Or breakfast-dinner, as we often have. I threw this together this last night and it hit the spot.
2 small-ish russet potatoes, peeled, grated on the large holes of a box grater, and squeezed dry in a dishtowel (grate the potatoes directly onto the towel, then roll it up and squeeze over the sink)
Salt and pepper
Pinch of garlic powder (optional)
2 large eggs
2 thin slices pancetta
3 Tbsp. butter, divided
Dill to taste
Hot sauce
1. In a 10" nonstick skillet, melt 1 Tbsp. of the butter over medium-high heat. With a fork, lightly toss the grated potato, about 1/4 tsp. salt, pepper, and garlic powder (if using) in a medium bowl. Dump into the hot skillet, using a large spatula to press the potatoes evenly over the surface. Cook about 5-6 minutes or until underside is golden brown, reducing heat if potatoes begin to scorch.
2. Slide the potatoes onto a large plate and add another Tbsp. butter to the empty skillet. Swirl to coat, and once melted, quickly invert the plate over the skillet so that the brown side lands up, preferably still in one piece. Cook another 4-5 minutes, occasionally shaking the skillet, then place the pancetta slices slightly off center and overlapping. Use the spatula to fold the other half of the potatoes over the side with the pancetta, and cook like this for another 1-2 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, fry the two eggs in another skillet with the remaining Tbsp butter until whites are just set. Sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Cut the hash brown "half moon" into 2 pieces, then top each with a fried egg. Sprinkle with dill and serve with your choice of hot sauce (we love Frank's original with eggs).
Showing posts with label quick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quick. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
come quickly, September...
Well, it looks like I've managed to survive (most of) another Southern summer without melting and/or complaining incessantly. I think I was better than ever about resisting the urge to use the oven, dishwasher, and any other heat sources in the kitchen as freely as I do when temperatures are more moderate. That and a list of summer meal ideas (which I didn't actually consult much; merely making it was some sort of psychological boost) helped a lot. But having had a taste of cool mornings lately, I am more restless than ever to start using my oven for middle-of-the-day baking projects and slow-cooked meats; I have always intensely looked forward to fall for many reasons, and as I cook more the anticipation grows each year. Spring and summer certainly have their culinary delights, but for me, primarily a baker, the prospect of cooler weather leading up to the best of all holidays (Thanksgiving, closely followed of course by Christmas) is more tantalizing than anything.
I started making a top ten list in my head of the dishes I will be making as soon as it cools down. They are:
1. Pork vindaloo (from Best International Recipe; review here). My Indian repertoire currently consists of this stew and a delicious recipe for coconut milk-braised green beans, so I can't speak to authenticity or anything, but just as a stew it is fantastic.
2. Spiced carrot soup (adapted from Cafe Bouloud, as printed in CI's Restaurant Favorites at Home). I've rarely made a soup with such complex flavors--the finish with fresh carrot juice is brilliant--and the smell of the carrots braising in coconut milk and curry powder is out of this world. The original recipe calls for shrimp, and it does work well, but I often just make it plain and serve with a hearty, interesting salad and bread.
3. Spanish-style pork loin with sherry-raisin vinaigrette. This was a seriously good pork roast and I wrote about it here.
4. Chicken in a pot (much more elegantly known by its French name, poulet en cocotte). I tried this once last year out of BIR, and it was quite good, though it took much longer to finish than indicated and that always gets me flustered. It was still, as promised, a very low-fuss way of evenly cooking a whole chicken while keeping it moist, and it tasted very French and refined. And wintry.
5. Any big old cheesy pasta casserole that takes two hours to bake--any at all. Pastitsio in particular. (Another nice thing about cooler weather is that my motivation to exercise is ten times what it is in the summer, which is good because pastitsio will make even me feel compelled to schedule an extra few minutes into my next workout. And I am not a calorie-counter.)
6. Thai chicken soup (tom kha gai), also from BIR. The lemongrass, the coconut milk, the sweat-inducing spice from the chiles and curry paste...I could eat this stuff every day.
7. Sweet potatoes: baked, in soups, in pies, anything. There's a mashed sweet potatoes with vanilla recipe in Restaurant Favorites that I also need to try. Cream, vanilla, butter, and the best vegetable ever. How could that go wrong?
8. Chowder. Specifically corn (with generous amounts of bacon) and clam. I was fairly addicted to this clam chowder last year.
9. Simple, one-dish meat and potato meals you stick in the oven and forget about, like this one. That was a good recipe. Also, braised beef with polenta and crusty bread. Lucky you, the beef recipe is on Google Books here.
10. A hundred variations on grilled cheese and only one (the best) cream of tomato soup. CI's 30-minute tomato soup, to be exact. I've tried their standard (more time-consuming) soup, too, and I think it has nothing on the quick one. I must have made this soup 100 times last year and never got the slightest bit sick of it. Below is my adaptation of the recipe.
Cream of Tomato Soup
adapted from Cook's Illustrated, Best 30-Minute Recipe
3 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes
3 c. Swanson low-sodium or homemade chicken broth, plus maybe a little more
2 bay leaves
2 Tbsp. butter
1 onion, minced
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 Tbsp. flour
1/3 c. heavy cream
2 tsp. dry sherry
1. Put the tomatoes one can at a time into a strainer set over a large bowl. Squeeze out as much juice as you can: ideally you'll get 2 cups after all the cans are strained. Add broth to equal 5 cups of liquid. Bring the broth /juice mixture with the bay leaves to a boil in a medium saucepan, then cover and keep warm.
2. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over high heat. Add the drained tomatoes, onion, brown sugar, tomato paste, and 1/2 tsp. salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until the tomatoes look dry and are beginning to brown, 10-12 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.
3. Slowly whisk or stir in the hot broth mixture. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes to blend flavors.
4. Remove the bay leaves, then puree the soup in batches in a blender. (With hot liquids it's best to remove the little plastic cap inside the lid, and cover the hole with a thickly folded dish towel under your hand.) Return pureed soup to the pot and stir in the cream and sherry. Bring it just to a simmer, then remove from heat, season with salt and cayenne pepper to taste, and serve. (Yield: 6 servings. If you want to make this a day or two ahead, don't add the cream and sherry until you reheat it before serving.)
I started making a top ten list in my head of the dishes I will be making as soon as it cools down. They are:
1. Pork vindaloo (from Best International Recipe; review here). My Indian repertoire currently consists of this stew and a delicious recipe for coconut milk-braised green beans, so I can't speak to authenticity or anything, but just as a stew it is fantastic.
2. Spiced carrot soup (adapted from Cafe Bouloud, as printed in CI's Restaurant Favorites at Home). I've rarely made a soup with such complex flavors--the finish with fresh carrot juice is brilliant--and the smell of the carrots braising in coconut milk and curry powder is out of this world. The original recipe calls for shrimp, and it does work well, but I often just make it plain and serve with a hearty, interesting salad and bread.
3. Spanish-style pork loin with sherry-raisin vinaigrette. This was a seriously good pork roast and I wrote about it here.
4. Chicken in a pot (much more elegantly known by its French name, poulet en cocotte). I tried this once last year out of BIR, and it was quite good, though it took much longer to finish than indicated and that always gets me flustered. It was still, as promised, a very low-fuss way of evenly cooking a whole chicken while keeping it moist, and it tasted very French and refined. And wintry.
5. Any big old cheesy pasta casserole that takes two hours to bake--any at all. Pastitsio in particular. (Another nice thing about cooler weather is that my motivation to exercise is ten times what it is in the summer, which is good because pastitsio will make even me feel compelled to schedule an extra few minutes into my next workout. And I am not a calorie-counter.)
6. Thai chicken soup (tom kha gai), also from BIR. The lemongrass, the coconut milk, the sweat-inducing spice from the chiles and curry paste...I could eat this stuff every day.
7. Sweet potatoes: baked, in soups, in pies, anything. There's a mashed sweet potatoes with vanilla recipe in Restaurant Favorites that I also need to try. Cream, vanilla, butter, and the best vegetable ever. How could that go wrong?
8. Chowder. Specifically corn (with generous amounts of bacon) and clam. I was fairly addicted to this clam chowder last year.
9. Simple, one-dish meat and potato meals you stick in the oven and forget about, like this one. That was a good recipe. Also, braised beef with polenta and crusty bread. Lucky you, the beef recipe is on Google Books here.
10. A hundred variations on grilled cheese and only one (the best) cream of tomato soup. CI's 30-minute tomato soup, to be exact. I've tried their standard (more time-consuming) soup, too, and I think it has nothing on the quick one. I must have made this soup 100 times last year and never got the slightest bit sick of it. Below is my adaptation of the recipe.
Cream of Tomato Soup
adapted from Cook's Illustrated, Best 30-Minute Recipe
3 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes
3 c. Swanson low-sodium or homemade chicken broth, plus maybe a little more
2 bay leaves
2 Tbsp. butter
1 onion, minced
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 Tbsp. flour
1/3 c. heavy cream
2 tsp. dry sherry
1. Put the tomatoes one can at a time into a strainer set over a large bowl. Squeeze out as much juice as you can: ideally you'll get 2 cups after all the cans are strained. Add broth to equal 5 cups of liquid. Bring the broth /juice mixture with the bay leaves to a boil in a medium saucepan, then cover and keep warm.
2. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over high heat. Add the drained tomatoes, onion, brown sugar, tomato paste, and 1/2 tsp. salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until the tomatoes look dry and are beginning to brown, 10-12 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.
3. Slowly whisk or stir in the hot broth mixture. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes to blend flavors.
4. Remove the bay leaves, then puree the soup in batches in a blender. (With hot liquids it's best to remove the little plastic cap inside the lid, and cover the hole with a thickly folded dish towel under your hand.) Return pureed soup to the pot and stir in the cream and sherry. Bring it just to a simmer, then remove from heat, season with salt and cayenne pepper to taste, and serve. (Yield: 6 servings. If you want to make this a day or two ahead, don't add the cream and sherry until you reheat it before serving.)
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Pork tacos and fixings
I sort of threw this meal together out of my freezer/fridge/pantry surplus tonight, and for once an improvised meal turned out fabulously. Gratifying.
Pork tacos
1/2 lb. pork tenderloin, trimmed
Dry adobo (see below)
1 tsp. vegetable oil
1/2 yellow or red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
1 Tbsp. minced chipotle chiles in adobo
1/4 cup sour cream
1-2 Tbsp. lime juice
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
4 corn tortillas, warmed
1. Rub the pork all over with the dry adobo and return to fridge for at least 15 minutes or up to an hour.
2. Preheat oven to 425. In an 8" ovensafe skillet heat oil over med-high heat til just smoking. Add tenderloin and brown well on all sides, including ends.
3. Transfer pan to oven and roast until temperature registers 140 (start checking after 12 minutes or so; mine took 20 but was a little frozen still).
4. Remove pork to a cutting board, tent with foil, and let rest 10 minutes before cutting; the temp should rise 10-15 degrees.
5. While pork cooks/rests, mix together sour cream and lime juice. Saute the bell pepper strips over med-high heat until well charred. Prep remaining ingredients and serve with sliced pork.
Dry adobo rub (adapted from Daisy Martinez, Daisy: Morning, Noon, & Night)
Mix together:
3 Tbsp. sea salt
1 1/2 Tbsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dried oregano
You will have tons left over; it will keep fine for a couple months at room temp.
This goes great with a mango batido (adapted from CI's Best International Recipe):
1 ripe mango, peeled and cut into rough 1" pieces
3/4 cup whole milk (or coconut milk---thought of this variation too late)
1/2 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup ice
Blend until smooth and serve very cold.
Pork tacos
1/2 lb. pork tenderloin, trimmed
Dry adobo (see below)
1 tsp. vegetable oil
1/2 yellow or red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
1 Tbsp. minced chipotle chiles in adobo
1/4 cup sour cream
1-2 Tbsp. lime juice
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
4 corn tortillas, warmed
1. Rub the pork all over with the dry adobo and return to fridge for at least 15 minutes or up to an hour.
2. Preheat oven to 425. In an 8" ovensafe skillet heat oil over med-high heat til just smoking. Add tenderloin and brown well on all sides, including ends.
3. Transfer pan to oven and roast until temperature registers 140 (start checking after 12 minutes or so; mine took 20 but was a little frozen still).
4. Remove pork to a cutting board, tent with foil, and let rest 10 minutes before cutting; the temp should rise 10-15 degrees.
5. While pork cooks/rests, mix together sour cream and lime juice. Saute the bell pepper strips over med-high heat until well charred. Prep remaining ingredients and serve with sliced pork.
Dry adobo rub (adapted from Daisy Martinez, Daisy: Morning, Noon, & Night)
Mix together:
3 Tbsp. sea salt
1 1/2 Tbsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dried oregano
You will have tons left over; it will keep fine for a couple months at room temp.
This goes great with a mango batido (adapted from CI's Best International Recipe):
1 ripe mango, peeled and cut into rough 1" pieces
3/4 cup whole milk (or coconut milk---thought of this variation too late)
1/2 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup ice
Blend until smooth and serve very cold.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Orange-almond cake
I keep recipe binders for loose recipes I cut out from magazines, print from the Internet, or (horrors) wrote out by hand long ago before we had a printer/copier. I have one recipe in the last category for orange yogurt cake, which I think I got from a now-defunct website in, like, 2007, and next to it I simply wrote "Yum." That had been annoying me (I try to make reasonably detailed notes on everything I make), and since it looked like it had potential, I thought I'd try it last night. It came out great, and since (for once) this is not a Cook's Illustrated recipe, I can actually post it here. For a cake this one has an unusually open crumb, is moist, and comes out fluffy though it looks like a scant amount of batter going into the oven. It also takes about the amount of time to mix together as the oven takes to preheat.
I was going to go the healthy route and just sprinkle some confectioners' sugar on top, but the urge to make a buttercream overcame me. I took a cue from a CI white layer cake recipe in which they spread a little bit of seedless jam over the bottom layer, then top that with frosting mixed with sliced almonds. I tried that with orange marmalade (I like imported Italian kinds without corn syrup) and Trader Joe's sliced raw almonds, which are about the only nuts I keep on hand at all times. It worked really well.
In this photo you can see that I didn't have enough icing: I hate cakes with three inches of icing on them so I often adjust recipes down. This time 3/4 of the original amount would have been better than halving it. The recipe below should be the right amount.
Orange-Almond Cake
Yield: one 9" cake, sliced in half horizonally for two layers
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. grated orange zest
pinch of salt
1/2 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 Tbsp. orange juice
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350º. Lightly spray a 9" nonstick cake pan with Baker's Joy (or butter and flour it). Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, orange zest, and salt in small bowl. In a larger bowl whisk together the yogurt, sugar, oil, orange juice, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and stir just til incorporated. Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown, fragrant, and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in pan on trivet for 10 minutes, then carefully invert onto wire rack and let cool completely. Once cool, slice in half horizontally with a large bread knife. (It's best if you make a shallow line all the way around the cake as a guide, then dig your knife in and slowly rotate the cake stand as you go.)
Frosting and filling:
12 Tbsp. butter, soft but still cool (65º is ideal)
3 cups (3/4 lb) powdered sugar
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 tsp. milk
dash of salt
about 1/2 cup orange marmalade, at room temperature
about 1/2 cup sliced raw almonds, plus more for garnish if desired
Beat the first five ingredients on low speed until sugar is moistened. Increase speed to medium-high; beat til creamy and fluffy, about 1 1/2 minutes (for a stand mixer). Remove half the frosting to a small bowl and mix in the almonds.
Set the bottom cake layer on your stand. Spread a thin layer of marmalade across the top (you may need more, I didn't measure). Spread the frosting with almonds evenly across the marmalade layer. Set the top cake layer down, then use remainder of frosting on the top and sides. Press almonds on top and sides if desired.
Frosted, this cake should be covered and kept in the refrigerator up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.*
*I have read, and now know by experience, that cakes made with a lot of butter end up tasting quite dry if they have to be refrigerated, unless you bring them thoroughly back to room temperature before serving. So it's not quite as important with this butter-less cake, but I think it tastes better all the same.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
West African Sweet Potato Peanut Soup
Another winner from CI's Best International Recipe, I first made this soup in November---memorably, because that was the day our sink disposal clogged horribly as I was washing the many sweet potato peelings down it---without feeling much affection towards it. It was okay but had a taste in the background that I wasn't a huge fan of. I thought I'd try it again this weekend for lunch, and was pleasantly surprised at how much better it turned out with just a couple of changes.
All I had in my "allium basket" (where I keep onions, shallots, and garlic) today were shallots, so I had to sub two medium in place of half an onion. (I was halving the recipe. As an aside, I have gotten so much better at doing this: if the consequences of messing up would be enormous and/or I'm feeling like it's a blonde day, I'll write out the new proportions in pencil or on a separate sheet of paper before I start cooking, but usually I do it in my head and have no problem remembering that I am changing the amounts. That used to be SO not the case.) I sauteed the shallots with a little salt and brown sugar just til soft, then added a large minced clove of garlic with coriander and and a pinch cayenne (not even enough that I could taste it). Once that's fragrant, you add 1 3/4 cups chicken broth and 1 cup water, plus a mere 1 1/2 Tbsp. of peanut butter (the flavor comes through nevertheless) and a 1-lb. sweet potato, quartered and sliced thin. This is supposed to simmer on low, partially covered, for 25-30 minutes until the potatoes are tender, but I apparently sliced them thinner than CI did---with a rare lack of precision, they didn't specify slice width down to 1/8 of an inch, so I was guessing what they meant by "thin"---so this soup was almost a 30-minute ordeal all told. I pureed it in two batches and added a little fresh ground pepper and cinnamon, which I find irresistible in all things sweet potato, and much more agreeble than the suggested cilantro. This was a tasty, and quite filling, sweet potato soup.
All I had in my "allium basket" (where I keep onions, shallots, and garlic) today were shallots, so I had to sub two medium in place of half an onion. (I was halving the recipe. As an aside, I have gotten so much better at doing this: if the consequences of messing up would be enormous and/or I'm feeling like it's a blonde day, I'll write out the new proportions in pencil or on a separate sheet of paper before I start cooking, but usually I do it in my head and have no problem remembering that I am changing the amounts. That used to be SO not the case.) I sauteed the shallots with a little salt and brown sugar just til soft, then added a large minced clove of garlic with coriander and and a pinch cayenne (not even enough that I could taste it). Once that's fragrant, you add 1 3/4 cups chicken broth and 1 cup water, plus a mere 1 1/2 Tbsp. of peanut butter (the flavor comes through nevertheless) and a 1-lb. sweet potato, quartered and sliced thin. This is supposed to simmer on low, partially covered, for 25-30 minutes until the potatoes are tender, but I apparently sliced them thinner than CI did---with a rare lack of precision, they didn't specify slice width down to 1/8 of an inch, so I was guessing what they meant by "thin"---so this soup was almost a 30-minute ordeal all told. I pureed it in two batches and added a little fresh ground pepper and cinnamon, which I find irresistible in all things sweet potato, and much more agreeble than the suggested cilantro. This was a tasty, and quite filling, sweet potato soup.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
everyday chocolate pudding
I've found the chocolate pudding I've been looking for all my life: no cream, no egg yolks leaving me with a bowl of whites in the fridge that eventually gets thrown away because I have a visceral dread of whipping egg whites, and no special mixture of unsweetened and bittersweet chocolates. All of which were true of the chocolate cream pie I made at Thankgsiving, which was probably worth it. But this tastes darn near the same to me, and it takes about 10 minutes plus chilling time.
Recalling the cute little "cup of dirt" concept I served this with chocolate wafers crumbled on top---no thanks on the gummy worms. I can't resist putting whipped cream on just about anything sweet, though I couldn't figure out what a puff of white would signify in a cup of dirt. Let's say snow.
Everyday Chocolate Pudding
Serves 6-ish
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup milk (can be low-fat)
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 tsp. vanilla
Whisk together the cornstarch, granulated sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk in the half-and-half and milk, then bring to a boil over medium heat. Add chocolate and whisk til melted and the mixture thickens noticeably. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly on the surface of the pudding. Refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours. Keeps up to 3 days.
Recalling the cute little "cup of dirt" concept I served this with chocolate wafers crumbled on top---no thanks on the gummy worms. I can't resist putting whipped cream on just about anything sweet, though I couldn't figure out what a puff of white would signify in a cup of dirt. Let's say snow.
Everyday Chocolate Pudding
Serves 6-ish
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup milk (can be low-fat)
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 tsp. vanilla
Whisk together the cornstarch, granulated sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk in the half-and-half and milk, then bring to a boil over medium heat. Add chocolate and whisk til melted and the mixture thickens noticeably. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly on the surface of the pudding. Refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours. Keeps up to 3 days.
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