrilling this morning to discover there were leftovers available for lunch.
Considering my usual fail when trying to make any kind of Asian food, I rolled my eyes at the capricity of recipes and decided to write this one down.
Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 tbsp tamari or soy sauce, divided
3 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp peanut oil
5 ribs celery, leaves trimmed off
1 onion
1/3 cup cashews
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup boiling water
7 dried apricots, chopped
1 tsp red curry powder
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Put the coconut in a strainer, and run some water over it to wash off some of the sugar. Then put it into a medium-sized bowl. Pour the boiling water in with the coconut and leave to soak.
Slice the chicken into strips. Combine 2 tbsp tamari and the cornstarch in a bowl, then add the chicken strips and toss to coat.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and spread it out so as much is in contact with the pan as possible, then leave it there to cook until it is no longer sticking to the pan when you try to separate it with a spatula (about 4 minutes). Visually, this means 2/3 opaque (cooked-looking) and golden on the bottom. Raise the heat to high. Turn the chicken over (it will stick together like a big patty at this point, and that's fine) and cook on the other side until cooked through. Remove to a bowl.
If the skillet's caked with chicken breading, pour a cup of water into it and let it boil a minute or two. Then pour out the water into the sink and scrape off the stuck-on bits. You can use this trick anytime there's stuff stuck to your pan, by the way.
Return the pan to the heat. While it's heating back up, stick your immersion blender in with the coconut and blend it until mostly smooth. What? You don't have an immersion blender! Get one, they're awesome! In the meantime, use a regular blender or food processor. When you've pureed the coconut, add the cashews and apricots to the mix.
Now the pan is good and hot, add the vegetables. Cook and stir quickly, since you're using high heat, until the onion is tender. Add the spices, and cook for 30 seconds.
Then pour in the coconut mixture, nuts and all, and add the remaining 2 tbsp tamari. Stir, then add the chicken. Cover the pan, turn the heat down to medium-low and let simmer for 2 minutes, then stir again and serve.
Substitutions:
1. Try coconut milk instead of the pureed coconut mixture. You might want to add 1 tbsp sweetener in this case.
2. Try pineapple instead of the apricot.
I threw together a stir-fry out of whatever I could find in our cupboards, and Ariel wouldn't shut up about how great it was. He was thrilling this morning to discover there were leftovers available for lunch.
Considering my usual fail when trying to make any kind of Asian food, I rolled my eyes at the capricity of recipes and decided to write this one down.
Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 tbsp tamari or soy sauce, divided
3 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp peanut oil
5 ribs celery, leaves trimmed off
1 onion
1/3 cup cashews
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup boiling water
7 dried apricots, chopped
1 tsp red curry powder
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Put the coconut in a strainer, and run some water over it to wash off some of the sugar. Then put it into a medium-sized bowl. Pour the boiling water in with the coconut and leave to soak.
Slice the chicken into strips. Combine 2 tbsp tamari and the cornstarch in a bowl, then add the chicken strips and toss to coat.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and spread it out so as much is in contact with the pan as possible, then leave it there to cook until it is no longer sticking to the pan when you try to separate it with a spatula (about 4 minutes). Visually, this means 2/3 opaque (cooked-looking) and golden on the bottom. Raise the heat to high. Turn the chicken over (it will stick together like a big patty at this point, and that's fine) and cook on the other side until cooked through. Remove to a bowl.
If the skillet's caked with chicken breading, pour a cup of water into it and let it boil a minute or two. Then pour out the water into the sink and scrape off the stuck-on bits. You can use this trick anytime there's stuff stuck to your pan, by the way.
Return the pan to the heat. While it's heating back up, stick your immersion blender in with the coconut and blend it until mostly smooth. What? You don't have an immersion blender! Get one, they're awesome! In the meantime, use a regular blender or food processor. When you've pureed the coconut, add the cashews and apricots to the mix.
Now the pan is good and hot, add the vegetables. Cook and stir quickly, since you're using high heat, until the onion is tender. Add the spices, and cook for 30 seconds.
Then pour in the coconut mixture, nuts and all, and add the remaining 2 tbsp tamari. Stir, then add the chicken. Cover the pan, turn the heat down to medium-low and let simmer for 2 minutes, then stir again and serve.
Substitutions:
1. Try coconut milk instead of the pureed coconut mixture. You might want to add 1 tbsp sweetener in this case.
2. Try pineapple instead of the apricot.
Friday, December 3, 2010
We all scream for ICE CREAM
Or at least I do. My ice-cream maker is the second-most-used small appliance in the kitchen, after the pancake griddle (which is a whole other story). I make ice cream using 1% milk and sweeten it with Splenda, though stevia or sugar would, of course, work just fine. Thus, my ice cream is nutritionally the same as drinking frozen milk.
Homemade ice cream requires 5 - 15 minutes of prep, 18 minutes of hands-off "cook" time, and 5 minutes of cleanup, each time. For some people that is prohibitive, which is understandable, but I can usually find 10 minutes to spare for ice cream when I'm in the mood. (That's basically every day.)
Sugar-free, low-fat ice cream will freeze as hard as a rock if you don't eat it right away. Commercially made low-fat and sugar-free ice creams have a ton of stuff added to keep them soft, including air, which I find unsatisfying, not to mention kinda gross.
Making your own ice cream requires something thicker than plain milk, or it will become a fluffy slush instead of a nice creamy soft-serve. I have four ways of doing this:
Easiest: Jell-o Pudding
Next Easiest: Ricotta Cheese
Then: Pureed Fruit
And finally: Stirred Custard
For jell-o ice cream, just mix some instant jell-o and then pour it into the ice cream maker before it sets. This will produce a firm but not-very-frozen ice cream in a very short time, say 13 minutes. Ariel really likes the texture of this, but I don't like the flavors much. I do like a flavor I call "fudgicle" where I make chocolate jell-o but add extra cocoa powder to make it more chocolatey.
Ricotta cheese ice cream is the highest in fat and calories, so I only serve this when I'm expecting us to be hungry. You just mix equal parts premium quality ricotta and milk, and then add vanilla and sweetener to taste. The ricotta has to be really good, like Biazza brand. Don't settle, or your ice cream will be grainy and unpleasant. It's almost as easy as jell-o and produces a more icy ice cream.
Pureed fruit ice cream is tricky, because the fruit flavor is surprisingly difficult to predict once frozen. Freezing changes how our taste buds taste. The easiest recipe is to put sliced fresh strawberries in a blender, add milk to about 2/3 of the way to the top of the strawberries, and blend until smooth. Then strain out the seeds. You can also do this with peaches, cherries, cooked rhubarb, and blackberries. Pumpkin ice cream's good, too.
Stirred custard is the most traditional ice cream. "Real" ice cream was made this way, and in some places it still is. Stirred custard, also called creme anglais or pouring custard, is made by cooking eggs and milk together until it thickens, but not until you get scrambled eggs. The rest of this post is about custard, FYI.
Eggs set when heated. We all know that. The egg proteins tighten up and become rigid, but not all at once. There is a time when the proteins are beginning to tighten, but haven't yet gotten so tight that they become solid strings. That's when you have custard, like pumpkin pie. Stirred custard is a tiny bit earlier than that, where the proteins are still flexible and liquid.
You can imagine that the timing of this is pretty sensitive. You can find recipes for creme anglais everywhere, but mine is one of these two:
2 cups milk
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 beaten eggs
OR:
2 cups milk
3 beaten eggs
I normally only do the three-egg thing when making eggnog- or vanilla-flavored ice cream, since other flavors don't benefit fro the extra egginess.
To make the cornstarch one, mix the cornstarch with any other powders you will use (the sweetener, plus the cocoa if you're making chocolate flavor). Then mix the milk in, starting with just enough to moisten it. That's how you avoid lumps, and the method works with other sauces, too. Then cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high heat until it boils.
Then, slowly pour the hot milk mixture into the eggs, whisking quickly. Pouring it in slowly is called "tempering" and it prevents the eggs from cooking unevenly and becoming stringy. Once you've poured it all in, return it to the stove, over medium-low heat. Cook, whisking constantly.
The right time to stop cooking is difficult to see until you've gotten a feel for it. Basically, the custard will thicken a little and acquire a slightly wiggly texture, sort of like gelatine in a very subtle way. Remove it from the heat immediately. Placing it into a pan of ice water is a good idea, and it helps speed the cooling so you can eat your ice cream sooner.
Then, a few seconds later, it overcooks and begins to curdle. Oops! If it curdles, just put it into a blender and blend. It will be fine.
This obviously has to cool before it's ready. If you put hot liquid into your ice cream maker, it won't freeze (duh) so chill thoroughly first. You can chill it in your freezer if you stir it every 20 minutes to keep it from freezing around the edges into chunks.
There you have it! Here, have some recipes:
Strawberry
2 cups slices strawberries
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup Splenda
1 tbsp lemon juice (optional)
1/4 tsp vanilla
Puree in a blender. Ta-da!
Ricotta
1 cup milk
1 cup ricotta
1/2 cup Splenda
1 tsp vanilla
Whisk together. Yay!
Fudgicle
2 cups milk
1 packet chocolate jell-o
1/4 cup cocoa powder (plain, not the sweetened kind)
1/3 cup Splenda
Whisk the cocoa, Splenda, and jell-o powder together. Then whisk in the milk. Pour it into the ice cream maker before it sets!
Eggnog
1 3/4 cups milk
1 small can evaporated milk
3 eggs
2/3 cup Splenda
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 shot spiced rum (optional)
1 tbsp butter
Whisk dry ingredients together, then add milk. Cook until it begins to boil, then slowly whisk into the eggs. Return to heat and cook until slightly thickened, then remove from heat to a bowl of ice. Whisk in the butter and the rum. This one is better if it has a longer time to chill. You can make a double (or triple...) batch for drinking normally.
Homemade ice cream requires 5 - 15 minutes of prep, 18 minutes of hands-off "cook" time, and 5 minutes of cleanup, each time. For some people that is prohibitive, which is understandable, but I can usually find 10 minutes to spare for ice cream when I'm in the mood. (That's basically every day.)
Sugar-free, low-fat ice cream will freeze as hard as a rock if you don't eat it right away. Commercially made low-fat and sugar-free ice creams have a ton of stuff added to keep them soft, including air, which I find unsatisfying, not to mention kinda gross.
Making your own ice cream requires something thicker than plain milk, or it will become a fluffy slush instead of a nice creamy soft-serve. I have four ways of doing this:
Easiest: Jell-o Pudding
Next Easiest: Ricotta Cheese
Then: Pureed Fruit
And finally: Stirred Custard
For jell-o ice cream, just mix some instant jell-o and then pour it into the ice cream maker before it sets. This will produce a firm but not-very-frozen ice cream in a very short time, say 13 minutes. Ariel really likes the texture of this, but I don't like the flavors much. I do like a flavor I call "fudgicle" where I make chocolate jell-o but add extra cocoa powder to make it more chocolatey.
Ricotta cheese ice cream is the highest in fat and calories, so I only serve this when I'm expecting us to be hungry. You just mix equal parts premium quality ricotta and milk, and then add vanilla and sweetener to taste. The ricotta has to be really good, like Biazza brand. Don't settle, or your ice cream will be grainy and unpleasant. It's almost as easy as jell-o and produces a more icy ice cream.
Pureed fruit ice cream is tricky, because the fruit flavor is surprisingly difficult to predict once frozen. Freezing changes how our taste buds taste. The easiest recipe is to put sliced fresh strawberries in a blender, add milk to about 2/3 of the way to the top of the strawberries, and blend until smooth. Then strain out the seeds. You can also do this with peaches, cherries, cooked rhubarb, and blackberries. Pumpkin ice cream's good, too.
Stirred custard is the most traditional ice cream. "Real" ice cream was made this way, and in some places it still is. Stirred custard, also called creme anglais or pouring custard, is made by cooking eggs and milk together until it thickens, but not until you get scrambled eggs. The rest of this post is about custard, FYI.
Eggs set when heated. We all know that. The egg proteins tighten up and become rigid, but not all at once. There is a time when the proteins are beginning to tighten, but haven't yet gotten so tight that they become solid strings. That's when you have custard, like pumpkin pie. Stirred custard is a tiny bit earlier than that, where the proteins are still flexible and liquid.
You can imagine that the timing of this is pretty sensitive. You can find recipes for creme anglais everywhere, but mine is one of these two:
2 cups milk
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 beaten eggs
OR:
2 cups milk
3 beaten eggs
I normally only do the three-egg thing when making eggnog- or vanilla-flavored ice cream, since other flavors don't benefit fro the extra egginess.
To make the cornstarch one, mix the cornstarch with any other powders you will use (the sweetener, plus the cocoa if you're making chocolate flavor). Then mix the milk in, starting with just enough to moisten it. That's how you avoid lumps, and the method works with other sauces, too. Then cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high heat until it boils.
Then, slowly pour the hot milk mixture into the eggs, whisking quickly. Pouring it in slowly is called "tempering" and it prevents the eggs from cooking unevenly and becoming stringy. Once you've poured it all in, return it to the stove, over medium-low heat. Cook, whisking constantly.
The right time to stop cooking is difficult to see until you've gotten a feel for it. Basically, the custard will thicken a little and acquire a slightly wiggly texture, sort of like gelatine in a very subtle way. Remove it from the heat immediately. Placing it into a pan of ice water is a good idea, and it helps speed the cooling so you can eat your ice cream sooner.
Then, a few seconds later, it overcooks and begins to curdle. Oops! If it curdles, just put it into a blender and blend. It will be fine.
This obviously has to cool before it's ready. If you put hot liquid into your ice cream maker, it won't freeze (duh) so chill thoroughly first. You can chill it in your freezer if you stir it every 20 minutes to keep it from freezing around the edges into chunks.
There you have it! Here, have some recipes:
Strawberry
2 cups slices strawberries
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup Splenda
1 tbsp lemon juice (optional)
1/4 tsp vanilla
Puree in a blender. Ta-da!
Ricotta
1 cup milk
1 cup ricotta
1/2 cup Splenda
1 tsp vanilla
Whisk together. Yay!
Fudgicle
2 cups milk
1 packet chocolate jell-o
1/4 cup cocoa powder (plain, not the sweetened kind)
1/3 cup Splenda
Whisk the cocoa, Splenda, and jell-o powder together. Then whisk in the milk. Pour it into the ice cream maker before it sets!
Eggnog
1 3/4 cups milk
1 small can evaporated milk
3 eggs
2/3 cup Splenda
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 shot spiced rum (optional)
1 tbsp butter
Whisk dry ingredients together, then add milk. Cook until it begins to boil, then slowly whisk into the eggs. Return to heat and cook until slightly thickened, then remove from heat to a bowl of ice. Whisk in the butter and the rum. This one is better if it has a longer time to chill. You can make a double (or triple...) batch for drinking normally.
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