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.

Delicious things

I don't always appreciate the amazing food I have in my hometown. Like organic strawberries, soft as cream, only hours off the vine. Or Garlic scapes from--literally--my own backyard, the cut ends weeping garlic water.

But sometimes, I need an Ann Arbor fix.

In my current hometown, you must keep your eyes open to find the good things. But in Ann Arbor, you could put on a blindfold, spin around, go in a random direction, and find something delicious.

You'd even be safe from most cars, as the drivers are conditioned to avoid arrogant students.

We were in Ann Arbor on Saturday for aikido, so I convinced The Mister to take a side trip to Zingermans before we left. After all, I had a gift card to spend.

Zingermans lets you taste everything, and has plenty of people behind the counter to help you out. Poor fella, he offered to let me taste everything. I told him "I appreciate your willingness, but for both our sakes, I'm gonna stick to three cheeses and a couple olives."

I picked up several nice things, but my favorite was the Remeker, or as I like to call it, "Scotch Cheese." It's got a tangy, carmely, nutty flavor that reminded me instantly of a good lowland scotch. Because it was aged, it had that crunchy, crumbly thing going on that I usually equate with a good Parmesan.

I've got one more day of the cheese left. This is a beauty that doesn't keep terribly long, nor should it. Tomorrow, I'll be trying it with scotch after dinner.

So, I guess the moral of this post is to appreciate what you have locally, but don't be afraid to travel a bit to seek out new things.

Oh, and if you like aged cheeses, if you can afford it, and if you will be home to accept the delivery, get this cheese shipped to you.

Ugly name, culinary magic

I got some great compliments for my potted cheese dip that I made for the Elite 8 game last Sunday. Both the flavor of the dip—kinda a winey, feta-heavy cold fondue flavor—and my improv culinary skills in making the dip were praised.

Thing is, this dip was one of the easiest things I’ve ever made. I took some leftover cheese, a bit of some type of onion, threw it in a food processor, and added wine until it was the consistency I wanted.

I felt a little bit guilty taking all the praise for a recipe that is specifically designed to be refrigerator Velcro. But hey, I’ll take the credit.

And now, so can you.

Potted cheese

1 pound of leftover cheese (I used half feta, and half milder, other cheeses)
¼ cup of something oniony (onion, shallot, garlic, chives, or a combination)
½ - 1 cup of wine (I used red, red wine)
Couple tablespoons of herbs (something strong like thyme or oregano)
Pinch of cayenne pepper (for luck)
Salt and pepper to taste

Shred/crumble cheese. Place all ingredients in food processor. Blend, then add red wine in a thin stream, a little at a time, until it comes together and gets smooth. Taste, add more salt and pepper as needed. Put into nice serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour, or up to 2 days, before serving.

A world without cheese

Although I called this blog "Garlic is love," if there's one food I couldn't live without, it would be cheese.

From feta to fontina, brie or baby swiss, its salty, tangy, rich mouthfeel is the ultimate comfort food.

Which of course, got me to thinking, what if I had to give it all up?

I don't think I'd want to have fake cheese substitutes. The quality's not the same, and it would only remind me what I was missing.

But there are other foods that have a similar mouthfeel, texture, or taste, that are enjoyable on their own. They don't try to be cheeese, but, if, God forbid, I could never have another piece of cheddar, I'd be eating these foods a lot more often to fill the gap.

1. Avocado.

The fatty, silky mouthfeel of avocado is delightful, and reminiscent of some soft cheeses. It's so smooth, in fact, that there are ice cream recipes that incorporate some avocado into them.

Like cheese, avocado can be eaten in slices, or cubes, and, like cheese, it can be turned into a spread. The flavor of avocado is subtle, so it's more like a cream cheese than a hard or aged cheese.

Recipe: Avocado Gelato(Gourmet magazine)

2. Olive oil

Olive oil, at least the very good ones, are complex like wines and cheeses. Like a thick, golden wine. I like a buttery olive oil as opposed to a grassy one, but both have their place. The nice thing about golden olive oil is that the color is similar to yellow cheese.

A simple snack of fresh bread drizzled with olive oil can help with a cheese fix.

ZeTune olive oil - amazing oil from a small family farm in Lebanon.

3. Hummus

Take the olive oil, add some chickpeas and perhaps some sesame paste, and you've got an extremely thick, creamy dip. Put in a little bit of lemon or garlic, and you could almost believe this was some kind of cheese dip.

Recipe: Carrie's Speedy hummus
1 can chickpeas
1/4 cup good-quality olive oil
juice and zest from one lemon
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
salt and pepper to taste.

Place all ingredients except for olive oil in blender. Pulse until chickpeas disappear, then add the olive oil in a thin stream, keep processing. Taste and adjust seasoning. Put into small, pretty bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve, covering with plastic wrap. Drizzle a touch more olive oil on the top just before serving.

4. Eggs

Dilbert once famously said, "eggs are like cheese from chickens." He's not far off. Both eggs and cheese can be used in similar ways, to thicken, to add body. And both can be nice and creamy.

Dairy-free Lemon curd (adapted from Sally Schneider's A New Way to Cook)
1/2 teaspoon gelatin
juice and zest from 2 lemons
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg white
a few tablespoons of coconut milk (optional)

Take about a tablespoon of the lemon juice and put it in a small bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin over the small bit of lemon juice and let it absorb.

Fill a medium-sized saucepan halfway full of water. Find a stainless steel bowl that nests in the pan well, but doesn't touch the water. Nest the bowl in the pan.

Place everything except for the gelatin and coconut milk in the bowl, and whisk it all together. Turn the heat to high, and stir the mixture constantly for 5 to 10 minutes, until it starts to get quite thick.

Once it gets thick, add the gelatin in and stir until it's combined. Remove from the heat. Let cool for 5 minutes, then stir. Let cool another 5 minutes, then stir in a few tablespoons of coconut milk (optional).

Serve cold or at room temperature. Keeps for several days.

Ren Fest Fun

Went to my first Wisconsin Ren Faire yesterday. I've been to three others, two in Michigan, and have actually been going to Ren Fests since well before I could drive.

This one, the Bristol Renaissance Faire, was pretty nice. Most fests are the same, but with a few minor variations. This one was nice because there was more open space, so it felt less crowded. Also, flushable toilets, which was amazing. Anyone who says that flush toilets detracts from an authentic experience hasn't had to use a privy in a hoop skirt and a bocice.

But I digress.

The other interesting difference between my "home" fest and the Bristol Faire was the food. There were certainly some of the same items--giant turkey leg, soup in a bread bowl--but there were also a lot of different things on the WI menu.

Michigan	Wisconsin
Chili Dogs	Brats
Scotch Eggs	Cornish Pasties
Suffed, battered mushrooms	Grilled, Marinated mushrooms
Hummus and Pita	Butterfly Potato chip
Cheese sticks with marinara sauce	Fried cheese balls with mustard mayo and BBQ sauces
Root Beer Float	Sassafras

Some of the standout foots of both fests:
Scotch Eggs: Take a hard-boiled egg. Cover it with tasty sausage sphere. Bread and deep-fry. Split in half and eat. Recommended limit is 1 per lifetime, or else you shortenn your life.
Sassafras: A root-beer like beverage. Soft drink with a nice herbal, complex flavor, somewhat licorice. Very thirst-quenching for those who don't drink beer.
Fried cheese balls: Cremy, gooey fried cheese.

The beer selection at the Bristol Faire was also much more comrepehensive than my home fair. At my home fair you can get Guinness, Harp, etc. At Bristol, I had a Newcastle, a Hacker Pschorr, a Leinenkugel's, and a cider. They had two types of cider so I can't remember which it was. My home fair's selection is a touch more limited, and it's the same beer pretty much on any tap you go to. At Bristol, you've got to hunt around for the keg you want.

I'm sure I'm suffering a bit from the "Grass is Greener" syndrome, where my faire is routine to me, and this was new, therefore better. But I think there were some key places that Bristol shines through. I'll never give up my home faire, but I may be getting to Bristol once a year from now on, too.

Football Party Menu

Le Cellier, Canadian Cheese Soup (Epcot World Showcase)
Traditional Shepherd's Pie made with tomato, lamb and sage
Hot Cheese Dip from Big Damn Chefs
Custard in baked pumpkins
Apple crisp
Assorted appetizers including olive tapenade, chips and salsa, French onion dip, baked Buffalo wings and hummus
Assorted wines and beers
Wassail

Go Blue!

Garlic Scape Pesto

The key to a really good pesto isn’t the freshness of the ingredients or the ratio of oil to nuts to cheese.

It’s a food processor.

Now, I’m sure that a large part of the reason that last night’s garlic scape pesto was so amazing was because the garlic scapes were locally and organically grown, the parmesan was real parmesan, and the olive oil was grown on a small family farm in Lebanon.

But the food processor was what allowed everything to come together quickly and homogeneously.

I tried to make pesto last year with my blender. Bad idea. The blades couldn’t stand up to the crunchy, chunky ingredients. And it made everything taste bitter. In fact, it was inedible, no matter how much parmesan I added into it at the end.

And as much as I like “slow” food, I wasn’t going to try the mortar and pestle.

If you’re going to make pesto, folks, a food processor is essential. Otherwise, don’t bother.

Now, onto the 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 kind of like a cross between a chive and a stalk of asparagus. It’s got a strong garlic flavor but is not as harsh as a clove of garlic. The scape season is pretty short, but they last pretty much forever if kept in the coldest part of your refrigerator.

A arge bunch of garlic scapes
about a cup of olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
two large handfuls of almonds
1/2 cup (at least) grated Parmesan cheese

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).

Expect some pesto recipes from me the rest of the week. I've got about 2 cups of pesto to use up, so we'll see what I can do.

Cuddle up this Valentine's Day

I think most people who use food to woo and wow their sweethearts on Valentine's Day either 1. Go for chocolate or 2. Go out for a fancy dinner. Maybe both.

But I'm going to suggest that you stay home for Valentine's Day, and avoid all the crowds. Instead, make a meal at home for your beloved, set the mood with candles and music, start a fire going, and have a much more enjoyable time.

Maybe it's my Italian Grandmother gene getting the best of me again, but there's nothing like a home-made meal to make people feel loved. If you're the one who does the cooking in the house, you already know this. Also, the quality tends to be better when you make it at home--better food for the same, or less money.

Now, normally I'm all about uber fancy meals and setups and plannings. But not for Valentine's Day. You want to do something tasty, but simple, so you have more time for, you know, canoodling.

So, if you are cooking the Valentine's Day meal this year, first think of your beloved, and what he or she would like. If you think crab legs are sexy but your spouse hates seafood, then crab legs with clarified butter 'aint the way to go. If they really love chocolate, then a creme brulee isn't going to impress them (unless it's a CHOCOLATE creme brulee!)

I've put together a list of amorous menu options for those who need ideas. I've included some basic instructions for some of the suggestions--not really recipes, but something to show you how easy it really is and to get you started.

Appetizers
Oysters - if you really like them. I don't. Otherwise, go for something like smoked salmon or shrimp.
Sliced french bread, topped with something tasty and savory - sauteed onions, roasted garlic, or goat cheese, or cream cheese. Even something pre-made out of a jar becomes special when it's spread on a toasted baguette slice.

Main Courses
Steamed crab legs with clarified butter - to clarify butter: melt a stick of butter in a saucepan over low heat until it's completely melted. Use the smallest saucepan you have. Either a. spoon out the white solids, or b. pour the clarified butter into a bowl, leaving the solids in the pan. If some solids sneak by, don't fret.
Steak - season with salt and pepper. Put over flaming hot grill for a few minutes per side. enjoy
Chicken in foil packets - add some diced veggies, some wine or chicken broth, bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Side dishes
Salad
Baked/roasted potatoes
steamed vegetables
dinner rolls
rice

Beverages
White wine, red wine - The gold standard. But what if your honey likes mead? or Beer? Go with it. There's nothing wrong with an IPA with a Valentine's Day meal.

Desserts
Creme brulee - seriously, this is really super easy to make. The gourmets will say "use a vanilla bean," but you can ignore them and just use real vanilla extract.
Cheater's chocolate lava cakes - make a batch of from-the-box brownies, but bake the batter in muffin tins instead of a brownie pan. Make sure to grease the tins, but do not line them. Check them about 10 minutes before the minimum cooking time on the box. You want them a little bit undercooked. Serve as-is or with a sauce.
Dessert wines - Wines like sweet, flavorful ice wine or strong, smooth port can be desserts in and of themselves.
Chocolate-covered strawberries - Melt chocolate in microwave. Stir every 20 seconds or so. Dip strawberries. Put on waxed paper in fridge for at least an hour. Heaven.

I'd love to hear from readers what they're doing for Valentine's Day, and what their favorite Valentine's Day menus are--fancy or simple.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! As Kaylee from Firefly would say "Have good sex!"