* note: this platter is ~20″ wide, and the big slices of beef are ~8″ in diameter in the long dimension ok, here’s the lesson first, to be followed by the story: let meat be all that it can be, and it will reward you. […]
one day, a pound of bacon walked into the kitchen. it accidentally walked into a skillet, but jumped out after getting a little toasty. some onions took its place with a little thyme, and the whole group took a dive into pasta, finding eggs and […]
i vaguely remember having promised to update you all on the longevity of the pound cake. i also vaguely remember having forgotten – ok, i very distinctly remember having forgotten to do so. so with respect to elvis’ poundcake, i’d like to report that the texture improved over the next several hours or so. its crusty exterior stayed crusty, but as egg-ful things are wont to do, it tasted much less eggy after the cake cooled and set completely. i think it had about a week’s shelf life?
and onto bigger, better things, or at least, more chocolatey things: chocolate pound cake. i can’t remember why i made a chocolate pound cake; i guess just because. this is a recipe i’d made before, generally in loaf pans to make a pound cake for chocolate raspberry trifle. i also wanted to test the efficacy of beating the butter and sugar to provide the cake’s structure, and i have to confess and bite my tongue – it really helps. in fact, it’s pretty amazing how much it helps. the chocolate pound cake that i made relies heavily on the butter and sugar for its tight crumb, and cake flour for its tenderness, and brown sugar for spicy caramel overtones. i would recommend billington’s dark brown sugar for the best spicy caramel overtones – i’m pretty sure that 95% of said overtones come from this particular brown sugar, which i’ve used before to great effect in brown sugar pudding. this particular cake is fantastic plain, but if you need to fancy it up, just drip a chocolate glaze over it. don’t bother with powdered sugar, which i hate with a passion on cakes and tarts because you just end up inhaling it and choking, just as you’re about to take a bite. it’s annoying at your dinner table when you’re with good friends, and embarrassing in social situations as you cough and hack. (more…)
given elvis’ tendency towards the heart-unhealthy in his diet, i’d normally be loath to shill for food of the heart-clogging type, but this pound cake was just unusual enough to make the cut. i assure you that i do actually have a conscience, and that […]
so i found out a couple days ago that i got a full-tuition scholarship for this coming school year (!!!), and celebrated by cooking for the entire evening. i had chicken thighs that i needed to use, and i was envisioning chicken in a dill […]
i was disgruntled because i hadn’t cooked all week; if you know me, i get kind of grumpy and unsettled when this is the case. so since i had no plans for the weekend, i decided to make chicken cacciatore. i had made the joy of cooking version with rocco a few weeks back, and it didn’t require much in the way of ingredients beyond mushrooms, tomatoes, herbs, and some chicken stock and wine. i decided, as i often do, to make a labor-intensive version of it. i looked at my joy of cooking – which i have to say, in my kitchen, serves more as a reference than a real cookbook – and noted the ingredients, then looked online at epicurious to see what the range of ingredients was from recipe to recipe. i found one that roasted the vegetables, which sounded really excellent, but the thing i liked a lot about the one rocco and i made was the thickness of the sauce – ie, the vegetables and the sauce are equally important.
essentially, i combined the two recipes, and modified them to the proportions that i like. i used a combination of fresh and canned tomatoes, to try to balance flavor versus my pocketbook. luckily, it’s summer, so tomatoes are cheaper than they usually are. i also probably doubled the mushrooms: i like mushrooms. especially sliced thickly, which doesn’t usually happen – most restaurants either use tiny mushrooms that don’t need to be sliced, slice them thinly, or slice them in half. and i like mine sliced thickly. i also increased the amount of onions, because onions are good… (more…)
this is a davio macaroon; if this doesn’t inspire instant desire on your part, then you’re a cold, heartless person. look at it! the coconut is all delicious-looking on the inside, no long tendrils of shredded coconut; the outside is golden brown and crispy, and […]
just a quick one here…i made this a while ago to eat while watching guys and dolls. i made two cheesecakes, one a classic cheesecake and one a dulce de leche cheesecake from epicurious. my cheesecake wisdom to you: (1) the best crust is a […]
cha fahn (closed) / 763 centre street, jamaica plain / 617-983-3575 / summer hours tues-sun 5pm- / $25 prix fixe on wednesdays / entrees 12-20
small plates
shrimp summer rolls with peanut dipping sauce
pan-fried spicy pork and kimchi dumplings
jasmine tea wilted kale with pine nuts and lemon soy dressing
asparagus, shrimp, and cilantro pesto on seaweed papers
main
szechuan noodles: chilled noodles in a spicy szechuan peanut sauce with fried tofu and crispy lotus roots
beef noodle soup: taiwanese style noodle soup with tender beef slices and spinach
tea-bathed chicken: sauteed chicken breast with a citrus and smoky tea-infused sauce, braised carrots, baby spinach, and pilaf
satay tofu: tofu cutlets with a bracing blend of peanuts, coriander, ginger, and soy sauce, braised carrots, baby bok choy, and pilaf
miso salmon: roasted sake-miso marinated salmon, asparagus, scarlot tea pickled ginger, and pilaf
skirt steak: seared skirt steak with a spicy korean sauce, crispy lotus roots, asian pear, daikon radish, wilted watercress salad and potatoes
garlic-lime shrimp: sauteed shrimp with garlic, ginger, and a soy-lime sauce, sauteed spinahc with golden raisins and pine nuts, and pilaf (more…)
i am currently drinking a cup of hot, honeyed, milky (assam) tea, my break from the editing work i’m doing on a professor’s manuscript. mostly, with respect to food, i have an assortment of odds and ends: salty and sweet parmesan muffins. parmesan muffins, you […]