I Saw Cinnamon

I wish I could say that I invented this, but I didn't. I stole the idea from a Mexican restaurant in Park Slope whose name unfortunately escapes me. But anyway, there I sampled these incredible drinks made with cinnamon-infused tequila. I asked the bartender what the name of the tequila was and he told me to go home and stick a bunch of cinnamon sticks in a bottle of tequila and call it whatever I wanted. Captain came up with this version.





Cinnamon Margaritas

3 parts cinnamon tequila
1 part Cointrau
Fresh lime juice
Blood orange juice or a tropical juice mix (You can use regular orange juice, but the ones mixed with mango are better -- and so are those Ceres mixes.)

Fill a highball glass or whiskey tumbler to the top with ice.
3/4 cinnamon tequila
1/4 Cointrau
Dash of fresh lime juice

Strain contents into shaker and give it a good shaky shaky. Pour back into glass with ice to about 1/4 below the rim of the glass. Float juice to the top of the glass.


Cinnamon-infused tequila

1 bottle of white tequila. Do not spend too much money on this.
4-5 cinnamon sticks.

Drop cinnamon sticks into tequila. Close. Shaky shaky. Put in closet for a 5 days to a week. Remove cinnamon sticks —good luck with that— and enjoy!

Continue reading...

Cockles and Mussels

I don't exactly know what a cockle is, but do cook freqently with mussels. Typically when mussels come to mind, they are prepared in a white wine based sauce with a bouquet garnis, chopped garlic and some tomatoes. While I love mostly anything in the mollusc family, I also love curry. What better way to marry the two and curry-ize one of my favorite molluscs. This is a quick, easy, inexpensive yet gourmet meal for a weeknight or for that matter, any night. All the different colors make it visually appealing, too.


Curry Mussels
2 lbs of mussels, debearded
garlic cloves, lots of them!
finely chopped onion
finely chopped cilantro
diced tomato
red curry paste
1 can coconut milk
1 cup chicken broth
2 tbspn olive oil
lime wedges
crusty french bread
Serves 2 hungry people (with leftovers)

Clean and debeard mussels. Make sure to discard any open ones as there is a strong possibility you'll get ill from eating them if you don't. I didn't specify the amount of garlic cloves, onion or tomato. I love all these ingredients and usually use them to taste or based on what I have in the fridge. Heat olive oil in large pot.

Add garlic and onion once the pan is hot. Stir occassionally until onion starts to become translucent. Add curry paste to taste. Again, no amount was specified. Depending on your tolerance for heat, add as much as you like. I usually add 2 tablespoons. Gradually add in coconut milk and 1 cup of chicken stock. To avoid watery consistency, shake coconut milk well before adding to pot (unlike in photo).

Stir well, then let simmer. Add mussels. Cover pot and cook over moderate heat until mussels start opening. Add diced tomato and stir. Cook for a couple of minutes. Spoon mussels into large bowls. Ladle sauce over them and garnish with freshly chopped cilantro and lime wedge. Toast bread until slightly crispy. Serve alongside the mussels. It is perfect for sopping up the tasty sauce. Do NOT eat any unopened mussels. You'll be sorry.

Variations:
Curry-substitute green or yellow curry paste or if you're feeling ambitious, make your own. I use jarred as a time saver.

Bread-substitute ciabatta or even sourdough. Toast or untoasted, it's your call.

Continue reading...

clafouti

Ahh summer. Warm, smoky air, mosquitos, cold beer, and big bushels of plump, juicy cherries on sale for under $2 a pound.



Of all the things one could do to those cheap, delicious cherries, one of the simplest and most delicious things to do is to make the traditional French peasant dessert clafouti.



Califouti means "pudding cake" (I am told), and while it can be made with basically any non-citrus fruit, cherries are the most common. You can try plums, pears, peaches, banana... even mangoes. This is delicious on its own, as a dessert or breakfast, and is especially wonderful with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Califouti for 2

1 1/4 cups milk (I use 1 cup half and half, 1/4 cup milk)
2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla, or seeds from one vanilla bean
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup flour
2 cups cherries, pitted
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon powdered or superfine sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Butter two ramekins. I use two 4 x 2 ramekins about 1 inch deep, but you can use one large, shallow ramekin if you like. Butter these liberally and set aside.

Blend the milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour in a large bowl. An ex boyfriend of mine used to combine this all in a blender, but since this is a peasant food, I kind of think it's more appropriate to just whisk the crap out of it by hand. Combine it well (look out for lumps of flour!) and pour a thin layer into each ramekin.



Bake the thin base layer for about 5 minutes, or until firm. Take out of the oven and make sure the ramekin is cool enough to work with.

Arrange the cherries over the base layer of cake in some sort of attractive manner. Make sure you don't pack them in too much - you want some space for the "pudding" to nestle in between the fruit. Don't go overboard though, because once you pour the batter in, your lovely design will get all jostled.



Pour the remaining batter into each ramekin, filling to just below the lip of each dish. Do not be upset when your cherry pattern gets all skewed! These will rise slightly while baking, but will shrink a little once they're out of the oven. Just don't fill the ramekins all the way to the top and you should be fine. Sprinkle a little of the lemon zest on top.



Bake at 350 for about 30-45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Sprinkle with the powdered sugar and allow these to sit for about 5 minutes. Serve warm.

Continue reading...

It Only Takes $1 a Day...Ok, Maybe $3.50

A girlfriend of mine recently mentioned that she had a $2 per day food budget. I don't know if she was exaggerating, but regardless, it got me thinking: if I had a meager budget, what could I eat that still tastes good? Aside from $.99 chicken nuggets, fries and microwaved apple pies from Micky D's, by the way which are extremely tasty when you need a junk food fix, what relatively healthy options are out there?



Fortunately, New York has an abudance of good, inexpensive choices. One of my favorite places where one can purchase a $3.50 or less meal is Dumpling House on Eldridge. I discovered it while visiting a girlfriend, who lives down the block. I had walked by it a gazillion times and each time wondered why there was such a long queue out the door.

Caveat to potential Dumpling House patrons: This establishment does not offer upscale ambiance, fluent english speaking staff or courteous service, depending on who serves you. What it does have going for it are deliciously cheap homemade dumplings, soups, sesame pancakes and a glimpse into a typical Beijing style dumpling house. Traditionally as I have been told by a Shanghainese friend, this type of food is considered street food and it is common to see hawkers who set up shop all throughout China selling similar foodstuffs.

Once I was able to work my way through all the Chinese people calling out their orders in Cantonese or Mandarin, none of which I speak, (where's the love for an Asian looking, but non-speaking girl?) I bought a package of homemade chive and pork deep frozen dumplings and a crisp, doughy sesame pancake sprinkled with chopped scallion to go. The dumplings are dirt cheap at 30 for $5 or 50 for $8 and the pancake $.50. You can also get pre-cooked veggie or meat dumplings for 5 for $1!! Sadly, no dumpling or soup pictures because it was too crowded and being vertically challenged, I could not see over the taller people in front of me. However, before I devoured the entire pancake, I took a photo, bite marks and all, as I gobbled it up on the bus ride home.

Let's see, if I eat 5 dumplings per meal, I would have 6 meals at less than a buck each! Hmmm... dumplings and coffee for breakfast, dumplings and juice for lunch, dumplings and tea for dinner, and dumplings and a glass of milk before bedtime...Perfect! In all seriousness, though, a few suggestions for whipping up some super easy, quick and yummy dumpling meals are below:

Dumplings with Dipping Sauce
Ingredients:
dumplings, defrosted
soy sauce
small piece of ginger, finely grated
garlic clove, minced
scallion, finely chopped
sriracha chili sauce

Sauce:
Add soy sauce to small bowl. Finely grate ginger, chop scallion and mince garlic. Add to soy sauce and mix well.

Boil water. Once it is boiling, add dumplings. While waiting for dumplings to cook, make sauce. Again, dumplings get plump when done. Strain water off of dumplings. Put in bowl and dip in soy mixture. Add sriracha to taste.

Variation:
You can pan fry the dumplings. Instead of boiling them all the way through, partially boil them. Heat a pan with some canola oil. When the oil is hot, add the dumplings. Brown on each side.

You can also add a dash of sesame oil to the soy sauce mix.

Cilantro or scallions can be used interchangeably. Cilantro is more citrusy and tangy versus scallions which are in the onion family. Although they have very different flavors, they are common ingredients in asian cuisine).

Total cost: $8.55 (Dumplings-$.83; soy sauce-$2.75 ; ginger-$.99; scallion-$.99; garlic-$.99; sriracha chili sauce-$2.00)

This is over the specified $3.50, but you'll get multiple uses from the soy and sriracha sauces, scallions and cilantro.

Dumpling Soup
Ingredients:
dumplings, defrosted
1 can of chicken broth
cilantro sprigs

Heat chicken broth and 1 cup of water in a pot. Once it has come to a rolling boil, put in dumplings and let simmer. Dumplings will plump up when done. Ladle into bowl and garnish with fresh chopped cilantro.

Total cost: $3.11 (Dumplings-$.83; chicken broth-$1.29; cilantro-$.99)

Continue reading...

Random Musing

I always hoped you would come along. Then one day, out of the blue when I least expected, you came into my life in a big, green wrapped box tied with a red ribbon. What would I do without you?

The joy I get hearing the roar of your engine as I power you on, the rrrrring sound the blade makes as it cuts through whatever lies in its path, whether it be thick or thin, big or little. How precisely you slice my cold cuts, cheeses and breads, 1/4 inch, 1/2 inch, 3/4 inch. Gone are the days of buying sliced meat from the deli counter or awkwardly holding a knife to get a straight cut of bread. I can now buy legs of prosciutto and bushels of bread with reckless abandon, knowing that you are waiting at home with blade sharpened. And oh how I notice the envious looks from guests as they nonchalantly admire your shiny silver metal rotary blade or the excitement in their voices when they ask if they may take a turn moving the guide back and forth as you create perfect slices of heavenly goodness. I am so happy that you are mine.

I love you, meat slicer.

Continue reading...

Summertime Basic

Nothing says summer or quenches one's thirst like a tall, refreshing, cold glass of ice tea or lemonade (except maybe a frothy, cold beer or a frozen margarita). But not considering alcoholic beverages, it is usually either ice tea or lemonade that evoke hot, lazy summer days and satisfy a parched palate.



Although I didn't have lemons on hand, I did have the basic ingredients in my pantry to make a pitcher of tea. My version of tea has an asian twist. Instead of good ole' Lipton tea, I used loose leaf jasmine which has a wonderful fragrance and sweet taste. Any tea can be substituted though.

Ingredients:
1. loose leaf jasmine tea
2. honey
3. 1 lemon, sliced and wedged
4. mint sprigs

Heat 2 quarts of water in a 2.5 quart pot until the water comes to a rolling boil. Place 6 tablespoons of loose tea into a bowl. Pour water over tea. Let steep for several minutes. Steeping time will vary depending on how strong you like your tea. Strain tea from bowl into a heat resistant pitcher. Add in honey to taste. Slice lemon and place in tea. Let stand for an hour at room temperature. Remove lemon. Refrigerate until cold. Serve over ice with wedge of lemon and mint garnish.

Variation:
Try substituting black tea instead of jasmine and a slice of ginger instead of mint. Let the ginger steep a bit with the tea. I haven't tried this cold, but sometimes add ginger when drinking hot tea.

Yipeeee, National Tea Month!!

Continue reading...

Bread and Jam for Francis

I went to a BBQ at my friends’ Steve and Francis on Saturday, and brought dessert. Steve and Fran are English, and there were going to be a lot of Brits in attendance. It was hot, and I didn’t want to turn on my oven, so I found a couple of recipes for summer berry pudding, which is a traditional English dessert: berries cooked with some water and sugar which is then dumped into a bowl or loaf pan that’s lined with bread. It’s then weighted and chilled for 4+ hours. This is what I did:

1 cup water
½ cup sugar
2 cardamom pods
Several shakes of ground cinnamon because I can’t find my cinnamon sticks
Splash of white wine

Boiled that until the sugar dissolved and let it steep while I went to our overpriced gourmet shop on 45th Street to get berries. I procured:

2 pints of blueberries
4 little flats of organic raspberries that, upon opening, were covered in mold. Actual yield: about fifteen raspberries.
2 pints of Driscoll strawberries (they’re durable!)
1 tiny bag of frozen organic berries for $6.!@#@#$95
Loaf of white bread (a whole loaf. Good bread.)

Total cost: $32.17

Picked over the blueberries, cursed the raspberries, hulled and sliced the strawberries, washed the lot and dumped it into the pot. Brought to a boil and then reduced to a simmer and cooked for about fifteen minutes. Mashed the blueberries down a bit and spent an entertaining fifteen minutes hunting in hot jelly for the cardamom pods. Added some Chamborg. Strained the mixture into a bowl.

Lined an 8 cup casserole with clingfilm. Sliced the bread, buttered some of them, and lined the casserole. Dumped in the berries. Sealed the top with bread. Covered with more clingfilm, put a plate on top and a pot lid on the plate. Surveyed the remaining, somewhat bloody-looking berry puree and ate a spoonful of it while deciding what to do with it.

Here is the thing that I always forget to do that is the most important thing in cooking:

Taste the damn food. Summer berry pudding is all about the berries, and it’s June: blueberries and raspberries aren’t really in yet. Driscoll strawberries are barely fruit at all. The puree could charitably be called tart; “sour” would probably be more accurate. No trace of the cardamom or cinnamon.

So I dumped a load of sugar into the pot of strained juice, boiled that for a while, took the top layer of bread off and ladled some of the berry syrup in. Resealed it and put it back in the fridge.

Upon unmolding it at the Q, I discovered a few things.

1. I’d add at least a cup more of juice. The bread still looked like bread, albeit attractively swirled with crimson.
2. The plate was too big for the top of the casserole. It needs to fit inside in order to really smash it down.
3. British people like dessert that most Americans would describe as “underwhelming.”

It simply wasn’t sweet enough. Although my hostess assured me that summer berry pudding is supposed to taste like berries, berries are, when they’re good, sweet. There was a good enough of a fruit flavor, but basically, I had just served people mediocre compote on white bread. It was kind of embarrassing. Also, it needed a big clump of cream like nobody’s business. And possibly salt.

Recommendations to fix:

1. Make in July like you’re supposed to.
2. Maybe cook berries in orange juice, or mix of oj and water.
3. Let the whole spices sit in the mix for at least an hour.
4. Open raspberries before buying.
5. Maybe use a sweeter bread, like challah or even Portuguese bread.

I don’t have pictures because I don’t have my camera yet. It was supposed to look like this:

It didn’t.

Continue reading...