The Kitchen Chronicles - Part 1

Biscotti in the Garage

After 15 years we are finally redoing our 1970’s kitchen.  When we moved into our house we slapped some paint on the walls and cabinets and said to ourselves “some day.”  Well “some day” has arrived. It has taken a fair amount of saving and a huge dose of courage.  I had lived through a remodel at my parents’ home and hadn’t enjoyed doing the dishes in the bathtub and existing on microwave meals.  This time around I am extraordinarily lucky to have a husband that has the experience and desire to recreate a temporary kitchen in our garage. 

Kitchen before demolition

Breakfast room

Current state of kitchen

Breakfast room 

Garage

I’ve never ever liked our garage, partly because parking in it required a fair amount courage that I wasn’t going to scrape off the paint on our cars as I back out.  Also getting into and out of our cars in the garage required a yoga type contortion that my body just never enjoyed.  Well, I take it all back.  Little garage, I will never bad mouth you again.  This garage will keep me sane and somewhat patient over the next 4 or 5 months.  It now houses all of our appliances and a few of our cabinets from the old kitchen.  And for this I will be eternally grateful. 

The Kitchen Garage

The temporary kitchen was christened this week with my first batch of cookies.  I chose to make biscotti for a friend.  These are the best cookies to make as gifts because they refuse to go stale and are sturdy enough to handle packing and travel.  In fact, these ancient cookies were originally made for travelers, soldiers, sailors, and even Christopher Columbus took them on his voyages.  Many other cultures have their versions of biscotti.  In the United Kingdom there is the rusk; in Germany it is the zwieback, and the Easter European Jews call it mandelbrodt.

The literal translation of biscotti is “twice cooked.”  While these cookies can keep for up to 3 months they are too tasty to stick around that long. This is a versatile recipe.  If the classic Italian anise isn’t to your taste, try lemon or orange.  You can also add toasted nuts or dried fruit or chocolate chips.

Traditionally in Italy biscotti are served with a drink into which they can be dunked.   This recipe is from Chez Panisse Desserts by Lindsey Shere.  I’ve made a slight alteration by substituting some of the flour for cornmeal. I prefer a fine grind of cornmeal, but medium grinds work too.

 Aunt Victoria’s Biscotti

½ cup butter

¾ cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla, lemon, orange or anise extract

2 cups plus 2 tablespoon flour (or 1 ½ cup flour, 2 tablespoon flour and ½ fine ground cornmeal)

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Optional: Liqueur- 1 tablespoon grappa or sambuca or pastis or anisette or pernod and 1 teaspoon aniseed

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.

Beat in the eggs until mixture is smooth.

Add the extract (and liqueur if you are using it).

By hand fold in the flour, baking powder, and salt until just mixed

Now add nuts or chips or seeds if desired.

On a lightly floured board or counter, gently make two equal sized logs.  

Set them on a baking sheets and bake them on a middle rack in the oven for 25 minutes, or until they are set and lightly brown.

Cool the logs for 5-10 minutes.  Then slice them diagonally about ½ inch thick.

Lay slices back on the baking sheets and return to the oven for approximately 10 minutes to toast them.  Turn the slices over to dry for another 10 minutes.  Cool and then store in a tightly covered container.

I have a plant crush, and its name is Lemon Verbena

I’m more of a flower gardener, but this plant more than makes up for its lack of blooms with its lush lemony scent.  I knew vaguely about this plant, but hadn’t any firsthand experience with it until a friend made a tea with the leaves of the plant. Now I’m never going to be without it; we’re going to be inseparable. Lemon verbena, I love you, and I hope I introduce others to your intoxicating charm.  

Since this is basically a tropical herb, verbena needs its roots protected from frost.  So winter your potted plants indoors or in a greenhouse and don't feel bad when your plant drops all of its leaves. Lemon verbena goes dormant during the winter.  My potted plant made it through a Bay Area winter on my outdoor patio which is sheltered by the house, and by April it was looking happy again. Once the temperature and day length increases the leaves will reappear.  At least once during the summer cut back your plant by about half its size.  While you gather its leaves for use, you will be promoting new growth.  Pinching out the tips of the plant will also keep it bushy.  Lemon verbena can also be easily propagated by cuttings from new growth.  They make great little gifts, and in the process may encourage others to get the lemon verbena crush too!

 

You can dry the leaves individually or on the stalk.  I like to wash the leaves and dry them on a paper towel before placing them on a cookie sheet in my oven.  The pilot light keeps my oven warm and helps dry the leaves quickly and thoroughly.  If you have an electric oven try heating it up on the lowest setting, then turn off the oven and put the lemon verbena in to dry.  I store the dried leaves in a ziplock bag. If you decide to dry them on the stalk, hang the stems upside-down in a cool, dry, dark place.

Lemon verbena does make a great tea!  Personally, my favorite way to enjoy it is mixed with English Breakfast tea.  I put 1-2 leaves in my hot water and let them steep for a few minutes before adding my English Breakfast tea.  Fresh or dried leaves work equally well.  

Try this great iced tea from The Garden Entertaining Cookbook by Barbara Scott-Goodman & Mary Goodbody:

Iced Mint and Lemon Verbena Tea

serves 6
2 quarts of water
2 tablespoons mint leaves or mint tea
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon honey
8 springs lemon verbena
lemons slices to garnish

 
Bring the water to a full boil in a large saucepan.  Add the tea, and remove the pan from the heat.  Cover and let stand for 5 minutes.  Add the honey and stir until dissolved.  Add the lemon verbena and let stand for 5 more minutes. Strain and let cool to room temperature.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.  Serve over ice and garnish with lemon slices.

For more information and recipes try these books:
Herbal PalateCookbook by Maggie Oster and Sal Gilbertie

The Herbal Kitchen: Cooking with Fragrance and Flavor by Jerry Traunfeld

Herbs & Spices by Jill Norman

Biscuits for Breakfast

Frankly biscuits are good anytime, but knowing they are for breakfast makes getting out of bed a little easier.

I’m not sure when I developed this fixation on biscuits.  Though I do remember reading about them in novels and thinking why didn’t I have a motherly housekeeper to bake me these addictive treats. Eventually I got tired of my fantasy being just that- a fantasy and starting baking them myself.   Make a double batch and freeze them and you’ll have these ready to go for an easy breakfast or afternoon snack.

For a long time I’ve been happy with the Joy of Cooking recipe, but when I browsed this new cookbook- Super Natural Every Day: Well-Loved Recipes From my Natural Foods Kitchen by Heidi Swanson I knew I had to try her Yogurt Biscuits.   You create these lovely feathery layers by cutting and stacking the dough, much like the technique of making puff pastry.

Biscuits freeze well after baking.  Defrost them and then either warm them in the oven or split them in half and lightly toast.  My favorite topping is butter and jam, but honey is good too. 

Yogurt Biscuits

Having made  these, I don’t recommend preheating the baking sheet as directed in the instructions.  It causes the bottom of the biscuits to burn.  Plus, I would shorten the baking time to approximately 12 minutes.   This recipe is versatile; I added lemon zest and 1/3 cup of sugar to my batch.  Other variations could include cheese, herbs, coconut, or cinnamon.  You can also substitute regular yogurt or sour cream for the Greek-style yogurt.

1 ¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting the dough)

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes

1 1/3 cup Greek-style yogurt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees with rack in the middle of the oven.  Combine the flours, salt, and baking powder in a food processor.  

Add butter to the dry ingredients and pulse about 20 times, or until the mixture resembles tiny pebbles on a sandy beach.  

Next add yogurt and pulse a few times, or until the yogurt is just incorporated.  Avoid overmixing. It’s fine if there are a few dry patches.  Gather the dough into a ball and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead five times and press into an inch-thick square.  

Cut in half and stack one on the other.  Repeat two more times- flattening and stacking, then cutting.  Add more flour to prevent sticking as needed.  

Press or roll out the dough into a ¾ inch thick rectangle- if the dough is too tall, the biscuits will tilt and tip over while baking. Cut the dough into twelve equal biscuits. ( I used a round biscuit cutter)

 Transfer biscuits to a baking sheet leaving ½ inch  between each biscuit.  Bake for 12 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown on the edges.    

Marker Tie-Dye for Kids

A fun, easy and simpler way to tie-dye!

Fairfax Library

2097 Sir Francis Drake Blvd 

The library will be offering this children's program 

March 21 at 3:30-4:30pm

415-453-8151

For grades 4th and up.

Limited space, registration required.

Bring a laundered white tee shirt to decorate.

One of my pet peeves and one great cookbook

In my mind cookbooks are just plain useless without great photos.  When I’m making something for the first time I want to know how it is going to look.  I know it is cliché, but truly a photo of a dish is worth a thousand words.   OK, maybe I exaggerate a bit, but why scrimp and produce a book that gets ignored because it offers nothing visually.   And no, illustrations don’t count. I want pictures.  Many, many pictures, not a meager selection inserted into the center of the book.  This is essential in a great cookbook. Phew, got that off my chest.

Lentils with Broiled Eggplant

So here is a cookbook that more than meets this criteria:  Gorgeous, gorgeous photos, innovative recipes that are easy to read and follow, and short anecdotes that are interesting and informative.  

The collection is based on the author’s weekly food column for the Guardian newspaper.  Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi was first published in Britain and won a Galaxy National Book Award in 2010.  The vegetarian recipes have a strong Mediterranean and Mid-Eastern influence that reflect the author's Jerusalem heritage. 

Figs With Basil, Goat Cheese & Pomegranate Vinaigrette

Roasted Parsnips & Sweet Potatoes With Caper Vinaigrette

Avocado, Quinoa & Fava Bean Salad

Wild Mushroom Parcel

I have already tried 4 of the recipes and have many other dishes I’m looking forward to making soon.  I don't often buy cookbooks since I work in a library and have access to so many, but I'm getting a copy of Plenty! Here are two great recipes that will go into the regular rotation at our house. 

Green Pancakes
Popeye approved!

The recipe includes a lime butter for the pancakes, 

but I topped ours with sour cream and a wedge of lime.

½ pound (about 8 cups) spinach, washed

¾ cup flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 egg

1 egg white

4 tablespoons butter melted

2/3 cup milk

6 green onions finely sliced

2 fresh green chiles, thinly sliced (I omitted)

olive oil for frying

Wilt the spinach in a pan with a splash of water.  Drain in a sieve and, when cool, squeeze hard with your hands to remove as much moisture as possible.  Roughly chop and put aside.

Put the flour, baking powder, whole egg, melted butter, salt, cumin, and milk in a large mixing bowl and whisk until smooth.  Add the green onions, chiles and spinach and mix with a fork. 

Whisk the egg white to soft peaks and gently fold it into the batter.

Pour a small amount of olive oil into a heavy frying pan and place on medium-high heat.  For each pancake, ladle 2 tablespoons of batter into the pan and press down gently.  You should get smallish pancakes, about 3 inches in diameter.  Cook for about 2 minutes on each side or until you get a good golden-green color.  

Transfer to paper towels and keep warm.  Continue making pancakes, adding oil as needed, until the batter is used up.

Eggplant with Buttermilk Sauce

This is a very easy dish!

(The directions call for the eggplant to be cooked at 200 degrees 

but I believe this is an error and should be about 350-400 degrees)

2 large and long eggplants

1/3 cup olive oil

1 ½ teaspoon lemon thyme leaves

(It may be hard to find lemon thyme, but it adds a fantastic scent and taste to this dish)

salt & black pepper

½ cup pomegranate seeds

1 teaspoon  za’atar (I omitted this Middle Eastern herb mixture)

Sauce:

9 tablespoons buttermilk

½ cup Greek yogurt

1 ½ tablespoon olive oil, plus a drizzle to finish

1 small garlic clove, crushed

pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Cut the eggplants in half lengthways.  Use a sharp knife to make 3 or 4 parallel incisions in the cut side of each eggplant, without cutting through to the skin.  Repeat at a 45-degree angle to get a diamond-shaped pattern.

Place the eggplant halves, cut-side up on a baking sheet lined with  baking parchment.  Brush them with olive oil – keep on brushing until all of the oil has been absorbed by the flesh.  Sprinkle with the lemon thyme leaves and some salt and pepper.  Roast for 35-40 minutes, at which point the flesh should be soft, flavorful and nicely browned.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool down

While the eggplants are in the oven,  seed the pomegranate and make the sauce.  Whisk together all of the ingredients.  Taste for seasoning, then keep cold until needed.

To serve, spoon plenty of buttermilk sauce over the eggplant halves.  Sprinkle za’atar and the pomegranate seeds on top and garnish with lemon thyme.  Finish with a drizzle of olive oil.

I'm being brave here since I know my photo isn't nearly as wonderful as the one on cover of the book.http://catalog.marinet.lib.ca.us/record=b1798167~S3