my life in food

roasting a chicken.

2010-09-15T22:05:00.000-07:00

roasting a chicken is the fanciest thing you can do for a party or just because whole chickens are always on sale at whole foods. roasting a whole chicken is considered quite a feat but it's not really that hard. the key is spicing, buttering and stuffing it because otherwise it's just hot chicken.

ideally you would have a roasting pan but since i don't i use a sautee pan that is safe for the oven. the one nice thing that i own is a copper core stainless steel pan. i cringe when roommates take it out to make eggs but i do use it to roast my chickens in. you can use any pan that you have as long as you don't think that it'll melt in the heat.

i'm going to tell you how to make a classic roast chicken and you can change the herbs and seasonings to fit your mood or the season. i'll give you the basics.

1 whole chicken
1/2 stick butter cut a few pieces into thin slices
salt and pepper
rosemary
1 onion quartered
1 clove garlic

preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
place the whole chicken on a clean cutting board.
first stuff the inside of the bird with the onions and some sprigs of rosemary or whatever other herb you want. also stick your hand way inside and place a few pads of butter on the walls of the cavity of the bird.
oh yeah, did i mention i went to french culinary school? life is nothing without butter.

next take the rest of the butter in stick form to easily grease up this chicken. taking the stick of butter in your hand rub vigorously all over the bird, focusing on the breasts but not neglecting the thighs, legs and even wings - someone will eat them (probably me). make sure you use all the butter and don't forget to do both sides it'll looks super shiny and delicious (don't take a bite - salmonella! ) sprinkle (a healthy sprinkle) salt and grind some pepper all over on both sides. sprinkle the herbs of your choice all over the bird. everything will stick because of the butter.

place the bird, breast down, into the pan. you should cook it breast down so that it won't dry out. nothing is worst than dry chicken! cook for a while. don't check before 30 minutes. if you have one of those handy meat thermometers break those out to make sure it's cook all the way through. otherwise you could have a regular thermometer and make sure it can hold a temperature of at least 170 degrees when inserted into the thigh.

once it's done let it rest on a clean cutting board ** not the one you prepped it on ** for about 10 minutes. at this point you can serve the whole bird and slice it up at the table. you could also cut it up ahead of time and serve the pieces. what i usually do is grab my mozzarella stretching gloves (they're actually dish washing gloves but i only use them for food) they're made to withstand high temps. i use them to make sure i get every piece of meat off the bones so i don't leave any deliciousness behind.

you can also break down the chicken ahead of time and roast the pieces separately. you would follow all the same steps but you'll need to check on the chicken earlier than 30 minutes since it won't take as long to cook. and obviously you won't stuff the bird since it has nothing to stuff at this point!

you can also put all your veg and potatoes in with the chicken to cook your whole meal in one pan and viola, dinner!

enjoy your chicken darlings!

love,
keighty

butternut squash tart

2010-03-17T07:21:00.000-07:00

i got this recipe from a whole foods app but i changed it so much that the only thing in common is the butternut squash. i just need ideas some times. without it i think i'd make pizza and soup every other day.

1 big butternut squash - yay! finish off your winter stock pile, it's spring!
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup half and half
1/2 onion, minced
bread crumbs - process two big slices of bread
1 egg, beaten
philo dough, brought to room temperature
parmesan cheese - enough
dash of nutmeg

i made this in a tart pan that belongs to tricia. if you don't have a tart pan you can use a pie tin or even a cake pan.

preheat your oven to 400.
peel, de-pulp, and chop your squash into bite-size pieces. put on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast until tender.

unroll your dough and fit it into the pan. set aside

saute onion. place in a small bowl. add the rest of the ingredients. when the squash is done add it to the bowl and mix well. pour that mess into the tart pan. smooth it out. top with a little more almonds and some more cheese. bake until it's bubbling slightly.

i served this with plantains (sliced thin and fried in butter) and marinated vegetables - since it was monday and i needed to clean out the 'fridge before grocery shopping. a nice green salad would go well with this.

don't be sad if you tart pieces fall apart. my did. it was more like a pile of something than a piece of tart. but it tasted really great and that's all the matter.

yay vegetables! you can be a main dish!

love,
keighty

old new waffle iron

2010-03-17T07:10:00.000-07:00

my dad is getting too fancy and him and his wife, debbie, have bought just about everything there is to buy in williams-sonoma. so.. they're turn of the century cast-iron waffle iron was of no use to them so they mailed it to me!

i used my regular "free range pancake" recipe and just slathered the thing with melted butter and it made glorious waffles.

it's not a recipe but it's cool to think about how many people ate waffles from this thing. it's over 100 years old!

awesome.

love,
keighty

chili rellenos

2010-03-17T07:07:00.000-07:00

if you know me you'll know that this was the most delicious meal ever.... no.
i don't like mexican food but i love my husband and friends and they do so here's another tribute to them.

this is my dad's favorite meal and i made it recently to practice for his upcoming birthday and trip to visit me.

it is supposed to be about 1-2 chilies per person but i had a lot more people come to dinner than i planned for so i made it a casserole and we shared it all.

that said...

as many poblano peppers and you need to feed your guests or yourself.
1 block of jack cheese
1 block of cheddar
4 egg whites, beaten to a soft peak (can be done with a whisk, you don't need that electric mixer!)
1/4 cup flour
veg oil - as much as needed

sauce:
1 onion, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can of chopped tomatoes - if in california use fresh!
1 cup chicken stock
fresh or dried cilantro - if using fresh you'll need more than if using dried
salt and pepper

roast the peppers! turn the burner on and put the pepper on top of the flame. leave it there until it's black and charred. keep turning it to make sure it get charred all over. when it's done put them in a bowl and cover the bowl with saran wrap. this steams them and make it's easier to take off the charred skin. let them sit there for a few minutes.

in the mean time grate all the cheese! or have one of your guests do it, they're always asking if they can help - let them!

go back to your peppers and take off the plastic. they should be cooled down now, if not let them cool a little longer. GENTLY peel off the black skin over a trash can or sink. if you need to, use a little cool water to help you. don't get too crazy and rip the pepper in half. careful.

once all the peppers are cleaned carefully cut a hole in the top of the pepper, taking off the stem and leaving you a place to stuff the cheese! it the pepper rips it's ok, it'll work out in the end. put the flour in a small bowl next to the beaten egg whites. stuff the peppers - as full as you can - with all the cheeses. take one pepper at a time - coat the pepper in flour and then coat it completely in the egg whites. place them on a plate to be fried.

now the sauce. mix all the ingredients together and let it simmer.

get a pan heating on the stove. add the oil (about 2 inches) when the pan is hot and let it heat up for a little while. you can also fill a big pot with oil and fry them like that but this way saves some oil. place the pepper (if there's a rip but that side down first) in the pan. and let it fry up. flip and fry the other side.

serve them right away - one pepper per person, drizzled with the sauce and topped with extra grated cheese (if you have any left)

served it at family dinner with rice, bean and tortillas and everyone was happy.

ole.

love,
keighty

sunday doughnuts

2010-01-17T18:54:00.000-08:00

so i made doughnuts today and they were really simple.

i like to collect parlor tricks to show off my fancy cooking skills. i call them parlor tricks because they're actually really easy to make but everyone else will think that they're so hard and that you're so cool.

these doughnuts are a parlor trick.

1 tbs melted butter
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup flour

beat eggs, butter and sugar until fluffy. add vanilla and milk. add the rest of the ingredients and stir only until incorporated.
on a well floured surface roll out the dough. keep it kind of thick as it doesn't puff up that much in the oil. take out the holes and save of course.

-- i used biscuit cutters and i used a smaller size than the doughnuts in a doughnut store. i used a proportionately smaller cutter for the hole. you can also just use a drinking glass to cut the dough. just like biscuits, you can do whatever you want to make that dough into doughnuts.

pour enough oil in a medium sauce pan to fill it up halfway. i believe that it was about half a bottle of a big bottle of vegetable oil. it doesn't have to be exact you just have to make sure the doughnuts have room to fry in there. that is, an inch of oil is not enough but if your pan is brimming with oil it's too much. you'll get it.
the oil needs to be at 370F. that's important because if it's not hot enough the dough won't fry and it will just soak up the oil and that would be gross. if you've ever tried to make tempura and didn't check the oil and all you got was a bunch of soggy mess - that's what this will be like. you can get a candy thermometer or just use a regular one. careful though, i melted mine this morning. i bought another one though, phew.
once your oil is hot enough drop in the dough (don't splash!!)
they need about 30 seconds on each side but you can see when it's done.
dry on paper towels.

you can roll them in powdered sugar or make a glaze!

i only had sugar but i liked them plain too!

i brought some extras to church and they were gone in a second!

happy sunday, enjoy your doughnuts!

love,
keighty

lemon sage cheese.

2010-01-16T20:03:00.000-08:00

i promised that i would have a video of me making mozzarella and it's coming. i made one but it was too long for blogger and i also have my back to the camera for have of it and you couldn't see anything anyway.

all the cheese i've made so far i've needed enzymes that i had to buy online. but this one you can make right now without waiting for packages that say they'll be there in 2 days but really take a week! (sorry, i'm just bitter. the mail system here is so bad.)

this is a crumbly dry cheese that is also spreadable somehow. it's great on toast with jam and good in spicy enchiladas. it's subtly lemony and just a nice fresh cheese.

1 gallon whole milk (can NOT be ultra pasteurized, if it is, it won't work)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tbs fresh chopped sage
dash of cheese salt (optional)
butter muslin - a very fine cheese cloth. this can be found at cooking stores. sorry i lied you do have to go buy one weird thing for this cheese)

heat your milk to 190 degrees, making sure to stir and keep it from burning on the bottom.
add lemon juice and stir well in an up and down motion. (that is not sloshing everything around). remove from heat, cover and leave undisturbed for 15ish minutes. check at 15 to see if a curd has formed.

**a notes on curds and whey. curds and whey is real! who knew? also if you were eating it just like that, that would be super gross and mushy and little miss muffet was gross.
anyway. when milk is heated up and enzymes (or lemon juice) are added it separates into curd and whey. whey is a opaque liquid on the bottom and curd is the cheese a solid white mass on top.

push down gently on the curd to see the whey. is is clearish? then you're done waiting! is it milky? then wait a little longer until it clears up a little more.

once the curd is set scoop it into a colander lined with butter muslin with a bowl underneath or do it in the sink! once you have all the curds in there grab the corners of the muslin and tie them up. hang the bag to drip for 2 hours. i rigged this set up over my sink to dry my cheese. you can also tie it to the faucet if it's high enough. or come up with your own fancy ideas. in any case, your cheese bag need gravity to drain so just let it hang somehow.

in 2 hours open the bag and carefully pour the cheese into a bowl. don't lose any! add salt and sage and mix well.

tada! store in a air tight container for a week.

taste the victory. you just made cheese.

if you get addicted like i did you can visit this website to learn more and buy all the things you need to get started. i just made cream cheese yesterday and it was so liberating.

enjoy, friends.

love,
keighty

make-raul-cry-enchiladas

2010-01-16T19:48:00.000-08:00

it takes a lot to make raul admit to something being too spicy for him. he once ate those deadly black chilies at big bowl that the server warns you not to eat.

nevertheless. these enchiladas did him in and lisa too.

as you all know i dislike mexican food ---food not mexicans. exhibit a: raul alvarez, my husband.

but sometimes i make mexican food for my friends to be nice. here was my attempt.

so if you think you can hang. try this.

3/4 cup hot sauce (i had the $1.99 huge bottle from guanajuarto)
5 chopped chipotles -- from a can, unless you're fancy enough to smoke your own jalapenos
2 tbs chopped fresh sage
1/3 tomato sauce
1 tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
dash chili powder
dash cayenne pepper
dash sugar
salt and pepper to taste
8 flour tortillas

filling
1 wheel of queso fresco
1/2 cup of lemon sage cheese (optional -- see next post for recipe)
1/2 cup white rice
2 tbs butter
black beans
water, as much as needed

in a sauce pan saute garlic until fragrant. add all the rest of the ingredients and stir together. simmer on low heat while you get the rest of the business together.
in a saute pan melt butter and add rice. toast until the rice is yellow-ish but don't let it brown too much.
add enough water to cover the rice. simmer on low heat.
preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
check the rice. it can be al dente since it's going to be baked in the oven and can finish cooking there. drain and set aside.
pour a little bit of the sauce on the bottom of a casserole dish and spread it around so it coats the bottom.
fill each tortilla with a little rice, beans, a little sauce and both kinds of cheese. roll it up, like you do, and put it in a casserole dish. do it again and again until the dish is full.
once you're done pour the rest of the sauce over the enchiladas and make sure every piece of the tortilla is covered with sauce -- no crunchy tortillas!
grate and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top -- covering the whole mess with a ton of sweet white deliciousness.

bake for 20ish minutes or until you stick your finger in the middle and you scream because it's so hot --do this at your own risk -- i won't be sued for your burned fingers! :) you could also just wait until the sauce starts to bubble. either way...

serve and watch your guests try to not cry.

and while everyone was dying in front of me while i ate my harmless quesadilla (to fit with the theme), they did all have seconds and in between trips for tissues they said it was great.
milk helps the burn too...

good luck!

love,
keighty

updates!

2010-01-12T14:56:00.000-08:00

on the 'chickenless chicken pot pie' entry, my dearest tricia has informed me that i forgot to include the milk in the ingredients list.

so......

it's 1/2 cup of milk.

oh and cheese update:

i did make mozzarella and i did tape it for the blog but it was too long of a movie and i don't know how to edit.... let's just say that there is about 20 minutes of me with my back to the camera where i said nothing...

a video about mozzarella coming soon. also sour cream, chevre, cottage cheese!

love,

keighty

easy peasy vanilla ice cream

2010-01-05T13:38:00.000-08:00

i've decided to start storing the bowl for the ice cream maker in the freezer that way it's always frozen. my biggest problem with ice cream is that the bowl isn't frozen.

you've probably already thought of that but just in case - now you know!

1 cup heavy cream

2 cups half and half

1 1/2 tbs vanilla extract

1 cup sugar

cook all ingredients in a pot. don't let it bowl. just simmer and take it off when there are a lot of little bubbles forming on the outside.

take off heat and transfer to another bowl. pots retain heat and it'll take longer if you let it cool in the pot.

here's a tip, chicagoans! put the bowl of cooling cream outside in the snow. it was cooled down completely in 10 minutes. wow. i know. but if it is actually snowing or freezing raining outside - don't do it.

once it's cooled down. follow your ice cream makers directions.

let it do it's thing and once it's done you need to freeze it more. but right before you do add your fixins. i added left over christmas sprinkles. but you can add anything you want!

enjoy.

love,

keighty

cheesy polenta with roasted vegetables

2010-01-05T13:19:00.000-08:00

first off. let's all go read scott's blog. he's a dear friend who made my wedding cake. his blog is more professional than mine but it's one big smith's reference which is all anyone really needs in their life.

next. let's eat.

this meal is so easy that you'll have time to make vanilla ice cream.

various veg - i used cauliflower and brussel sprouts (my fave)
1 1/2 cups instant polenta
cheese (i used cheddar, munster and parmesan)
2 1/2 cups chicken stock, homemade or otherwise
2 1/2 cups water

roast veg.
boil stock and water.
add polenta.
stir.
remove from heat.
add cheese.
stir again.
serve.

see it was almost dumb to write that. but it's so good. just do it. pretend it was hard to make.

love,
keighty

chickenless chicken pot pie

2009-12-30T07:11:00.000-08:00

yesterday i did nothing but watch season 2 of californication. it's such a good show. love it.

but when 530 rolled around i knew raul would be home soon and i needed to make dinner. it's the least i can do when i sit around all day and he works at a job he hates. seriously, the least.

so while i was watching alton brown my favorite molecular gastronomer he told me that i should make chicken pot pie so i did.

i went to august where awkward guy was working. i saw that they had carrots (out of season i buy carrots from an organic distributor called goodness greeness. i'm usually just a season eater but i've met the guy from goodness greeness and he has kids etc.) so i grabbed some carrots, a few waxy potatoes, some flour, one onion, chives and some cheese.

**a word about potatoes. waxy potatoes can be white or red but they are different from russet potatoes which are mealy. waxy potatoes hold their shape when cooked. they're still soft but they're not mushy. russet potatoes are what you use for mashed potatoes because they don't hold their shape. so for stews and other long cooking use waxy so you don't have a pile of mashed potatoes at the bottom**

3 carrots, chopped
1/2 yellow onion, minced
3 small waxy potatoes, chopped - about same size as carrots
3 tbs butter
1/3 cup flour
4 cups chicken stock
salt n' peppa to taste

biscuit dough
2 cups flour
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

1/2 cup cold milk
7 tbs cold butter, sliced
1 tsp lemon zest
1/3 cup cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chives, chopped

first, the fillings.
in a sauce pan melt the butter. sautee potatoes and carrots for a while. then add onions. cook until onions start to brown - not that long.
add flour and stir well.
add chicken stock and cook until very thick. set aside.

preheat your oven to 450

the biscuit!
in a large bowl mix flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
incorporate 2 tbs butter until it's completely mixed in. (that means smash the butter with your hands until it's in tiny little pieces mixed into the dough)
take the rest of the butter and do the same thing except you want the pieces to be pea sized not completely gone.
add lemon zest to the milk and add the milk to the bowl.
add chives and cheese on top of that.
mix until it makes a loose dough.
on a floured surface pat out the dough out into a flatter shape

now the tricky part.

transfer your filling to a glass baking dish. that's easy.
you can do the biscuits two ways:

1. transfer the whole piece of dough to cover the dish and seal in the juices - like a top crust of a pie. then cut a hole in the top so it doesn't explode.

2. you can break off pieces of your dough and place them in the fillings making sure to cover the whole thing. there will be spaces between and you'll see the filling but make sure everyone will get a piece of biscuit.

i did it the second way, i think the biscuits soak up the juices better this way and ugh just taste so good.

put the whole thing in the 'fridge for 5-10 minutes.

bake for 20 minutes and let it rest for 5 minutes before you eat it.

i loved it and so did raul (he had seconds!) and you'll never miss the chicken.

love,
keighty

cookies cookies cookies

2009-12-29T08:09:00.000-08:00

in honour of the holidays here are two great cookie recipes.

sugar cookies.

classic. delicious. can't picture christmas without them.

3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

cream butter and sugar. add eggs one at a time. add vanilla. add dry mixture in slowly. scape the bowl and make sure everything is mixed well.

cut dough into two pieces. flatten into disks, wrap in plastic and put in the 'fridge for 12 hours.
after the long wait, leave the dough out on the table for about 30 minutes to get it warmed up. on a WELL floured surface (it's sticky!) roll out the dough. make sure that your rolling pin or wine bottle (i didn't have a rolling pin of my own until this year, prior, i've always used a wine bottle - whatever works!) is well floured too.
cut the dough with adorable cookie cutters that your mom bought and shipped to you. they're all cute except that one that i don't know what it is - it may be a santa hat but i'm not sure. i don't use that one.

bake on a un-greased cookie sheet at 350 for 8-10 minutes. when the edges are starting to get brown take them out. give them a few minutes to rest on the pan, then put them on a cooling rack to, you know, cool. keep doing that until all the dough is gone or you've eaten so much that you have a stomach ache.

you can also freeze the dough for later. and this isn't like pie dough so you can roll it out as many times as you want!

------

pecan shortbread linzer cookies!

my dad, who doesn't like cookies (i know, what a freak), ate all of these. all. ray had one and that was it. so these are good. and they look super fancy so your friends will think you're the best.

1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/4 cup sugar
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
20 tbs butter (2 1/2 sticks) softened
1 cup 10x sugar (powdered sugar), plus extra!
1 tsp vanilla
raspberry jam
fluted biscuit cutters - two sizes (depending on how big you want the cookies: a big size and little size for the cut out)

in a food processor, pulse pecans and sugar to make a coarse meal. save that.
mix dry ingredients. save that.
cream butter. once it's creamy add 10x sugar.
once it's mixed together well add pecan mix and vanilla. - mix well!
then add dry mixture slowly.
mix on high until the dough becomes a homogenous mass of deliciousness.

**if your dough is not becoming a mass and is just crumbly, add a tiny bit of water to the mixer. it should then start sticking together. only use a little at a time though!!**

cut the dough in half, flatten, cover with plastic and put in the 'fridge for 2 hours.

preheat the oven to 350.
you can line your sheet pans with parchment paper or you can use a silpat mat. these are like reusable parchment. they're kind of greasy so nothing sticks to them and you don't have to throw it away. totally worth it for cookie makers. you can get them at any cooking store. probably target too, but i'm not sure.

on a floured surface, roll out the dough. it will be hard to roll out because there's not a lot of liquid in this dough. it'll crack but that's ok.

with fluted biscuit cutters cut out the cookies. then on every other cookie cut out the middle. (save the middles! they make tiny cookies that you can roll in 10x sugar and gobble up)

bake them for 16 minutes - turning them around half way through.

let them cool completely.
keep doing this until all the dough is used up. or again, you can freeze it for later.

take all the tops (the ones with the hole in the middle) and line them up on a sheet pan (cooled!). in a wire sieve dust them completely with 10x sugar until they're totally coated.
with the other halves spread a bit of raspberry jam in the middle of the cookie. you can leave the edges clear so it doesn't drip out everywhere.
then put the two pieces together for a fancy beautiful sandwich cookie.

they're so good. you may have to make extra to make up for the fact that you're going to eat about half of them before you're ready to give them out.

cookies are a good way to say, 'i wanted to remember you at christmas but i have no money to buy you that wii you wanted.' plus this is, for some reason, the one time of year that's it's socially acceptable to eat everything you see - which around christmas, is pretty much just cookies.

joyeux noel.

love,
keighty

pound cake for dessert

2009-12-29T07:28:00.000-08:00

pound cake used to be made by using a pound of all the ingredients, hence it's name. but now we don't need the biggest cake ever. we can do with a little version.

this is my fall twist on regular pound cake. it's not different at all except i use braised cranberries and pumpkin seeds on top. fancy.

1 1.5 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

1 cup butter, softened

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

.25 cup lemon juice

1.5 cup cranberries

.5 cup toasted pumpkin seeds (remember you pumpkin soup?!)

mix dry ingredients.

cream butter and sugar. add eggs, one at a time. add vanilla.

add dry to wet in small batches.

add lemon juice.

pour into a well greased loaf pan.

bake at 350.

check the cake at 30 minutes. if the knife comes out clean, take it out.

if not, keep checking every ten minutes until it's been an hour. it should be done by then.

(i don't know if it's the crookedness of my kitchen or the way my oven leans but my loaf took 30 minutes...)

in the meantime get your cranberries and your extra 1/3 cup of sugar and start braising. put both in a lidded sauce pan on low heat. there's not liquid now but the cranberries will make some. let that cook for a while.

get your pumpkin seeds and if you haven't already toasted them, do so. spread them out on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil and salt. bake at 350 with the pound cake in there until crispy.

check on your cranberries, stirring all the time so it doesn't burn.

once the cake is done. take out of the oven and turn the pan on it's side to cool. that will make it easier to get the loaf out. even if you fill the whole thing up with butter it'll still want to stick. something about those sassy pound cakes that don't want to do what they're supposed to.

now you can add them all together.

serve a slice of pound cake and drizzle the cranberry sauce on top. sprinkle with few seeds. ta da! fabulous dessert.

a good pound cake is something that you should know because it can be fancy and good moist cake is always a hit, whatever you put on it.

happy new year everyone.

love,

keighty

pumpkin soup

2009-12-29T07:09:00.000-08:00

my stock pile for the winter is getting low but i think i did ok for my first year. but one thing i had a lot of was pumpkins.

i made a pumpkin pie that didn't taste good but other than that i use my pumpkins for soup!

when raul doesn't like something he doesn't eat it and when i'm done quickly offers to do the dishes so he can throw away his food. that is to say that he doesn't do that with this soup. he even gets seconds!

1 small cooking pumpkin (not the biggest jack-o-latern you can find, those are not that good tasting since they're so big. hint. get it in your produce section not somewhere that has pony rides)
6 cups of chicken stock
3 big dashes of nutmeg
1 onion minced
salt and pepper
annci di peppe pasta (they're tiny tiny pieces of pasta, a little bigger than a rice grain - in your pasta aisle)

chop pumpkin up and scoop out the seeds. save them for later!
start boiling the chicken stock. drop the pumpkin pieces in there and let them cook a little. pumpkins are really hard to peel so letting them cook for a while until they're tender lets the rind come off really easily once they're cooled.
when they're ready take them out and save the stock in the pot. let them cool for a little bit then just take the rind off - easy! much better than struggling to slice it off. this way you get still get all the meat.
in a sautee pan sautee onions and garlic for a short while.
add the pumpkin, onion and garlic back to the stock. and simmer for a while.

if you have an immersion blender:
simply blend all the ingredients together in the pot until smooth.

if you have a regular blender:
strain all the ingredients out of the stock. again, save the stock. let the ingredients cool slightly. in batches, puree them in the blender and add back to the soup. whisk together for a good incorporation.

if you have neither of those things:
use a potato masher to mash up the pumpkin chunks. your soup won't be a puree but it'll still taste good. whisk together to make sure they're all incorporated.

for seasoning you have to add a little then taste it. salt is one thing i've had a problem with. it doesn't need as much as you think. nutmeg too. if you put half the bottle in there it'll taste like a gingerbread cookie (and not in a good way). just carefully add your seasonings.

now you can add the pasta. pasta gets bigger so don't add too much. after a few minutes of cooking stir the pot. the pasta can get caught in the pumpkin fibers and sink to the bottom in a clump. make sure they don't stay there and burn.

taste a piece of pasta and make sure it's cook. once they are, stir the pot one more time and serve with delicious bread!

you can save this soup too and it reheats really well!

love,
keighty

new internet, new recipes.

2009-12-29T06:41:00.000-08:00

so in the winter it's hard to find good tomatoes. no, it's impossible because they're not in season. but canned tomatoes are a good replacement. i found a nice company that's from western illinois that cans their tomatoes in season and has a nice happy old school italian clown on the front.

that story is necessary because today we're making pasta sauce!

1 lrg can of tomatoes (3 fresh tomatoes, pureed, only if you're in california)
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 chicken stock
dash of nutmeg
1/16 of a cup of white wine (a little like than 1/4 - eyeball it)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 onion, minced
2 tbs olive oil
2 big pinches of sugar
salt and pepper to taste

in a sauce pan heat up olive oil. add garlic and onion. sautee until onion is wilted but before garlic gets too brown.
add everything but the nutmeg, sugar, salt and pepper. make sure to whisk in the sour cream since it's thick. you don't want sour cream chunks...
on a low heat, simmer that for a while.
taste it. is it too salty or bitter? add sugar until it tastes right, one pinch at a time
too sweet now? add more wine.
salt and pepper it at the end and let it simmer until it's served.

serve it with curly pasta to catch all the goodness it's their ridges.

this sauce can be frozen too. so you can make a lot and have it when you need it!

love,
keighty

omg. apples.

2009-11-09T19:01:00.000-08:00

so for laurel's birthday we went apple picking in woodstock, il. it was magical and you can see pictures here. the point is when we got home we had an incredible amount of apples. even with laurel taking home a lot we still had a ton. raul made cider and i made apple butter. and that took care of those pesky apples.

so if you have a bunch of apples just hangin' around your house causin' trouble, take care of them with these recipes!

raul's spicy cider

.5 peck of apples, it's about 16 apples, yeah, i don't know what a peck is either
3 tbs cinnamon
2 tbs nutmeg

core your apples. be careful, don't stab your hand. put them in a food processor and mash 'em up. after they're processed squeeze them through cheese cloth. this is messy. you just want the juice and not the skin. collect all the juice in a big pot and add spices. do it to taste - you can use cloves or whatever you like. cook on low until it simmers. don't boil it though. drink up. cute cinnamon stick, optional.

apple butter
just so you know, this isn't butter. sadly. it's just melted apples that give the appearance of butter. i don't like the name apple butter because it's really just apple preserves. no one calls strawberry jam strawberry butter. ugh. regardless. this stuff is good and easy to make!

.5 peck apples - you know
cinnamon, sugar to taste

core and slice apples thinly. put them in a crock pot and cook them on low until they're mush. keep checking. it smells great! once they're really mushy. stir them up. it's weird - they're melted! add spices. i say to taste because i didn't measure but just drop some in and taste it and add more. spoon into clear jars (i just an old honey bear jar. not the plastic one. this one says bron's bee co. and it cost $9, yikes!) and let them sit on the counters with the lids on but not sealed. once cooled stick them in the 'fridge. share with friends!

after these you'll be tired of apples just in time for them to go out of season!

enjoy.

love,
keighty

wow. it's been a while

2009-11-09T18:40:00.000-08:00

i used to ride my bike everyday and then one day i broke my foot. then i got married yada yada. then i just stopped riding my bike. i rode it to work today and it was hard and i was really slow and got really sweaty.

that is like this blog. i lost the internet. then got busy. you get the idea.

anyway. i'm back and i'm already getting sweaty so it's going to be great.

first up: banana cranberry apple cider muffins

1.5 c sugar

.5 c butter

2 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

3 tbs water

3 c flour

1 tsp. baking powder

.5 tsp salt

1 1/3 c. apple cider

3 ripe bananas - ripe means brown and mushy, folks

dried cranberries, 2 small handfulls?

cream butter and sugar, add eggs, one at a time. add soda, water. mix together dry ingredients. add flour mix and cider alternately. add bananas and cranberries. drop into a muffin tin and bake them til they're done at 375.

this is a perfect time to mention that raul got me a present. so we registered for that stand up mixer of my dreams. sadly, we didn't get it. but! macy's is really cool about your registry and they give you a hella discount on the stuff you didn't get. plus, get this, they were having a sale. so raul comes home really sweaty and out of breath and i didn't get it and he didn't explain. i didn't for one second think that he ran home, though, never. anyway. he carried the mixer all the way from downtown. ah! anyway. here's a picture of the beauty.

i made those muffins with that sweet ass mixer. ugh. i'm too excited. oh and those cool decals are of montreal, from ellyn. great wedding present!

more to come!

love,

keighty

internet is down...

2009-11-02T07:11:00.001-08:00

so i have a lot more recipes to add but i have no internet. i'm at a coffee shop and only have a few minutes before work. but soon, friends, soon.

let's just say laurel got me an immersion hand blender and raul bought a standing mixer... so things are gonna get crazy.

hope to write soon!

love,
keighty

fall pasta

2009-10-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

today i got to join in on the server meeting and taste farm dinner. of course it was delicious and of course it threw off my groove as far as figuring out what to make for dinner. anything i would make would not be as good. plus i have been trying wine all day so i'm a bit off. p.s being a bartender is kind of like getting paid to drink all day. not bad.

i stopped by august looking for inspiration. i bought two parsnips, one portabella mushroom, a chunk of parmesan and one shallot.

i had my idea.

fall pasta

about 10 small brussel sprouts, cored and halved

2 parsnips, diced

1 shallot clove, minced

olive oil

salt and pepper

1 cup cream

parmesan cheese

3 tbs butter

2 dashes of flour

1 portabella mushroom cap

preheat oven to 395. on a sheet pan pile brussel sprouts and parsnips. salt and pepper them. drizzle olive oil and mix to get them coated. let them do their thing.

in a sauce pan, heat up cream.

in a saute pan melt butter and shallots. as soon as the butter starts to brown throw in flour and whisk in the cream. cook on low-medium heat to thicken it up. add as much cheese as you like. let that sit for a little while, whisking every so often. keep an eye on it so it doesn't boil over (it shouldn't be boiling, though).

boil water for your pasta. you can use whatever you like. i don't like spaghetti or long pasta and my favorite is penne, but anything works. while that's boiling, turn off the oven but leave the veg in there. they'll keep cooking. if you have some bread you can put it in the oven too to crisp up.

as soon as your pasta is almost done add your chopped up mushroom to the sauce and mix well. drain your pasta and put back in the pot. add the sauce to the pasta and coat well.

serve the veg on the side.

i really really liked this sauce. it's so easy and tastes so good. the cheese is so subtle and it picks up the mushroom notes that gives the pasta an earthy taste that mixes well with the vegetables.

i think easy dishes that seem fancy are great. they make you seem like you're so crazy for making your own sauce but it's easy. promise. and sauces are great ways to try out flavors and add things that you like! don't eat prego anymore - this is better.

i should mention that the dodgers are beating the phillies right now. just in case they lose, raul would be happy to see that i gave his team a shout out.

enjoy!

love,

keighty

north and south fight about more than just baseball...

2009-10-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

1.5 million people in illinois are on food stamps.

there are 10 farmers markets in the state that take them.

unacceptable.

familyfarmed.org is working to fix these problems but the city of chicago won't get behind this idea.

how could you not get behind the idea of making sure everyone has healthy, nutritious food? everyone. not just northsiders.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-00south_side_farmers_marketoct10,0,4291373.story

north side market vs. south side market.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-00city_farmers_marketsoct10,0,6760909.story

i have been blessed with a job and a supportive husband but not everyone can afford to eat like i do. but i just eat vegetables, rarely meat. something is wrong when it's cheaper to buy processed food than real food.

the food industry is out of control. how do you sleep at night, purposely making people unhealthy? disgusting.

october orange: carrot soup and pumpkin ice cream

2009-10-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

inspired by lisa's love for pumpkin pie i decided i should try to make some pumpkin pie ice cream because everything tastes better as an ice cream.

but first let's talk about pumpkin pie spice. this handy spice is totally worth the $6. it is allspice, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg - all the spices you need for pumpkin pie. i have nutmeg and cinnamon but i don't use the other two enough to have them. so pumpkin pie spice is perfect. plus you can sprinkle it in your kitchen to make it spell like pumpkin pie. ok, probably only i will do that.

you can do this with or without an ice cream maker. of course, with the maker it's creamier and a little better (i'm biased!). but you can also follow the recipe and put it in the freezer.

pumpkin pie ice cream

3/4 cup of cooked pumpkin puree or 1 small pumpkin - scooped and chopped into 1in pieces
1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 light brown sugar
pumpkin pie spice - to taste (or smell if you don't want to taste this), two good dashes is probably it

if you're doing this pumpkin puree from scratch, boil some water and put your pumpkin pieces in there and let them boil for a while like potatoes. in a short bit they're be super tender. drain and let them cool for a second. the rind will just come off. make sure all of it is off then put in a food processor and puree it. this can be store for a few days to be used later.
heat cream and both sugars in a small sauce pan until small bubbles form around the edges. don't boil it though. remove and whisk to make sure all sugar is dissolved. cool to room temperature.
if you have a hand mixer or better yet a stand up mixer, give yourself a high five. congrats, your life is great and your kitchen is clean. i don't have either so i use a whisk. whatever your level of appliance, beat pumpkin puree, cream mixture and pumpkin spice until it's whipped.
pour mixture into ice cream machine and let it do it's thing.

depending on what kind of ice cream maker you have it can take longer or shorter but it should look like soft serve. it will thicken up in the freezer.

another thing i did was add fixins to the ice cream. i baked a graham cracker crust and broke up pieces and added them to the ice cream just as it was almost done thickening. i was influenced by nice cream that always has pieces of food in the flavors (ie. blueberry pie flavor had piece of crust) but you can also just eat it the way it is.

so today we had chris and tricia over for dinner and i made carrot soup and wilted kale and leeks. for the last few weeks we have received so many carrots in our csa that to be honest, i had become overwhelmed. several stews and cole slaws later, we still had our weight in carrots. (don't worry a carrot cake is coming!) but it's soup weather so carrot soup it is.

a word on carrots. this may sound predictable on my part, but seriously, organic carrots taste the best. i have made this soup with carrots from the store and it's still good but the organic carrots add something extra. the only thing i would do is make sure that you peel your carrots if they're not organic. i'm not completely convinced that organic is always the most important factor but i do make sure i buy organic for a few things. carrots and potatoes being two. these grow in the ground and soak up the nutrients in the soil. if the "nutrients" are actually chemical fertilizers they soak those up too and store them in their skin which you should not eat. but if it's organic then there are no chemicals, just dirt, which isn't bad for you. (not to be gross, but i rarely wash my vegetables- dirt isn't bad!)

ok, on to the cream of carrot soup

1/4 cup butter
5 medium carrots, chopped finely
1 medium onion, chopped finely
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup rice
1 cup heavy cream

in a large pot, melt butter.
add veg and cook until tender-ish about 15 minutes.
add stock and rice and cook until completely tender.
drain, save the liquid and put all the chunks in a food processor.
add puree back to the stock.
whisk in cream, season and heat up again.

can be kept on low heat and saved until your friends get there, in case they are running late.

the kale and leek is easy. chop them up and pile them high in saute pan. pour olive oil over them and cook on high and watch them wilt! season with salt and pepper and cook them until they're the right crunchiness for you.

hope you're enjoying the fall.

love,
keighty

ugh.

2009-10-06T10:40:00.001-07:00

i apologize for formatting problems. for some reason that last post was far too hard for blogspot.

love,

keighty

i need dinner. where can i go?!

2009-10-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

Anna wanted to know where you can shop around here to find good food. Here's a list of places I go.

The Green Grocer

1402 W Grand Ave

(312) 624-9508

-staff is really nice

-beer/wine pairings on tuesdays!

-you can get blue marble products here

-they have really great wine

-for the most part they have only things bought from farmers at the markets, it's where you can go when the markets are over for the day

-have nice cream ice cream!

Stanley's Fruits and Vegetables

N. Elston Ave

(773) 276-8050

-everyone loves stanley's

-he buys produce from farmers when it's about to go bad, so it's super cheap

-they usually mark what is not local so you know

-they make their own chips now and they have a deli- it's out of control

-they have pasta, some canned goods and bread, but don't count of them having everything. bank on the veg.

-they have a ton of spices!

Whole Food Market

various locations

-ugh. go here if you have to.

-they do have a ridiculous selection

-i go here for those really weird things you can't find anywhere else

-they do buy some things from local farmers but the produce is usually not local

August: A Grocery Store

1500 W Division St

(773) 252-9560

-owned by a nice family

-have the staples

-different meat and cheese selections every day

-have some produce but sometimes they have dole pineapples, so check where it's from!

-they have some bomb pasta, locally made

-cheap yeast

-have nice cream ice cream!

Chicago Green City Market

outdoor: in lincoln park, close to clark and la salle

indoor: peggy notebaert nature museum 2430 n. cannon

-where you should start

-they have bread, milk, cheese, meat, eggs, and of course produce

-easy to know where your food comes from here.

Wicker Park Farmers Market

corner of wicker park and damen

-same as above but smaller.

-has a special place in my heart because it's a really slow market

-ends oct 25th.

Eat Well Guide

this is a great source where you can put in your zip code and find all the store, restaurants, farmers markets etc. -- anywhere in the country!

seasonal food guide

featured guides by city

and of course you can get a csa... there are still some winter shares available!

go shopping and find delicious food.

love,

keighty

but besides the pumpkin pie...

2009-09-30T08:21:00.000-07:00

last night we had our friends ali and brandon over for dinner. for the occasion i made peasant bread, the same butternut/acorn squash soup as before, rosemary/mushroom risotto and pumpkin pie.

the dinner was great but the pie was less so. without the cinnamon whipped cream i made it would have been a disaster. maybe the pumpkin wasn't ripe enough. either way i'm not giving that recipe until i figure out why it did not taste good. my polite guests finished their slices regardless of the taste. i think they just liked the whipped cream.

rosemary and mushroom risotto.

this is a fancy dish that is not too hard to make, even though everyone thinks it is. so you will look like a star in the kitchen with minimal effort.

1 cup arborio rice
1 cup milk
1 tbs chopped parsley
1 medium yellow onion, minced (in culinary school the trick was the make the onion the same size as the rice so that you couldn't tell which was which until you ate it.)
chicken stock
mushrooms, chopped, any kind you like
two good sprinkles of dry rosemary
salt and pepper
1 tbs olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 cup parmesan cheese

in a sauce pan pour about 3-4 cups of chicken stock - save the container because you may have leftovers. heat it on low. have a small ladle near by for scooping. next to the sauce pan, in a skillet heat up olive oil. add garlic and onions. sautee until the garlic starts to brown a little and the onions are translucent. add parsley, rosemary and mushrooms. lower the heat to a simmer and cook until mushrooms are soft. season with salt and pepper. add milk and stir in rice. when milk is absorbed add one ladle of chicken stock. stir the rice until the stock is absorbed - this is called au sec or until it's dry. keep doing this until the rice is cooked. keep tasting it to make sure. while i a big supporter of al dente pasta i am not a fan of al dente rice. if it's not done add more stock. be patient. when you feel that rice is done, stir in the cheese. cook for a few more seconds and serve right away.

it can be kept warm for a little while but it starts to get gluey. our guests were late and the rice sat for a while so it wasn't the best. but straight out of the pan all gooey and creamy. i almost died it was so good.

peasant bread.
another fancy looking thing that's really simple to make.

i saw mark bittman do his thing for ny times and he visited a bakery that makes this bread. it's so easy a 6 year old can do it - they say this several times.

3 cups warm water (100 degrees)
1 1/2 tbs dry active yeast
1/2 tbs salt
6 1/2 cups flour (all purpose)

put all dry ingredients in large bowl. mix together loosely. add water. stir. when it gets dough-ish. cover with a towel and let it rest for about 2-3 hours.
when you come back it will be huge! and dough may or may not be on the towel. there was dough on my towel.
get a floured surface ready. flour your hands well. reach in a grab a big grapefruit sized ball of this dough (save the rest) it's very wet and sticky so just get ready. plop this glob on the floured surface. sprinkle with flour and lightly stretch it into a ball, folding the sides under to create a smooth top. then put this ball into a pie plate or cake pan, cover and let it rest for 2 hours. preheat your oven at 500 degrees. place a bowl of ice cubes at the bottom of the oven. bake the bread for 10 minutes at 500. lower the temp to 450 for another 10 minutes. then take the bread out of the pan and put it directly on the rack. lower the temp again to 350 and bake for another 10 minutes. check to make sure it's the color you want and put it on a cooling rack. then eat it.

the dough recipe makes a ton of dough and you can save it in the 'fridge for up to 2 weeks!

there are other ways to make this bread like with a dutch oven like in the video. but i don't have one so i did it this way. it still turns out delish though. plus the great thing about bread is that it tastes like bread regardless of what it looks like.

as lisa would say, stay classy, chicago.

love,
keighty

chili and co'n bread - is that inappropriate?!

2009-09-23T21:49:00.000-07:00

but seriously.

chili and corn bread. or as my great grandpa used to call it, corn pone. why? i don't know. italians don't speak english well.

chili is the best.

there are many ways to eat chili but rarely is this delicacy found alone. not in my house anyway.

my favorite partner is fritos.

others are mashed potatoes and corn bread.

when it was my birthday and my mom would make me whatever dinner i wanted i asked for chili and fritos. so to honor my mom, since i just trashed her about steaming vegetables, i will write about chili. although her chili came from a can i still love the idea of it.

chili is in the same category as stews and soups. a group which rarely has down to the letter directions. with these things you taste as you go and add things as they come up.

that said....

tomato sauce - i used carmelita brand from august. you can also cook down your own tomatoes but i didn't have a lot of time.

1 onion - we had half a red onion and half a yellow onion so i used both. two halves equal one whole!

cumin

cayenne pepper

2 pinches of brown sugar

1/2 tomato - unless you like the chunks they use the whole thing

1/2 red pepper

1/2 serano chili pepper

2 splashes of darker beer (optional, i was just drinking one at the time)

you can easily add meat to this too, just brown it first and add it in. i didn't use meat because august didn't have any today.

chop up your veg and throw everything into the pot. cook on high until it starts to boil then simmer it for say, 35 minutes or so and let is simmer while everyone takes their time coming to the dinner table. shred some cheese on top and serve!

serve with corn bread. use the recipe on the back of the corn meal box. or if in a pinch use the blue jiffy box mix. the only mix i ever use. hot damn it's good. and oh so cheap.

like i said chili can be whatever you want, so do you thing with it.

enjoy and happy fall everyone.

love,

keighty

oh the wonders of cauliflower

2009-09-23T21:28:00.000-07:00

upon returning home from my honeymoon i found a gigantic cauliflower in my 'fridge and decided it must be eaten. 'but i hate cauliflower', i tell myself. no. i hate steamed cauliflower. for some reason my mom felt that steaming vegetables was the best way to make them. in her defense i think everyone in the 80s and 90s did. but they are wrong. to quote amy poelher in baby mama, 'oh you are dead wrong'.

sauteeing, blanching or baking are the best way to eat vegetables. besides raw of course. steaming tastes bad, plus they're all sogged out and unless you drink that green liquid left in the pot, all the nutrients are gone. please don't drink that, that would be sick.

so on to this recipe.

accompanying sauteed sweet potatoes and herb and cheese biscuits i made crunchy cauliflower.

a lot of cauliflower
1 slice of bread - for crumbs!
cheese
2 tbs butter
salt and pepper

chop cauliflower into bite-sized chunks. take of the trunks of the trees! they taste bad. unless you like..ugh. throw your white trees into a baking dish. cover with grated cheese, bread crumbs and dot the top with butter bits. like if you were making a cobbler. season it up. bake at 400 until it's done. which is really quickly.

this is such an easy dish but i really liked it and so did raul. i don't know if it was the fresh cauliflower or just the fact that i wasn't eating a soggy piece of crap, but this vegetable is back in the game. give it a try. you'll like it.

but really, all that was just a way of getting to the main story. this is for jessica longeuay. they girl with too many vowels in her last name. but that's going to change. in honour of her engagement to the adorable mike takacs (forgive me if that's spelled wrong, according to spell check it is. he doesn't have a facebook how can i know the spelling?!) i am posting her idea about cauliflower mashed potatoes.

while i have not tried this recipe myself, i think i actually will. i'll let you know how it goes.

http://www.mealsmatter.org/recipes-meals/recipe/9906

while this one says to use butter and heavy cream, something which i think jess' co-workers would have not used, this is all i could find. if you're dieting, use 'i can't believe it's not butter'. the thing i don't get is, if you want something to taste like mashed potatoes why would you eat cauliflower? are potatoes bad for you? i'm going to research this weird problem.

anyway. jessica. we love you and mike and wish you the best!

someone tell that kid that's staring at my vespa to get a grip.

love,
keighty

summer's over, hooray for fall!

2009-09-21T07:30:00.000-07:00

when i got to the market on sunday morning i walked past iron creek as i always do but something was different. the tables were not lined with tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce but instead something glorious was there: SQUASH! and SWEET POTATOES! and decorative baby pumpkins! that's right, friends. fall is here.

i am so excited. i cannot wait to eat stew and soup and squash and delish fall foods.

i got a big butternut squash, an acorn squash and two sweet potatoes. (also jane at seedling gave me a bottle of apple cider and that's fall too!) i also got sunflowers! my house is so fall.

after work raul and i had to run errands including replacing tricia's book that i borrowed and destroyed and getting pastry bags - see cream puff post. (i also ended up getting a yellow 3-cup food processor - cuisinart! on sale!

it started to rain and it got all scarf-ish outside so i knew it was time for butternut squash soup.

1 onion, chopped, pretty finely
2 tbs butter
1 lrg. butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped into 1 in chunks
6 cups of chicken stock
salt, pepper and nutmeg

in a large pot melt butter and add onions. sautee until translucent. add stock and butternut squash chunks. boil until chunks are tender. with a slotted spoon remove the chunks and put in a blender (or food processor if you have one that's bigger than 3 cups...) puree the chunks and put them back in the pot. whisk the squash back into the stock and onion mix until it's consistent. season with salt and pepper and nutmeg. ** careful with nutmeg! only use a tiny bit. i used two quick shakes. and always taste it before you add more. nutmeg is the silent killer of food - see beet cake post** put back on low heat until you're ready to serve.

my mouth is watering right now. i'm going to get a barrel for my kitchen where i can store all my squash and potatoes for the winter so i won't have to eat anything else until spring! yes. i am excited.

stay dry, chicago.

love,
keighty

cream puff update

2009-09-21T07:15:00.000-07:00

upon further research about cream puffs i realized that you don't need a pastry bag to make them creamy! in fact most cream puffs are big puffs, half puffs filled with cream and topped with a lid. the little ones with the cream inside is a minority puff.

so to alter the recipe a little.

let them cool, but you before you devour them. cut each puff in half. spoon in a bit of the filling and put the lid back on. you can also get rid of the lid, but really, why? serve it with the lid on the side like a clam chowder bread bowl.

so while chris, tricia, and raul and i were held back by my ignorance of cream puffs you and your party will not.

vacation over.

2009-09-21T07:10:00.000-07:00

ok so. i got married, my foot healed enough for me to walk, i went to catalina for two days, i found out i got replaced at the farmers market - a lot has happened. but most important is what kind of food did i eat while it was all happening.

while in california i can not remember eating dinner, except one time we ate hot dogs outside. i did eat some dinner at my wedding but i also broke a champagne flute while making fun of thomas so that pretty much made me not hungry.

but i had some delish seafood while in catalina fresh out of the sea. that was refreshing.

we technically got home on wednesday but we were available on friday. so chris and tricia had us over for dinner. chris made mussels and rosemary beans and bread. i made cream puff sans cream and a salad - first vegetables in weeks.

the cream puffs are so easy to make. the only reason i didn't put cream in them is because i couldn't find my pastry bag and we had nothing to make a make-shift one with. so i dusted them with powdered sugar and moved on.

cream puff sans o avec creme.

1 cup water
1/4 cup butter
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs

preheat oven to 450
in a sauce pan boil water, butter and salt. when it gets nice and boily, remove from heat and add flour all at once. stir it vigorously until it forms a ball. as soon as it does add one egg at a time. incorporate the egg completely before adding the next. on a cookie sheet (i also used my silpat mat to keep them from sticking but you could use parchment, or just grease the pan really well. this egg fest of a cream puff will want to stick to the pan for sure) spoon out bits of cream puff batter. so, these things get pretty big - i put 12 on the pan and that was all the batter and they were really filling. you can make them smaller for sure too, just do it in a few batches.
put puffs in the oven for 10 minutes at 450. after 10 minutes drop the heat to 350 and bake for another 25 minutes. you're freaking out right now and saying food can't tell time, it's done when it's done -- but remember, eggs are the smartest and most evolved food, they can tell time and since this dish is mostly eggs, cream puffs can also tell time.
let cool and devour.

now do your thing as far as filling goes. i used powdered sugar on top but you could whip up some whipped cream you could make a cream cheese filling... sky's the limit.

glad to be back.

love,
keighty

foot injury and one last hurrah.

2009-08-27T16:48:00.000-07:00

so it's wednesday night and i'm excited about seeing the handsome devilz - yes, a smiths cover band. they were playing with mr. gray - a joy division cover band. so great. so we get off the train and we're walking towards the club when i fall of a broken sidewalk and hit the ground hard. glasses go flying, i cut my leg and i'm dying. it hurts so bad. BUT i must see the smiths so i keep going limping. but suddenly i can't take it anymore and my sandal is too tight and i make it to a bus stop bench and hold back the tears. after calling everyone we know with a car and getting all of their voicemails i hopped back to the train and mogan carried me down the stairs. fast forward to drinking a corona and crying about how i can't afford to go to the doctor.

now i'm working from home and the only thing i've eaten is the soup that alicia left on my back porch - thanks girl. this is my way of saying that i won't be cooking for a while. since my cooking style involves flying around the kitchen, forgetting ingredients and burning myself it will be a while before i can get in there without my stupid stupid crutches.

i'm very sad but i will be back soon after the wedding probably. but i got a new wok set and a mandolin so far so we'll be cooking soon.

watch out for cracks in the sidewalk!

love,
keighty

p.s before i broke myself i made roasted green pepper and ricotta raviolis.

to roast the peppers simply light them on fire. the easiest cooking technique! turn on your store and just put the pepper right on the fire. keep turning it to get all the skin nice and charred. once it's all black, put them in a zip lock bag, get the air out and seal it. let it steam for a few minutes. then rinse the peppers and peel off the charred skin. it should come right off. save the green parts. once you have all the green bits, chop them up into tiny, mushy pieces. throw in a bowl with a few spoons of ricotta, salt and pepper and mix together. then put in the 'fridge for later.

pasta dough.

3 1/2 cups flour
3 eggs
a tiny bit of water
1 tsp olive oil

make a well with the flour. in a separate bowl beat the eggs. pour the eggs and oil into the well. then slowly incorporate mixture. add water to make the dough form. use a little - you can always add more, but don't use too much! once you get a dough, knead it for a while. cover and let it rest for 30 minutes. roll out dough on a floured surface roll out the dough as thin as you can. if you have a pasta roller - get that crap out and use it. use a biscuit cutter and cut out circles. each circle has a partner so make enough! fill each circle with just enough filling. don't overfill because they'll explode everywhere. top with the partner circle and crimp with a fork. let rest, covered, while you make the sauce

milk

two pinches of flour
3 tbs butter
salt and pepper
pasta sauce - preferably tomato mountain brand

pour milk into a pan - the amount that you need for sauce - maybe a cup. add butter and flour. whisk together on high heat. keep whisking and watching while it boils and reduces until it is the thickness that you want. add pasta sauce and whisk together. serve on top of the raviolis.

enjoy.

polish day - blueberry perogi...

2009-08-27T16:06:00.000-07:00

in honour of blueberry season denise and i made blueberry perogi! these are the polish answer to the potsticker. they make denise so excited and they're really delicious.

i learned her secret family recipe but can't repeat it - because it's in polish.

the only problem is is that it's all polish - measurements etc... but denise says you have to go to a polish grocery store and get all the ingredients... no english! except we used mick klug's blueberries. $20 for a 5lb box!

from watching her i can figure that the english translation is this.

1/2 kilo flour
1 egg
2 cups warm water
4 tsp oil
a pinch of salt (but we forgot that)

you can make whatever filling you want. obviously we chose blueberries. we filled a bowl with blueberries and coat them well with sugar.... polish sugar, and let it sit in the 'fridge.

mix is like you're making pasta. start with flour and make a well in the middle. add egg. then slowly add water a little at a time while you slowly incorporate it all into the flour. keep doing that until you have a dough. onto a floured surface drop this dough and roll as thin as you can. get a biscuit cutter and cut out circles. fill each circle with a bit of filling, fold them, and crimp the edges with a water-wetted fork (like ravioli).
boil a bit pot of water. once you have a rolling boil drop in a few perogi. and just like raviolis they will pop to the top of the pot when they're done. let cool for a few minutes and eat!

if you want to be extra fancy make some whipped cream to go on top.

1 pint heavy whipping cream
powdered sugar
vanilla

pour the whipping cream in a bowl and pour about 1/4 cup of powdered sugar. (i don't actually know the measurements for the sugar and vanilla. just keep tasting it. if it tastes like milk, add more). start whisking - fast. keep doing it until it's whipped cream. you can also you a hand mixer or a stand up mixer if you have one.

enjoy!

love,
keighty

fancy mac and cheese

2009-08-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

mac and cheese is one of my favorite dishes. and you can still have it if you've given up shopping at the super market or eating food out of boxes. all mac and cheese doesn't start with elbow macaroni and powder cheese! phew.

first i want to take a moment to share my knowledge of macaroni. i am in super debt from the culinary school escapade so let me use what i learned! macaroni is the name for dried pasta, as opposed to fresh pasta. fresh being pasta that you make, let sit for a second, then throw in the pot. that pasta takes 30 seconds to cook, dried pasta, as you know takes longer. if you've never made your own pasta is incredible. it tastes ridiculous and, like baking bread, gives you this sense of wonder and excitement that you created something that you thought you only buy at the store. no one makes bread or pasta, they buy it! but someone made it and you can too! but for the time being we'll use this great pasta that i found at august that is made in chicago. you can also you pasta puttana but it's not bite-sized.

all that to say, mac and cheese is just dried pasta and cheese. so you don't have to limit yourself to elbow macaroni and cheddar cheese. just because kraft says that's mac and cheese does not mean that's the only way. plus kraft says a lot of things that aren't true. so let's leave them now.

pasta - penne is my favorite - i think it stems back to this time in my life when i would go to the market city caffe with my friend natalie and have fancy lunches. back when we worked so much and had nothing to spend our money on because we didn't drive and had no bills. we would always order chicken penne with cream sauce, no broccoli, every time. plus i really don't like slurping up spaghetti, it's unlady like.

cheese sauce...

i got this recipe in an hilarious place. from a 'friends' cookbook. like the tv show. there are a lot of stupid recipes in there but this one is really great.

1 cup milk

3 tbs butter

1 1/2 tbs flour

1 1/2 lb of cheese -- any kind! i used a mixture of this ridic goat cheese and some cheddar

dash of cayenne pepper

start boiling the water for pasta.

heat up milk in a small pan.

melt butter in another pan until foamy.

add pasta to water.

stir in flour and cook for two minutes.

slowly whisk in milk, until smooth.

continue cooking on low heat until mixture turns to cream (about five minutes)

add cheese, salt and pepper to taste and a little cayenne.

drain pasta. put back in pot and pour cheese all over it!

for extra fanciness add tuna! this is a far cry from laurel's m'n'c dinner but it is equal if not better in taste...

enjoy!

love,

keighty

appetizers for dinner.

2009-08-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

i should apologize for my long absence. my sister, julie, was diagnosed with polycystic kidneys , i had bridal showers in california, i'm having a terrible time feeling comfortable in my own home. a lot of things have been going on with work. needless to say i've still been cooking so i'm going to update all my most recent dishes.

i got this cookbook called 'plates to share' and it's full of dinner menus that are made up of appetizer sized portions - a whole bunch of them.

for dinner i made mini pissaladieres - essentially mini french pizzas. this is the night i learned my family does not eat green olives but at the time i thought everyone did.

9oz frozen puff pastry (i do use frozen even though i make a lot of bread but puff pastry takes soooo long to make, yes all those Os are necessary.)
1 1/2 lbs yellow onions, thinly sliced - in season right now, delish.
5 tbs olive oil
3 garlic cloves
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs white wine vinegar
1 tbs dried herbes de provence
2 1/2 anchovy fillets, halved lengthwise (i actually skipped these, not because i don't like them, because i do! but because they were $10 at the store. plus raul and alisa probably would have taken them off anyway)
a small handful of green olives (or olive of your choice)
salt and pepper
grated havarti cheese (i added this. the nuttiness of the cheese mixed with the sweet onions and salty olives was perfect)

preheat oven to 400 degrees.
unroll pastry dough and use a pastry cutter to stamp out 20 circles. (i do have a pastry cutter but if you don't you can also use a drinking glass or something else round. you can even cut them out yourself with a pastry wheel aka. a pizza cutter) refrigerate until needed.
heat olive oil in a large sauce pan (actually a small pot, not a frying pan - confusing!). add onions and season will with salt and pepper. cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes. add garlic, sugar and vinegar. reduce heat and gently saute for about 20 minutes until onions have caramelized. remove pan from heat.
Place the pastry circles on baking sheets and divide the onion between them.
arrange the anchovies (if you have those) on top, sprinkle with herbs and add a few olives.
here's where you grate a little cheese on top. you can do it again after they come out of the oven if you want.
bake for 25 minutes or until crisp.

i served this with fried bananas and zucchini.

the fried bananas are not really fried but i don't know what else to call them.

chop a banana into bite sized pieces. i used a real banana, not a plantain.
heat up a little bit of olive oil in the pan.
add bananas, placing them in there, rather than having a big pile. make sure each piece is touching the bottom of the pan.
sprinkle with sugar and salt and pepper.
flip them and repeat sprinkling.
serve warm.

i did the same thing with the squash.

hope you have the best dinner.

love, keighty

mini vacation for raul's birthday.

2009-08-08T19:53:00.000-07:00

raul had his birthday last sunday. my dad was in town and we had a bunch of people over for dinner and it was too busy to make dinner. so my present to raul was a date night. a night away from the kids. simultaneously, raul got a great review at work, got a raise and a bonus! we went on hotwire to get the next cheap hotel room downtown. we found one for $90 at the swissotel right on the lake on the 29th floor!. we made a fancy dinner and packed it in tupperware, bought some champagne and then we got on the train to check into the hotel. it was a really nice night and that hotel is super fancy.

anyway here's the menu for the fancy birthday dinner.

portabella bella mushroom, chicken, squash quesadillas with a little spice
pan roasted potatoes with onions
homemade ranch dressing with assorted veg
fruit salad ala mick klug farms

quesadillas

1/2 squash - zucchini, chopped
2 small chicken breasts
1 portabella mushroom, chopped
1/2 jalapeno, fine dice
4 taco sized tortillas
grated cheese.
refried beans 1/4 can
3 tbs butter

melt 1 tbs butter in sautee pan. sautee veg. add jalapeno, stir well. you don't want one giant bite of jalapeno... or maybe you do if you're raul. set aside
cook chicken however you see fit - grill, bake, or pan fry like i did (p.s pan fry does not mean fry... this isn't kfc in other words, just cooked in a pan) set aside
lay out tortillas and layer the beans and top with the rest of the fixin's top with cheese. fold tortilla in half. repeat two other times.
melt 1 tbs butter in sautee pan and place two quesadillas in the pan and brown both sides. repeat with the last bit of butter and the last two quesadillas.
cut the quesas in half.

ranch dressing

1 cup milk
1 cup mayonaise
1 tbs chopped parsely
3 cloves garlic, chopped
salt n' pepp

mix it all together and refrigerate.

potatoes and onions.

self explanatory but just don't rush it. let potatoes and onions cook as long as they need on low heat.

by the time we got the hotel the food was a little less than warm but it was still good so when you make it at home and eat it hot it'll taste even better.

taste update.

2009-08-05T21:05:00.000-07:00

everyone knows about my distain for fennel. it tastes like black licorice and tell me who would like that? last week i got a giant fennel bulb in my csa. not knowing what to do with it i just left it in the 'fridge. this week i got another one. in our newsletter the farmer told us to roast them and that they'll caramelize and taste sweet. i was very suspicious but i thought, why not just try it. i had nothing to lose.

so tonight, i tried it. and it, my friends, was delicious. i'm in love with roasted fennel. it's so sweet and crispy with a bitter taste on the back of your tongue. it was great on my mushroom burger too. after dinner i sat there eating the ones that didn't make it onto that tiny burger.

anyway, i have seen the light and it is roasted fennel.

just chop some fenn up, drizzle olive oil, salt and pepp that bitch and roast on 400 for 20ish minutes. then eat straight or put on anything.

i feel like i'm just starting to live. fennel, who would've thought?

girls night in.

2009-08-05T20:54:00.000-07:00

wednesday night is man night. this is the night that chris, mogan, raul and les, and occasionally kelley, meet and talk man secrets.

tonight alisa and i took advantage of not having any boys and made a fabulous dinner.

in our csa we've been getting portabella mushrooms. they're huge and ridiculously tasty. so we decided on portabella mushroom "burgers" with coleslaw.

alisa made the coleslaw which from my angle was made like this...

there is some amount of the following ingredients. i'm sure you can just mix it together until it tastes right...

red cabbage
carrots
mayonnaise
apple cider vinegar - not too much of this, i'm guessing, or it'll be too runny
salt n' pepp

so good.

i took care of the rest.

portabella mushroom 'burger'

hamburger buns - ol' standby
(actually this time they were really doughy and dense - yeast was probably dead, my bad)

i roasted some veg - zucchini (my new favorite thing), onions, fennel.

you need to marinate the mushrooms!

2 cloves garlic, chopped.
2 tbl balsamic vinegar
6 tbl olive oil
thyme (didn't use it)
salt n' peppa.

put mushrooms on sheet pan and slather up one side with the delish dressing. roast for a little while then flip and slather other side. we roasted all the veg and the mushrooms on one pan since we don't like to do dishes.

slice buns. add fixin's. serve.

easy as pie.

follow up with a leisurely cigarette break on the balcony.

in other news i made these granola bars and you know, they were really good. my co-worker, mary, loves them so i bring them to the markets for her. they're really easy to store. the only thing is is that i added dark chocolate bits but they melted so it looks all smushy. it still tastes good though. i'm not sure when you would add chocolate so it didn't melt. i'll let you know what i figure it out.

sending my best.

love,
keighty

just a little news update.

2009-08-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

last night i just made some chicken with some csa food.
roasted red potatoes and some red lettuce. delish.

but this post is really for this:

“Factory farms have already forced out many small producers by lowering the price that farmers are paid for chickens and pigs. The tough economic times are hitting everyone hard and many farmers are losing their contracts. The USDA has bought up surplus pork, chicken and eggs for nutrition and school lunch programs to absorb some of the over-supply, but still, the agency continues to back loans for new factory farms.”

-food and water watch

the money is behind factory farms but let's change that. it seems overwhelming and that we could never change the farm lobbies. but like they said in food, inc. we thought that about the tobacco lobbies but we stopped them.

to read more and sign petitions etc. click here

love,
keighty

flat bread pizzas!

2009-07-30T08:31:00.001-07:00

so i'm at stanley's looking for my pitas that are so delish and actually made on kedzie which is nice and close, and i can't find them anywhere. i circle the little shelf that holds the breadish things and don't find them. but i find 'pocket-less pitas'. what the heck do you do with pocket-less pitas? flat bread pizza, my friend.

on tuesday after a ridiculous bike ride to oak park i was so hungry and sweaty that i needed something so great for lunch. so i saw an opportunity for using the sub-par pitas. i also made these last night for dinner since my cousin, paula and her friend angela were visiting and we were all out of money.

it's the easiest and i'll post what i put on it, but really there shouldn't be a recipe.

flat bread or pocket-less pita

olive oil

cheese

fixin's.

i laid one flat bread on a cookie sheet and pre-heated the oven to 350.

spread a little olive oil on the bread.

cover with grated cheese

add toppings. for me i used veg from our csa: parsley, onions, broccoli and

zucchini. last night i used onions, chives, corn and zucchini.

sprinkle with salt and pepp and bake until the bread is crispy.

last night i also made a side dish of veg medley. freshly picked green beans from our garden, carrots from the csa, baby zucchini and squash blossoms from iron creek farms (for free from the wicker park market - the best)

and of course beet cake for dessert. about which no one says anything bad except for raul who says it tastes like beets. he's full of it.

right now i'm eating a ridiculous nectarine that mick klug grew even though he says 'God did it, honey'.

have a great day.

love,

keighty

beet cake... ugh gross...

2009-07-27T06:08:00.000-07:00

no! beet cake is great. especially if you put too much nutmeg in it like i did, now it's gingerbread beet cake!

but seriously, folks, you got a ton of beets at home just sittin' in your 'fridge. what should you do with them?! answer: make a chocolate beet cake.

i didn't make dinner last night because it was sunday and the sunday special at piece is $25 for an x-large pizza and a growler of beer. (growler, i'll agree, is the dumbest word, but it's like at mccminnamin's when you buy that mason jar and then can refill it)

anyway, back to the cake.

1 cup butter, divided

1 1.5 cup packed brown sugar

3 eggs

1.5 oz dark chocolate - i used more!

5 medium beets or 2 cups pureed beets

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

.25 tsp salt

.5 tsp cinnamon

.25 tsp nutmeg

boil beets until they're tender. let them cool! they're so hot you'll burn your hands. get the skins off. then puree them in the blender until smooth.

cream half the butter and sugar. add eggs. melt the chocolate with the rest of the butter and add to the mix. add the beets and vanilla, mix well. (as if you were going to mix poorly, that step is condescending)

add the rest of the dry ingredients and remember that it's 1/4 tsp nutmeg not 1/2 tsp -- ugh. i have to follow directions better.

bake at 375 until it's done. and don't eat it until it's cool - when it's hot it tastes like beets, gross, but when it's cool it'll just taste like chocolate -- or nutmeg in my case.

hope it's great.

i got a helmet yesterday and i look lame but at least when i get hit by a car my head won't break. charlie getting doored on damen was the last straw. also mogan accidently bought a girl's bike and i'm going to buy it from him!

hope you're doing well.

love,

keighty

old soup

2009-07-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

while i was on my writing break i made some french onion soup that was ridiculous. and i thought i would share it. it's so easy too, it just takes a while.

when i made it i watched this video

but here is the recipe...

4 tbs butter cut into pieces

6 medium onions, thinly sliced - i used vidalia onions because they're sweet

1/4 tsp salt

4 cups water

14 1/2 oz of beef broth - a little under two cups

1/4 tsp dried thyme - i didn't have any so i skipped it

4 slices french bread - i had ciabatta

4 oz guyere, grated - french swiss cheese, so you could use american swiss too

in a non stick pan melt butter over medium heat. add onions and salt and cook, stirring occasionally until onions begin to caramelize - about 45 minutes. if you see that they're wilting but not turning brown turn up the heat a little bit. and yes it's a long time but you get to smell the delish smell of caramelizing sweet onions!

reduce the heat and cook for 15 minutes more.

it says to transfer onions to a dutch oven, but i don't have one so i put them in a bit pot. add 1/2 cup water to the pan and bring to boil to deglaze the sticky goodness on the bottom of the pan.

--- side note. deglazing is a cool technique that you do when cooking something in a skillet or pan for a long time. while it's cooking some of it's deliciousness will get stuck to the bottom of the pan. you traditionally would add red wine to the pan or tomato juice - something acidic- to loosened the stuck on stuff. the french are good at what they do and i think it's great that they think ahead to the horrible dishes they'll have to scrub and instead just deglaze!

add deglazing water to the onions. add remaining 1/3 cup of water, broth and thyme (or not) and bring to boil over high heat. reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes.

preheat oven to 450 degrees. arrange bread slices on the rack to toast.

pour soup into four oven safe bowls.

--i've never yearned for ceramic crocks more than at this moment. having nothing to use i used regular bowls. sigh. it doesn't look as great for the picture but it tastes just as good. if you have souflee dishes - bigger ones - you can use those, but seriously, bowls will work. good housekeeping says only certain bowls are oven safe. all bowls are unless they're wood, plastic or not pyrex glass, duh.

arrange bowls on a sheet pan. place a piece of bread on top of each one and gently press it down into the soup. not all the way down but so it's steady. sprinkle the grated cheese generously over the bowls. put in the oven and bake until the cheese begins to brown.

this makes 5 cups or 4 first course servings.

i made it for soup night because it's raul's favorite soup. and i was really worried because my water-based soups had been turning out horribly lately. but this one, to toot my own horn (toot toot), was so good.

enjoy.

love,

keighty

goat chops!

2009-07-24T07:20:00.000-07:00

i work at the andersonville market on wednesday nights (best market ever). and my table is next door to the mint creek farm table which is run by rea, the nice blonde daughter of the farmer. she's very cool and have rad shoes every week. this week her generator ran out of gas so i rode my bike to the station to get her some more. then when i realized that mary had the tomato scale in her car she let us share her's.

usually we're not that busy because produce farmers take all the business - she sells meat and eggs and i sell salsa etc. but this week i had tomatoes so i was busy and we didn't get to talk as much. i offered her a tomato but she's allergic so i decided i needed to buy some meat. and i chose goat - thinking that was super weird.

i got them very cheap since i know the farmers' daughter and i rode them home to my unsuspecting family.

i broiled them for about 15 minutes and served them with csa veg - sauteed broccoli and string beans. and having realized that we ran out of bread we ate pitas with tomato mountain farm preserves.

i slathered the chops with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and rosemary then just broiled them.

all in all, they tasted like rosemary but were very tough. we ended up eating them like ribs since they were too hard to cut. they were good though. i'm not that into meat so i'd probably skip it next time but raul really seemed to like them. i think he was just so excited there was meat for dinner.

i'd recommend a try at goat, maybe a different part, like the sirloin or something. with that giant bone in the middle the chops were hard to eat. but even one little chop was very filling. (i think i just really like the word chop)

in garden news, i'm going to transplant our patio tomato into the garden. after the death of the onion, garlic, shallots there is half a garden just sitting there empty and half taking over the yard. the beans we picked so far are perfectly delicious and i can't wait for cucumber blossoms!

have a great day.

love,

keighty

it's been a while.

2009-07-21T05:54:00.000-07:00

due to a request from my one reader, jessica. i will start posting again.

a lot has been happening in our house lately. james 'les' rorick has moved in for the summer but has decided to stay for good. gretchen and paul came to visit, we had a party etc. etc. etc.

i will update with one meal i made when the whole family was together (les, keighty, raul and alisa)

it was on wednesday when i got the fresh batch of csa veg. we finally got dill instead of parsley. and some beautiful beets.

for les' first day i made stuffed zucchini.

1.5 pounds of zucchini -- it was about three zucchinis halved then sliced in half - like boats

1.5 cups of bread crumbs

2 oz shredded cheddar cheese - i used gouda because that's all august had.

.25 cup minced onion - i used the spring onions that came in my csa

2 tbls chopped dill

1.25 tsp salt

.25 cups grated parmesan cheese - and a little extra for the top!

2 eggs, beaten

2 tbls butter, diced - i actually had no butter so i skipped it, it was still great.

preheat oven to 350 degrees

boil the zuccs until tender about 15 minutes. careful. they're ridiculously hot so put them on a dish outside next to the 90/94 freeway to cool.

when they're done being hot, carefully scoop out the zucc flesh and save it in a bowl. now you have six zucc boats!

mix zucc flesh, bread crumbs, cheddar cheese, onion, dill, salt, most of the parmesan, the gouda and the egg. Mix it up! fill up the zucc boats and sprinkle them with more cheese - both kinds!

bake in the oven for 30 minutes, just check - you'll know.

unfortunately, this was the week i felt like writing a blog was dumb. but i've seen the light and i'm happy to be back. but that all means that there are no pictures. but you can use your imaginations.

in other news my garden is doing great. we had a side dish of green beans last night for dinner. and there are so many more!

i'll give you that recipe too.

green bean side dish.

plant green beans.

wait.

pick.

sautee and serve.

hope everyone is well.

love,

keighty

mexican food night.

2009-07-02T20:15:00.000-07:00

for reals. i ate mexican food.

i came home and worked on wedding stuff all day and i was in the middle of watching 'californication' and addressing invitations when alisa came home. she said she wanted to make black bean and goat cheese quesadillas. i said, be my guest.

we walked to guarajato your favorite mexican grocery store. we got the fixins and raul drooled over the mexican cokes. in mexico, and every other country, coke is made with sugar and not high fructose corn syrup (aka s'orn). raul is trying to detox from his s'orn addiction (i didn't even make him, he decided this on his own). so he stocked up on mexicoke so he can have soda. true, soda still isn't good for you, sugar at least is real and can be understood by your body.

alisa went to work on her dinner.... she made homemade tortillas! so ridiculous.

raul sat in front of the tv, watching the colbert report, and made his famous guacamole.

no, i didn't just sit around. i took advantage of our summer squash from our csa and made zucchini bread (and muffins because i had leftover batter and only one loaf pan).

it was a super special family dinner.

and i have a picture to prove that i ate mexican food.

family dinner

2009-06-30T13:17:00.000-07:00

tonight, for family dinner, i've decided to cook up all the leftover veg i have from last week's csa, since we're getting more tomorrow. it's easy...chop vegetables, whatever you have, sautee them, add teriyaki sauce. serve!

i'm also adding rolls (just the hamburger buns i made the other day -- new ones, not moldy old ones) and a salad -- i more lettuce than i know what to do with.

for dessert i'm making homemade ice cream. chocolate chip, this time.

last time i made it with half and half and heavy cream, but this time i only had milk. it will still make ice cream but it won't be as creamy or as gelato-y as my last batch was. i'm going to give you the real recipe, though, so you can make the good stuff.

*warning: this takes a while, so plan ahead! and you'll need an ice cream maker. i borrowed one from a friend. but i hear the salvation army in humbolt park has a lot*

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups half and half

8 lrg egg yolks

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

(this is not lowfat ice cream! but i also has not s'orn in it)

bring creams to a boil. set aside for 2 hours. yes, at room temp, yes, it's seems gross, but trust me.

strain cream through a fine sieve. return to sauce pan, bring to boil again.

in bowl mix egg yolks and sugar, whisk until creamy.

slowly stir in 1 cup of hot cream mixture into egg mixture.

then mix it all back in the sauce pan.

cook over a medium heat until very hot (180 degrees - ish) but don't boil.

chill mixture completely.

start ice cream mixer and slowly drizzle in mixture.

*here's where you'd add very cold chocolate chips*

when the mixer starts to sound like it's working hard, it's done.

scoop it into something freeze-able and freeze. you could serve it right out of the mixer but it's not as frozen or as solid as regular ice cream, it's more like soft serve.

simple, yes? yes.

soup night once again.

2009-06-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

raul and i have been eating out a lot lately and i haven't been cooking. hence, the lack of updates. i will take a minute to talk about southwater kitchen. raul and i had a date night on friday. we went to dinner and to the gene siskel film center to see our friend denise preform her burlesque. it was great, by the way, all the girls did a great job. i felt very proud of them. but i digress. southwater kitchen. it was delicious and the wine was out of sight. the prices are a little steep but if it's a once a month thing....

soup night was something we started in the winter when it was all we had to look forward to. our first chicago winter was hard. no warm coats, no money and no jobs. but at least we had soup night. now that we're millionaires* we can look back on those times and chuckle as we sip our cocktails. but soup night still remains.

*we may or may not actually have a million dollars.

the soup de jour is clam chowder, or it's christian name, clam chowda.

it's a really easy recipe and tastes good with just some bread or a bread bowl if you're fancy. laurel, i'm lookin' at you.

3 slices of bacon, diced

3/4 cup chopped white onion

3/4 cup water

2 cups cubed red potatoes

3/4 tsp salt

pepper to taste

1 1/2 cup half and half

1 tbs and 1 1/2 tsp butter

1 10 oz can minced clams, save the juice!

in a sauce pan start fryin' up the bacon. when it's almost crispy, add onions. cook until they are tender. add water and potatoes (add a tiny bit more if potatoes are not covered enough). bring to a boil. cook until potatoes are fork tender. add half and half, butter and clams and 1/2 of the clam juice. season with salt and pepp.

heat up deliciousness but don't boil.

also, in a way to save the strawberries and rhubarb that we got from our csa i decided to make strawberry-rhubarb jam.

2 lbs rhubarb, chopped, cleaned

1 cup strawberries, hulled, chopped

1 cup of sugar

1 box strawberry jell-o (or some indie brand, but i like jell-o just fine)

mix everything together in a bowl and let it sit in your 'fridge for 3-5 hours. lean more towards 5. after that, put mixture in saucepan and bring to boil. boil it for 10 minutes. remove from heat and add jell-o. stir until it is dissolved. pour into some container. (not the jars you took home for work (tomato mountain) because no matter what you do it will smell like tomatoes).

right now i'm eating an old pancake from this morning and drinking champagne.

love,

keighty

csa this week....

2009-06-26T05:51:00.000-07:00

i forgot to mention that we got our second csa box on wednesday. it included:

mushrooms

rhubarb

strawberries

two giant heads of lettuce

spinach

green garlic

sugar snap peas (!!!)

zucchini

on wednesday alisa made a delish pasta dish that had zucchini in it. and we made our salad last night with the lettuce and added some strawberries... and we had sauteed mushrooms on the burgers.

just so you know where the food is going....

love,

keighty

gourmet (gore-met) homemade meal

2009-06-25T18:03:00.001-07:00

i had a horrible headache today. i need new glasses because now i stare at a computer all day and try to get farmers to return my emails. it was so bad that on the bus home i thought i was going to lose it and i barely made it home without crying. at home i laid on the couch with my eyes closed listening to 'la story' on tv. i love that movie.

all that is to show how, even with a headache, you can make a great dinner for your family.

a little while ago i bought some beautiful ground beef from the vendor two tents down from me. an adorable lady told me all about how the cows are grassfed and lived with their babies etc. it was $6 per pound. ($1 discount for me!) that said, it was delicious and worth worth worth it.

**here's a side note about farmers market prices. farmers that don't grow corn and don't raise corn fed cows rarely or simply don't get government subsidies which means that they're at the mercy of their customers. farmers that do grow corn and raise corn fed cows do get government subsidies so even if they lose money on their crop they still get supported by the government. the reason? the government supports cheap, quick food and it's basically a supply and demand thing. we demand fast food and the farmers have to supply it if they want to make money. it's true that most of the farmers that supply this crap food, know they're supplying crap food, but they have families and mortgages so they grow it.

farmers that choose not to grow this way are taking a huge risk and that's why their prices seem high but reality that's what food should cost. the cheap stuff we're buying is not good for you, the farmers, or in the long run, the government. if we support our local small farmers and say that we'll pay a little more for real food then there will be no money in growing corn and corn fed beef and everyone will be healthier.

go watch king corn to learn more. i'll put my soapbox away for now.

now back to our burgers.

this whole process took about an hour. and thanks to excedrin from alisa it wasn't so bad.

leave your beef on the counter, in case it's not completely defrosted like mine. and start making your bun dough... hahaha. bun dough.

this recipe is for 25 buns so i scaled it down since i don't even know 25 people.

1/4 cup and 1 tbs warm milk (this is for yeast so not too hot)

2 tsp butter, melted (i threw this in the pot while the milk heated up)

2 tsp warm water

2 tsp white sugar

1/3 package of dry active yeast (i guessed. 1 pkg is 1 tbs so, yeah, just guess)

1/4 tsp salt (i actually forgot this part)

3/4 cup and 3 tbs + 1 tsp all purpose flour

preheat oven to 375.

mix milk, butter, water, sugar and yeast in a bowl and let it sit for 5 minu

tes.

add flour and salt (unless you don't want to, mine turn out great without

it). mix up with a spoon until it forms a kind of ball. turn out onto a floured surface. knead for a hot minute. split into three balls, put parchment paper down (or grease it up) on a sheet pan, put the balls on (haha balls) and cover. let them rest for 20 minutes.

while they're resting form up your patties. and chop up your fixins.

when they're done resting put them in the oven and watch them. i think they took about 15 minutes to bake. when they're done, let them cool.

now cook the burgers how you want. i don't have a grill so i made them on the stove, but if you have a grill, do your thing.

cut the buns in half and add your burgers.

alisa made a great salad too.

the rest of the night i spent singing kelly clarkson and of montreal to my room mates so, yeah, it was a great day.

don't count on the rain, just water the garden, chicago.

love,

keighty

granola, soup, bread and a crisp... all in one hour.

2009-06-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

i dawdled around yesterday and found myself at the beach with kelly and ben. after an hour or two of getting roasted by the sun i went to scott's to borrow his blender. yesterday was soup night and i was making cream of spinach.

when i got home i realized that i hadn't made bread in a long time and we needed

some. so i started the dough. then i thought that we were running low on milk and tomorrow i'd have to have granola and yogurt for breakfast, so i made some granola. then i saw the rhubarb and knew i had to get rid of that so i made a crisp. i almost forgot about the soup but i made that too, just in time for raul to get home from work.

it was so hot in that kitchen, i almost fainted.

bread you already know. but i'll give you the others.

granola...

2 cups rolled oats, uncooked

1/4 veg oil

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 nuts or seeds (it changes depending on what i have at home, this week: sunflower seeds)

1/2 dried fruit (didn't have any,but if you do, by all means...)

2 tbs honey

1 tsp vanilla

mix everything together. spread on sheet pan. bake at 325 for 10ish minutes. careful not to burn!! let it cool completely then break it apart and store in a tight container, it'll last.

soup....

this soup was a little disappointing so i'm going to make a few alterations. yes, this is a mark bitten recipe, don't kill me, all you foodies.

1 lb spinach, washed, stems taken off - a little more than 1 lb.

3 cups chicken stock - i used 2 1/2 cups

3 spring onions (i used green garlic)

small grating of nutmeg

salt n' peppa - tons

1 cup heavy cream or milk or half n' half - i used a pint

put stock, onions and spinach in a sauce pan and bring to boil. lower the heat and let it simma until spinach is tender. turn off heat, add nutmeg, salt n' peppa and let cool for a few minutes.

pour into blender - in batches, if necessary - and puree.

pour back into pan, add milk and reheat. season. serve.

the crisp....

crust

1 Cup flour

3/4 Cup Oatmeal (uncooked)

1 Cup brown sugar (packed)

1/2 cup butter (melted)

Filling

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoons flour

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 Tablespoon butter (softened)

1 egg (beaten)

2 cups rhubarb (cut into 1/2 inch pieces)

2 cups strawberries (hulled, halved)

Mix flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, and butter until crumbly. Press 1/2 into greased 9” square pan. Add rhubarb. Beat egg. Blend sugar, flour nutmeg and butter. Add beaten egg, beat until smooth. Pour over rhubarb. Top with other half of crumb mixture. Press mixture down lightly. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

as i sit here in my bathing suit, watching the paint start to bubble on my kitchen table, i am grateful that i cooked so much yesterday and that i'm going to family dinner with just a nice cool salad.

stay hydrated.

love,

keighty

hot dog sunday.

2009-06-21T16:42:00.000-07:00

today i was craving a corn dog from underdog but they weren't open so i settled on eating a hot dog at home.

while raul cooked up the dogs, i took care of the egg salad.

this is the easiest side dish plus it's bar-b-que-ing season and it's always nice to bring something tasty to a friend's grill off.

this gives me the opportunity to talk about hard cooked eggs. yes, not hard boiled. eggs shouldn't be boiled so whoever started that rumor should come see me. you put the eggs in a sauce pan, then pour cold water over them. much like potatoes, eggs should not be dropped into hot water but allowed to cook at the same speed as each other. once the water does come to a boil lower the heat and let it simmer. also i am famous for saying 'food doesn't tell time', however, there is one exception. eggs, being one of the smartest and move evolved foods, do tell time. once the water is at a simmer watch the clock for 12 minutes. your eggs will be done and shouldn't have that greyish green color on the yolk.

4 eggs, hard cooked

4 pink radishes, preferably from peasant's plot, a deliciously adorable farm but regular radishes will work too.

3 tbs mayonnaise (roughly, i didn't

measure)

1 tbs yellow mustard

2 tsp parsley

2 tsp green garlic

cook your eggs. drain, peel and chop.

chop radishes into a small dice. you want the crunch, but not the overwhelming peppery taste. mince garlic and parsley.

in a medium bowl throw everything together and mash up with a fork.

i ate it while it was still hot because i was so hungry but you should have more self control than me and wait until it's been chilled. save some for your room mate.

love,

keighty

a fancy dinner party

2009-06-21T16:20:00.000-07:00

you may remember that yesterday was hot hot. raul and i went to the beach but there was no swimming allowed because of bacteria. please, chicago, i've swam at huntington beach, ca, with all the syringes. so we went to the movies to cool off. then we were invited to a dinner party at our friend chris' house.

we brought a salad with coconut, of course. i made a discovery too. i didn't have any dressing and i didn't want to make any because we'd have to ride our bikes over to chris' house. as it was we had the salad in a small cooler in my basket and a bottle of wine in my backpack. so i avoided the fact that there was no dressing until it came time to eat. but no one noticed. the coconut and the wet lettuce makes it's own sweet dressing that is refreshing and nice. there, never buy dressing again.

chris made a a sausage and asparagus appetizer and then beautiful dinner of eggplant and plated it very well. as i proceeded to drink the whole bottle of wine and lost my body weight in sweat we enjoyed a nice dinner with our friends.

i encourage dinner with friends and especially friends that can cook well.

bread is best

2009-06-19T15:19:00.000-07:00

i was horrified when the no carbs fad was going around. i love bread so much and i think it's a misunderstood food. if you're for carbs but not for preservatives and high fructose corn syrup, or as we call it, s'orn, then i have a few recipes for you.

once a week i try to make bread for the house. i was good about it for a while but now it's so hot i procrastinate. making your own bread

is easy and very rewarding. i don't have a bread

maker so i'm not sure if these recipes would work for one, but i recommend trying it by hand first, i think you'll like it. wear an apron though, because, if you're like me, you'll get flour all over yourself.

i usually make baguettes and use them for soup night (mondays) or slice in half for sandwiches.

4 cups flour (all purpose, actually, not bread)

1 package active dry yeast

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 cups warm water

oil for bowl

this is a straight dough

method which means you mix it all in one bowl at the same time. A WARNING though, as with all bread baking, follow the same order: water, yeast, flour, salt. salt always goes last because it kills yeast on contact. that'

s the reason you put salt in the mix at all, so that the bread won't keep rising forever like in that 'i love lucy' episode.

mix it with a wooden spoon until it forms a kind of ball. turn the ball out onto a floured surface and knead the dough until it's smooth and elastic.

oil up a big glass or stainless steel bowl and add your dough ball. cover with a tea towel and let rise in a w

arm place. in chicago right now, anywhere is a warm place but in the winter i turned my oven to the lowest setting and

put the bowl in there because it was so cold everywhere else. let the dough rise until it's doubled in size. this takes a little over one 'house' episode.

turn out the dough to your floured surface and punch it down (knead out all the air bubbles). cut ball into three equal parts. roll those into balls, cover and let rest about 10 minutes. punch down again and roll out int

o three baguettes. careful not to make them too long so they don't fit on your sheet pan. throw some corn meal down then put the three baguettes onto the pan. cover again and let rise. watch another episode of 'house'.

uncover and score the bread with a floured knife so that it looks profesh.

put a baking dish full of water in the oven.

bake at 450 degrees. after 15 minutes, remove the water.

bake until golden and when you flick the bread it sounds hollow (about 25 more minutes)

these freeze well and when you want to eat it leave it on the counter until it's thawed, no one will know. to store it on your counter, double wrap it in a bread bag (you can use a big ziplock to

o). right before eating stick it in the oven at 350 to re-awesome it.

another bread that's really easy and delish is pizza! (see, carbs are the best). i make this all the time and even my, 'i can't make anything from scratch', mom makes this.

1 1/3 cups warm water - warm: not boiling, not cold. this is so the yeast is nice and toasty, we're really catering to the yeast's needs.

1 package active dry yeast

3 tbs olive oil

3 1/2 cups flour (all purpose, if you want a whole wheat pizza, cut the whole wheat flour with some all purpo

se or bread, it'll be way too dense if you don't. i did it once, it was gross)

1 1/4 tsp salt

straight dough method (you know what that means!) SALT LAST!

knead dough until kind of stiff.

cover and let rest.

preheat your oven to 400 degrees and get your fixin's ready. you can put anything on pizza, don't limit yourself. once we had a

cheddar, apple and onion pizza!

punch down dough and form it. you can flip it and sing italian songs if you want, it tastes the same either way. i have registered for a round pizza pan, but currently don't have one so i use a regular sheet pan and make a rectangle pizza - it's still good.

throw some corn meal on the bottom - it'll look like delivery pizza later!

top with fixin's and bake until cheese bubbles and crust is brown (20ish minutes)

i hope you love bread as much as me now.

love,

keighty

a walk down memory lane

2009-06-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

on this crazy humid day, i have lost all energy to run errands so i am going to do a few posts of some of my favorite dishes. i made these before the blog but it was when i first moved to chicago (round two) so they're still pretty new.

a new favorite for fancy dinner parties or family dinners, which are not necessarily un-fancy, is baked chicory and rice, or as we like to call it raddich-ulous. kelly thinks

it looks like eels but it

is a really simple, healthy and filling dish that goes good with a salad and some bread. (and there are no eels in it)

1/3 cups olive oil

1 med onion, chopped

2 tsp finely chopped garlic

2 1/2 lbs of radicchio, cored, chopped, no big pieces (about 6 heads) -- you can also you belgian endive, once i used a

mixture of both

1/2 cup uncooked white rice

3/4 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 cup bread crumbs

salt n' peppa

grease baking dish (or else!)

in large pot add olive oil and onion. cook until wilted. add garlic. cook until aromatic or until you're like, 'who's cookin' garlic?!' add large handfuls of chicory and stir until thoroughly coated and wilted. [here is says to add sorrel or lemon balm. every time i make this i forget to put it in and everyone still likes it but try it if you want!] keep cooking until tender. set aside. preheat oven to 400 degrees.

bring water to a boil and cook rice for 5 minutes.

transfer rice plus 1/2 cup of cooking liquid to chicory. Add 1/2 cup cheese and mix together. pour into baking dish and spread evenly. sprinkle the leftover cheese and bread crumbs over the top.

bake until rice is tender. (about 30-40 minutes)

i got this recipe from farmer john's cookbook but no i didn't pay $30 for it, i checked it out at the library and turned it in late so i paid $0.25 for it. take that angelic organics! that's for not having enough space in your urban gardening class!

love,

keighty

cooking on a day too hot to cook

2009-06-18T19:12:00.000-07:00

today i worked on family farmed volunteer stuff up until raul got home. when he got there i realized i needed to make dinner but i was missing a few things. we rode our bikes to august to get ricotta and parsley. but once there i realized they had no ricotta and after discussing with the girl who worked there, decided plain yogurt would work just as well. i picked up some yeast (cheapest in the city), red wine vinegar and some vanilla too.

I was making penne with green garlic ricotta sauce (but really it's yogurt sauce).

I also added sauteed mushrooms right at the end while i was tossing the pasta.

I N G R E D I E N T S

1 1/2 cups fresh whole-milk ricotta -- i used the same amount of plain yogurt

1/2 cup finely minced green garlic

2 tablespoons minced parsley

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 pound dried penne or fusilli pasta

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

I N S T R U C T I O N S

Combine the ricotta (yogurt), green garlic and 1 tablespoon of the parsley in a large bowl; season with salt and pepper.

Start cooking water. Just before pasta is done, remove 1/2 cup of the boiling water. Whisk enough of the hot water into the ricotta (yogurt) to make a smooth, creamy sauce. Drain the pasta and add to the sauce along with the butter. Toss well. Add 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese and toss again, adding a little more of the hot water if needed to thin the sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning.

things i would have done differently:

I would have really taken the time to mince the parsley and garlic enough. alisa kept saying it was stuck in her teeth. and a think a little less parsley next time. otherwise the taste was really great.

i served it with the last of our one head of lettuce in a nice strawberry, coconut and pumpkin seed salad with red wine vinaigrette.

we ate it out on the balcony since it was so hot. it was a lot cooler out there and we got to see all the new blossoms - strawberries and serano flowers!

it was a nice summer dinner.

love,

keighty

csa day one

2009-06-17T21:38:00.000-07:00

today was the first day of our csa deliveries. our farm, or in our case, farming co-op, is homegrown wisconsin

in our box we got:

one bunch of asparagus

one bunch of rhubarb

two boxes of strawberries

two heads of lettuce

one bag of spinach

one package of button mushrooms

one package of fresh mint

one bunch of green garlic

for dinner i made the an asparagus and mushroom frittata with a side salad with a homemade honey mustard dressing.

i used the recipe the farmers sent with the newsletter for the frittata.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

cheese

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces

1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced

6 eggs

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme*

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

2. Melt butter in an oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Stir in olive oil and asparagus, and cook until the asparagus is tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms, and continue cooking about 5 minutes.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, water, and thyme. Pour into the skillet, and reduce heat to low. Cover, and cook 5 minutes. Transfer the skillet to the preheated oven. Bake 10 to 15 minutes, until eggs are no longer runny. Top the mixture with Parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese. Turn on the broiler, and broil until cheeses are melted and lightly browned

*for my frittata i used fresh sage instead of thyme because that's what i had.

Honey Mustard

two parts yellow mustard

one part honey

two pinches of dry mustard

a few drops of olive oil - if necessary

pour mustard into a small bowl. add honey slowly, whisking the whole time.

add the dry mustard and whisk in. if dressing is too thick, add olive oil. if you like the consistency, leave it as it. it's slowly becoming my signature, but adding dried coconut flakes to your salad is a nice sweet addition to your dish.

love,

keighty