Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Comfort Food: Pancakes and Pasta

Everyone’s definition of “comfort food” is different. When I was sick as a child, all I wanted was creamy oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar. Warm, soothing, with a hint of sweet. The following two recipes hit the mark for me as well. Freshly made pancakes with warm real maple syrup or homemade apple sauce. The perfect way to start a day when you know the afternoon will hold a nap. And the creamy garlic-infused pasta that calls out to be eaten on a chilly day when the rich fulsome sauce encourages you to give into your desire to snuggle under the covers with a good book after consuming a bowlful.

Pancakes
These really are wonderful pancakes. I started making them in Japan when my first son, Franz, was a baby and continued making them through the boys' teen years, mostly for breakfast but sometimes for dinner when I was down to eggs and milk in the fridge and flour in the cupboard.

















¾ cup white flour
¾ cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk
2 eggs
3 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon molasses

1. Sift the flours, salt, sugar, and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. If you don’t have a sifter, place all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir well.
2. Pour the milk into a measuring pitcher.
3. Separate the eggs, dropping the whites into a small mixing bowl and the yolks into the milk. Add the oil and molasses to the milk mixture and stir to combine.
Note: The molasses will slip right out of the tablespoon if you use your tablespoon to measure the oil first.
4. Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients. Stir lightly until just blended.
5. Beat the egg whites, until they hold a soft peak. Gently fold into the pancake mixture.
Note: If you want to get some exercise beating your egg whites, use a whisk or an old-fashioned eggbeater. If not, use a hand-held electric mixer.

6. Pour about ¼ cup batter into a lightly greased large frying pan or griddle on medium high heat. You can probably cook about 3 pancakes at a time with room to turn them over easily. Cook until bubbles form in the pancake and the edges are set. Flip and cook until the bottom is brown and the pancake is cooked through.

7. You can keep the first pancakes warm in a 250°F oven for a short period of time while cooking the rest.
8. Serve with warm maple syrup, applesauce, jam, yogurt—or whatever you fancy.

Makes 10 regular-sized pancakes
Handwritten from a cooking notebook I kept while in Japan, 1971-73
As you can see from above, I added a photo to the page just recently.












A Creamy, Calming Pasta Dish with Sausage

















4 heads of garlic or an equivalent number of garlic cloves
Note: Most supermarkets now-a-days have plastic containers of peeled garlic in the produce department. If you are pressed for time, this is the occasion to use them.
2 tablespoons olive oil
6-8 springs of fresh thyme
1 pound dried shell or tube-shaped pasta [I used Delverte’s No. 32 Penne Rigate]
2 cups heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste
4 fresh sweet uncooked Italian sausages
2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme, stripped and chopped

1. Place the unpeeled whole heads of garlic or the equivalent peeled garlic cloves in a small baking pan. Drizzle with oil and thyme and place in a 400ºF oven. Roast the garlic until the cloves are very soft and sweet, 50-60 minutes for the heads and much less for the cloves.
2. Cool the garlic heads and then tear them apart and squeeze out the contents of each clove into a small bowl. [This step took nearly all of my considerable patience and is the reason I devised a simpler method.] Or place the peeled cloves in a bowl. Mash them into a paste, adding a small bit of your 2 cups of cream to help the process.
Note: You can use a mortar and pestle, a Japanese suribachi, a potato masher, a small food processor or a fork to smash and mash the garlic. You do not need to make it perfectly smooth unless you want to.
3. Put your pot of salted water (for cooking the pasta) on the stove on high. Bring it to a boil while you are working on the next two steps.
4. Warm the garlic paste in a sauté pan over moderate heat, pour in the cream, whisk the garlic and the remaining cream to combine, bring to a simmer, add salt and pepper to taste, and cook for several minutes.
5. Skin the fresh sausage, crumble the meat into a frying pan and fry until done.
6. Cook the pasta in your pot of boiling salted water until it is al dente. Drain in a colander, saving about ½ cup pasta water to use in the sauce as needed.
7. Tip the pasta and drained sausage into the cream, toss gently and heat until all the elements are warm and the cream is gently bubbling. If the sauce is thicker than you like it, add a bit of the reserved pasta water to thin it out until you reach the consistency that is right for you. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Ladle into plates or bowls and garnish with fresh thyme leaves.

I serve this pasta with steamed spinach; I like its bracing flavor up against the richness of the cream and pasta.



6 servings
Adapted from Nigel Slater’s Appetite

Just in the Nick of Time: A Last Crab Feast

Fresh Marinated Cracked Crab
I wanted to include this fantastic crab feast before crab season is over. I love crab with melted butter but I must admit that this marinated version has won me over. It is lighter and perfectly complements the crab. Hurry. You don’t want to have to wait until next December.

This is what one crab looks like.













3 Dungeness crabs, cooked and cracked

Marinade:
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 bunch Italian flat parsley, washed, leaves coarsely chopped
Sprinkling of crushed red pepper flakes or Aleppo pepper
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup olive oil

Provisions for the table:
Plenty of paper napkins or paper towels to wipe off your face and hands.
Bowls for the shells.
Crab-eating utensils (crackers, forks, picks) so that you can get in the little tiny crevices for the best parts of the crab.

1. Drain your cracked crabs of any water that has accumulated in the plastic bag or wrapping paper. Stir all of the marinade ingredients together in a large bowl and toss in the drained cracked crabs. Refrigerate for several hours.
2. Remove from the fridge about 30 minutes before serving. Transfer to a large platter and place in the middle of the table. Have at it.

I love to serve this crab with warm bread and a nice crisp green salad, perhaps with grapefruit sections and pomegranate seeds.

Serves 6 moderate crab lovers. If you are serving extreme crab lovers, you may need to purchase a crab for each of them and increase the marinade accordingly.
Adapted from Peggy Knickerbocker’s Simple Soirées

Kale and White Bean Soup

This is a very comforting winter soup that can be cooked ahead and kept in individual portions for later use.

1 1/2 cups navy beans, cleaned and sorted and soaked overnight
3 quarts of water
1 bay leaf
3-4 sage leaves fresh or dried
2 large cloves garlic peeled
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups finely diced yellow onion
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper
6-8 cups kale, stemmed and chopped to spoon size

Simmer the beans in 3 quarts of water with the bay leaf, sage and garlic cloves until the beans are completely soft, about 2 -2 1/2 hours.

Remove one quarter of the cooked beans, puree them in a food mill blender or food processor and then return them to the pot. The puree will give the soup a creamy background texture.

Heat a  the oil in a skillet and add the onions cooking medium heat,  til transparant. If it seems there is not enough oil you may drizzle a bit of water in now and again until it is done. When soft add the nutritional yeast, a teaspoon of salt, and several grindings of pepper. Stir frequently to prevent the yeast from sticking to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes then add the mixture to the cooked beans.

Cook the kale by sweating in a bit of water..not much..just to keep from sticking..combine it with the beans and add enough water to bring the volume to about 3 quarts. Bring to a boil and simmer for around an hour. Check seasonings and serve

This soup recipe is by Edward Espe Brown from his book The Tassajara Recipe Book. I have left out cream which he adds at the end. I have also lowered the amount of fat by substituting 1 tablespoon of oil for 2 tablespoons of butter.  

Kale and White Bean Soup

This is a very comforting winter soup that can be cooked ahead and kept in individual portions for later use.

1 1/2 cups navy beans, cleaned and sorted and soaked overnight
3 quarts of water
1 bay leaf
3-4 sage leaves fresh or dried
2 large cloves garlic peeled
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups finely diced yellow onion
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper
6-8 cups kale, stemmed and chopped to spoon size

Simmer the beans in 3 quarts of water with the bay leaf, sage and garlic cloves until the beans are completely soft, about 2 -2 1/2 hours.

Remove one quarter of the cooked beans, puree them in a food mill blender or food processor and then return them to the pot. The puree will give the soup a creamy background texture.

Heat a  the oil in a skillet and add the onions cooking medium heat,  til transparant. If it seems there is not enough oil you may drizzle a bit of water in now and again until it is done. When soft add the nutritional yeast, a teaspoon of salt, and several grindings of pepper. Stir frequently to prevent the yeast from sticking to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes then add the mixture to the cooked beans.

Cook the kale by sweating in a bit of water..not much..just to keep from sticking..combine it with the beans and add enough water to bring the volume to about 3 quarts. Bring to a boil and simmer for around an hour. Check seasonings and serve

This soup recipe is by Edward Espe Brown from his book The Tassajara Recipe Book. I have left out cream which he adds at the end. I have also lowered the amount of fat by substituting 1 tablespoon of oil for 2 tablespoons of butter.  

Project 31 - Day 7

Day 7.  Write a post to encourage another beautiful woman.

This one is dedicated to my lovely little sister. Well, she's not really little anymore, she's 27. She'll always be my little sister regardless of her age though, even though she's more mature and responsible than me. haha. 

Dear Amanda
You are an incredibly strong woman. Although you say you don't really feel like you are and are scared at times, I want you to know how much I look up to you. You have done some seriously courageous things the past few years. Being a single mother, a full-time employee, a student & still have time to take Olivia to special fun places. You are seriously a super Mom.
I understand big changes are coming your way soon and I want to let you know that I believe in you. I just know you will be okay and succeed. You always do. I encourage you to follow your dreams in life and the upcoming is such an exciting path ahead. Please know that I will FOREVER be here for you, you are embedded in my heart and my door is ALWAYS open, should you ever need it.

I believe in you, and I love you.  - Big little Sister

 Day 1.  What does beauty mean to you?
Day 2.  What makes you uniquely you?
Day 3.  Who is someone you know who inspires beauty?
Day 4.  Style 31.  Post a pic of you in your favorite outfit.
Day 5.  Write a blog thanking someone who has made your heart come alive.
Day 6.  Jaded beauty.  Has the world's definition of beauty ever jaded you?
Day 7.  Write a blog to encourage another beautiful woman.
Day 8.  Have a beauty secret (e.g. hair tip, make up tip)?  Share, please!
Day 9.  What virtues do you value in yourself?
Day 10.  What are you learning as a wife, mom, or friend? (Or just woman in general?)
Day 11.  Post a recipe.  Or if you don't cook, try a new recipe and write about it.
Day 12.  Write about what wears you out as a woman.
Day 13.  Tell us something you would like to change about yourself for the better.
Day 14.  Style 31.  Post an outfit pic!
Day 15.  Write to encourage a friend.  Inspire her beauty.
Day 16.  Write a letter to (daughter,niece,young girl). Tell her what beauty means.
Day 17.  Write about 3 things that make you happy.
Day 18.  Describe your personality.
Day 19.  Write about your favorite comfort food.
Day 20.  Write about your job and why you love it or hate it.  
Day 21.  Write a letter to your husband to encourage him.
Day 22.  Write a letter to your family as a whole.
Day 23.  What are your strengths?  What are your weaknesses?
Day 24.  What are you being taught you presently?
Day 25.  Style 31.  Post a pic of your favorite comfy clothes.
Day 26.  What do you hope your grandchildren will say about you someday?
Day 27.  Write a blog to encourage someone and build their confidence!
Day 28.  Write about your insecurities as a woman.
Day 29.  Write about "a day in the life of me."  (Pics are great!)
Day 30.  Who is your role model as a woman?
Day 31.  Write about your dreams and goals as a beautiful woman!

Marion Nestle on the new USDA dietary guidelines

February 1

If you’re an avid follower of the quintennial release of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s dietary guidelines, then yesterday was a big day for you.

Or maybe it wasn’t. The guidelines were certainly released yesterday, but they weren’t earth shattering. At least that’s what Marion Nestle told me. I’m not an avid follower of the USDA’s five-year declaration, in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services, of what we should eat, so I don’t really know.

But apparently it was the same perfectly reasonable guidelines that say, basically, that you should eat a balanced diet. That’s stated in 23 specific recommendations — an improvement over the 43 recommendations in the last set of guidelines, according to Nestle, the Paulette Goddard Professor at New York University's Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health (and the department's former chair).

But she was delighted by the press materials that accompanied it, which underscored the fact that obesity is a huge health problem in the United States, with more than one third of children and more than two-thirds of adults being overweight.

The first bullet point in the press release announcing the guidelines: “Enjoy your food, but eat less.”
“That’s fantastic,” Nestle said: Clear, concise, to the point.

She said she wished the guidelines themselves were so pointed.

Indeed, the guidelines themselves don't say to eat less, they say to “control calories.”

Nestle, author of ”Food Politics,” among other books, says politics is the reason the USDA doesn’t come out and tell Americans to eat less. They tell us to eat fewer of certain ingredients (she said “nutrients,” but I think that term could confuse a lot of people in this context), such as sugar, sodium and saturated fat, and more of such foods as vegetables and whole grains.

Foods are only singled out when the USDA says to eat more of them, when it comes to eating less, the guidelines get more abstract.

That’s because the USDA oversees all American agricultural products, including grains that are made into simple carbohydrates and animal products that contain a lot of saturated fat. The corn and beef industries would have a fit if Americans were told to eat less of their food, Nestle said.

I’m not sure she singled out corn and beef in this particular conversation, but I know those are some of the foods she had in mind — we’ve spoken about this topic at length.

The basic thesis of "Food Politics" is that the United States produces far more calories per person than we should healthily consume, and that that fact is a fundamental reason for the obesity epidemic.

Wave Table

I took this off of Sunset Cliffs this morning. I think it's worth a click to see the larger version.

A Quick Note

I'm feeling a little discouraged today. Month two in the pregnancy world didn't happen. I know its totally normal, but I am just so impatient. I feel like now that we are trying, the more I keep seeing pregnant women walking around, or newborn babies in their momma's arms. I just want that so badly. I keep wondering if there's a plan for me and now is not the time, its just hard to wait.

hye org kuantan, tata org kl.

assalamualaikum. :)

4:10AM. tak tidur lagi, hebat bukan? nothing much. yesterday & today were great. thank you gfs & bf. i got a new handbag, YES YES, got okay, so bukan i beli. i mark my words --- no handbag until June 2011. and 3 pairs of shoes.


Photobucket


about 6 hours from now, around 10am, me & my fmly, is going to kuantan! balik kampung. oh syg jgk tak dpt celebrate chinese new year lg this year. lame dah tak celebrate. kalau balik kelantan boleh la celebrate. chinese fmly semua dkt kelantan je. rindu mahu berdiri dpn sekali wkt persembahan tarian naga, sampai pekak telinga.

so, i'll leave home & stay at kuantan until sunday. plan? nothing much yet. jual shawls dkt sesiapa yg berminat kot. HAHA. org kuantan sila roger ye. astalavista!


At Time Magazine, They Spent 10 Minutes Researching Their Article, Now It's Time To Go Play Angry Birds For A While

Time Magazine's intellectual infants created this:


Too bad they never saw this:


H/T: Bungalow Bill

Ezo Gelin or Daughter-in-law's Soup


ezo gelin: hearty and satisfying

Gelinimiz. What a lovely term of endearment. This is what I am here to my Turkish family: our bride, our daughter-in-law.  Even though years have passed since we tied the knot,  this is what they call me.

Now, this soup, Ezo Gelin, must be one of the two most common soups in the entire country, the other being of course mercimek/lentil.  It is served everywhere usually for lunch in those little lokantas which specialise in home-style cooking.

 But I never thought twice about the name, one reason being that  Ezo doesn’t sound like a Turkish name  so I never thought it was. A little bit of research on the net however has uncovered quite a tragic story: poor old Ezo was a real person born in 1909 in the village of Dokuzyol  in SE Turkey down near the Syrian border. Apparently she was a  stunning beauty but made two miserable marriages. Her second one took her over the border into Syria where her life was plagued by a mother-in-law who was never pleased. So the story goes, Ezo tried to sweeten her by creating this soup just for her. I gather it didn’t work, the mother remained a misery and poor homesick Ezo died  in Syria of TB in 1952. But on a happier note, I  can highly recommend her soup. It has all the qualities:  warming, tasty, and nutritious, not to mention easy to make with store cupboard ingredients and very typically Turkish. This one really hits the spot! You will find many recipes for it but I have used Angie Mitchell's in Secrets of the Turkish Kitchen.

Now you may be thinking that there is quite a lot of focus on soups in my blog and you would probably be right!  Turkish meals regularly start with a soup and at home we love them.  I make one every two or three days during the winter. This last weekend we were out a lot and when my husband said as he left for work yesterday morning ‘let’s have something light for supper’, soup was the obvious answer. Anyway, I was invited to lunch which I knew would be a  Turkish feast so light was perfectly fine by me!

Ingredients for Ezo Gelin Çorbası
Serves 4 – 6
½  cup red lentils, rinsed and drained
1 onion, finely chopped
4 cups/1 litre meat stock ( Stock cubes are fine)
2 tbsp rice/bulgur wheat, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp tomato paste
4 tbsp butter
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp dried mint
1 tsp red pepper/paprika flakes

 Method
  • Put the lentils, onion, stock, rice, tomato paste and butter together in a large pan. Bring to the boil and then simmer on a low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes until the lentils and rice are tender and the soup has a creamy consistency. Add more water if needed and season to taste.

what could be easier?

  • Add the paprika and mint and simmer for a further 5 minutes.

why didn't ezo's mother-in-law like it?

Delicious!
Afiyet Olsun!