The Pull of the Blog

Every time I think I’m going to abandon the blog, it just pulls me back in. And then I have to play catch up and write a monster post (like this one) that encapsulates weeks of ideas and meals.

Last weekend, "Bob" and I made a huge batch of chicken pot pies. We used our usual recipe, but amended it slightly by adding an extra cup of chicken stock (because we had it) and an extra cup (or two) of chicken meat (because I wanted to use it up quickly). Well, all those little bits of "extra" made a LOT of pot pie filling. That was fine, I now have plenty of bakeware for single serve pot pies, but I should’ve made extra dough. To conserve dough, we filled some of the Emile Henri bowls we normally use (two servings in each bowl for the price of one crust). For the record, the single serving sizes look awesome in all the Fishs Eddy bakeware I've acquired over the past few years.

We ate one of the pot pies that night, and still the freezer is packed. I also made a tragic mistake. Some frozen pizza was left out in the refrigerator overnight. I meant to keep it there for only an hour or so--until the tops of the pot pies firmed up so that they could support the weight of the pizza. I forgot and went to bed. While making coffee the next morning, I realized the pizza was done for since you shouldn't refreeze foods. The pizza has since been donated to Iz’s dog Kiki. He eats anything (including, unfortunately, an unsuspecting possum or two).

We’ve also been having yogurt parfaits for breakfast on the weekends. To a ½ cup (each) of vanilla yogurt (organic) we add a bunch of fruit (typically, fresh berries and canned pineapple) and either GrapeNuts or my homemade muesli/granola. We’ve also been using our new electric kettle and our old(er) French press and Mr. Coffee coffee grinder. Before decommissioning our old electric coffee maker (which had an internal coffee grinder), I used the Mr. Coffee coffee grinder for grinding spices. I dread the day that I’ll need to grind some mustard seeds. With my electric grinder completely coffee-encrusted and infused, I’ll have to use the mortar and pestle and put my back into it.

Last weekend, I also made my second batch of homemade yogurt. I never blogged about my first batch. That’s because it was nothing outstanding. I have a rule I try to follow: When making something for the first time, follow the recipe exactly. It’s not because I think that recipes as written are always better (okay, "Bob’?), it’s just that I like to have a baseline (or, control) to work off of (ah, the beauty of the scientific method).

With that in mind, I followed the recipe that came with my Salton yogurt maker (yay Christmas!). My maker is the 1-quart Model No. YM-9 (it has one big tub instead of several small glass jars). The basic recipe calles for 4 cups milk (whole, 2%, 1%, or skim), plus 1/4 to 1/2 cup no-fat dry powder (I think I used 1/4 cup). You also need 1/2 cup plain yogurt (to act as a starter). I used Stonyfield plain nonfat yogurt and Alba dry milk, which I had left over from a failed, make-your-own cocoa mix experiment (I wanted to control the sweetness and sugar content…turns out mine had more of everything--sugar and calories--than Swiss Miss).

The rest of the yogurt maker instructions are relatively easy. Combine milk and dry milk in a saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring frequently to just below boiling point. That's the tricky part. How do you know something is almost boiling? Boiling is obvious. But almost boiling? That's tough. So, I searched around (Internet and cookbooks) and apparently, milk is just before the boiling point when tiny bubbles form at the edges and steam rises off the surface. When that point is reached, you take the pan off the heat and allow it to cool until lukewarm (between 100 and 110 degrees F). Then you prewarm the yogurt maker and add the plain yogurt to the warm milk, stirring gently to blend. Pour the mixture into the yogurt container and process from 4 to 10 hours. The longer it "cooks," the thicker and tarter the yogurt becomes. After processing, it should be partially set. Then chill at least 2 hours. It will thicken further in the fridge.

The verdict: Honestly, I think I surpassed "almost boiling," but it worked anyway. The yogurt was thick, but I could taste the dry milk. Just as you sometimes get a bit of freezer burn taste from old ice cream, I could taste the Alba. Yuck.

After those lackluster results, it took me a while, but I finally got around to making another batch last weekend. This time I made it with yogurt culture (my semi-friendly neighborhood Williams Sonoma keeps a stash in the storeroom; you have to ask for it). I followed the culture's instructions as best as I could. I had to recalculate everything since the culture (Euro Cuisine) recipe called for 42 oz of milk, and my maker can only accomodate 32 oz. Instead of the entire packet of culture (5 g), I weighed out 4 g. After that, the basic instructions are: heat milk to 180 degrees F (which I presume is just before boiling) and then cool to 111 to 113 degrees F. Place the lukewarm milk into a pitcher and stir in the culture and lightly stir with a whisk until dissolved (hint: premix some of the lukewarm mix with the yogurt culture in a small bowl first, and then add this mixture the rest of the milk).

After 4.5 hours in the yogurt maker and 2 hours in the refrigerator, the yogurt was tasty but very thin. So, I decided to strain it. There are at least two ways to do this: wrap the yogurt in a double layer of cheesecloth and suspend it over a bowl in the fridge OR line a colander with 3 layers of paper towel and pour the yogurt over that and let it drain for 3 to 4 hours. Since the question of how to suspend a ball of yogurt over a bowl in the refrigerator proved too complicated for me that night, I opted for the more straightforward paper-towel-colander method. Wow, after 3 hours, the yogurt lost 75% of its volume! Where I once had a quart of yogurt, all that remained was a single cup. (And since I used too shallow of a plate under the colander, a lot of the watery whey wound up on the kitchen floor. Next time I'll nestle the colander in another bowl or in a casserole dish).

Though much reduced in size, the remaining yogurt was delicious. I also used it later in the week as an accompaniment to the soup that "Bob" made: black-eyed pea and tomato broth. The soup was delicious but was way too hot because of some mighty powerful jalapeno pepper. The yogurt cooled it just enough, and the tartness was a nice touch with one of the soup's other prominent ingredients: lemon juice. I'll try and post the recipe at a later date. (FYI: "Bob" had made it once before without the pepper and it we had enjoyed it much more that time, which is preciseely why he doesn't always bother following recipes to the letter.)

As luck would have it, The New York Times had this article about homemade yogurt this week. Good information all. But I’ve been doing additional research. I'm on the hunt for a better culture that will assure a thicker yogurt and will post about it. The next time I make yogurt, I'll also post pictures of the entire process.

Menu a la Week: 6/14/08 - 6/20/08

Now for a very special menu. The freezer is overstuffed so it's time to clean it out. The best way to do that is to eat through as much of the frozen food as we can (including that ice cream in the upper right-hand corner). So, no new cooking for this week. To make this week even easier, we won't be home for dinner every night.

Our first CSA delivery is scheduled for this week. Rumor has it there will be lots of lettuce.

Menu 6/14/08 - 6/20/08
Saturday June 14, 2008
Turkey sausage with toast

Sunday June 15, 2008
Father's Day (eating out!)

Monday June 16, 2008
Turkey meatloaf and vegetables (or salad)

Tuesday June 17, 2008
Macbeth play (dinner out)

Wednesday June 18, 2008
Spinach pie and salad (dinner all by my lonesome)

Thursday June 19, 2008
Chicken pot pie and salad

Friday June 20, 2008
Asparagus soup and salad

"Exceptional" Dinners

Thursday night I went out after work with colleagues for drinks and some deep-fried appetizers. Being true to our little piggy natures, we ordered two snack platters of appetizers—one right after the other. Meanwhile, back at home, my husband was busy being good. He adhered to the plan and had vegetable soup for dinner.

Last night (Friday), the week of exceptions continued. We went out for dinner instead of cooking. Nothing fancy, just a particularly good diner near us that makes exceptionally good and crispy French fries. I ordered a burger and regretted it. Not because it was bad, but because it wasn't really really good. There are three places in my area that have really really good burgers: Shake Shack in Madison Square Park in New York, White Diamond in Clark, N.J., and Stewart's in Rahway, N.J. I was fully prepared for the Shake Shack burgers to be completely overrated. They weren't (see my friend Bill's post about our lunch there). The White Diamond burgers are very similar to those at Shake Shack (very flat and sem-crispy around the edges). The Stewart's burgers are comparatively thicker but no less yummy, though the root beer and carhop atmosphere probably add enormously to the whole burger eating experience there (plus Stewart's has really good curly fries and onion rings).

What's to come this weekend: The E-Co$t tally for the meals made this week (excluding our dinner at the diner; that bill was for about $20), the nutritional information for the recipes missing that particular information, and a very special edition of the Menu a la Week.

Don't Feed Them After Midnight

Like a pair of hungry gremlins, my husband and I ate a very late supper last night (Tuesday) because of work. He heated up some asparagus soup (straight from the freezer) and popped some bread into the toaster.

Meanwhile, I worked on disassembling the chicken. One of the half-breasts is in the fridge for a meal later this week. The other half, along with the bits of white and dark meat and the bones (separate bags!), is now crammed into the freezer. It's getting awfully full in there.

Lemon-Herb Roasted Chicken
Serves 4

1 roaster chicken (about 4 lbs)
1 large onion (sliced)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt
Black pepper freshly ground (or more)
4 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1.5 teaspoons minced fresh dill
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh oregano leaves
1.5 teaspoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 to 3 lemons washed and cut into quarters

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400-degrees
2. Remove organs from chicken and rinse and pat dry.
3. Toss onions (first cut in half, then in slices, to form half-round slices) with olive oil in bottom of roasting pan (I use a Le Creuset French oven).
4. Mix the herbs, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of pepper into softened butter.
5. With your clean hands take a portion of the herbed butter and spread it in the cavity of the chicken. Then separate the skin (gently) covering the breasts and smear herbed butter between the skin and meat. Be careful not to rip the skin or remove it entirely. You just want enough space to slide your fingers in to coat the breast meat with the butter mixture.
6. Spread the herbed butter over the entire outside of the chicken, covering all areas, including wings, drumsticks, etc.
7. Stuff the chicken with the lemon slices.
8. Sprinkle the top of the chicken with some Kosher salt and pepper.
9. Tuck the wings under the bird and tie the legs together with kitchen twine.
10. Roast for 1.25 to 1.75 hours, until the internal temperature of the breast meat reaches 180 degrees F.

Nutrition Information per Serving
Calories: ; Carbohydrates: ; Protein: ; Fat: ; Cals./g:
*Points:

Asparagus Again and Again

But of course we're having asparagus again! I love love love love love asparagus. I used to hate it, but that's because when I was little, my mom used to always make the canned soggy stuff. This spring, I can't get enough of it.

With our secret weapon for work-week meals (soup), dinner only took about 10 to 15 minutes to prepare. That included a fresh salad from scratch.

Tonight's dinner: asparagus soup (reheated), green salad (green leaf lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, and celery) with homemade mustard vinaigrette, and a few leftover pieces of last night's potatoes (also reheated). A nice light meal for a warm spring night.

I'll post the mustard vinaigrette recipe at some later date. This vinaigrette was a bit of a rush job. I was trying to use up the rest of the dijon mustard so I didn't measure any of the ingredients: I just poured them into the mustard bottle. That's a great time saver—unless you're trying to recreate a recipe. And, of course, this last batch was the best-tasting mustard vinaigrette I've ever made. I think it was heavy on the mustard, which might've made all the difference.

Asparagus Soup and Goat Cheese and Prosciutto Canapes

Tonight's dinner was a success. Asparagus soup and goat cheese-prosciutto canapes made a nice meal. Below are the recipes and the nutritional information, which I've calculated from both WeightWatchers* and RecipeNutrition. The asparagus soup recipe was cobbled together from various sources.

RecipeNutrition is quite a site. You have to register (it's free) to use the calculators, but it's well worth it. Plus, you can view and post shared recipes. RecipeNutrition's recipe builder can be hard to use at first. Finding the specific ingredient you are looking for by searching, sorting, and scrolling through each category and subcategory can be difficult. For the canape recipe below, I couldn't find prosciutto and selected "Pork, cured, shoulder, arm picnic, separable" as the most nutritionally equivalent ingredient, though the figures, especially the sodium and protein are off (the sodium is way off). I will likely e-mail them and ask them to add prosciutto to the the list of ingredients.

Asparagus Soup
10 servings, 1 cup each serving

4 cups chicken stock (preferably homemade)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 stalks of celery
3 pounds of fresh asparagus
1/2 tablespoon salt (preferably Kosher salt)
1/4 tablespoon ground black pepper
2 large onions
10 teaspoons light cream (optional)
10 teaspoons balsamic vinegar (optional)

Directions
1. Chop onions and celery and set aside. Save (i.e. freeze) the leafy celery tops for stock.
2. Bring the 4 cups of chicken stock to a boil in a medium-sized sauce pan (about 8 minutes).
3. While the stock comes to a boil, wash the asparagus then chop the woody bottoms off.
4. When the stock comes to a boil, add the woody stalks of asparagus and let simmer for 20 minutes. Place the other asparagus (tops) aside.
5. In a large stock pot, add 2 tablespooons of olive oil and sauté the celery and onions until they are translucent (about 10 to 12 minutes).
6. When the onion and celery mixture is done, strain the stock into this mixture (and discard the woody asparagus bottoms), add the asparagus tops, and cook for 20 minutes or until asparagus tops are soft.
7. Once the asparagus tops are soft, place the entire mixture into blender/food processer and blend until smooth.
8. Ladle soup into bowls and add a splash (1 teaspoon) of light cream and 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar. Both of these splashes are optional ingredients. For a tangy taste, use 1 teaspoon of nonfat plain yogurt in place of cream.
9. The remainder can be freezed (we froze some of ours in 2-cup glass Pyrex containers).

Nutrition Information per Serving
Calories: 119; Carbohydrates: 4 g; Protein: 6 g; Fat: 5 g; Cals./g: 0
*Points: 2 (with balsamic and light cream); 1 (without balsamic and light cream)

Goat Cheese and Prosciutto Canapes
4 Servings, 2 canapes each

8 slices of fresh Italian or French bread (1/2-inch thick)
4 slices (2 oz.) of thinly-sliced prosciutto
1-1.5 oz. herbed or plain goat cheese

Directions
1. Slice the Italian or French bread into 8 thin slices (1/2-inch or even thinner).
2. Spread goat cheese thinly on each slice.
3. Divide the prosciutto evenly among the tops of all 8 slices.

Nutrition Information per Serving
Calories: 132; Carbohydrates: 10 g; Protein: 6 g; Fat: 6 g; Cals./g: 3
*Points: 2

* The calculation of WeightWatchers points are based on our own inputs. The points we are including here are estimates and are not guaranteed to be accurate nor are they endorsed by WeightWatchers.

Menu a la Week: 5/25/08 - 5/30/008

As promised, here's the inaugural edition of Menu a la Week. This feature is a list of the meal plans I devise every week to make shopping and cooking just a bit easier and more time efficient (I work in New York City and get home after 6 p.m. on most evenings, so knowing what's for dinner days in advance is a big help).

Often, the menu will feature items that get "reused/recycled" throughout the week. Some meals are already sitting in the freezer (or some major parts of a dinner are in there), and others will be cooked on a weekend day and then retooled as the week progresses. During the week, meals from scratch are limited to what can be cooked—or thrown together—quickly.

Each day, I'll post the recipes for what we've cooked (or links/references) as well as the best information I have regarding the nutritional content (often using Internet reources). Breakfast and lunch are usually some combination of yogurt, fruits, cereals, organic breakfast bars, hard-boiled eggs (well, the whites at any rate), sandwiches, salads, and, I admit, the occassional NYC bought—and not brought—lunch. In the future, I'll likely post about those meals as well.

Below is the dinner menu for the week of Sunday May 25, 2008 to Friday May 30, 2008. I may choose to substitute any of these dinners for another (it helps to be flexible). Asparagus is featured as it's in season and, of course, Memorial Day features a grilled meal. The dinners for this Thursday and Friday are planned as light meals because one of those nights, my husband will be meeting up with me in the city for the SOFA (International Exposition of Sculpture Objects Functional Art) exhibit at the Park Avenue Armory. We'll either eat out or fix tuna sandwiches when we get home.

Menu 5/25/08 - 5/30/08
Sunday May 25, 2008
Asparagus soup and small sandwiches (goat cheese and prosciutto?)

Monday May 26, 2008 (Memorial Day)
Grilled chicken (enough for several days)
Grilled Asparagus
Grilled potato wedges

Tuesday May 27, 2008
Asparagus soup and salad

Wednesday May 28, 2008
Chicken Pot Pies (already in the freezer!)

Thursday May 29, 2008
Tuna or other light sandwiches

Friday May 30, 2008
Grilled chicken Caesar salad