A healthier Parmesan artichoke dip

Saturday while preparing my recreation of Momofuku Ssam bar's spicy rice cakes and pork, I was a little peckish, so made this dish to have something to snack on while assembling all the pieces of the Chang dish.

I saw this box of baby artichokes last week and H Mart and just couldn't resist picking them up. I'm always amazed at the amount of waste these little things can produce once you pull the tough outer leaves and stems.

I'm also not a believer in dunking your hearts in vinegar or lemon juice to keep them from browning. One of my favorite food writers, Mark Bittman has written about this.

They steamed for about 12 -15 minutes, or until fork tender. When I sliced them in half, I found I hadn't quite cut away enough of the prickly parts, so quartered the hearts and trimmed them at a diagonal to remove the sharp tips.

I tossed the still warm quartered baby hearts with 2 pats of butter (less than a tablespoon), 1 TBS grated Parmesan cheese, some salt, pepper and chopped dill and taragon (you could, of course use any fresh herbs you had in the house).

The butter and the cheese made it seem a little creamy, and the herbs made it taste so fresh. I suppose you also could have thinly sliced some baby spinach to boost its veggie count. I served it on some water crackers, but they were good plain too. Way healthier than restaurant artichoke dip, but filling and delicious!

Recipe:
Parmesan Artichoke Dip
1 box baby artichokes, trimmed of tough outer leaves and prickles (about 2 dozen)
2 small pats of butter (just less than 1 TBS)
1 TBS grated Parmesan cheese
salt/pepper to taste
2 TBS freshly chopped herbs (I used taragon and dill)

Steam baby artichoke pieces for 12-15 mins until fork tender. Quarter and trim any remaining prickles.
Toss with melted butter, cheese and herbs.
Serve with crackers or toasts.

Weekend fun

Took my first swing at holiday baking this weekend after seeing a great post by a friend on caramel making.

I used her recipe exactly, but my candy thermometer appears to have lied to me. Hers turned out soft and chewy, from what I can tell. But mine came out a bit like those old fashioned Sugar Daddy candies (which my mother always swore would crack your teeth in two).

But, the hard candy product did save me the challenge of attempting to wrap the little buggers. It also created the challenge of how to best break them down (as when I turned out the caramel, it was a solid, un-cuttable brick).

Best kitchen tool I own is my ice cream scooper:

Which I used as a hammer and chiseled with a kitchen knife until the aforementioned bite sized pieces were born.

Tonight, pitas were up again. Jake and I stopped for some late night shwarma the other night and ended up with far too much hummus.

The best solution, of course, being to bake lots and lots of pitas! These were fried up in skillets over medium heat (rather than the faux-grilling method used in the past). The resulting pita has a harder bottom (nice though, not unlike a large cracker) and still a soft top.

Still using my wine bottle ($6, Target) as a rolling pin for these guys

Mmm pitas. Tasty

Thanksgiving with the fam

OK, so ever since my parents moved our family away from New Jersey, it's always just been the four of us at Thanksgiving -- not very exciting.

But since I now live in Washington, a (usually) 4-hr drive up the coast back to NJ, I came up here for Thanksgiving and had the big holiday with my mom's family for the first time in, probably 15 or so years.

Last night we did a bunch of the prep work, made my aunt's soup, and started a bunch of the side dishes. Lots of fun, but I also learned that I am allergic to potato peels (I usually only make the skin-on red potatoes) -- as my palms swelled up to double their size, itched, burned and were bright red after we peeled the 10 lbs!!

Butternut squash soup

Sweet potatoes (SOOOOO good)

Brussels sprouts (same recipe as from intern thanksgiving!) - these were a HUGE hit with my family. I was really surprised!

Today there was a lot less to do, so I made some quick rolls - VERY easy recipe (see below), which were also a big hit

 

I also got put in charge of the mashed potatoes... and got to play with my aunt's Kitchen aid!! :-)

MMMM so many potatoes!

Thanksgiving feast.

In short, everything was DELICIOUS, and I had a blast with my family.

OK, here's the recipe for the rolls:

In a bowl, mix 1 package rapid action yeast, 2 TBS sugar, 1 c milk mixed with 1 c water heated to luke warm (about 120 degrees -- not too hot, do not kill yeast). Mix well, set aside in a warm place for 8-10 mins until foam appears.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together 5 c. flour (you can use whatever kind you like, I used good old All Purpose White), a tsp of salt, and a tsp season salt (if you like). Make a well, and pour the warm yeast mixture in. If the yeast doesn't foam, it's dead or you killed it. Start this step over.

Mix together until a shaggy dough starts to form. Drizzle up to 4 TBS olive oil into the mix, until all flour is combined. Turn out onto a well floured surface and knead for 10 mins. Return to well oiled bowl and over with damp tea towel.

Allow to proof for up to an hour (longer, if you are using slow yeast, or in a cold kitchen). Dough should be roughly double in size. Punch down (exactly what it sounds like), knead again briefly, then pull small sections (roughly the size of a golfball, I guess), and form a smooth, rectangle or finger shape (try to have as few seams as possible).

Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sea salt. 

Bake 12-15 mins at 350 degrees

Pudding pie update

So, unfortunately there are no photos, as I ate the evidence, but I'm officially throwing in the towel on chocolate pudding pie.

I had some leftover pudding yesterday (and really needed to use the bowl for other things) so I threw the rest of the graham cracker crumbs into a container with the pudding and topped with the the leftover whipped cream (again, needed the container) and popped it back into the fridge.

HELLO chocolate pudding-graham-whip-yummy parfait of delight. Insanely easier to make. More graham crumbs than the crust meant an added crunch.

I'm in love with this alternative route to pudding-pie goodness.

Dreaming? of a world where whipped cream + chocolate pudding = 0 calories

Intern Thanksgiving

Wow... been gone a while (out of town last week on a business trip)

Last night, I gathered with some friends from a summer 08 internship in Minneapolis, and we had our own version of Thanksgiving. It was an entirely delicious ordeal, with enough food to feed all six of us twice and then some, and we're already planning for Christmas.

I volunteered to make a chocolate pudding pie - not fancy in the slightest, but one of my childhood favorites, brussel sprouts and garlic mashed potatoes.

 

 Proof I smashed my own graham crackers to make the graham cracker crust.

The homemade, and extremely crumbly crust

Whisk the pudding like crazy!!

The finished product cooling. We stuck it in the freezer during dinner when we got to the hostess' place. It was perfect by the time we pulled it out later, and topped with homemade whipped cream.

Chocolate pudding pie with graham cracker crust and whipped cream:

1 large packet (or 2 small) chocolate pudding - the kind you have to cook

3 cups milk or half and half

* cook pudding according to directions on the package, cool

2 c of crumbled graham crackers (plus more if needed -- I used about 1 1/2 packets of grahams, or half the box)

4-6 TBS of butter (I ran out of butter, and subbed in a little water and Pam spray)

1/4 c. sugar

pinch of cinnamon

*grease or spray a pie plate or cake tin

*pour in the measured graham cracker crumbs, mix with the sugar and butter

*use your fingers to press down, and build up the sides of the crust. You may need to add up to half a cup more crumbs/butter mix

*bake in a preheated oven at 300F for about 5 mins (check to ensure it isn't burning), but up to 8-10 mins.

*Cool, then fill with pudding

*allow to sit 2-4 hours until pudding is firm. In the event you have to dash out the door, pop it in the freezer during dinner (about 1 hr to 90 mins)

Top with homemade whipped cream (1 pint cream, 3 TBS sugar -- beat or whisk in a cold bowl until fluffy and forms stiff peaks)

OK onto the sides -- Brussel Sprouts

I grossly over estimated how much of a side dish would be needed for 6 individuals, but here's the general idea of proportions:

Combine the following in  greased/sprayed 9x13 roasting dish

5 handfuls large brussel sprouts, trimmed of stems and sliced (I halved them, then chopped each half into 3 parts) -- it was enough to more than fill a 9x13 pan - - but keep in mind they shrink down quite a lot when roasted

1 c chopped walnuts

about 1 scant cup (or a good sized handful) thinly sliced and halved onions

(about 4-5 pieces of bacon or pancetta chopped is a nice addition to this dish - but we had vegetarians/non-pork eaters, so I omitted it, and it tasted delicious)

Salt and Pepper generously

sprinkle about 3-4 TBS brown sugar over the dish and drizzle with balsamic vinegar to your tasting.

Roast at 325 F for 20-30 mins, checking around the 20 min mark. You want some parts to be crispy, but the largest pieces to be soft. In the last 5 mins, mix in about 1/3 c water


And finally, the mashed potatoes:

Again, we made WAY too many of these - so this would probably serve about 10 people or more.

Boil (about 15-20 mins)

about 15 red potatoes, cut into chunks, skin still on in a pot with salted water. mix in about 2 tsp garlic powder

Drain the potatoes and return to pot, allow to sit over medium heat, stirring occasionally, to allow the steam and moisture to leave the potatoes.

Allow 3/4 stick of butter to melt into the potatoes, then mash gently with a large spoon or ricer, mix in 2 TBS garlic salt, about 1/3 c buttermilk, and 3 TBS parm cheese (optional). You may need to add up to half a cup of buttermilk, depending on your potatoes.

I finish mine with a few minutes being blended with an electric mixer, so they are light and fluffy.

In addition to the above,  our intern dinner featured cranberry honey wheat rolls (watch for an attempted re-make of these soon), vegetarian chili, brie-stuff mushroom caps, chicken piccata, macaroni and cheese, and was followed by peppermint ice cream pie, apple dessert on more ice cream, and the aforementioned chocolate pudding pie. It was intense. :-)

Dreaming? of Intern Christmas.... hopefully we'll be a little more sane about the number of dishes we all bring! :-)

Mmm tasty naengmyun

** disclaimer: this is NOT the naengmyun I made/ate

Discovered another HMart tonight -- finally found the one in Wheaton, and to my surprise, it's much closer than I imagined. Always a plus. No more grouchy yellow-polo wearing employees of Giant Foods and there horribly disfigured produce!!!!

Another plus: this HMart is wayyyy less crowded than the madhouse that is the Falls Church location. Way more time to browse the aisles. Which, is what led to tonight's mul naengmyun.

Naengmyun are buckwheat or arrowroot noodles that are served with iced broth in Korea. It sounds kind of weird, but on a 90+ degree day in Seoul, tucking in to a huge, nearly frozen bowl of these slurpy noodles with its tangy, spicy broth is nothing short of amazing.

I've made naengmyun at home before, but was more or less unsuccessful. Tonight's turned out surprisingly well. Sliced pickled Korean radish, cucumbers, and chopped bulgogi round out the noodles, broth and spicy seasonings. In Korea, this is served with some sweet vinegar (I used rice vinegar) and spicy mustard (which we didn't have this time).

This dish never quite tastes the same in the States -- whether it's in Korean restaurants, or in my own home, but tonight's was pretty close. Unfortunately our freezer sucks, and there wasn't a good way to ice the broth, just chilled it.

Dreaming? Of a perfect bowl of naengmyun on a hot summer's day.

Sunday cooking marathon

So, I'm busy enough that I like to have food already made that's easy to grab for lunches or what have you. But, I also really hate most convenience foods (ie: things that come out of a box).

Sunday I went on a major grocery run (including Giant and a smaller international market nearby). First - let me note how much I HATE shopping at Giant. Their produce generally looks like crap, if there's any in stock (eg: there were no leeks on Sunday, so I settled for sad, tiny looking green onions). It's SO busy that I refuse to use a shopping cart, and just fill up my reusable bags as I go throw the store. And the staff generally are insanely rude.

Pluses about international markets? The one in question, who's name I can't think of off-hand, is tiny, and cramped as well. And the staff may be rude, but I have no idea, since they mostly speak Spanish in the store. Once I asked for help, and the gal who helped me was great. Pricing? so much better. $1.60 for a package of 8-10 huge jalapeno peppers. Limes are 10 for $1. And the meat? I bought 1.75 lbs of chicken thighs for around $3. I also occasionally make the trek out to H Mart in Falls Church - a Korean grocery. Their produce is the best: big, plump green onions are four for $1, bell peppers are insanely cheap, and their greens always seem to hold up longer in the fridge.

Anyway, back to the cooking:
I started with the green onion and ham quiche. Perfect for breakfasts. Managed not to burn the crust quite so badly this time. Getting better every time!

From there, moved to the Indian butter chicken I've been wanting to try for a while. I consulted a number of recipes online and also bought a packet of pre-mixed sauce as a back up. I ended up making the scratch sauce (was missing a few traditional ingredients) and blending in the pre-mixed sauce for an overall result. Threw the chicken and sauce over basmati rice and made enough for 5 meals.

Garlic mashed potatoes for Sunday night dinner, to be paired with sirloin steak from the international mart.

While the potatoes were boiling I moved on to baking another round of pumpkin gingerbread -- which again, burnt after the first 45 minutes. My mom's recipe says bake at 350F for an hour, and yet twice, mine has burnt after 45 minutes at slightly less than 350... I think in the future I'll try it at 325 for an hour.

*Whew*

Lastly, while I was cleaning up after dinner, I braised arugula, spinach and broccoli raab to go with polenta later this week.

Baking fail

Was feeling autumn-y this past weekend and collected supplies for my mom's pumpkin gingerbread, a seasonal favorite. Not owning many spices, I had to shell out for cinnamon, nutmeg and all spice. I drew the line at cloves. They were just too damn much.

Unfortunately, my grand plans for beautifully baked loaves were foiled by my stupid oven, which fails to maintain a constant temperature. Ever.

So, the bottoms and edges were burnt (see below). Managed to shave off the burnt parts (lucky the serated bread knife is the only one of my 4-set that wasn't entirely ruined by careless college roommates) and create a slightly shortened, slightly bald looking bread (see below below).

Dreaming? Of an oven that doesn't suck.