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 […]
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 cream sauce as i walked over to star. i also wanted to try slow-roasting tomatoes – where slow means 6-8 hours slow.
the chicken with its dill cream sauce turned into something completely different, but the slow-roasted tomatoes looked like this coming out of the oven. the darker flecks are thyme, except around the edges of the tomato where it has caramelized. carrien and i plan to eat these on sandwiches or pasta. they smell wonderful when they come out of the oven, too – they actually smell like caramelized tomatoes. (more…)
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 […]
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 […]
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 ask? yes. decidedly so. because if there were no parmesan in these muffins, they would have no opportunity to develop the delectably golden, crispy exterior that makes these so good. these muffins are salty-sweet, moist yet crusty on the outside. their main ingredients are zucchini, parmesan, and basil. zucchini muffins are one thing. the addition of parmesan is nice, but expected. but the introduction of the basil is spectacular, as is the abnormally high amount of sugar for savory muffins. in fact, i would say that the basil is secondary to the sugar, though ever since i visited shanghai last summer, i get the feeling that my capacity for salty-sweet is much higher than that of the average person. your average person cares a lot about the balance of salt and pepper; i care about the balance of salt, pepper, and sugar. (more…)
as you know, i like pork. last week carrien and josh had gone to market basket to procure beef to grind it at home for burgers, and they picked up some pork ribs as well. …unfortunately, by the time that i actually had the time […]
if pork and quenelles had a love child, i imagine that it would be these meatballs. not that i’ve ever tasted quenelles (a delicate sort of french dumpling that is made of a mild white meat or fish, and poached), but i’ve always thought that […]
no, not speed with respect to the homemade ricotta, but rather, with dinner made from the ricotta. however, despite the lengthy instructions, the actual production of the ricotta is very easy and short. most of the work is prep work. the best ricotta i have ever had was in a salad at chez panisse (the restaurant, not the cafe) – it was light, creamy yet with definitely definable curd, pressed into a triangular slice. i think it was drizzled with olive oil, which is, i have to say, a really excellent way to eat ricotta. but if my memory is failing me, then i definitely had ricotta drizzled with olive oil on bread at some restaurant in the past.
i was thus particularly excited about homemade ricotta because it looked so easy to make. i shouldn’t have been surprised, as jessica and i made paneer in much the same way in our cooking class (paneer is a slightly different mix of milk and yogurty ingredients, and is pressed and weighted instead of allowed to drain). this ricotta is richer than supermarket whole-milk ricotta, even though it’s also made with whole milk, but is a bit hard in the curd – i wonder if letting it drain less would have been more ideal. (more…)
after having dinner made for me on consecutive days (tuesday, bread pudding at 44, and wednesday, really excellent thin fettuccine with a roasted tomato and sausage sauce, at 24), i made dinner for 24 and 44. i wanted to do something fairly involved, so i […]