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December 8, 2006
The smallest grain is the ancient amaranth, which is about the size of poppyseeds. Next comes teff, which is used to make the spongy Ethopian bread. Getting bigger, but still not as big as the head of a pin, is quinoa.
All of these were in my kitchen yesterday (and probably will be forever, since the quinoa package split open and the tiny things went scurrying all over my old wood floors, cracks included).
Lorna Sass, author of
spent the afternoon at my stove explaining some of the quicker whole grains for an upcoming Food section story. She flew in from New York and raced back the same day, carrying some of her own delectable food for dinner on the plane. I make brown rice all the time, but she was a wealth of information on her subject.
As for the floor: "Soon you'll start laughing when you find another cluster of quinoa in the corner of your kitchen," my friend told me this morning.
Yeah, right, answered the neatnik.
Posted by Sheryl Julian at 04:42 PM
December 8, 2006
Well, now that a dusting of snow has fallen, it's official. Winter weather is here -- even if the actual calendar designation is a few weeks off.
That means it's time to get out the casserole dishes and the stockpots. What will I make this weekend? Cassoulet sounds tempting, but very time-consuming so that might be saved for a family holiday event. A big beef stew, maybe, or coq au vin would be a good way to ward off the chill.
But since it's early in the season, and I have the energy to search out something unusual, I might do a rabbit or veal ragout with pappardelle. Guiliano Bugialli has good recipes for either in his "Bugialli on Pasta." He's a purist, so his instructions for rabbit with tomato and vegetable sauce specify that wild hare is preferable. Good luck finding one here. Rabbits are at butcher shops in the North End and sometimes frozen at other good butchers.
Of course, in our restaurant-rich culture, there's an alternative -- you can go out to an Italian restaurant for your pappadelle and rabbit.
Posted by Alison Arnett at 12:44 PM
December 6, 2006
So I finally got around to trying the bread-baking method Mark Bittman wrote about in The New York Times almost a month ago.
Jim Lahey, who owns Sullivan Street Bakery in New York, is the one responsible for this method, which has spread like wildfire on the Internet. There's no kneading involved, just an incredibly long rising time (18 hours).
I'm now among the many converts. It could not be easier, and the incredibly crusty bread looks like something that came right from the boulangerie. Here's the recipe and some additional tips from Bittman.
One note: I thought the bread needed way more salt. (I think everything needs way more salt.) Next time I'll try Bittman's recommendation of slightly less than one tablespoon.
Posted by Devra First at 02:35 PM
December 5, 2006
This morning, I made cookie dough -- the espresso chocolate-chip shortbread from Dorie Greenspan that Sheryl is blogging about. As I put the dough in the refrigerator to firm up -- I'll bake tonight -- I realized the out-of-everything season had started. After a Sunday night flurry (three mini loaves of pumpkin bread and two loaves of regular bread), I'm out of butter, flour, and vanilla again.
The pumpkin bread is from "The Family Baker" by Susan Purdy. I bake bread every week from Carol Fields's "Italian Baker," and I'm thinking of making my grandmother's pecan rolls (in the East, they're called sticky buns).
Back to the store again and again, until the freezer is full, and my list of baking beneficiaries is filled. December is fun, but exhausting. Now if I could put a lock on the freezer to keep cookie thieves out.
Posted by Alison Arnett at 07:31 PM
December 5, 2006
Dorie Greenspan, author of the new "Baking, From My Home to Yours" began yesterday in New York at the Early Show, doing a baking segment with Harry Smith. She had to get up at 4 a.m.
Then she headed to Northampton to do another demonstration, and finally here to Boston University.
I've been baking out of her new book with great success, most recently making her espresso chocolate-chip shortbread cookies.
Dorie lives in New York and Paris and so has a Francophile's touch in the kitchen, which suits me. She also wrote "Baking with Julia."
After her demonstration, we had a wonderful dinner at Hamersley's Bistro and nearly closed the place. She had to get up the next morning at 4 a.m. again to catch a flight south.
Book tours are grueling, even if they involve (or perhaps I should say, especially if they involve) making bon-bons.
Posted by Sheryl Julian at 06:17 PM
December 5, 2006
Soon there will be nowhere to eat fast and cheap on Newbury Street. I once had three standbys for between-errand refueling: Pho Pasteur, Shino Express, and Newbury Pizza. Pho Pasteur disappeared a while back. And now Newbury Pizza is going. (Shino Express, please stay forever!)
Newbury Pizza was also my favorite place locally to re-create the pizza parlor experience of my New York youth. Their cheese slices just tasted right.
Hopefully the new pizza place opening in that spot will keep the old recipe for pies.
Posted by Devra First at 01:36 PM
December 4, 2006
I'm on a new kick. Dinners I make for friends who come on Saturday nights can't take more than an hour (the preparation, that is; if something simmers or roasts, I'm not counting that as part of the prep time).
So we began simply: crudites and olives (prep time: 15 minutes).
Goat cheese and my own pita crackers (prep: 15 minutes).
The first course was eggs en cocotte (baked with cream), which I was testing for an upcoming Globe magazine column. I spooned a dollop of red caviar on each hot egg and served them with brioche toast. My, oh, my. (Prep time: 5 minutes.)
For the main course, I made a kind of pot au feu, cooking a chuck roast in the oven for 2 hours. That was refrigerated overnight. The next day, I skimmed the fat, cut the meat into 5-inch pieces and trimmed it. Then cooked the meat with carrots and apricots for another 3 hours. (Cooking time: 5 hours; prep time: 30 minutes.)
I blanched French haricots verts to go onto each serving of pot au feu (prep time: 5 minutes).
Dessert came from the freezer. Espresso chocolate-chip squares and sugar cookies, along with clementines (prep time: 0).
Total prep time: 70 minutes.
I'm out of practice. I can easily get this down to 60.
Posted by Sheryl Julian at 05:17 PM
December 4, 2006
We're going to restaurants more and we're drinking more when we get there. That's the trend charted recently by Technomic Information Services. Forty percent of those surveyed said they go out to restaurants, bars, and other drinking establishments more than before. And 40 percent of those say they order alcoholic beverages.
From what I observe in restaurants, it's no surprise that the under-40 crowd orders the most booze, and, as the survey says, are "open to trying new and unique adult beverages." That's those martinis with ingredients like crushed candy canes, pumpkin creme brulee, and blue liqueur. (Those above illustrate the bar menu at M Street Bar & Grill in Washington DC).
Still wine purchases have grown the most, according to the survey of 1,600 consumers. Twenty-two percent of the respondents say they're ordering more wine than they did a year ago. Very French of us, I'd say.
Posted by Alison Arnett at 04:35 PM
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