New post, who dis?

Recently,  my friend B texted me: "I've got a million dollar idea for you: A cooking blog that doesn't get into 7 paragraphs about your life before getting to the recipe."

Thus Garlic Is Love rises from the dirt like a spring daffodil.

It's a bit early, but here's a retool and repost of my garlic scape pesto recipe.

Garlic Scape Pesto
A garlic scape is the shoot of a garlic plant which is cut off in early spring so that the garlic bulb will grow better. It’s like if a head of garlic and an asparagus had a baby. It’s got a good garlic flavor balanced by a nice vegetal note and asparagus-y texture. The scape season is short, so snap them up as soon as you see them at the farmer's market or your own garden.  Bonus: Cutting the scapes means bigger, better garlic heads (would you like to know why?).

6-10 garlic scapes
1 cup of olive oil (give or take)
salt and pepper, to taste
2 large handfuls of nuts
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (or more)

Cut the ends of the garlic scapes. Make sure to remove the flowering end to avoid bitterness. Roughly chop scapes into 2 inch pieces or so.
Add scapes, almonds, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt to food processor. Run processor until mixture is more or less uniform. While processor is running, drizzle in oil in a fine stream. Keep drizzling until the mixture starts to become more liquid and turns a lighter green in color. Stop the processor occasionally and check for thickness. Because the garlic scapes are tougher than, say, basil, this mixture will never be as smooth in texture as regular pesto. Add additional salt and pepper to taste. Fold in grated Parmesan. Keeps about a week in the coldest part of your refrigerator.

If freezing, don't add the cheese. Put into freezer-safe container, and add a little bit of oil to seal the top. After thawing, add the cheese just before serving. (Cheese doesn't do well being frozen).

Time for the yearly bump - Daiquiri Ice Clone (Baskin-Robbins)

The fireflies are out, it's hot and humid, so it's the perfect time for some light and refreshing Daiquiri Ice.

Original Daiquiri Ice Clone-Baskin-Robbins

This is my most popular blog post and something I'm fairly proud of.

If you're a fan of tart, lime flavors and sorbet, check out the original post below. Oh, despite the name, it's not alcoholic.

Though i may see how it works if I put it in a blender with rum.

Improv recipe: Vaguely Spicy Veggie Chickpea pasta

Hi

One of my best, easiest, improvs. I made it with chickpeas I cooked the day before, but don't do that-use canned.

Read through the recipe once to get your ingredients.

Put pot of water on to boil with salt.

Crush clove of garlic in another pan with 2 T butter and turn heat to low.

Get small bag mixed raw veggies-broccoli and cauliflower, and break up the bigger pieces into bite sizes. Add to garlic, add large pinch of salt, and stir.

Chop up half a red bell pepper and toss in. Turn to medium high and stir once.

Open up can of chili ready tomato diced the one with the spices.

Stir veggies, fump tomatoes and liquidd in. Stir.

Break spaghetti into thirds, add each third to boiling water, stir after each third.

Stir veggies, add can drained chickpeas, stir, turn to low, cover.

Cook until pssta is done, about 8 minutes.

Last few minutes of pasta, uncover veggies and stir. You want them bright and crisp, not muddy and mushy.

Turn off hear on veggies and add large pinch or two of whole cumin.

Drain pasta.

To serve, pasta in bottom of powl, top with veggies. Tilt a bit more juice from the pot if you like. 

Top with a little bit of shredded mozzarella and fresh ground pepper.

Stand Back! I'm Going to Try Science! Part 1

(Hat tip to XKCD)

I got a new cook book for Christmas, The 4-Hour Chef by Tim FerrissThere's a lot to unpack (a lot), which I'll come back to in another post. But for now, i want to talk a bit about the Molecular Gastronomy section.

The preferred term these days is "Modernist Cuisine," because some mad scientist chefts have ruined it for everyone by focusing on technique over flavor or product. It's that one guy on the cooking reality show that automatically goes for the sous vide machine even though the challenge is a cold salad.

 I have dabbled about in these waters before. There is a lot you can do without fancy tools. Cooking things at very low and slow temps, or using  a pressure cooker for example. I once cooked a steak with hot tap water, a cooler, and a blow torch. Good times.

I havevalways wanted to do more, especially with chemicals (insert evil laugh here).

Two recipes caught my eye. The first was a bacon-infused bourbon. The second was a bloody mary gel in a celery cup. I decided to combine the two.

The trickiest part of the recipe was finding the gelling agent. Instead of using gelatin, it uses Agar-Agar, which comes from seaweed.

I found mine at the health food store, but you might also find it in an Asian foods store. 

One is more powdery, the other is grainy, like Kosher salt. If you get the grainy stuff, like i did, be prepared to stir for  a little while to make sure it dissolves completely. Or, you might try putting it in a grinder. 

Stay tuned for more from my kitchen laboratory, and, if all goes well, the recipe.

Update: It's alive. And damn delicious.

Apple Pie Preaching

My ken to cook is weak these days. A full-time job and feisty 3-year-old will do that to a girl (honesty, I don't know how Smitten Kitchen does it).

Anything I do cook is geared to be easy, convenient, as nd forgiving. For example, the apple pies I've been baking.

It all started this fall. We were invited to an apple picking party at a friend's place, and left with several gallons of fresh-pressed cider, and about a bushel of apples.

Good fun all around.

My standard for apple season is to do apple sauce: roughly halve them, skins, seeds and all, and stick them in my biggest stock pot, cook low and slow until they are soft, stirring sometimes, then running it all through my food mill. I sweeten, salt, and season back on the stove, cooking it down a bit more if it's too watery.

This year, though, I was going to be out of town for a a week very soon after our excursion. And, as much as P 2.0 loves applesauce, we weren't going to eat it all in short order.

So I tried pre-cooked pie filling. The recipe I Googled seemed easy enough: sliced, peeled, cored apples, sugar, cornstarch, water, and spices. Cook it until  the apples break down a bit and the cornstarch thickens up. Then spoon into bags snd freeze.

Two months later, I had the chance to make a pie for a Christmas party, and it came out pretty great. It didn't quite set up how I'd like, but it was pretty, and tasty. For shell, I went with store bought. For topping, I did an oat brown sugar crumble, using a base of Instant flavored oats (the one with the Pacifist on the box), adding butter, and extra brown sugar.

My success with this may have me try other make and freeze things. And, if they're really good, blog about them. Time will tell.

Snack List Five: Ling Hi Mui

Ling Hi Mui is dried, salted, sugared, sour plums.

I can do pickled plums, in moderation, mostly as an adjunct to a soup or porridge. And I love salt and vinegar chips.

But these I could not eat. I tried. Twice.  

  

I did pick up the powdered version, which is meant to sprinkle on fruit. I think that would probably taste pretty good to me, in massive moderation.

Snack List Five: Mochi

I've had Mochi before. I do aikido, and absorbing a bit of Japanese culture tends to be part of the art.

For those not in the know, Mochi is a sweet snack made from sticky rice, pounded until it is gummy and pasty, usually filled with some sweet filling.  The texture is not my favorite.

They have standard Mochi in Kauai, but they also have a variation which I like much more. They add baking powder, and other things like pumpkin or chocolate, and it comes out somewhere between banana bread and jello-laced brownie. 

We had it as a quick snack before our trip through the canyon. 

North/East side Photo Tour

Let me take this chance to point out that all the good pics were taken by The Mister. For whatever reason, the photo gene skipped me, but James has the interest and the equipment (thanks Dad!).

Part of the delay on blog posts has been getting the good stuff from the camera to the ipad. 

Anywho, one of our first scheduled things in Kauai was a half day photo tour. Our guide, Levi, was a hoot: a total geek and gamer who loves sharing stories and learning about pretty much anything. Reminded me of my grandpa Corey, which may seem wierd unless you ever met my Grandpa Corey.

Levi is a kick ass photographer, and gave all the touristas some helpful tips on composition, lighting, and filters.

Three top things I learned:

Get lower for a better shot. 

Use "stuff" as frame for interest.

Filters are your friend.

Quick before and after on that last tip.

Without filter.

With filter.

Here are some of James' best shots.

How'd that get in there??

Does this one look familiar? Features prominently in two Paramount flicks. Chocolate covered Mac nuts to the first person who comments, correctly, with both movies.

...and one from me.

Waimea or Sedona?

Box of chocolate Mac nuts to the first who comments with the correct answer. You must get all four right to win.

#1

#2

#3

#4

Waimea Canyon, or how I learned to stop worryin--just kidding!

I did it! 

See?

This is me very near the end point of a Waimea Canyon trail. I went to the end of the trail, but this picture is the highest elevation.  To give you some perspective, I am standing over there.

Over there. The big brown hill to the left of the waterfall.

THERE.

It's only a couple miles away, really. 

The end point was the tippy top of the waterfall. Totally worth it, but beware the faint of heights. 

No one here but us chickens

Think the end of Jurassic Park, but with roosters rather than raptors.

More info for the curious.

 

http://kauaiblog.wordpress.com/2013/03/12/kauais-wild-chickens-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/

Kauai at last: First impressions

Cool, clouds, breeze.

Not raining, but all is wet. My skin tingles, remembering what moisture is. My hair starts to frizz. 

I am so very relaxed, but excited, but hungry.

Ocean view, best for sunrises, not sunsets.

Tomorrow will be fun.

Aloha from Sedona, or Things to do in AZ when you're not in HI

So, not one, but TWO hurricanes threaten the Hawaiian islands this week. Though one is to hit north, and one is to hit south, they still canceled our flight from Phoenix.

Not to be deterred, we found a hotel, rented a car, and drove to Sedona.

I have never been anywhere like it. Even the drive through the mountains and the scrubby desert brush was beautiful.

We even saw a little bit of wildlife.

The red rocks of Sedona were spectacular.  I won't even try to describe them, but the pictures almost do it justice.

Everything man made in Sedona is designed so it doesn't detract from the natural beauty. Houses are tucked away behind curves and switchbacks.  All the roofs, shingles, and siding match the colors of the landscape.  And square intersections are right out.

That was the most unusual, and brilliant, feature of the town. All intersections were roundabouts, which is a brilliant way to prevent speeding. You simply can't go too fast going round a curve,  and you have to slow down at each intersection, too.

A little nauseating, but clever, effective, idea.

Looks like we will fly out and start the Hawaiian leg of our adventure this afternoon.

Mahalo for reading!

Snack List Five (aka foods I must try in Hawaii)

I'll be using this blog as a food and travel blog over the next few weeks, but I figured I'd start with the food.

If you know me, this is not news.

I love fancy food served on fine plates in low light if it tastes good. I also love fresh, flavorful food cooked in the back of a party store, if it tastes good. Or regonial stuff that seems strange but...you get the idea.

A co-worker, who used to live in Hawaii, just gave me a list of the local snacks she loved the most. I'm taking this "Food List Five" with me on my trip. I'll try them as I find them, and do a brief write up too.

But for now, I'm off to Google what these are.

Famous James' Ribs with Sawyers "Secret" Sauce

My husband's great secret is that he's actually a good cook. A great cook, in point of fact, when properly motivated.  To him, cooking is scientific procedure, and he approaches it with the same methodical consistency as he does when running labs in his classroom. He's even got cooking chops, of a sort, having taken foods (or cooking, or home ec, or whatever the PC term is these days) back in high school.

Nevertheless, it takes quite a bit to get him excited about cooking. Cooking for a crowd can do it, as can the macho male stereotype of grilling.  It is one of the only ways my Mister is stereotypical to his gender.

During one of these rare times, searching for a dish to impress, he took Alton Brown's ribs recipe, tweaked the rub, then paired it with a secret sauce recipe we got from a restaurant since closed. The Frankenstein-like recipe stitching worked, so well, in fact, that this is now his signature dish.

I felt it needed a wider audience than it currently has, especailly the sauce (until Sawyers rises again, at least): It's vingeagry, but thick, and uses coffee, raisins, and a ton of garlic. 

Alton's ribs recipe is unimpeachable: he braises in the oven, then finishes on the grill. However, it's not true barbecue. But it does make for a super tender result.

Famous James' Ribs with Sawyers "Secret" Sauce

The Sauce (adapted from Sawyers Gourmet Pancake House)
Make it at least a day in advance. This makes, literally, a vat of sauce. It's a restaurant recipe, remember? So plan to freeze at least half when you make it. I like to do this in a crock-pot on a lazy Sunday, but you can do it in a stock pot too.


2 cups brewed coffee
4 cups ketchup
3 cups yellow mustard
1 cup molasses
2 cups apple cider vinegar
5 cups brown sugar
6 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cinammon
8 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups raisins, chopped
 A stock pot, very large (6 qt +) saucepan, or 6 quart Crock-Pot 
 
Crock-Pot Method. Give yourself 8 hours at home, mostly unattended.
Put all the ingredients but the raisins in a slow cooker. Turn cooker on to low, and stir well. Come back and stir every half hour or so until everything is evenly mixed and it starts to get bubbly on the edges.  Turn off, add the raisins, stir. Reserve a cup and a half of sauce for the recipe, and freeze the rest. 

Stovetop method. Give yourself 2 hours, but it won't take quite that long.

Put all the ingredients but the raisins in a stock  pot large enough to hold it all. Stir well, bring to simmer, turn heat to low. Stir until everything is  completely mixed. Turn off, add the raisins, stir. Reserve a cup and a half of sauce for the recipe, and freeze the rest. 

The rub (Adapted from Who Loves Ya? Baby Back Ribs by Alton Brown)

1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup tablespoon chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons chipotle powder
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

1 Tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning
11/2 teaspoons dried Italian herb mix

1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder

Put it all in a large container with a tight fitting lid. Break up any big chunks of brown sugar. Cap the lid and shake the ever living heck out of it until well mixed. Shake again just before using. You should have enough for this batch of ribs and  the next.

The ribs
the rub (from above)
the sauce (from above)
2 2 pound slabs of baby back ribs
a large sheet pan
1 roll of heavy duty aluminum foil
basting brush
1 cup white wine
2 Tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
2 cloves garlic

Step 1. The night before. Give yourself a half hour.
Combine all ingredients for the braising liquid, then rub your ribs. Move a quarter to a half cup of your rub into a small bowl. This way,  if you dip your hand in after touching the ribs, you haven't contaminated all the rub.
Lay down a sheet of aluminum foil over the sheet pan large enough to wrap the ribs. Sprinkle rub on both sides of ribs, then rub it in, focusing on the meatiest side. Put the ribs down so that they look like a smiley face or U when you look at them, then wrap with foil, but leave one end open. Put the liquid in, then seal them up. Do the second set of ribs. Let them  sit on the sheet pan overnight.

Step 2. When you are ready to cook. Give yourself 4 hours between the time you start and the time you eat, mostly unattended.
Preheat the oven to 250.
Check to make sure the foil packets aren't leaking. If they are, wrap in another layer of foil. Carefully
Put ribs in and cook for  3 hours.
Remove ribs from the oven. You can hold them  here for a day in the fridge if you want to do work in advance, but make sure the ribs  come to room temperature before you do the next steps.
Open up the foil. Cut them into 2-3 rib pieces.
Turn on your broiler or grill.
Use the basting brush to coat the ribs with sauce.
Broil or grill just until the sauce sticks to the ribs and just barely starts to caramelize.
Enjoy with more sauce as you like.

Citric Acid Source

Such a sexy title for a blog post, I know.

Back in the day, when I wrote about my clone recipe for Baskin Robbins' Daiquiri Ice, I said citric acid might be hard to find outside of health food stores, so I gave a couple other options.

A lovely reader (I have readers?!) just let me know that she spotted citric acid near the canning supplies at her local Uber Mart. So, if you are looking to get your citric acid, now's the time.

Citric acid is the best ingredient to use if you can get it, because it adds tartness without adding sweetness or any other flavors. But, any of the other subsitutes like Fruit Fresh or even unsweetened Kool-Aid powder, will work fine. The main thing is to add a little at a time, and taste as you go. 

Each time you make the recipe, your limes will be a little different, so each time you'll need to add a different amount of sour.

Great Minds Think Alike (aka "Sloppy Eggs")

I’ve added a few dairy-free recipes to my normal routine, even though I can have the “good stuff” again. Most of these recipes were borne out of frustration and desperation—no time to cook with the liebschen underfoot, and no time to shop, and limited in what prepared foods I could purchase. But eggs and salsa were always A OK, cheap, and in my fridge.

So I created Sloppy Eggs. 

Now that the liebschen is sleeping better, and therefore I am sleeping better, I’ve had more time to cook, shop, and look around for recipes, but I still make sloppy eggs at least twice a month, because it’s so easy and so good.

Imagine my surprise when, paging through How to Cook Everything Vegetarian last night before bed, there was Mark Bittman’s version of Sloppy Eggs (though he calls them something else.) 

He takes more care with his version, but mine is better, if you don’t mind scrubbing your pan a little bit.

Sloppy Eggs (serves 2)

If you like things spicy, you can use a medium salsa. If you like spicy, but your partner does not, toss some hot sauce in after you serve.

4 eggs

Half a jar of tomato salsa with black bean and corn salsa

Hot sauce (optional)

Grated cheese (optional)

Starch for sopping – cup of pasta, rice, noodles, bread, baked/mashed potato, polenta, whatever you’re in the mood for. Enough for two generous servings.

Equipment: medium saucepan or skillet with a lid

Steps:

Start your starch if you need to boil something.

Dump the jar of salsa into the pan. Turn heat to medium. Stir salsa until it starts to bubble just a little, then turn the heat to low.

Make a hole in the salsa with a spoon. Crack in four eggs.

Let eggs sit for 30 seconds, then spoon a little bit of sauce up and around the eggs.

Cover and let cook for another minute, then turn off heat and wait 2-3 minutes.

Get your starch ready.

Check eggs. If the whites on the tops of the eggs start to cloud over, you’re done. If they aren’t, cover, turn the heat on for another 30 seconds, then wait another minute or two.

Sloppy eggs aren’t fussy.

My dairy free odyssey

Though Garlic is Love, dairy is life. Jalapeno poppers were a socially sanctioned way to eat vast quantities of cream cheese in public (same goes for crab rangoons). Cheese sticks and yogurt were go-to snacks, pizza was a weekly food at minimum, and fondue and souffle showed up quarterly. Then I had a baby who, like only 3% of babies out there, was allergic to dairy. Oh, and since 40% of babies allergic to dairy are also allergic to soy, my dr asked me to cut both from my diet, for 4 months. Most babies grow out of the allergy by a year, if not sooner. But that meant 4 months in a dairy free, soy-free wilderness. I say that to people I love, but I didn't think I'd ever have to prove it.

Lazy gardener is lazy

So, last year, I planted some garlic. .

Some is probably an understatement. It was 24 cloves in a 10 X 5 plot. I dug them up, washed them, cured them, and ate them through about October.

This year, the garden is fallow, because of a new job and new baby, I have no time.

I went to check out how bad the weeds were. Lots of grass-like stalks were popping up.

Oh great, I thought. But then I looked closer. Sniffed. Dug up one and sniffed again.

Garlic shoots! Apparently I hadn’t been very diligent at getting all the garlic out last year. So, the cloves and bits of cloves that stayed over the winter were coming to life again.

Happy lazy gardener is happy.

Baked Soup

Just as I was going to toss my soup into the Crock-Pot last night, I noticed that the plug had gotten stuck in the oven door. The plug had melted so that there was no way to plug in the Crock-Pot.

So I baked the soup instead.

When you call it “baked soup” it seems funny and strange. But really, this is the same method that’s used for beef bourguignon or coq a vin. Do a little work on the stovetop, then stick it in the oven, low and slow, and let heat and time do their magic.

In fact, this came out quite a bit better than my normal Crock-Pot fare.

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cups beef broth
1/3 cup black beans (no soak)
¼ pound thinly shredded beef
½ bottle beer
½ cup tomato juice
1 cup rice noodles

Preheat oven to 300. Heat olive oil and onions over medium heat in oven-safe saucepan large enough to hold everything. Cook a few minutes until onions start to get clear.

Add everything else except for the beef. Turn to high and bring to boil. Once boiling, turn off the burner. Add beef, cover, and carefully (with hot pads) move into hot oven. Cook for 2 hours. Remove carefully (with hot pads), add 1 cup rice noodles, stir.