Recipe Wed May 07 2008
With all this talk about mice and rats having the run of O'Hare, I decided it was a good opportunity to talk about ratatouille, the summery, stewed vegetable dish of French origins ("ratatouille" literally means "toss food"). A colorful mix of peppers, eggplant, zucchini, tomato and spices cooked in a dutch oven, it's a good use of healthy food, and with Farmer's Market season just around the corner (Green City Market kicks off on May 14!), keeping a recipe handy is a good idea; Smitten Kitchen has a nice photo of her delicious-looking ratatouille experiment, and you can find a range of recipes online.
- Robyn Nisi |
Recipe Sun Apr 27 2008
We dry-roasted dried peppers. Vaporized hot pepper hit the back of my throat, in a strength which that part of my body might never have felt before. I've long been a fan of spicy foods, but they usually concentrate their burn in the mouth. Or the nose. Rodney warned me to open windows. I brought in a strong fan. We still couldn't help coughing. It seemed like we used a few dozen dried peppers. That seemed like an awful lot of chilies for this Oaxacan black mole. Did I make a mistake? Did the recipe call for fresh peppers? Fresh weigh more, meaning we'd need to use less. No, the instructions mentioned dried chilies. In the end, the heat of the mole softened and mellowed. With various pepper shells and seeds perfuming the air for some time, perhaps it lost some power. Sure, it was still no friend of the timid. After serving it on flanks of sautéed marinated tofu atop toasted corn tortillas, peppers, carrots and onions, the mole was also a big fan of Meleah's chocolate chip peanut butter cookies – a rich and juicy accomplice to a tender, crumbly cookie that melted perfectly in my mouth. Fill a pastry bag full of this mole, pipe it into chocolate cupcakes, and I'm sure you'll be smiling. Or tearing. Here's the recipe. You might find all of the ingredients at reasonable prices at a neighborhood bodega.
- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Thu Apr 24 2008
"I have nothing against butter and cream. But it was exciting and daring to make a vegan béchamel." That's what my friend Ariel told me as she began to explain her lasagna, with a few other modifications. To keep kosher for Passover, she used matzo instead of noodles, and a roux made with ground matzo meal instead of flour. She layered eggplant, soy cheese, béchamel, and matzo crackers, which soften when cooking, especially after covering them with the béchamel.
Ariel found this vegan béchamel recipe, changed it for Passover, and quadrupled it.
First, to make a roux, melt non-dairy butter (Soy Garden or Earth Balance). Ariel told me that she doesn't measure – something I'm a big fan of not doing, too. I think it's often good to know what properties to look for in your cooking, rather then blindly putting in measured amounts. In this case, add enough pulverized matzo meal to make the consistency of a batter. To avoid a gritty sauce, grind the matzo to a powder first.
Continue reading this entry»
- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Tue Apr 22 2008
A friend woke up thinking of empanadas this weekend. Luckily for me, we were meeting in my kitchen later. We turned out three versions. Garlic and sautéed-tender kale reminded me of spinach rolls at the Middle Eastern Bakery. We added enough brown sugar to a pumpkin and chickpea filling to make it nearly approach a dessert. Finally, the heat of a spicy soy chorizo-potato filling mellowed in the oven, but left us enough of the deep, heavily seasoned fake pork sausage flavor. Pre-cooked brown rice would stand in quite well for the potatoes, too. Not quite sure how to make the appropriate dough, we searched, and ended up modifying a recipe from about.com, replacing the eggs with tapioca flour to keep vegan. We tried rolling the dough to various thicknesses, but it was best paper-thin, which baked up the crispiest.
Dough
3 cups flour, plus extra for dusting
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus cold water
2 tablespoons tapioca flour
1 teaspoon vinegar
3 tablespoons non-dairy butter (ex: Earth Balance)
Continue reading this entry»
- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Mon Apr 21 2008
Should you need more evidence that spring has finally arrived, Chicago’s food blogs have lightened up noticeably in the past couple of weeks, featuring flavors both delicate and zippy, and nary a cream-laden pasta dish in sight.
Have a Bite reminds us – or informs us, as was the case with me – that it’s halibut season, with recipes for two main course fish dishes and several complementary sides.
This cracked wheat salad from My Vegetable Blog is so seasonal, “spring” is in its name.
Pro Bono Baker knows that everyone loves a good broccoli salad, especially when accompanied by adorable pictures of Burmese cats. Frankly, I’m not wild about the concept of radish and buttermilk soup, but maybe you are, eh?
Blue Kitchen has Parisian foods on the brain these days, but not just the stinky-cheese-and-crusty-bread variety. Here’s a spicy shrimp dish sure to make your tastebuds say, “Mon Dieu!”
Now, what to do with all of those leftover bits of halibut, spears of asparagus, and florets of broccoli? Try your own version of the Recipe of the Week, the cleverly named “Clean Out the Fridge” Frittata. Keep this one on file, and you’ll never go hungry (though the worms in your compost bin may be singing the blues.)
That’s all for this week, but please send links to your favorite Chicago food blogs so I can mine them regularly for my Recipe Roundups.
- Mandy Burrell |
There aren't too many diners that I know of that serve as eclectic a menu (PDF) as Glenn's Diner (1820 W. Montrose). Technically, the restaurant is called Glenn's Diner and Seafood House, and they mean it: the place offers breakfast all day, a wide array of sandwiches and salads, homestyle diner dinners like spaghetti and meatballs, and — here's the kicker — more than 16 varieties of fresh fish that on any given day may include mahi mahi, salmon, Alaskan king crab legs, skatewing and shark.
On our recent visit, my husband Brian and I both ordered the $12.95 First Catch Special, available Tuesday through Saturday from 11am to 6pm, and billed on the menu as a half-pound of fresh fish, small salad, cup of soup, roasted red potatoes, and fresh vegetable. We were allowed to select our fish from four or five different options. Brian went with swordfish, and I chose mahi mahi. Despite that his swordfish was slightly overcooked, overall we agreed we got a great deal. The "small" salad is actually quite large, and the "cup" of soup is served in a tall mug. The kitchen substituted potato pancakes for our roasted red potatoes without asking, but we didn't care because the pancakes were crusty on the outside, creamy on the inside, and incredibly flavorful. A large portion of roasted asparagus &mdah; Brian's favorite vegetable — rounded out the plate. There was so much food that I took about half of mine home and made a nice lunch out of it the next day. Needless to say, we had no room for dessert.
We plan to bring my family to Glenn's when they come to town, and Brian already knows what he's going to order: the shrimp po'boy. Me? I'm stuck between the Reuben sandwich and Mediterranean omelet, but either way I'm ordering a side of potato pancakes.
- Mandy Burrell |
Recipe Thu Apr 17 2008
I happened to pick up a copy of
Glamour magazine yesterday--at a hair salon, of course. And in the front of the mag, it may even have been the letters page, there was a recipe for
Engagement Chicken. According to the lore, the recipe has been floating around the
Glamour offices for 26 years, and passed from assistant to assistant until each one prances happily down the aisle. A Google search proves that the recipe is indeed legendary; there's a
Chowhound message board about it, which reveals the original recipe came from cookbook author Marcella Hazan, specifically from her
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. Other food bloggers wonder if a simple roast chicken is really enough to convince a man to marry, not only because it's a huge and scary commitment, but also because it's not a very sophisticated dish. A lot of single men can probably roast their own chickens. Is the way to a man's heart really a trussed chicken?
- Lori Barrett |
Recipe Sat Apr 05 2008
A friend invited me to her Purim party a few weeks back, and then seemed to chuckle at my interest in making a vegan version of hamantashen. I told her that someone had once made me some very tasty vegan rugelach, a feat perhaps equally surprising. Later she sent me a vegan recipe she'd found for hamantashen. I mixed the dough, chilled it overnight, rolled it out, cut it, dotted with preserves, and tri-folded each piece into a hat. The recipe said to bake for 10 to 12 minutes, but I found myself adding 2 minutes to the kitchen timer more than a few times after 10 minutes. I feared I'd burn the hamantashen, wandering if I should pull them when I saw the slightest hint of golden brown on the edges. I waited another 2 minutes, and then took them out just in time; the bottoms were golden.
Don't skimp on quality preserves, because whatever fruit substance you have really comes through when the dough bakes up like a brilliant shortbread. I used Earth Balance's Buttery Sticks for the non-dairy butter. If I make this again, I might follow another friend's suggestion to add poppy seeds to the dough for a nice crunch.
Here's the recipe.
Update: The morning after I posted this, I took hamantashen dough from my fridge, and went to work on making another batch. It came with me for a picnic on a grassy strip that is part of Chicago’s boulevard system — two parallel columns of green space buffering a few lanes of traffic in front of lovely old homes and apartment buildings, which wind their not exactly contiguous way around Chicago. We set out blankets down and went to work on food and drink on the first glorious weekend of spring.
- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Tue Apr 01 2008
Baseball season is upon us, which means hot dog sales are going through the roof! This Pear and Pepper Relish from Pro Bono Baker will have you shouting, “Fukudome!” Or something.
What do you think’s in the burger? You won’t get an actual recipe at Thursday Night Smackdown, but c’mon, do you really need a recipe for a hamburger? What you will get is plenty of inspiration to create your own mini versions of another ballpark favorite, the burger-fry combo.
Barley and amaranth are so last year. According to Hungry Mag, the new grain about town is millet.
Finally, here’s my Recipe Find of the Week (a completely subjective award given to the recipe that sounds more delicious/intriguing/inventive than all the rest): Spicy Sweet Chicken made with maple syrup, chili paste and Chinese five-spice powder, paired with Szechuan Green Beans with Garlic. Thanks, Blue Kitchen.
- Mandy Burrell |
Recipe Tue Apr 01 2008
Gapers Block sister site, Rubber Neck, out in L.A., has posted an item about a new health drink being guzzled by the bucketful. The drink, which is said to be even more miraculous for the complexion and the body than Master Cleanse, was created by Estelle Marie, the dietician for Heidi Montag, the glowing and curvaceous character on The Hills on MTV.
"Many people think the changes in my face and my body are from surgery, but the truth is, I owe it all to Estelle's concoction," Montag told Rubber Neck. "Who would have known the combination of coffee and olive juice could change the shape of a nose?"
The recipe is below.
1/2 cup of black coffee
15 drops of Tabasco
1/2 cup of water
5 shakes black pepper
5 shakes salt
In another bowl, or a mortar and pestle if you have one, mash up one fortune cookie (remove fortune first) with 2 tbsp of olive juice
Combine with liquid ingredients, top with red sprinkles and enjoy.
For more information on Estelle's food recommendations, click here.
- Lori Barrett |
Recipe Tue Mar 25 2008
None of these dishes would a meal make – unless, of course, you make them all at once and serve them with a bottle of wine.
For the caviar-haters among us (I’ll admit it; I’m so uncultured), try Beluga lentils instead in this protein-packed crostini recipe featured on My Vegetable blog.
Let’s see. You take a ball of fresh mozzarella, encase it in freshly made bread dough, sprinkle the top with something called Bacon Salt (which I’ll admit, I’ve never tried, but I want some immediately) and bake. I’ll take a baker’s dozen – each served in its own Bacon Bowl. Thanks, Two Bites!
Easter’s over. Purim, too. Still, I’d argue it’s impossible to tire of ethnic bread recipes featuring the prominent use of boiled eggs.
Got duck fat? This roasted potato recipe is for you.
Cap off your finger food feast with a victorious dessert, fork required: chocolate soufflé!
- Mandy Burrell |
Recipe Tue Mar 11 2008
Tonight, I suggest you pick up a nice bottle of red wine and invite your friends over for Sunday brunch: this week, local food bloggers are offering up recipes for sophisticated and fast mid-week meals, and comforting weekend breakfasts.
I'll get to the brunch menu in a moment, but first here are two great excuses to buy a bottle (or two) of red: Mushroom and Red Wine Risotto, a nice little vegan number from My Vegetable Blog; and from The Blue Kitchen, a perfect companion dessert pairing red wine and strawberries.
If it's chicken you crave, try this Chicken and Cous Cous Salad from The Knife Sharpener. Cous cous is super fast, and the addition of radishes gives this salad a peppery kick. Cook up extra chicken on Cous Cous Night, and you'll be prepped and ready to whip up Russian Chicken Salad the following night.
Who can resist a mid-week hero? Try this zesty meatball version, compliments of Little Spatula. A simple salad with Italian dressing would make a healthy side.
Did you invite your friends over for Sunday brunch yet? I hope so, because Thursday Night Smackdown (a blog from New Jersey, written by a friend) promises the "best eggs ever." Bold statement, but when you read the recipe, you just might find yourself nodding in agreement. Pair this creamy egg dish with Matcha Pancakes, which I'm going to go ahead and call "healthy" because of the matcha. Complete the spread with a side of sauteed spinach, plus grapefruit segments, vanilla yogurt, coffee and tea.
- Mandy Burrell |
Recipe Mon Mar 03 2008
I'm a big fan of oats in pancakes. I often switch ground oats for half of the flour. I took this to a whole new level this weekend by switching the oats for a multigrain mix of rolled whole rye, barley, oats and wheat, and cooking the pancake batter in a cast iron pan wet with peanut oil. I also tossed in poppy and sunflower seeds for a nice hearty crunch, inspired by Heidi Swanson. The pancakes turned out nice and toasty, I presume from the rye and barley, but not fluffy, perhaps also due to these hearty grains.
Here's the recipe, altered from my long time favorite base pancake recipe, which I posted last April. Peanut oil lends a deep, earthy fragrance, but feel free to substitute. I frequently like to use what I have on hand. When I ran out of poppy seeds, I moved instead to cashew pieces for something crunchy.
Continue reading this entry»
- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Thu Feb 28 2008
Kim Schwenke, pastry chef at Sepia, shares her recipe for Zebra Icebox Cake in the March issue of Food & Wine magazine. Special ingredients like Marsala and marscapone make this dessert a layered delight. The slightly ambitious recipe after the jump.
[Photo by Con Poulos Photography for Food and Wine]
Continue reading this entry»
- Bobbi Bowers |
Recipe Sun Feb 24 2008
I'm an avowed menu planner, which until now has meant curling up on the couch with some of my favorite cookbooks and the latest issues of Cooking Light, Gourmet and Everyday Food to select what's for dinner for the next two weeks.
I'm not abandoning my cookbooks and magazines entirely, but I've expanded my menu search to include Chicago's many excellent food blogs. Here's the first in what will be a weekly roundup of recipes recommended by, and in some cases created by, Chicago food bloggers. A general observation: it's February in Chicago, which means lots of the recipes I found featured pasta, bread, cheese or some combination thereof. I say, embrace it; spring is right around the corner.
Continue reading this entry»
- Mandy Burrell |
Recipe Sat Feb 23 2008
Last Sunday, I attempted something I've never attempted before: making souffles. I went and bought six ramekins and stocked up on all the goodies, including a bar of Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate.
I whisked, melted, whipped and folded my way through the recipe. Thinking they looked pretty good, I put my six sugar-coated ramekins in the oven. Over-eager, I kept peaking through the oven door every five minutes expecting to see six beautifully-risen chocolate souffles. 
Except they never rose.
I'm not sure where I failed. Were my stiff peaks not stiff enough? Did I fold with too much fury? Or maybe souffles really are as hard to master as I've been lead to believe.
I'm determined to master the souffle. Maybe it was the recipe that let me down -- or maybe it was my lack of souffle skillz. Either way, check back later for a second souffle attempt.
[Photo from Cooking Light]
- Bobbi Bowers |
Diet magazines tell me I'm "an evening snacker" (supposedly that's a bad thing?). It's the time when I get creative (and caloric) with the snacks I conjure up to sate the post-dinner cravings.
This weekend's errands brought me to both Target and Trader Joe's where I picked up a container of Cantaré Olive Tapénade and bag of Archer Farms Black Pepper and Sea Salt potato chips (I'm addicted to the baked version), respectively. It hadn't occurred to me to introduce the two to each other, but their marriage was fated.
Struck by a taste for something salty, I opened the cupboard and found the chips. I took a bite. It wasn't enough. As if someone had softly whispered "olive tapénade" in my ear, I thought of the spread and placed a quarter teaspoons of the briny mix onto my chip. Crunchy, salty, satisfying and just nearly over-the-top, my latest snack hack compelled my husband to refer to me as FG (Food Genius) for the rest of the evening.
- Meghan Murphy Gill |
Recipe Mon Jan 28 2008
You may not own a tagine (the Moroccan cone-shaped cooking vessel pictured at left), but that doesn't mean you can't make a tagine in the comfort of your own home. Many tagine recipes can be successfully executed in a dutch oven or other large, oven-safe saucepan (i.e. no plastic handles). This tagine recipe produces richly spiced, tender pieces of chicken, which can be served over rice or couscous with the accompanying dried fruit and butternut squash, which lend a distinctly North African flavor. This mixture of sweet and savory is complimented by a variety of spices which add warmth without serious heat, perfect for the next bone-chilling cold spell that sweeps through the city.
Continue reading this entry»
- Dana Currier |
Random Sat Jan 26 2008
On Friday, my hubby and I had a very Chicago kind of night in an unexpected setting: our apartment. Hometown blues legend Buddy Guy was featured on WXRT 93.1 FM, we had some Goose Island beer on hand and we decided to cook a dish from local darling Rick Bayless' "Mexico One Plate at a Time" &mdash Camarones al Mojo de Ajo, or Quick-Fried Shrimp with Sweet Toasty Garlic.
XRT DJ Tom Marker's soothing voice, Buddy Guy's "Sweet Home Chicago," some Oatmeal Stout, and the shrimp, cooked in a fragrant oil made by simmering two heads (not cloves) of chopped garlic in extra virgin olive oil, then adding the juice of a lime and two adobo chilies from a can, were the perfect anecdote to a cold, snowy evening.
No slogging through the snow to a crowded bar. No burning our mouths on deep-dish pizza. No visit to the over-priced Sears Tower Sky Deck. But a very fine Friday night in Chicago, indeed.
- Mandy Burrell |
Recipe Wed Jan 23 2008
A few years ago I visited my friend Margaret in St. Petersburg, Russia where she had been living for some time. I could speak endlessly of the culinary delights that I found in that country, but one that stands out was the Korean Carrot Salad sold in the nearby markets.
This simple salad is, as far as I know, not a Korean dish at all. Rather, it is an ingenious Russian dish that blends shredded carrots, fiery seasoning and oil. I work in West Town just down the street from Ann's Bakery, a lovely Ukrainian grocery store that will hopefully be able to stick it out now that Dominick's has moved in down the street. Ann's Korean Carrot Salad sells for about $5 a pound at their deli counter. While you are there you should probably pick up some delicious light rye bread too.
If you are feeling more adventurous, or just happen to have a lot of carrots on hand you can make your own by following recipe after the jump...
Continue reading this entry»
- Gemma Petrie |
Recipe Sun Jan 20 2008
Whenever my mom makes this recipe, she tends to make people angry. Why? Because even though it doesn't look all that good, people quickly realize how irresistible this candy is, and they become enraged once they realize they are unable to control themselves in its presence. Saltines are, of course, not an obvious ingredient in a candy recipe. It's their texture and not their flavor that's important here. By providing a base layer, they give the sugar, butter and chocolate something crispy and crunchy to cling to. Once you try this candy, you'll find that the saltines are irreplaceable in the recipe and that you'll have to exercise great self-restraint in the cracker aisle at the grocery store in order to fend off the addiction.
Continue reading this entry»
- Dana Currier |
There have been some bitter feelings since local favorite Marshall Field's became Macy's back in 2006, but Frango chocolates are sweeter than ever due to their nationwide availability. I received The Frango Cookbook: Simple Recipes & Sweet Ideas as a Christmas gift from my mother in-law—a charming and beautifully photographed dessert cookbook featuring 36 Frango-filled recipes. 
From easy recipes that even the most amateur baker could tackle (like Flourless Frango Chocolate Cake which is featured on the cover of the cookbook and uses only 3 ingredients—including 45 Frango chocolates), to ones that are a bit more complicated (like Famous Frango Chocolate Cheesecake), this is a sweet cookbook that will pull at any chocoholics heartstrings.
[Photo from Macys.com]
Continue reading this entry»
- Bobbi Bowers |
Recipe Thu Jan 03 2008
At this time of year, the last thing anyone wants is another heavy dessert. And with citrus fruits at their peak, there's no better time to make a recipe like this one. It's all in the presentation here since the ingredients are simple and there aren't many of them. Regular navel oranges work just fine, but for a more luxurious result, look for blood oranges. Once you've peeled the orange (removing every last scrap of white pith), hold it in the palm of your left hand and, using a paring knife, remove each section by cutting right alongside the membranes that separate one section from the next. Arrange the sections in a circle on a plate as pictured and squeeze on top whatever is left of the orange now that the sections are removed. Next, if you like, drizzle on a drop or two of Grand Marnier and a pinch of sugar. Finally, grate a fine dusting of good dark chocolate on top. What you'll get is a dessert that's sweet and juicy and won't leave you with that dizzy, leaden, "did I just eat twelve sugar cookies?" feeling you'd grown so accustomed to over the past few weeks.
- Dana Currier |
Random Tue Dec 18 2007
I first saw this creation on an episode of the Barefoot Contessa. A friend of Ina Garten's assembled it for a cocktail party at the summer opening of an art show, but I was immediately struck by how perfect such a centerpiece would be for a holiday party. You'll need a styrofoam tree form (which can be obtained at any craft or floral store), toothpicks, basil leaves, cherry tomatoes and bocconcini, or small balls of fresh mozzarella. The amount you'll need depends on the size of the tree form, but I recommend buying 2 pints of cherry tomatoes and 2 pint-size tubs of bocconcini for a 9-inch tree. You can use as much basil as you like, either tucking the leaves in at the base to line the plate or sticking them in between the balls of cheese and tomatoes for decoration.
- Dana Currier |
Recipe Tue Dec 18 2007
It's been two days of cookies. My sweetie and I kicked it off with small, thin and crispy chocolate cookies with a slightly chewy peppermint filling that refreshed quite well. We used the Minty Chocolate Christmas Cookies recipe that Heidi Swanson posted from her Super Natural Cooking book. I changed out the egg white for one tablespoon of tapioca flour, the butter for non-hydrogenated margarine and I was keeping vegan. Stuck on peppermint the next day, I moved to the shortbread recipe Heidi posted from Castle Cookbook that she found nearby Hearst Castle. I added one-quarter teaspoon peppermint extract with the vanilla, one-half teaspoon ground cardamom mixed with the flour, replaced margarine for butter again, and halved the original recipe to limit sugar shock. I got just what I'd expected, a cookie that held together brilliantly but crumbled in the mouth. The cardamom fragrance hit first, before the peppermint vapor invigorated. Meanwhile, a friend was on linzertorte cookies from a found recipe in two varieties (photo), hazelnut-coconut-orange-zest-vanilla with apricot jam, and almond with raspberry jam. Hers turned out quite nutty, hearty and wholesome with the perfect touch of sweetness in the center jam dot.
- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Tue Dec 11 2007
Homemade soup is one of the most comforting winter meals. I often forget how quickly a delicious bowl can be made. I reminded myself last week with the following:
Greens and White Beans Soup
Ingredients
6 C vegetable stock (I like using Edward & Sons Garden Veggie bouillon)
1 can white beans, drained
1 C frozen collard greens
1 C orzo
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
black pepper
Method
In a large pot boil water and add bouillon. Reduce heat and add greens and beans, followed by spices. Let simmer a few minutes, then increase the heat and add the orzo. Cook for 5 minutes or until the pasta is tender.
- Gemma Petrie |
Recipe Fri Dec 07 2007
With all the cranberry, pumpkin and gingerbread-flavored baked goods that seem to show up in droves at this time of year, banana bread is probably the last thing on most of our minds. But I've found that there's no single ingredient that sweetens and moistens a muffin like the humble banana. And the best thing about using bananas for baking is that they don't have to be in pristine condition. In fact, a spotted, brown, past-its-prime, downright ugly banana makes for a much better muffin or loaf of bread than a perfectly ripe one does.
Continue reading this entry»
- Dana Currier |
Recipe Thu Dec 06 2007
Many children awoke this morning to find the empty shoes they had placed outside their door last night full of candy and small gifts from St. Nick.
In the United States the story of Saint Nicholas is fairly innocuous, promising gifts to good children and coal to bad children. However, the tale was historically quite sinister in parts of Central Europe. German children feared a visit from Saint Nicholas' goat-legged companion, Knecht Ruprecht, who might beat the bad children or sometimes eat them. In Switzerland, Schmutzli would punish bad behavior by putting children in a sack and taking them to the Black Forest where he might drown them in a river. And in Croatia, Krampus might leave a metal rod for the parents to beat their misbehaved children.
However you choose to celebrate, the Saint Nicholas Center has a vast number of recipes to aid you. I'm especially intrigued by the Dutch Peppernut Cookies, made with white pepper. Find the recipe after the jump.
Continue reading this entry»
- Gemma Petrie |
Recipe Tue Dec 04 2007
My bachelorette party was on Saturday night, and my fiancee (thoughtfully) vacated the premises for the weekend to give me and my girlfriends some space. It has been awhile since I had the place to myself, so I took full advantage on Friday night by climbing into my most comfortable PJs I own, downloading the past several Grey's Anatomy episodes that I've missed, and settling down in front of the tube with my favorite comfort food: slow-cooked scrambled eggs, two pieces of toast (one with butter, one with butter and jelly), and for dessert, a bowl of granola.
If you've never had slow-cooked scrambled eggs, they're worth the extra few minutes of effort.
Continue reading this entry»
- Mandy Burrell |
Recipe Wed Nov 28 2007
Red ribbons, pine boughs and the less-traditional, but extraordinarily popular, giant inflatable snow globes are appearing in front yards across the city. While I have nothing against Christmas decorations in November, I simply cannot abide the co-mingling of two holidays. I’m talking about pumpkins, stubbornly ponderous and conspicuously orange, still competing for the limelight on random odd front porches.
People, have not your decorative gourds served you well? It’s time to gently (gently) release them into that good night. To help you let go, I’ve whipped up a recipe worthy of any great (or, rather, small to medium) pumpkin.
Here’s what you’ll need:
Continue reading this entry»
- Mandy Burrell |
Recipe Fri Nov 23 2007
A photo in the November Bon Appétit was gorgeous - luscious green brussels sprouts, thinly sliced, almost looking shredded, aside golden caramelized onions in a large white bowl edged with a deep blue stripe on top of simple kitchen workspace. It's the photo for their recipe of Brussels Sprout Hash with Caramelized Shallots. When I'd gone to Green City Market, handfuls of super fresh little Brussels sprouts seemed true to the image in the photo. I bought a pound of them at Nichols Farm's tent and commented on their size - most about 3/4-inch in diameter. One worker told me that he doesn't peel these small ones - just wash and cook. I asked about dark spots I saw on the surface. Another told me they don't spray and suggested that it wouldn't be good if there weren't marks. I needed one and one-half pounds for the recipe as is, so I adjusted all quantities by two-thirds.
Continue reading this entry»
- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Fri Nov 16 2007
My Mom's been asking me to email her my vegan waffle recipe. It's the latest version in my slowly ongoing attempts to create a good recipe. It has a nice but lean crispy crunch and releases from the waffle iron with ease. And unlike previous recipes, it's relatively simple. One earlier version used ground cashews and flax seeds, another had almond meal plus peanut oil and ground oats, a third used egg-replacer, another wanted white vinegar or lemon to forge buttermilk, and yet another recipe used blackstrap molasses.
In this latest recipe, the only thing that might be at all hard to find is the tapioca flour. But it does make for a super gooey consistency that holds the batter together quite well. This one's for you, Mom.
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon tapioca flour
4 teaspoons sugar
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
Dashes of salt
1 cup soy milk
2 tablespoons oil (I like grapeseed oil)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Spray a waffle iron with oil and preheat it. Whisk dry ingredients. Add soy milk and whisk in until smooth. Whisk in oil and vanilla. Pour into waffle iron.
Yield: 4 square Belgium waffles
- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Thu Nov 15 2007
Real Simple's Web exclusive this week features 14 recipes for quick, easy and belly-warming soups ranging from an ultra basic French onion to a slightly more exotic spicy sweet potato and coconut and everything in between. Even if you're not a recipe follower (and who really needs to be with soups?), these are good for a little inspiration and can definitely be improved upon (Gruyere instead of Swiss on the French onion?).
- Meghan Murphy Gill |
Recipe Wed Nov 14 2007
No, not the stale leftover stuff nobody wanted from Halloween. (Bit O' Honey anyone? What was that stuff anyway?) The local publication of daily email digest Daily Candy has a recipe today for some highly seasonal pumpkin pie pancakes with cranberry maple syrup, courtesy of Moto's Ben Roche. They promise no lasers or edible ink are needed, though you will need a blender. Sounds scrumptious. And if they're not enough to get your autumnal taste buds fired up, Moto itself is all about fall flavors at the moment, with a menu offering from an apple and brown butter pairing (not likely from Amish tradition), a pumpkin tamale and more. Mmm, if fall tastes as good as it looks on paper, tie a bib on and get out your eating dress.
- Andie Thomalla |
Review Fri Nov 09 2007
Not too long ago, I scored a copy of Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food to add to my small collection of cookbooks. The pages are understated, adorned with sketches of vegetables, herbs and meat. The recipes seem basic at first glance; Waters gives instructions on grilling vegetables and preparing a chicken broth. But with recipes such as Pork Shoulder Braised with Dried Chiles and Persimmon and Pomegranate Salad, Waters asserts that simple food does not mean bland food.
The recipe for Tortilla Soup is after the jump.
Continue reading this entry»
- Meghan Murphy Gill |
Perusing the soda aisle for some Ginger Ale at Jewel last week, I noticed a few cases of Big Red. I haven't seen "America's #1 Red Soda" in years -- not that I've been missing it. When I went back to snap a photo last night, it was sold out! Apparently there are those who were longing for it.
Or maybe they were hoping to make some Big Red Cake.
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- Meghan Murphy Gill |
Blog Wed Nov 07 2007
On nights when it's my turn to cook for my roomie but I'd rather grab take out and veg with a book, I force myself into it. For a second, I would wish I had just picked us both up falafel at Sultan's, plated it, and brought out our deep fryer to pretend like I made it. It's too bad she wouldn't believe that unless the whole apartment smelled like oil. And if it really did, I might as well be making my own falafel. I usually love to cook. My weeks have been hectic (sometimes too much time wasted away on tedious tasks like searching for the perfect day bag) and it's been maybe two weeks since it's been my turn to cook. So here's a memory of a cooking love fest from a few weeks back.
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- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Tue Oct 30 2007
The National Museum of Mexican Art is holding a contest to find the best family recipes for Recetas de mi tierra, an upcoming cookbook to celebrate the Museum's 20th anniversary. A contest for the best recipes that have "survived the journey" from Mexico to Chicagoland is being held, with the winners receiving a free copy of the book, which will include their recipe, a biography and photograph of their family. Deadline is October 31. Click here for more details.
- Robyn Nisi |
Recipe Mon Oct 29 2007
It's finally autumn; the chill in the air seems to be sticking around, the trees are raining down gloriously hued leaves onto the sidewalks, and the local famers' tables are brimming with apples, pears, pumpkins, yams, bunches of Indian corn and twigs of bittersweets. From the cornucopia of autumn, I've always loved the combination of sweet potatoes and apples. One recent morning, I returned to my old favorite combination for breakfast.
Essentially a big, multi-serving pancake loaded with sweet potatoes and apples, then cut into individual pieces at the table, this autumn harvest pancake makes for a fun presentation. The sweet potato circles, embedded on the surface of the flipped-up pancake announce autumn, and their earthy sweetness is met by the tart-sweet goodness of the apple wedges hidden inside. And best of all, it only takes a bowl and a skillet to cook.
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- Yu Kizawa |
Recipe Mon Oct 29 2007
We have a Halloween party every year. And while the food we serve varies from year to year, the one constant is the gelled cheeseball I make with a brain jello mold. The first year I made it, I followed a recipe I found online that combined canned mushroom soup, cream cheese and shrimp, along with some unflavored gelatin (and lemon juice and tabasco sauce). It was tasty, and there wasn't much left by the end of the night. The next year, I tried making it with crab meat instead. It didn't taste as good or, more importantly, have the right texture or the right shade of pinkish gray to look like a brain. This year, since my son won't eat meat or seafood, I used sun-dried tomatoes instead of shrimp. Again, the color and the texture weren't quite as brainy as they were the first year, but it was a good vegetarian version. Plus, the yellow oil that the sun-dried tomatoes came in formed a little pool around the brain, which was a nice effect. The recipe for the shrimp version follows.
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- Lori Barrett |
Recipe Sun Oct 28 2007
My roomie Liz, our friend Andy and I used to alternate cooking dinner for each other a few times a week. Those nights, I felt like I was eating with family until the dinners faded months ago. A few days after Andy suggested a revival, Liz was searing slices of leftover neatloaf in a small cast iron pan.
I'm vegan, which pretty much makes our dinners vegan. Our dining room table was full of analogues to traditional American comfort food in sturdy baking dishes. A square glass dish held baked mac (rotini instead of macaroni this time) and not-cheese. Pan seared neatloaf lined a deep white oval baking dish. A small wavy white pitcher was full of gravy Liz had just made from scratch. A slender white candle completed a metaphor of comfort food purity. A clear glass bowl held pureed cauliflower. It looked like mashed potato, but tasted clearly not - much lighter.
After dinner, I asked Liz to explain what she made. Below are my notes with Liz's quotes mixed in. Amounts weren't measured, but in many cases I asked Liz to tell how she knew when she had added the correct amount of an ingredient. Improvising based on what's going on is key. Any stated quantities have been guessed after the fact.
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- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Sun Oct 28 2007
If Jay's Potato Chips will be no more by the end of this year, then now is the time to take advantage of this crispy chip while it still exists. You can start by making potato chip cookies, one of the best marriages of snack foods ever. Here is a simple, killer recipe.
- Robyn Nisi |
Chef Wed Oct 24 2007
Paula Deen, the Food Network's queen of country cuisine, is coming to The Chicago Theater on November 17th for two live shows. Paula will share her favorite down home recipes with fans, as well as cooking tips and advice. Tickets are still available for both shows. You bet your britches that I'll be there.
Can't wait until November? Try making one of my favorite Paula recipes--corn casserole--at home. (Warning: recipe may not be suitable for the calorie-conscious.)
Paula Deen's Corn Casserole
1 (15 1/4-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn
1 (8-ounce) package corn muffin mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together the 2 cans of corn, corn muffin mix, sour cream, and melted butter. Pour into a greased 9 by 13-inch casserole dish. Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and top with cheddar. Return to oven for 5 to 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Let stand for at least 5 minutes and then serve warm.
- Bobbi Bowers |
Recipe Mon Oct 08 2007
Frozen bananas arguably make a shake from what would otherwise be a cold smoothie. On hot sweaty days that bring fantasies of an endless crisp fall, I think of such frozen drinks - the thick type that leaves your mouth and throat well chilled. I created the recipes below when it had been very hot - when the toothpaste in my un-air-conditioned bathroom turned as warm as a fresh baked pie; when I'd replenished myself with four pints of water in some two minutes; and when I'd smell of the ginger spray I use after bicycling to work. That is when a shake makes its best appearance. Here are some of my favorites.
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- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Mon Sep 24 2007
Ordinarily on Sundays, my spouse and I treat ourselves to brunch at one of the many many great brunch spots Chicago has to offer. But this past weekend I suggested we make a run to our favorite grocery store (Harvest Time, a Mexican/Eastern European/Greek market) and make our own brunch at home. It saved us a little money, and if we worked together on the prep and clean up, we'd save a little time, too. The heat is no longer stifling when we turn on the oven or stove, so it was hight time we get back to cooking breakfast.
These corn cakes are a modification of the "Johnnycakes" recipe in Joy of Cooking, a regular resource for me. I added a couple of tablespoons of diced red pepper, green onion and grated cheddar cheese to the batter for extra flavor. The corn cakes work more as a stand-alone meal with the added ingredients.
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- Meghan Murphy Gill |
Recipe Sun Sep 23 2007
I am not one to do any promotion for Trader Joe's, the store that needs no promotion, but now that fall is here, I will be making more trips for their Pumpkin Bread and Muffin Mix. While I've gotten burned on some of unevenly satisfying TJ's products (turkey sausage stromboli, our time was brief and flavorless), they hit major paydirt with this powdered mix, which produces a moist, well-textured and correctly spiced loaf.
- Robyn Nisi |
Recipe Thu Sep 20 2007
I love Thai curries. But sometimes I find the curry-infused veggies in them somewhat disappointing--whatever vegetables you use, they all taste like curry, because the flavor of the curry is so strong (though tasty). The other day, I wanted to cook some Thai red curry with (some of the last batch of) the summer veggies I had at hand, and decided to tweak the usual recipe to address that "all the veggies taste alike" problem. After all, it's mid-September and we're soon saying goodbye to the beautiful summer veggie season.
Instead of cooking the veggies (grape tomatoes, an orange pepper and a bitter melon--an eggplant I thought I had turned out to be quite dead), I grilled them in the little toaster oven. While the veggies cooked, I fried some ginger in palm oil in a heavy skillet, then browned some chicken thigh. When the chicken was browned on the outside, I set it aside and fried the red curry paste, added coconut milk. Then I put back the chicken in the skillet and let the curry simmer for a while. It was smelling already pretty good at this point.
In the toaster oven set at around 500 degrees, the tomatoes started to burst pretty soon, so I rescued them first and dumped in the curry skillet (which had been turned all the way to the lowest setting to keep it warm without losing all the liquid), . After several more minutes, the skin on the pepper started to brown and bubble up, which then I transferred to the skillet. The bitter melon took a while to cook, probably about 15 minutes. When, finally, the bitter melons were nice and brown, I put them in the skillet and turned up the heat to quickly warm up everything.
Although the photograph came out rather unappetizing (which is why it's not here), the curry turned out very nice to the palate. Each vegetable still retained its own flavor and stood up against the punchy curry, which worked more like a sauce than a soup. Although the veggies didn't contribute to the flavor of the curry, the chicken did, and given the already complex aromas and flavors of the curry mix, this was more than enough. The other advantage of this method was that I could control the cooking time for each veggie pretty easily, thus giving each one the best texture. This might just become my standard way of doing Thai red curry.
- Yu Kizawa |
Celebrated food writer, cookbook co-author and Bourdain partner-in-crime, Michael Ruhlman wrote a while ago about how the classic Caesar salad was no longer really a Caesar salad in the modern American restaurant (or rather, chain).
A call to arms was made and Ruhlman proposed the Chicken Fried Pork Belly Caesar Salad, urging chefs across the country to introduce it to their menus. While chef Chris Cosentino of Incanto in San Francisco brought his version to the dish and answered the call, Mike Mavrantonis, chef of (all places), Mike Ditka's in Oakbrook has brought it to the Chicagoland area.
Kevin Pang, writer of the Trib's Stew, reviews the dish.
- Naz Hamid |
Recipe Wed Sep 12 2007
Corn stacked up in farmers markets makes me think of the nice crunch that the crisp kernels give, as they break free of the cobs. But what do we do with all the corn? In India, I've seen husked corn roasted directly on glowing hot coals in carts on the street. The char impacts a nice chalky mouthfeel. Short of my own street cart and any charcoal whatsoever, I thought of the canned creamed corn I liked as a kid. Although, I think it would be brilliant to use the chalky coal-roasted corn in soup. I broke out the immersion blender to make a thin chowder. It's a good tool because it lets you blend in the cooking pot. You don't have to let the soup cool and then transfer it to a traditional blender. And you would want to wait for it to cool. The one time that I blended hot liquid in a regular blender, the lid blew off throwing scalding hot soup all about.
You could use a roux to thicken the soup - or reduce the amount of stock. If you want to skip the stock or bouillon cubes, try adding sautéed onions just before blending. Diced potatoes will work well, too. The soup is good hot or cold, although the salt content of the stock seems more obvious when chilled.
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- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Sun Sep 09 2007
I strolled out for a cup of coffee and a short walk to break from my Sunday afternoon reading. I came home hungry with a juicy orange tomato and an orange pepper from a farmers market I'd forgotten was going on a few blocks away. It's this kind of simple, comfortable and social going to market that inspired me to help start a program to encourage more walk-down-the-street food shopping. With slices from a loaf of multigrain, arugula and onion sprouts from a different farmers market yesterday, I toasted the perfect peanut butter treat. I used a lovely 7.5" cast iron pan I bought for a few dollars from a sidewalk sale earlier this summer. In the mouth, the peanut butter feels thick and substantial, balanced by the tomato's light juices and scrubbed clean from arugula and multigrain. The mushrooms give an earthy frangrance, and the onion sprouts leave the essence of an onion. Here's the recipe - just a few minutes of work.
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- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Fri Sep 07 2007
I am not ready to bid farewell to outdoor dining and sleeping with the air conditioner cranked. Please don't talk to me about knee-high boots, tweed coats or pumpkin anything until I see some fall foliage starting to happen, OK? See, despite the sweltering heat and humidity some would have us believe that since school and football season are back in full swing, fall is as well. The headlines on the magazine covers in the check out line read "Fall fashions for under 100 bucks!," "Celebrate Autumn with Delicious Fall Recipes," and "Prepping Your Home for Winter." That last one really irks me. It's not even Halloween. Heck, it's actually not fall, yet. There are still 14 days of summer, people!
There is, however, one thing I'm willing to put up with regarding all the hoopla over the change of the seasons: foods for noshing during football games. Perhaps it's that enjoying the salty/greasy/crunchy snacks isn't limited to the cooler seasons (however, I do think it's easier to enjoy them when you know you'll be hidden under sweaters and wool coats for the next six months).
(Keep reading for the recipe link! It's worth it, I promise.)
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- Meghan Murphy Gill |
Recipe Tue Aug 21 2007
Sables Florentin--squares of buttery sable with a rich almond-caramel topping--is one of my favorite sweets since childhood when my mom used to bake them for the special three-o'clock snack time. As a grown-up, though, I can't expect the indulgent dessert to magically pop out of my oven like they used to fifteen years ago. I've made them a few times, but it always seemed like a lot of work, even though the result has usually been more than satisfying. The most annoying part has been the making of caramel. If you don't know, let me just say that when you make caramel you're pouring cold fresh cream into a pot of lava-like, burning-hot (actually burning, come to think of it) sugar. Does it spatter? Oh, yeah.
But there's an alternative to that, as I've found out recently.
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- Yu Kizawa |
Recipe Tue Aug 21 2007
I love leisurely cooking with friends. Sometimes that means more time for sipping wine and chatting than prepping food. And that's when it's time for simple recipes that don't need precision - especially after a relaxing bike trip for groceries. Some might say that rainy days aren't fun for bicycle riding, but I think those are some of the best times. Muggy Chicago summer usually drops several degrees, the air feels refreshed and the streets are cool, not hot. Yet I don't want to get wet by another downpour. A German pal sent me a rain poncho with finger straps you use to extend the poncho over your legs as you grip the handlebars. It goes brilliantly with waterproof panniers to keep your groceries dry.
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- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Mon Aug 20 2007
When our garden runneth over with tomatoes and basil, which happens ever year around now, we like to eat them up in the freshest, most unadulterated way possible. The quick answer is to slice up the 'mater, sprinkle on some kosher salt, and layer on some freshly cut basil. If I can manage to find myself a hammock to swing on while I leisurely snack on them, I'm in heaven.
The longer and possibly more rewarding answer is to make grilled pizza. The recipe we use is from Cook's Illustrated, and we agree with their rule of keeping the pizza as lightly topped as possible. Whereas an oven-baked pie is usually smothered in a layer of parmesan or mozzarella, the grilled kind should be considered an oversized bruschetta, with a few flavorful toppings that really pop.
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- Sandy Weisz |
Summertime is a good time for food porn. Colorful, varied, and never boring, I find pics of summer dishes to be almost better than eating the darned thing. So when I got my hands on a recent Smitten Kitchen post about a Summer Berry Pudding, I began planning my own foray into photographed cooking. I was going to make the Summer Berry Pudding. And it was going to be artful, clean, and delicious. Just like the photos.
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- Robyn Nisi |
Recipe Tue Aug 14 2007
We may not have Pinkberry here in Chicago, but this recipe, from The Perfect Scoop, is said to rival Pinkberry's sweet treats. I tried the recipe, and it is yummy enough to replace ice cream (most of the time, anyway), but having missed the only opportunity I've had to taste "Crackberry," I can't say for certain which is better.
- Meghan Murphy Gill |
Recipe Sun Aug 12 2007
When a friend asked me to help pick some plums one neighborhood over, I couldn't say no. That takes local food to a whole new level for me. Four plums made vibrantly colorful, thick and juicy chutney. In the community spirit, cilantro came from Armitage Produce (Armitage and Kimball) on the way home.
Fresh Cilantro Plum Chutney
4 fresh plums, pitted and finely chopped
1 handful cilantro, finely chopped
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 dash cayenne powder for a bit of heat
4 shakes of salt
2 turns of freshly ground black pepper
Smash together with a pestle in a mortar and serve with your favorite summer veggie dish.
- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Tue Aug 07 2007
I love the way steamy blueberries burst open from hot pancakes as you break off pieces to eat. It feels even better after using berries you picked for yourself. My pal Rose drove us to Billy Boy's Blueberry Barn in Michigan City, Indiana, on comfortable and humble back roads to avoid the daily interstate congestion. Much of a blueberry plant's fruit is easily picked within an arm's length, making it something to look forward to when you're crawling around picking strawberries inches from the ground earlier in the year.
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- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Thu Aug 02 2007
When I veganize a recipe, I often wonder if I should limit the changes just to making it vegan - something that often yields a reasonably similar product. Or should I make it healthier or incorporate some other change, too? In the latter comes the risk of wrongly associating the image of a vegan product with what might better be understood as a compromise - or adjustment - in taste driven by that other change, say to limit the amount of saturated fat, salt, sugar or just plain fun. If we want, we can fatten up vegan products quite well and tasty just like their buttery counterparts. Gladly, pitting six cups of cherries by hand left me plenty of time to think about which option to choose.
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- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Thu Aug 02 2007
I need not even mention that the heat is the impetus behind my attempts to cool off in a way that doesn't involve jumping in Lake Michigan. With some limes leftover from a bulk buy (the 20 for $1 deal found in Mexican groceries all over town) and some fresh ginger, I finally put to use that cute little popsicle mold I bought at Target weeks ago. Here's the recipe:
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- Meghan Murphy Gill |
Recipe Wed Jul 25 2007
On those summer nights that find you rushing to the grocery store after work with nothing planned for dinner and yearning for something fresh off the grill, try this. Instead of passing by the potato bin, bemoaning their heavy starches and long cooking time, toss a few in your basket. When you get home, punch a few holes in each and throw them in the microwave for five minutes. It's not quite long enough to cook them through, but it's enough to give them a poor man's parboil. Meanwhile, fire up the grill. When the potatoes are done, carefully thread them onto some skewers, baste with olive oil and whatever spices you like, and grill them for another five minutes. They'll be ready for a quick light summer potato salad, say with some arugula, some grilled scallions or pearl onions, and whatever other herbs you have growing in your backporch garden.
- Sandy Weisz |
Orso's-inspired picnic makings
A good quaint Italian restaurant reminds me of the places my grandpa would take me to. They were fine, humble, had great service, and usually a pianist through the night. Orso's takes me back there. The piano plays most nights, the lighting is romantically dim, the ceilings of Old World tin, and they take care of me changing up the menu to meet my vegan whim. Their amazingly succulent portobello lying in a juicy red wine balsamic reduction needed no change. Hearty with plenty of rosemary, its deep flavor suggested molasses. After that starter, I asked for penne in olive oil with peas and mushrooms. Again, the mushrooms were fabulous, and they were in plenty. Penne came perfectly al-dente, in plenty of well-salted olive oil. Multiple wines are available by the half carafe, and they check in on you quite well. Leaving on my most recent visit, my sweetie and I had a fine time walking around the quaint streets of Old Town Triangle a few blocks up, feeling like I was in Old World Europe.
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- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Sat Jul 21 2007
Not that I'm a health nut, but I like to make Japanese-style burgers with ground chicken and tofu. Light, fluffy and aromatic, this bastard child of the manly American staple can be surprisingly satisfying. Using crushed tofu in hamburgers became popular in my home country probably a decade or so ago. Although it was initially intended as a healthier option for beef-based burgers, the method quickly became something of a national favorite thanks to its lighter texture and its versatility. Perhaps not surprisingly, this tofu-based burger sits quite well with traditional Japanese meals. I'd recommend serving it with a bowl of rice, rather than between hamburger buns. And you know what? With this tasty yet healthier version of a burger, you can have a few more of those wedge fries without a tinge of guilt!
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- Yu Kizawa |
Recipe Tue Jul 17 2007
Fresh basil sorbet was hiding out in my freezer when I arrived. My roomie Liz had crafted it using one of many harvests from our prolific basil plant. It's amazingly fragrant as basil should be, plus almost as simple as making ice. Almost. She didn't measure it out, so here the recipe is, approximated and as remembered after the fact.
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- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Mon Jul 16 2007
Beans are magical for more reasons than that. They're cheap, easy to prepare (or find prepared), and they have the miraculous ability to sop up the alcohol in that extra beer you definitely should have said "no" to.
My favorite beans come mashed and cooked in some kind of fat. Refritos, or refried beans, are so delicious at my local taqueria, but making them at home gives me a little control over the amount of fat in which they're cooked. Here's a recipe I love to use for Guatemalan refritos from the Mennonite cookbook, Extending the Table.
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- Meghan Murphy Gill |
Recipe Wed Jul 11 2007
"My informal research shows that there are lots of guys like me. There must be hundreds of mayonnaise-adverse men who are being ignored by the picnic side dish industry," says my husband the ad guy.
While I have no distaste for the classic condiment, I do think that any dish destined for an outdoor event ought to avoid the stuff. A mayo-based salad of any kind baking in the sun is just asking for trouble. So, I thought I'd share the recipe I came up with to appease both my hubby and any other folks who may share his mayo-hatah solidarity.
Mayo Hater Potato Salad
2 lbs small red potatoes
1 T Dijon mustard*
2 T cider vinegar
3 T olive oil
½ c loosely packed cilantro leaves
1 small red bell pepper, small dice
1 green onion, green & white parts, chopped
2 stalks celery, small dice
2-3 T red onion, very small dice
Salt & pepper to taste
Bring half a large pot of water to a rolling boil.
Add potatoes. Boil for 20-25 min until just tender.
Drain and let cool.
In a large bowl, whisk together mustard and cider vinegar.
Slowly whisk in olive oil. It should emulsify into a thick dressing. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
(I usually start with about 8 turns of pepper mill and 2 pinches salt.)
Rough chop cilantro and mix into vinaigrette.
Add red pepper, green onion, celery, and red onion and stir to coat.
Once potatoes are cool, cut into eighths or small pieces.
Add potatoes to bowl and gently toss with vegetables and dressing mixture.
Taste and adjust salt and pepper if necessary.
Cover and chill for about an hour before serving.
Makes about 4 side dish servings.
* Substitute a sweet/hot mustard or honey mustard for a different flavor.
- Christine Blumer |
Recipe Tue Jul 10 2007
My pal Rose had a dinner where her friend Elena (pronounced Elen-Ah) from Milan, Italy, prepared a fabulous zucchini soup from back home. "It was so fun," Rose told me as she made this soup for me. "She makes the best pizza in the world, too." Sauté the sliced onion in a pan with a thin layer of hot oil on medium heat. We used two spring onions from the farmers market instead of a grown-up medium yellow onion. Stir the thin onion slices around a bit to coat with oil, and when they're between translucent and lightly golden, add the sliced zucchini. Cover and let it sweat. After a few minutes, when the vegetables have softened a bit, cover with vegetable stock, or water if you're using bullion cubes. For the latter, Rose recommends sautéing three veggie bullion cubes in the olive oil when you start, before you add the onions, to infuse the oil with its flavor. Boil the liquid down, uncovered, until the zucchini is tender, when it succumbs to a piercing fork without resisting. Next, add parsley. Blend until just a little chunky.
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- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Mon Jul 09 2007
One of my favorite food categories in Japanese cuisine is takikomi gohan--seasoned rice. Takikomi gohan is usually seasoned with soy sauce, fish or kelp stock, sugar, and various ingredients like chicken, carrots, shiitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots are cut into tiny bits and added. There are wide range of condiments and ingredients that can be used in takikomi gohan, and it seems as though a new one is invented every day. Despite experimentations, however, takikomi gohan remains deeply seated in a Japanese mind as a comfort food that evokes the image of home and the rhythmic tapping sounds of the mother's knife against her cutting board.
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- Yu Kizawa |
Recipe Sat Jul 07 2007
These remind me of the hash browns I used to order all the time in the Chicago diners I'd happily frequent years ago before my vegan days. Shredding makes them fluffy and super soft and helps develop a nice even brown. Boil two medium russet potatoes until a fork goes in with just a tap (use any kind you like, but these are nicely starchy). If you cube them first, they'll boil much faster but make sure you have a food processor with a shredding disc as their size will make them very challenging to shred with a hand grater. Drain, rinse to cool, shake dry and shred. Mix in a few shakes of salt, more if you're a big fan of it with potatoes. Heat oil on medium in a medium pan (try a seasoned cast iron pan to give a nice brown without sticking). When the oil is hot and a touch of potato sizzles, lay down the shredded potatoes all at once to a single round about 1/4" thick and wait for the bottom to brown. Then flip - all at once if you can - and wait for the other side to go golden. Serve hot with BBQ sauce and freshly ground black pepper.
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- Chris Brunn |
Recipe Wed Jul 04 2007
Though the season's patriotic holidays have passed us by, this tart is not strictly a red, white and blue affair. Any summer fruit can be substituted for the strawberries, raspberries and blueberries which star in this incarnation. What is most appealing about this recipe is the unexpected ingredients in its shell and filling: gingersnaps and Greek yogurt. Both make for a lighter, spicier, tangier flavor than you find in a typical fruit pie. Read on for the recipe.
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- Dana Currier |
Recipe Sun Jul 01 2007
My dinner companion Meleah went through loads of fresh vegetables that had been overwhelming my fridge. This is, "what happens when lawyers in brief-writing mode get a nap," she told me as she moved from chopping block to stove making two dishes for us as I shot photos. She pan-fried thin sweet potatoes slices with onions and hot olive oil in a large cast iron skillet. Without a lid, she covered up with a sheet pan to get the potatoes cooking in their centers. "Tender to the bite," Meleah told me, but not too dry. Just after it all started to brown, fresh sage went in. Some stayed soft and tender, other pieces nicely crispened. Salt and freshly ground pepper finished it, because potatoes love this.
A Mediterranean-inspired salad came next. Meleah sautéed garlic in olive oil, then stirred in a large bowl of fresh spinach and a can of chickpeas and cooked it until the spinach went soft and wilted - just about enough time to put a little warmth on the chickpeas. She stirred in golden raisins, chopped Kalamata olives picked from their salty brine and chopped roasted cashews. A few good splashes of balsamic vinegar, salt and freshly ground pepper made it right. "Brine, salt and sweet," Meleah told me. What do you do if your spinach is too wet but it's wilted enough? Run it through a colander.
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- Chris Brunn |
Drink Sun Jul 01 2007
Currently, Trader Joe’s is carrying some of the finest little Clementine oranges I’ve seen in quite a while. Grown in Chile, this variety of mandarin orange is sold in 2lb. netted bags that retail for a very friendly $3.50. These “Premium Clementines” rate very highly in taste and have an uncommon juiciness that makes for a bit of a messy snack, but one heck of a cocktail ingredient. Sure, they work quite well in any recipe that calls for a little OJ, but a simple cocktail allows the Clementine juice’s uniquely tangy sweetness to take center stage. I’ve put together a distinctly summertime drink recipe that’s as simple as it is delicious. I’ve left the template loose to accommodate a variety of tastes.
(Continued below the fold...)
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- Bryan Delano III |
Recipe Wed Jun 27 2007
To survive the unbearably hot and humid Japanese summers, the Japanese have created a nice array of cold sweets. Today, I made one of them: shiratama dango. Tender dumplings made of sweet rice flour, shiratama dango roughly translates to "white pearl dumplings." It’s extremely easy to make, and pretty versatile in terms of what to accompany it with. Shiratama dango has a resilient yet smooth texture like mochi (surprise!). You can buy the sweet rice flour (called “shiratamako”) in Japanese grocery stores like Mitsuwa, or you can use the “mochiko” that Lori used for her mochi cake. Photographed here is a package of shiratamako that I purchased at Mitsuwa, in Arlington Heights.
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- Yu Kizawa |
Recipe Wed Jun 13 2007
My new green obsession has little to do with the environmentally-minded trends that have become so popular in recent months.
Until a few days ago, I've always preferred the red salsas over the green ones. But something happened and now I can't get enough salsa verde. So I made a giant batch of it yesterday, using a recipe supposedly attributed to Rick Bayless (I don't recall where I found it).
If you are a little less DIY-inclined, my two favorites for the tomatillo-based salsa verdes are Chef Earl's Salsa Verde and Frontera's Tomatillo Salsa.
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- Meghan Murphy Gill |
Recipe Tue May 29 2007
So, summer’s pretty much here and naturally the future-wife and I are out in the back yard, sitting in the sun, lazily sipping on beers, discussing what to make for dinner. After some misfires, the idea hits. It gets a lukewarm response at first, then it picks up steam. Within ten minutes we can’t get the idea out of our heads. Crabcakes.
My God, it’s lazy, sunny days like these that sweet and flaky crabcakes were invented to compliment. Perfect. But, we’ve got a whole week’s worth of groceries to pick up and a cross-town jaunt to the fancy-pants seafood market for air-mailed, big-dollar, fresh crab would just kill the moment at this point. It’s gonna have to be mid-grade, pasteurized, canned crab from a nearby supermarket. That’s not nearly as bad an idea as it sounds, because, once the cakes are assembled and cooked, only a seriously sophisticated palate will be able to distinguish our preserved crab from any that comes with a weekly “serve by” date. So, our search came down to price, naturally.
The brands and varieties we found were all suitable for our crabcake needs, but Trader Joe’s scored the best for offering the lowest prices and for stocking three types of canned crab meat. There’s a mid-grade, jumbo lump from Jack’s Catch for a city-wide low of $8.99/lb., a mid-grade, jumbo lump from Byrd International for the same price, and a higher-grade, body and claw blend from Byrd’s for $10.49/lb. (By comparison, Whole Foods offers only the Jack’s Catch, but asks $16.99/lb., and the only brand we were able to find at Jewel was from Chicken of the Sea for a ghastly $19.99 per ½ lb. tub.)
(Below the fold: Asian Crabby Patties with Avocado Lime Sauce recipe.)
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- Bryan Delano III |
If the well-stocked stalls at Evanston's Farmers Market is any indication, young garlics are now fully in season. On Saturday, almost all the produce stands boasted a pile of beautiful young garlic stalks. I wasn't quite sure what to do with them, but the pure white bulbs and the dewy green leaves were too much of an appeal to forgo, so I picked up a bunch from the stand of Henry's Farm, an organic farm in central Illinois.
If this were the tender flower stalks of garlic, I would lightly blanch them and marinate them with nam pla (Thai fish sauce) and sweet chili sauce. But as I cut the leaves, I realized that the leaves may be a bit too fibery for that. So I decided to make Chinese stir-fry. First, I made the sauce (a must for time-sensitive stir-fries): about 1/2 tablespoon of oyster sauce, 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of sugar, a drizzle of sesame oil and a pinch of ground black pepper. This is for two people.
Then I sautéed minced ginger in oil, and added thinly sliced carrots and garlic leaves. When the veggies are about done, I stirred in three eggs, and poured in the sauce, quickly mixing all the ingredients together. Even after cooking, the leaves still retained the green and garlicky flavor, but it was much more understated than the flavor of fully mature garlic bulbs. Served with rice, the stir-fry brought the sense of season (that's nearly lost in this era of global food distribution) to our lunch table.
Now I'll have to figure out what to do with the remaining bulbs; I might try slicing them into marinade, as I would onions, or even using them raw in a salad.
- Yu Kizawa |
Recipe Mon May 21 2007
Sure, it's Monday, which probably means you'll be lucky if you have time to grab a bowl of cereal for breakfast for the next five days. That just means you have all
