Deceptively Delicious

If you marry a famous person, does it make it easier to get your own cookbook? Jessica Seinfeld, wife of Jerry Seinfeld, has a cookbook out called Deceptively Delicious. The object of her book is to create recipes that sneak vegetables into foods her kids love. She does this using vegetable purees. Broccoli puree in beef stew, cauliflower puree in mac 'n cheese, butternut squash in spaghetti and meatballs - just a few examples of the creative ways that she can fool her children.
I got a hold of this cookbook from my neighbor Michelle. One day she texted me to come up to her apartment because she had made muffins and I had to try one. Naturally I showed up moments later, breathing hard, looking for free muffins. As I started eating she quizzed me on what I thought the ingredients were. Peanut butter? Yes. Pumpkin? No. Finally I gave up, and she revealed that there was cauliflower in the muffin. I couldn't taste it at all.
In fact, I borrowed the cookbook, made banana bread with cauliflower puree, and it tasted great. My brother got the majority of the loaf and if he tasted it before he inhaled it, he might have agreed that there was no sign of cauliflower.
Michelle admits that some of the recipes, like the aforementioned mac 'n cheese, and some of the veggie dips, are not good. But I'm curious to try other ones. Seinfeld claims that her tofu nuggets dipped in spinach puree and rolled in breadcrumbs taste like fried cheese to her kids. But we're talking about a 6 year old's palate.
My one concern about hiding vegetables in kids' food is that they never learn to eat them, but Seinfeld encourages moms to serve normal vegetables as well. And although I don't have kids, I can see the benefits of boosting my own vegetable intake - while enjoying a baked good.

The Lure of a Great Recipe

It's really sad when you want to steal a magazine from your mechanic, and even sadder when it's a cooking magazine and you already have subscriptions to two other cooking magazines. Maybe it was because I had to skip lunch to get a flat tire fixed, and I was flipping through Food & Wine's Thanksgiving issue while munching on a granola bar, but suddenly everything in the magazine looked delicious. Cassoulet with Duck Confit. Goat Cheese-Edamame Dip. Mixed Green Salad with Fig-Yogurt Dressing. Smoky Red Pepper Spread. I salivated. I poured through the recipes. I tried to memorize the spices in Spiced Catfish with Avocado. And then I considered stealing the magazine.
No one else was in the shop at the time. The mechanics were working in the garage, there were no other customers in the waiting area. It was just me and a table full of magazines about home decor, sports, and cars. No one would miss a silly little issue of Food & Wine.
Then I flipped it over and saw who it was addressed to. Firestone. It was not the name of some random customer who had kindly left it in the waiting area like a discarded newspaper with the crossword filled in. It was not a store bought copy which I could claim I had purchased myself. Firestone had a subscription to a somewhat sophisticated food magazine, and even if I was the only customer interested in it, I could not steal it.
It should be noted that I didn't want to steal the magazine because I didn't want to pay for it. I just wanted those recipes and would do anything to acquire them. No one can resist the lure of a great recipe.
Luckily Food & Wine, like Cooking Light, Bon Appetit, and Gourmet, make all their recipes accessible through their website, and I was able to find the entire set of November 2008 recipes online as soon as I got home.
To save you the trouble, here's the one for Goat Cheese-Edamame dip:

Ingredients
DIP

1. 1 1/2 pounds shelled edamame
2. 1 cup sour cream
3. 5 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled
4. 3 chipotles in adobo, chopped, plus 2 tablespoons of adobo sauce from the can
5. 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
6. 1 small garlic clove, chopped
7. 2 teaspoons kosher salt
8. 1 tablespoon chopped oregano
9.

PEPITAS

1. 1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
2. 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
3. 1/2 teaspoon salt
4. 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
5. 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
6. 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
7. 1 teaspoon chopped oregano


Directions

1. Make the dip: In a medium pot of boiling salted water, simmer the edamame until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain well and transfer to a food processor. Add the sour cream, goat cheese, chipotles, adobo sauce, lemon juice, garlic and salt and puree until smooth, scraping down the side of the bowl. Stir in the oregano and transfer the dip to a serving bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
2. Make the pepitas: Preheat the oven to 375°. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the pumpkin seeds with the olive oil, salt, coriander and crushed red pepper. Bake for 7 minutes, until the seeds begin to brown. Transfer the pepitas to a bowl and toss with the lemon zest and oregano.
3. Serve the dip at room temperature, topped with the spiced pepitas.


Make Ahead

The goat cheese–edamame dip can be refrigerated overnight; bring to room temperature before serving. The spiced pepitas can be kept in an airtight container for up to 3 days.


Serve With

Pita crisps.

Secret Recipes

Heard this topic on the radio the other day - do you have a recipe that you love to make for people but hate to reveal? I don't but I was thinking that maybe I should. When someone asks for a recipe I am so flattered that I eagerly give it out. But I need to hold back a little. Be more mysterious. After all, half the art of being a good cook is being a good recipe finder.
Either I should keep my recipes secret, or I should give out recipes with slight tweaks in the proportions. Just so no one else can make them as good as I can. Because cooking is a competition after all.

I found a website yesterday called www.hungry-girl.com. I'm a hungry girl so I was curious. The site gives tips and recipes for foods that hungry people love - cheesecake, muffins, sloppy joes, daiquiris, pizza, etc. The recipes are all modified to be lower calorie and fat content vs. the "original". I haven't tried any recipes yet, though a few look intriguing. Most of them scare me because I'm afraid the flavor will be a little off.
I'm all for healthy cooking, I love the magazine Cooking Light, and I make substitutions all the time - egg beaters for real eggs, Splenda for sugar. My problem with these recipes and the concept of making unhealthy foods less bad for you is that it's not focusing on eating healthy. It's focusing on eating less unhealthy, and that is not the same thing. I feel like these recipes don't focus on adding fiber, vitamins and nutrients to meals. And I don't condone making low fat desserts all the time just to eat dessert every day. I don't need dessert every day (even though certain roommates got me addicted to that for a while)!
That said, I will try a few of the recipes on the site that I feel make reasonable substitutions - like a guacamole recipe that mixes in yogurt to add low-calorie volume. Maybe it will work, maybe I'd rather stick to real guac - and skip dessert.

A Meal That Looks Like A Meal

"I like a meal that looks like a meal," my brother told me after describing how he baked a chicken between two frying pans, and then plated it with some steamed vegetables and rice. It sounds like a Top Chef style challenge to live in student housing, but he does have a point. Presentation counts, and when you plate your meal, even your Tuesday night dinner in front of the tv, it is that much more satisfying.
Try this: make boxed mac 'n' cheese and eat it out of the pot while gnawing on a leftover piece of fried chicken. How do you feel?
Then scoop some mac 'n' cheese onto a plate. Next to it, slice up the leftover fried chicken over some salad greens (don't you have salad greens that end up going bad every week because you buy them with the best intentions and never eat them?). Add a handful of baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, raisins, Craisins (TM) and/or nuts. Drizzle with salad dressing or just some oil and vinegar. Take a picture of your pretty meal and eat. Now how do feel?
I like taking pictures of food. How good does this salad look that my friend Tara made for my birthday party? Awesome.

Ras el Hanout

The other great part of my trip to Grand Rapids after Rose's Restaurant and the beautiful fall colors, was a visit to a little spice shop called Spice Merchants East. As soon as I walked in, I was hooked. I had to buy something. I didn't know what, but some interesting spice or spice blend was in order. I ignored the common spices - the cayenne, cumin, turmeric, and ginger. I gazed in fascination at the meat rubs and curry blends, wondering at the difference between the Butcher's Blend and the Steak Rub. I almost bought some Bamboo Rice before I decided it wasn't going to be that good just because it was green. But I wanted to buy something different and unique, with flavors I didn't normally consider. Then I found it: Ras el Hanout. It's a Moroccan spice blend with the following ingredients: Nutmeg, rosebuds, cinnamon stick, mace blade, galangal, chili pepper, green cardamom, black peppercorn, allspice berries, anise seed, brown cardamom, cloves, coriander seed, cumin seed, sesame seed, lavender, and turmeric. Who would think to put those things together? Oh let me just dry some rosebuds and throw them into the pot...
How does one cook with Ras el Hanout? There were directions on the mix but I found a simple recipe on Cookinglight.com for a beef tagine dish. See below. You can also replace the Ras el Hanout with some other Moroccan spice blend. The recipe is quite simple other than that - I made it on the stove and used dried cranberries instead of plums. Reduce the honey if you don't like things too sweet.


Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 3/4 cup beef mixture and about 2 1/2 teaspoons almonds)
Ingredients
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 2 teaspoons Ras el Hanout
* 1 1/2 pounds boneless sirloin steak, cut into 1-inch cubes
* 2 cups chopped onions (about 2 medium)
* 1 cup water
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1 (14-ounce) can less-sodium beef broth
* 1 1/2 cups pitted dried plums
* 3 tablespoons honey
* 1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425°.

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add Ras el Hanout; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add beef; cook 3 minutes. Add onions, water, salt, and broth. Cover and bake at 425° for 1 hour. Stir in dried plums and honey; cook 15 minutes. Sprinkle with almonds.

High quality ingredients

I had a really delicious olive oil today. If you've ever tasted a superior olive oil, you know it's like tasting excellent wine or chocolate. You wonder how you ever got by on the average stuff.
I had this olive oil at a little restaurant called Rose's Restaurant in East Grand Rapids, MI. Not only was the food we ordered fresh and lovely, but the extras like the olive oil served with warm bread before the meal and a mini cup of caramel corn served after the meal hit the spot. I questioned the waitress on the seasonings in the olive oil, which she said was seasoned on site. A simple mix of red pepper, black pepper, oregano, and basil was infused in the oil. The real secret was the use of first press extra-virgin olive oil. This means the olive oil is made from the first pressing of the olives and there is very little oxidation of the oil. (I looked this up in my Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating in case you were wondering - I am no chemistry whiz.) Obviously this is not the type of oil I buy for cooking, which I can pour liberally into a pan with some button mushrooms or baby spinach. This is olive oil for salads and dipping bread and simple pasta dishes, or for drizzling over a plate of steamed asparagus immediately before serving. I'm inspired to go out and find a high quality oil and make my own dipping spice blend. Bring over some warm bread and we'll have a wonderful meal.

Not My Best Work

As I ran on the treadmill last night after work, I distracted myself by dreaming about my dinner. I had marinated some ground lamb in Indian spices (garam masala, cumin, coriander, red pepper) and planned to make koftas (aka meatballs). I debated on the side dish. I had some spinach I could saute but that wouldn't fill me up. I'd rather not eat too much rice or other carbs. Then I remembered that I had a can of tomato puree in the fridge that needed to be finished. What if I made a tomato soup from it? I planned the recipe in my head. Saute some garlic and cumin seeds in olive oil, add the puree and simmer. It would be so simple, and I had cooked tomatoes like this in the past with good results.
You may be wondering now what is tomato puree. It is found in the organic food section and has far less sodium than other canned tomato products. Other than that, it is pretty much like tomato sauce. Which means the consistency is like tomato sauce. Which means it does not make a good soup.
I started cooking with gusto. I sauted the garlic, toasted the cumin seeds, sniffed the wonderful aroma. Then I poured in the tomato puree, noting as I poured that it seemed rather...thick. So I decided to add milk. Then I decided to add wine. After adding all that liquid, the puree was still begging to be spread on a crust and topped with mozarella. And my wonderful flavors of garlic and cumin were lost. I doused the "soup" with some ground cumin to no avail. It tasted like tomato sauce. Definitely not my best work.
Despite all that, I ate some of the soup for dinner. Then I ate some more for lunch. I think I'm done eating tomato puree. More to come on a successful recipe for tomato garlic soup with cumin.

Chocolate Covered Bacon

I must address a certain prejudice I've encountered every time I mention to anyone that I tried chocolate covered bacon at the Minnesota State Fair. The initial reaction is, naturally, that it must be gross. But think about it. I'm a foodie but I'm not a fast food/greasy food loving person. Would I eat anything that was that disgusting? I didn't even touch the deep-fried candy bars! I would only put something in my mouth if I had a belief that it was tasty. So give me some credit please!
The naysayers are clearly people who believe bacon is greasy and chewy. But chocolate cannot adhere to grease. The bacon in this recipe was dry and crispy, like the kind you would crumble over a salad. It had the texture of a pretzel, and we all know those are good dipped in chocolate. And the chocolate was dark and rich, so the bacon was merely a vehicle for delivering chocolate to my mouth. Not necessarily the best vehicle, but not a gross one. If you like chocolate and you don't hate bacon, refuse to eat pork, or have a strict diet, I encourage you to try chocolate covered bacon because the opportunity may not come more than once in a lifetime. And it's fun to tell people about it and watch them make faces.

Goat Cheese

There is some goat cheese in my fridge that is behaving badly. It keeps whining to be included in my meals. It has no shame in flashing its seductive, creamy body. It will mingle with mushrooms, salad, or omelets in an undiscriminating fashion. I've had enough of its attitude. The faster I get rid of it, the happier we will all be.

Try this: Spread some goat cheese on a cracker. Add a drop of honey. Devour and repeat.

Kitchen Conundrums

Lately I've been exploring a career as a kitchen detective. People tell me about (or let me taste) recipes that just didn't work out. If I question them long enough, I can find that elusive detail that explains why.
My brother was obsessed with making shrimp the way my mom makes it: spicy, savory, Indian style. The ingredients were simple: garlic, ginger, turmeric, salt, red pepper. He spiced up his shrimp and cooked it up and was sorely disappointed (this ironically probably makes my mom happy). We discussed the process - maybe he could try more marinating time - and the proportions - too much turmeric perhaps? Finally I discovered that he had been using ground ginger instead of fresh, or at least bottled ginger. No no no! Here's an easy rule to follow: for baking, use ground ginger. For everything else, especially on your proteins, use fresh ginger. (Bottled ginger can be substituted for fresh since it's hard to keep fresh ginger...well, fresh.)
Usually recipes gone bad can be fixed by the quality of ingredients. Peanut butter bars taste bad? How old is the peanut butter in your cupboard? Peanut butter, and other nuts can go bad and although they won't make you ill, they won't taste good at all. Keeping them in the fridge will help.
Be careful about what you cook with. A friend made some Thai curry and stored the extra fish sauce in the cupboard. The next time she made the same curry, it had a strong fishy smell and she was wise not to eat it. Fish sauce is not optional - it must be stored in the fridge! Smell things before you use them and when in doubt, throw it out.

Why I Cook

Because I love food, because I respect food, because I am in awe of the chemistry, because an egg can be so much more than an egg, because putting ingredients together means 1+1=something far greater than 2, because I want to know what I'm putting in my body, because it's like an experiment, because I like to do things with my hands, because I can do it better, because I like to feed people, because it's an art, because everyone can't do it, because I'm curious, because I'm hungry NOW.