pease porridge

A Revolution in Eating

"America's culinary history is inextricably linked with suffering." 

I'm not going to lie to you: I didn't quite finish reading James E. McWilliams' A Revolution in Eating: How the quest for food shaped America, although I really tried to.  It's a really interesting idea for a book, and the introduction is fascinating, it's just that the chapters that expand upon the introduction are repetetive and, while they occasionally have a few fun facts, they return again and again to restating the thesis in a way that was fine for eighth-grade English, but not really what I expect from a published work.

Massaman Beef Curry with Potatoes and Pineapple

Just in case you were wondering what the heck I did with all that fabulous curry paste I made, here it is.  True Thai has two Massaman curry recipies, and while I've made the vegetarian one (Massaman Curry with Sweet Potato, Fried Tofu Squares and Peanuts) several times, I had never made this one, until now.

It is both easy and yummy, and I highly recommend it, except that the recipe as written has probably a bit too much tamarind for my taste.  Next time I might try adding only a tablespoon of the tamarind concentrate, and then adding more if it needs more sour.

Massaman Curry Paste

I was recently in a conversation about eating paste in kindergarten, and one of my friends joked that I should post a recipe for paste on my blog.  Little did he suspect that I actually love cooking with paste!  Mix it with some coconut milk, throw in some meat and veggies, and you're ready to eat.

I know that you can buy ready-made curry paste at the supermarket these days, but I prefer to make my own.  It is a bit involved, but the good news is that you can make it ahead of time; double the recipe and you have several nights-worth of dinner more or less sewn up.

I picked Massaman curry because it lends itself to hearty, wintry stews with meats and root veggies.  It's probably the mildest of the Thai curries that I've tried, which means it's perfect if you have kids or don't like really spicy food.  The one I use comes from True Thai by Victor Sodsook, which is my go-to for fabulous, authentic Thai food.  He points out that Massaman curry comes from the Muslim people of southern Thailand, who regularly employ cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and other fragrant, sweet spices in their cooking.

French-Style Sourdough Starter: Starter Three

I know you're all probably tired of looking at pictures of dough, but we'll all really enjoy the final product, won't we?  Well, I will, and you can experience it vicariously through the wonders of modern technology.  Of course, food blogs will never be all they can be until you can replicate smells along with the sights and sounds of cooking (memo to myself: podcast cooking show?).  I was thinking of how wonderful smellovision would be tonight while I was making curry... but more of that tomorrow.  For now, here's how you get to the next starter:

Take out 1/4 cup of your already fermented starter
Dissolve it in 3 TB of lukewarm water
Add in 2/3 cup bread flour, to make another nice, firm dough
Cover it with plastic and wait a day or two, until it is once again sticky and bubbly and smelly.

And we're going to keep repeating that there step every couple of days until we can get it to quadruple in volume in about 8 hours.

Cheese, Onion and (Sweet) Potato Pie

Now, just because I was down on her brownies, don't think that I don't occasionally enjoy a Nigella Lawson recipe.  She's usually good, if often extremely British and occasionally a bit silly.

I made these in a muffin tin, because I don't have little tiny pie plates (or "Yorkshire pudding pans", whatever they are), and I used half Yukon Gold potatoes and half sweet potatoes, because that's what I had on hand, and also because I happen to like sweet potatoes. 

These are the kind of simple, home-y little dish that it turns out everybody just loves.  They're also really easy to whip up for a quick weeknight supper.  By which I mean: what are you waiting for?

Manzo alla California

We just recently rented Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and I'm not going to comment on the quality of the movie itself, but in one scene Angelina serves up an utterly horrid-looking, potentially poisonsous pot roast.  Growing up, I was never a big fan of pot roast, and that desiccated hunk of meat garnished with withered carrots and onions near-to gave me flashbacks.

On the other hand, I love comfort foods, and I generally love cheap cuts of meat done up low and slow, so I'm always on the lookout for pot roast alternatives.  Manzo alla California is beef braised with cream.  The beef is kept moist by poking it with a knife all about and stuffing in little bits of pancetta, and the pot is deglazed with vinegar before you add the cream to it, which keeps it from being cloyingly rich and creamy.

By the way, the California in this recipe apparently refers to farm country in Lombardy, Italy, and not the West Coast state.  I served it with polenta, and I would've served it with braised greens if I had remembered to actually grab the greens when I was out shopping; we had to settle for a green salad instead.

French-Style Sourdough Starter: Starter Two

I know you think I had forgotten all about my starter already, but you're wrong!  It's just a little chilly in my kitchen pantry in the wintertime, so it's moving a little slower than the recipe indicates.  I'm happy to report, however, that it did finally bubble up and stink, and so we're ready to move on.

Add 2/3 cup of all-purpose flour to the starter, mix it up to form a firm dough, cover it and put it back in the pantry for one-two days (or so), when it should be sticky and full of tiny little bubbles.

We'll see how long that takes.  In the meantime, I wanted to clarify that this starter is for use in everyday bread to give it a little tang, and extend the shelf life of the loaf.  It's not strictly for French- or San Francisco-Style sourdough breads, although you can certainly use it for those as well.  The yeast comes from the rye flour, and should be fairly pleasant, although there's always the chance you'll pick up local yeasts, which may or may not taste as nice.

Blueberry Muffins Gone Wild!

This morning my husband had rather generously gotten up early with the kids, and I was lazing about in bed, enjoying my solitary rest, when I remembered the frozen wild blueberries I had found the other day at the market.  The thought of wild blueberry muffins for breakfast propelled me from my warm cocoon of blankets and out into the kitchen.

Usually, I only see fresh, wild blueberries for a few weeks in the summertime, and then I hoard them like crazy when I find them.  They are so much better than the big, fat, tame ones you can buy all year 'round that they're almost a different fruit entirely.  I feel the same way about wild strawberries, which, sadly, are even harder to get around here.

These muffins are cinnamon-y, and moist; the recipe is more a cake recipe than a muffin recipe.  They were especially good this morning, warm out of the oven, with a mug of hot coffee.

Tidbit: Pom-Poms

I had an opportunity today to try Odwalla's new PomaGrand juice blend, whilst shopping at Whole Foods.  I picked the berry rather than mango flavor (they didn't have the plain pomegranate variety), which has apple juice, and strawberry and blueberry purees, as well as a 'wild berry extract' that's a blend of chokeberry, elderberry, blackberry and black currant juices.  It was very berry-y, as you might imagine, but you could still really taste the pomegranate.

I suppose it's got some kind of antioxidants going on (the fruits are high in anthocyanins), but there weren't too many traditional alphabet vitamins on the label, and a lot of sugar (from the fruits; I don't believe there's any added sugar), so who knows how good it actually is for you.

Oh, did it taste good?  I suppose it was okay, but certainly not my favorite thing ever.  The purees made it a little thick and I thought it was a little too sweet.  I tried it because it was new, but I probably wouldn't buy it again.

French-Style Sourdough Starter: Starter One

I've tried twice, recently, to get a sourdough starter started.  Once was right around the holidays, so it didn't count, but the second time I really just kind of stopped paying attention, which won't do at all because there are several breads I would like to bake that I need starter for.

I've had starter problems in the past, including a horrible incident in the summertime when it got too hot and... well, I don't want to talk about it, but, if you've seen any of the Alien franchise movies, you have an idea of what it ended up looking like in my pantry.

Hence, this, my new sourdough journal, which will hopefully help keep me on track and relatively goo-free.  Feel free to play along at home.

The recipe is from Artisan Baking Across America by Maggie Glezer, and the first starter is a mixture of 1/2 cup lukewarm water and 3/4 cup whole-rye flour.  Mix them up, cover them with plastic wrap and let stand for about 2 days.  According to the directions, it should, "bubble up, smell and look awful, and then subside."  I can't wait!