Follow the Leader -

by gansie

Follow the Leader: It’s All in the Twirl

Last summer I snagged an invite to a Bon Appetit book signing party for their 770-page Fast Easy Fresh. While juggling Sweetgreen‘s froyo in one hand, a glass of wine in another, and this book in between my arm and my boob, I made my way over to Barbara Fairchild for a signature. We briefly chatted about my oven’s inability to keep heat and then I was off, lugging this book back to my apartment, wondering where to fit this thick, heavy dead tree.

And that was the last time I touched the book. Until Monday’s dinner. I pulled Bon App and Gourmet’s March 2009 mags, plus this monster.

I had one ingredient in mind: parsnips. Ever since my pizza laced with parsnips, I’ve been wanting to cook them myself. Fast Easy Fresh had one parsnip recipe. It was bullshit.

It told me to peel the parsnips, cut them, season with oil, salt and pepper and roast at 425 for 35 minutes. HOW IS THAT A RECIPE. That is crap. That is not interesting. That is not creative. It is not worthy of half a page. Bon App – I turn to you for inspiration. I could have found this on some generic Cooks.com site.

I roasted them anyway, cut in coins, with the addition of Herbs de Provence. But this was only part of my ad hoc meal. And actually the least important.

by gansie

Artsy Photo of the Day

This is what happens when you follow directions.

Peanut Butter Cookie with Salted Peanut Caramel [David Lebovitz]

[Photo from ES reader westcoast]

in Desserts / Photos 0 comments

by BS

Porky Photo of the Day

Momofuku-style pork buns – from recipe here. Totally worth it if you’ve got an entire day to kill.

in Photos / Pig 0 comments

by BS

Homemade Pasta, Take Two

Right off the bat, I have to give you ESers credit for suggesting the Pioneer Woman’s pasta recipe. I used it for my second go at making pasta and it blew the recipe from the pasta machine box out of the water. It’s funny how only a few tiny little differences can make such a sea change in the final product. I guess you bakers out there already knew that, huh? I don’t know if it was the flour-to-egg ratio, the beating the eggs by hand (which was fun!) or something else that put this one over the top, but it finally got me that fresh fettuccine I was looking for.

Still, as tasty as fresh pasta is, it’s still just pasta, and if you ask me it needs some added oomph. I was tempted to add some truffle oil or basil or something weirder right into the dough, but I wanted to first see how the basic recipe worked, so I resisted the urge this time. (Yep, I’m proud of myself and yep, I’m open to suggestions for the future.)

So the flava experimenting was left for the pasta add-ons. Looking around my kitchen, I saw the usual suspects: bacon and pine nuts. Two ingredients I’ve blabbed on about for years, yet had somehow never completely been brought together. Until now.

in Bacon / Endless Bacon / Pig / Recipe 1 comments

by BS

Two Tastes for Every Bite

One of the best things I’ve eaten anywhere lately is the sweet potato gnocchi at Tulio, an Italian restaurant in Seattle. It is one of those dishes that was just a total surprise — sounds simple, looks simple, then you put one in your mouth and realize it’s a million miles from simple. Every bite of these little pillows had two distinct, equally beautiful tastes and textures: crisp and buttery on the outside, but with a sweet, melt-in-your-mouth middle.

Firmly on my homemade pasta kick, when I got back to New York I emailed Chef Walter Pisano’s press folks to ask if he’d be willing to share the recipe. Apparently he gets this request all the time and was more than happy to oblige.

“I’m surprised he would share his most popular recipe,” remarked the veggie gf. “Why would anyone go to the restaurant if they can just get the recipe for free?”

Well I figured that one out soon enough. Remember that “sounds simple, looks simple” thing? Yeah, turns out they’re not so simple to make. Chef Pisano only has one sous chef who he’ll trust to take charge of these babies, which take, oh, about a full day to make. Of course, being the slacker chef that I am, I glanced at the minimalist ingredient list (sweet potatoes, parm, nutmeg, eggs and flour), ran out to pick up a few SPs and got to work. Or so I thought.

in Recipe / Veggie 7 comments

by gansie

Feeding a Grease Monster

I have friends (plus baby) coming to town this weekend. It was just the push I needed to finally get to the store this year. Yea, that’s right. I haven’t been food shopping since 2009. 80P and I have been out of town, sick and lazy. I think 80 has grabbed some eggs, cereal and milk, but really – that’s it.

I grabbed some weekend snacks: tortilla chips, ruffled potato chips, avocado, feta and mozzarella. I’ve heard their one year old, Jack, loves polly-o string cheese. All I could find was a chunk of mozz, so I’m hoping if I cut it into cylinders, Jack will dig it.

Also in my cart, with no real reason: plantains, Kabocha squash, cilantro, mangoes, lemons and limes and other canned staples (beans, coconut milk, pickles, olives).

I got home and still had no clue what to make. I turned to The Flavor Bible, checked out mango’s flavor friends, but didn’t have the right ingredients. Making room for that on the shelf I saw a new cookbook – Alicia Silverstone‘s The Kind Diet.

The first few chapters detail the horrendous factory farming practices of our country. I skipped those pages because I’m still struggling to finish Eating Animals, which actually makes me never want to eat anything ever again.

Then a recipe calling for Kabocha squash, and barely any other ingredients, found me. Alicia directed her loving fans to simply boil the peeled and cubed squash (4 cups squash to 3 1/2 cups water), add salt, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 10, add more salt, simmer some more, mash til smooth, finish with chopped parsley. Now simple sounds good to me, especially when I have to spend the rest of the night scrubbing the floors for a one year old’s visit.

But a soup only flavored with salt. I have a food blog. I must do better than that. I started off healthful – adding lime juice then crushed red pepper flakes and I subbed cilantro for the parsley. But 80. Oh 80. My grease loving boyfriend. How could he be enticed to sup on soup for dinner?

in Recipe / Veggie 2 comments

by 80 Proof

Guess Who’s Back, Back Again (Hint, It’s 80p)

Hello loyal, patient Endless Simmer readers who come to this blog just for 80p. It’s been a while, to say the least, since I have put fingers to keys. Fear not though, my cooking prowess has not jumped by leaps and bounds in the past few months. But I thought I would take a moment and write about this dish that I have made 3-4 times now. Being an average cook, when I end up with something on a plate that looks like that, I just act like I’ve been there before and smile…then blog about it.

in Fowl / Recipe 6 comments