I can't even believe, that it is already the end of 2008. The year (and the last several months) have flown by. Between returning from our saunter to Italy to find that my firm was laying me off, then finding a new job (and back to working on architecture again) and as in a new role on the Owner's side instead of on the design side, and new fully engrossed in work as well as playing mom to Baby, time really has flown by. And, did I forget to mention - I'm 14 weeks pregnant.
As if we didn't learn the first time around, we're going to go for number 2!
So, in my true Jewish nature, I kicked off December with a meal this past Sunday that started when I read the 2nd Ave Deli Cookbook too early for my own good (pre-breakfast). No, it wasn't because of those crazy preggo hormones that I was hunkering for all this food - it was that I hadn't had breakfast yet. Trust me - looking back on the past 3 months, I realize now that I had felt this queasiness early on, but I didn't realize that I was pregnant. My appetite hasn't been up to par at all, and cooking dinner at night was like pulling teeth. And having to deal with any sort of meat? Oy no. That just really made me lose my appetite all together. Hence, the lack of weight gain, but baby has been growing.
Now, don't get me wrong - I'm eating all right, but just at night, no appetite. Especially not for strongly-flavored food. I felt like, if I had basic chicken noodle soup every night, that would be perfectly fine for me. I don't know if it's the preggo combined with stress (hello, have you seen the pit that's called the economy?), or if it's just the hormones - but from 3pm onward, it's just not a really fun time. No puking, just queasy. And worn out. And wanting to have chefs and servants at my beck and call. Oh wait - that's pretty normal.
So my Jewish meal. I was reading too many recipes, and suddenly I wanted to make noodle kugel, latkes, and pierogies, all in the same day. Maybe I just needed the carbs, who knows. But I remembered, my friend Tamara, who made noodle kugel 12 years ago, and I remembered really enjoying it, so I tried my hand at it. And I didn't yet get to the pierogies, but I have the ingredients ready to go in the fridge - so one of these nights... one of these nights.
Noodle Kugel
1 pack egg noodles (cook to just al dente, just under the recommended minimum cooking time)
5 eggs
1 cup sugar
Raisins
1/2 cup milk
Juice of 1 lemon
Rind of 1 lemon
1 T vanilla extract
Butter, for buttering baking dish
Preheat oven to 350. Cook noodles as noted above. In the mean time, mix all the remaining ingredients. Mix noodles with egg mixture, and pour into greased baking pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.
Latkes
3:1 proportion of potatoes to onion, all roughly shredded and left to drain (I used about 3 cups potato)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 T salt
1 t pepper
1 egg, well beaten
(you can also add other herbs - I've added mint, parsley, and chives in the past - think about what you'd like in a baked potato!)
Flour
3/4C frying oil
Shred potatoes and onions (easiest done in a food processor). Drain over the sink to remove excess liquid. Squeeze lemon juice over mixture to prevent pinking of potatoes.
Mix potatoes and onions with S/P and egg, and any other herbs you'd like to add. The mixture should be a bit thick - if necessary, sprinkle in flour to make it thicker, so that the batter stays intact when you form the latkes for frying . In the mean time, heat about 1/4" oil in a pan - test the heat by dropping in a bit of the mixture, and see if it sizzles. If it does quickly, you're good to go.
Now, I kept 1 messy hand and one clean hand. The messy hand formed the mixture into 3" patties, the clean one tonged the frying latkes to flip them and move them to a draining rack. Ease each patty into the hot oil, and you can add more than just 1 if the oil does not overcool with each addition of a patty - otherwise, hold off until the oil gets hotter. The longer the latkes sit in the oil, the oiler they'll be. Fry each side until golden brown, and set on rack to drain.
Enjoy as quickly as you can out of the pan - they're best when they're crispy! Serve with sour cream and applesauce (I like both on my latkes).
More to follow on them pierogies!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Wow.
I can't believe it has been 3+ full months since my last posting! Time has definitely flown by, and now with summer coming on us full-steam. Baby has grown quite well, happily so, eating this that and the other thing, and showing no sign of stopping. I just thought today to myself, to think that 2nd day after she was born, I was worried that her weight wasn't going up fast enough. And now, I'm worried that now she's growing too fast.
Some of our short-cuts - I love getting the big bag of frozen mixed organic veggies from Costco. Yes, I know, organic still isn't regulated in this country, but I'm using my dollars to speak to large corporations about the type of food I'm willing to feed my family. We use these veggies to mix into brown rice, white rice, pasta, stew... you name it, and we've mixed some little bits of veggies into the meal to balance it out for Baby. And she does seem to like it quite a bit. There really isn't much she doesn't like, in fact!
Other short-cuts - I've precooked ravioli and frozen them for easy lunches when mixed with some pasta sauce and veggies. Meatballs break up wonderfully to mix with other items. Tofu in all variations make for a great thickener for anything I'm serving, as well as a good source of protein when I have an accompanying dish that is completely vegetarian. Making sure that Baby's meals are well balanced may be the most challenging task to date. As she doesn't have the means of letting me know if she feels like she needs some vitamin C or some extra calcium (curiously enough, I do get cravings like that, and I rationalize them in my mind that my body is in need of a particular vitamin/fuel in what ever food it is that I'm eating), I need to make sure that she does get enough of everything her body may need: carbs, protein, fiber, flavor, texture, scent.
As for our foodstuffs, I've been cutting corners where I can, particularly for our dinners, so that I can spend more time with Baby before she goes to bed. If it means that I am slow-cooking something with a mix of meats and vegetables, throwing rice into the steamer instead of making fried rice (a multi-part process), or heating up something that I had pre-made and set aside for those "emergency" days, then that's what I'm doing. Pre-made items that I've found to be immensely helpful: meatballs, pre-cut veggies and herbs stored in the freezer, successful sauces pre-mixed and frozen, meats pre-cut or pre-prepped and pre-seasoned. I'm finding shortcuts where I can, but I still don't want to undermine the final quality and flavor of the food. So, it's the raw materials, pre-prepped and pre-seasoned, but not pre-cooked.
Most recently, we had our good friends Bondrew over for dinner, for outdoor grilling. Alongside the usual steak and corn, we also made grilled squid (marinated in olive oil and a touch of balsamic vinegar) and chicken drumsticks. This is our family's recipe, which I now happily carry on.
Marinade for drumsticks (in order of decreasing quantity)
Soy sauce
Garlic
Scallions
White pepper
Sugar
Mix to tasted, and marinate drumsticks prior to grilling at least an hour in advance. Grill until about 150 degrees at the bone.
Some of our short-cuts - I love getting the big bag of frozen mixed organic veggies from Costco. Yes, I know, organic still isn't regulated in this country, but I'm using my dollars to speak to large corporations about the type of food I'm willing to feed my family. We use these veggies to mix into brown rice, white rice, pasta, stew... you name it, and we've mixed some little bits of veggies into the meal to balance it out for Baby. And she does seem to like it quite a bit. There really isn't much she doesn't like, in fact!
Other short-cuts - I've precooked ravioli and frozen them for easy lunches when mixed with some pasta sauce and veggies. Meatballs break up wonderfully to mix with other items. Tofu in all variations make for a great thickener for anything I'm serving, as well as a good source of protein when I have an accompanying dish that is completely vegetarian. Making sure that Baby's meals are well balanced may be the most challenging task to date. As she doesn't have the means of letting me know if she feels like she needs some vitamin C or some extra calcium (curiously enough, I do get cravings like that, and I rationalize them in my mind that my body is in need of a particular vitamin/fuel in what ever food it is that I'm eating), I need to make sure that she does get enough of everything her body may need: carbs, protein, fiber, flavor, texture, scent.
As for our foodstuffs, I've been cutting corners where I can, particularly for our dinners, so that I can spend more time with Baby before she goes to bed. If it means that I am slow-cooking something with a mix of meats and vegetables, throwing rice into the steamer instead of making fried rice (a multi-part process), or heating up something that I had pre-made and set aside for those "emergency" days, then that's what I'm doing. Pre-made items that I've found to be immensely helpful: meatballs, pre-cut veggies and herbs stored in the freezer, successful sauces pre-mixed and frozen, meats pre-cut or pre-prepped and pre-seasoned. I'm finding shortcuts where I can, but I still don't want to undermine the final quality and flavor of the food. So, it's the raw materials, pre-prepped and pre-seasoned, but not pre-cooked.
Most recently, we had our good friends Bondrew over for dinner, for outdoor grilling. Alongside the usual steak and corn, we also made grilled squid (marinated in olive oil and a touch of balsamic vinegar) and chicken drumsticks. This is our family's recipe, which I now happily carry on.
Marinade for drumsticks (in order of decreasing quantity)
Soy sauce
Garlic
Scallions
White pepper
Sugar
Mix to tasted, and marinate drumsticks prior to grilling at least an hour in advance. Grill until about 150 degrees at the bone.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
A month away from 1 year
I don't know if other parents do this, in particular, other mothers, but the day we crossed Baby's 9 month birthday threshold, I took that mental period to the sentence: Baby has existed outside of me exactly as long as she was inside me. I don't know if it really was all that important, but to me, it was. It was that mark in my mind of Baby's first step of departure from my protective veil, and somehow, unlike how my parents had tried to be protective of me for much of my young life, I was OK with it.
I'm still cooking away, for both Hubby and myself, as well as for Baby. She's moved on out of her purees - now onto solid pastas, meats, veggies, and we're trying our hand, quite literally, at allowing her to feed herself some of the foods. The main key has been keeping things bite-size before giving them to her, but otherwise, everything's game. I've been feeding her curries, pasta sauces, whole grains, stir-fries - just about everything we adults eat. You know, regular human food. The only thing I've been trying to keep light on her are the sugars and salts, but otherwise, she eats just about everything we do.
I'm still trying to cook as much organic and from scratch as possible, but it's tough. Some nights, I have to admit, I envy those parents that cook the pre-made meals day in and day out. But then again, I wonder if that leaves the kids only wanting chicken fingers and hot dogs day in and day out. I'm going to try my best at trudging onward.
But, today, we went to Costco, and I have to admit, we picked up a ginormous bag of OreIda fries, and I thought, "hey, that would be great as to the topping for shepherd's pie." Go figure.
Tonight's dinner:
Lamb chops (thick)
Red wine
2 heads garlic
S/P
Soy sauce
Red Wine
Carrot, chopped
Celery, chopped
Kale, chopped
I marinated the lamb chops in chopped garlic of 1 head, some salt/pepper, while frozen - left them to defrost while seasoned. I browned the chops in a dry pan, topped with a touch of soy sauce, and turned them to brown each side. Once the soy was almost dry in the pan, I added about 2 cups of wine, added the carrots and celery, and let the mix slow low simmer for about an hour, turning the chops every so often to evenly cook each side. I threw in the kale at the end of the cooking process.
The other head of garlic? Chop off the top of the head, toss it with some olive oil, wrap it loosely in foil, and set it in to bake at 350 for 30 minutes for some nice roasted garlic to accompany the lamb. Trust me - it's great.
I also cooked up some pearled barley mixed with red jasmine rice and wheat berry. The wheatberry, unfortunately, did stay quite intact. But, used in small quantities, and mixed with the softer rice and barley, the wheatberry provided a wonderful textural contrast.
I'm still cooking away, for both Hubby and myself, as well as for Baby. She's moved on out of her purees - now onto solid pastas, meats, veggies, and we're trying our hand, quite literally, at allowing her to feed herself some of the foods. The main key has been keeping things bite-size before giving them to her, but otherwise, everything's game. I've been feeding her curries, pasta sauces, whole grains, stir-fries - just about everything we adults eat. You know, regular human food. The only thing I've been trying to keep light on her are the sugars and salts, but otherwise, she eats just about everything we do.
I'm still trying to cook as much organic and from scratch as possible, but it's tough. Some nights, I have to admit, I envy those parents that cook the pre-made meals day in and day out. But then again, I wonder if that leaves the kids only wanting chicken fingers and hot dogs day in and day out. I'm going to try my best at trudging onward.
But, today, we went to Costco, and I have to admit, we picked up a ginormous bag of OreIda fries, and I thought, "hey, that would be great as to the topping for shepherd's pie." Go figure.
Tonight's dinner:
Lamb chops (thick)
Red wine
2 heads garlic
S/P
Soy sauce
Red Wine
Carrot, chopped
Celery, chopped
Kale, chopped
I marinated the lamb chops in chopped garlic of 1 head, some salt/pepper, while frozen - left them to defrost while seasoned. I browned the chops in a dry pan, topped with a touch of soy sauce, and turned them to brown each side. Once the soy was almost dry in the pan, I added about 2 cups of wine, added the carrots and celery, and let the mix slow low simmer for about an hour, turning the chops every so often to evenly cook each side. I threw in the kale at the end of the cooking process.
The other head of garlic? Chop off the top of the head, toss it with some olive oil, wrap it loosely in foil, and set it in to bake at 350 for 30 minutes for some nice roasted garlic to accompany the lamb. Trust me - it's great.
I also cooked up some pearled barley mixed with red jasmine rice and wheat berry. The wheatberry, unfortunately, did stay quite intact. But, used in small quantities, and mixed with the softer rice and barley, the wheatberry provided a wonderful textural contrast.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Christmas and New Year's
Ahh, Christmas dinner. It went from a table of perhaps 6, to 20, back down to 14 + 3. It was a handful, but everyone chipped in, and the motherload was a bit easier to carry. We did a traditional goose, with roasted veggies, a ham, and many more sides (sweet potatoes, my father's oily rice, dim sum) - the goose was a first time for my hands and for my kitchen.
For those of you not in the know of a goose, it is rather fatty, like a duck, but even more so. I brined it for Christmas dinner (and for a more recent dinner with Bondrew), and the flavor was through and through. The first time around, I roasted it for about 3 hours at 325, stuffed with an orange and an onion - it came out a bit dry. Second time, Drew of the Bondrew recommended we go at 400 for about 15, then go 300 for the remainder of the time (about 2 hours total time), no flavorants stuffed inside. The second time around, it was really wonderful.
Brine mixes - first time focused on rosemary; second, on thyme. I have to admit, and perhaps it was because the second time around the meat wasn't overdone, but I really liked the goose the second time we did it. Both times, we did a port reduction sauce - the first time was just deglazing of the saute of goose innards. The second time, we started with a butter saute of shallots, then added frozen cherries, deglazed with port wine, and finished with goose stock. The sauce the second time was a lot thicker, perhaps because we reduced it so much more, but both sauces were wonderful.
Basic Goose
1 goose (serves 6-8)
Brine (in order of quantity, water, salt, flavorants (peppercorns, herbs (strong flavor))
Cook brine, and quickly reduce in temperature. What I do, I boil a hyperconcentrated mixture, more like 1:1, of salt and water, with flavorants, then quickly set this mixture into the fridge to cool. I then pour this mixture over the goose in a brining container (I went to IKEA and got this plastic container with a lid) and add enough water to cover. The brine:added water should run a ratio of about 1:2.
Preheat oven to 400. Remove goose from brine, and discard brine. Cut excess fat from neck and rear. Prick all over with fork, to allow fat some avenues to be able to escape. Bake in oven for about 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 325 for about an hour and a half - then test for temperature, either at breast or thigh.
Now here's the best part. That pan filled with goose fat? Cut up some potatoes and carrots, what ever you'd like to par-fry, and toss them into the fat. While the bird rests, put the mixture back into the oven, and bake for about 30 minutes, stirring occassionally. In particular for the potatoes, you'll have some of the best-tasting potatoes you've ever had. And don't add salt - the oil already carries the salt from the brine!
For those of you not in the know of a goose, it is rather fatty, like a duck, but even more so. I brined it for Christmas dinner (and for a more recent dinner with Bondrew), and the flavor was through and through. The first time around, I roasted it for about 3 hours at 325, stuffed with an orange and an onion - it came out a bit dry. Second time, Drew of the Bondrew recommended we go at 400 for about 15, then go 300 for the remainder of the time (about 2 hours total time), no flavorants stuffed inside. The second time around, it was really wonderful.
Brine mixes - first time focused on rosemary; second, on thyme. I have to admit, and perhaps it was because the second time around the meat wasn't overdone, but I really liked the goose the second time we did it. Both times, we did a port reduction sauce - the first time was just deglazing of the saute of goose innards. The second time, we started with a butter saute of shallots, then added frozen cherries, deglazed with port wine, and finished with goose stock. The sauce the second time was a lot thicker, perhaps because we reduced it so much more, but both sauces were wonderful.
Basic Goose
1 goose (serves 6-8)
Brine (in order of quantity, water, salt, flavorants (peppercorns, herbs (strong flavor))
Cook brine, and quickly reduce in temperature. What I do, I boil a hyperconcentrated mixture, more like 1:1, of salt and water, with flavorants, then quickly set this mixture into the fridge to cool. I then pour this mixture over the goose in a brining container (I went to IKEA and got this plastic container with a lid) and add enough water to cover. The brine:added water should run a ratio of about 1:2.
Preheat oven to 400. Remove goose from brine, and discard brine. Cut excess fat from neck and rear. Prick all over with fork, to allow fat some avenues to be able to escape. Bake in oven for about 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 325 for about an hour and a half - then test for temperature, either at breast or thigh.
Now here's the best part. That pan filled with goose fat? Cut up some potatoes and carrots, what ever you'd like to par-fry, and toss them into the fat. While the bird rests, put the mixture back into the oven, and bake for about 30 minutes, stirring occassionally. In particular for the potatoes, you'll have some of the best-tasting potatoes you've ever had. And don't add salt - the oil already carries the salt from the brine!
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