I miss the North

I return to the blog with this update: I’ve been living in Miami for about eight weeks in a “furnished” apartment whose kitchen is woefully devoid of towels, a vegetable peeler, reasonable pots and pans, a grater, spices and many other kitchen treasures that I’ve come to rely on. My cooking has gone very minimalist. We also had no Internet access at home for the first six weeks I was here. So my blogging has suffered.

Miami is not the city for me, and I really, really look forward to returning to the comforts of Boston. Fresh food is also remarkably difficult to come by at reasonable prices. I know that food prices are up everywhere, but I hope food isn’t as expensive in Boston as it is here! $5 for a pound of tomatoes??!

This is a photo of a fruit stand in Brooklyn from Brooklyn Photographic Experience. I dream about access to fresh vegetables.

Chicken?

Becca sent me this cartoon from www.marriedtothesea.com. Sort of sums up my attitudes about chicken (though I understand that Ethan is writing a guest blog post for me on making chicken stock…):

Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies

I love New York Magazine, even though I’ve never lived in NYC. Actually, I love their crosswords the most, but the rest of the magazine is quite good, too. Anyway, I made this recipe for flourless walnut cookies from the April 13 issue.

Great results. Could not be easier. Six ingredients. The only fat comes from the walnuts, which are good for you. It’s practically a health food! Ok, maybe there’s a fair amount of sugar in them. And maybe boxed confectioner’s sugar isn’t kosher for Passover (but you can make your own!). But these cookies were very, very easy to make, with impressive results.

Food News: Pairing Wine with…Grits

In the second news posting of the day, the Dallas Morning Times considers which wines pair best with cheese grits. Seeing as they’re of the the bacon-wrapped shrimp variety, I’m unlikely to try the grits dish. But you have to like an article that considers seriously the wine-grits conundrum. Thanks, Dick, for the heads up.

“Crisp, fruity whites with good weight and body worked especially well with the dish; their acidity cut through its richness.” Right…

Food News: Eating as an act of preservation

This article from today’s New York Times, “To Save a Species, Serve it for Dinner,” caught my eye. It’s about a new book, Renewing America’s Food Traditions: Saving and Savoring the Continent’s Most Endangered Foods, and the accompanying food movement that works for the preservation of endangered plant and animal species through consumption.

Gary Paul Nabhan, the book’s author, is out to save dwindling American plant and animal species by getting farmers to grow or raise the species and restaurants to serve them. The Slow Food movement is involved, encouraging a market for the endangered crops and cattle among its devotees.

It all gets back to diversity in the diet and not relying on the same five crops to provide most of our carbohydrate intake. Thanks, Liz, for sending the article!

Homemade Strawberry Frozen Custard

I was in a cooking mood yesterday. I made tortilla española, green pea and mint soup and some kosher for Passover egg white cookies. The cookies left me with three egg yolks to use up. I had some strawberries on hand, so I decided to make a homemade frozen yogurt/custard. I played it pretty fast and loose with measurements, but it turned out great. Here’s an approximation of what I did. (Note the raw eggs, which according to every menu in America, are potentially harmful to your health. Harmful and delicious.)

Also, I think I must have accidentally thrown away my camera cord. A new one is in the mail, and I’ll be updating a lot of posts with pictures soon.

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt/Custard

Ingredients

3 eggs yolks

1 T. red jam (boysenberry, raspberry, strawberry, etc.)

1 lb. strawberries, cut up

1 1/4 c. low-fat plain yogurt

shake of confectioner’s sugar

Method

Combine egg yolks, yogurt, red jam and half the strawberries in the bowl of a food processor. Blend thoroughly.

Pour the mixture into a shallow dish (I used a pie pan) and place in the freezer. Freeze until somewhat frozen, but still able to be broken up.

Meanwhile, add the remaining strawberries and a good shake of confectioner’s sugar (adjust to your tastes) to the food processor. Pulse until blended.

When the freezer mixture has achieved a somewhat-set consistency, mix in the remaining berries/sugar. Freeze until very hard. Serve.

Food News: Wash Post does dinner for 4 on $12

I liked this article on feeding a family of four for $12 in the Washington Post. The chef has good form in using items from the perimeter of the grocery store and getting the most out of ingredients. As opposed to the New York Times’ recent piece on eating from the dollar store, this article seemed grounded in reality and a passion for cooking economically and healthfully.

Mashed Potatoes

Mashed potatoes were a great hit at the seder, and for lunch several days afterward.

Mashed Potatoes

3 lbs. redskin potatoes, washed, unpeeled and cubed

1/2 c. whole milk

3 T. butter

1 T. salt

Cover the cubed potatoes with cold water in a medium pot. Salt the water if that’s your thing. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until tender, 15-20 minutes.

In a small saucepan, heat the milk, butter and 1 T. salt over low heat until the butter has just melted into the milk. Remove from heat.

Drain the cooked potatoes and return to the pot. Whisk in enough of the milk-butter mixture to make the potatoes light and creamy, but not gluey. Don’t over-whisk!

If you’re not serving immediately, put the potatoes in an oven-proof dish and cover with aluminum foil. Place in a 200° oven for 30-40 minutes to reheat.

Serves 8.

Food News: Shoppers Guide to Buying Organic

The Environmental Working Group just came out with a new Shopper’s Guide to Buying Organic. Helpful ranking of pesticides found in fruits and vegetables so you can prioritize organic purchases. Peaches, apples, bell peppers: buy organic. Corn, avocado, onions: conventional produce is ok. I printed one and put it on my fridge.

Seder Fish

Back to blogging about the food we ate at our seder last Sunday. The main course was a Brazilian Holiday Fish recipe from the New York Times. I made 2 lbs of fish fillets–mostly mahi mahi, with a little snapper thrown in–for 8 people and had enough for a serving + of leftover, so the 3 lbs the recipe calls for seemed high. It was an easy, fresh way to prepare fish for seder (allowing us to have a dairy dessert) at low cost. I used Trader Joe’s frozen fish, defrosted for about two days in the back of the fridge. This was the best success I’ve had using frozen fish in a long time.

The recipe speaks for itself, but I’ll put a summary of the recipe below for my own reference in cooking fish this way again.

Brazilian Holiday Fish

Lay firm white fish fillets in a 9×13 glass dish. Pour enough dry, white wine to almost cover the fillets. Drizzle generously with olive oil.

Combine 3 cloves garlic with a good shake of kosher salt in a mortar and mash. Spread on fish.

Spread chopped cilantro over fish with some ground pepper. Cover the pan with aluminum foil.

Bake at 400°F for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

Garnish with a mix of chopped tomatoes, red peppers, cilantro, chives, olive oil and salt.

Serves 6 - 8.