Saturday, November 12, 2011

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dearest Isabella,

I have truly slaved over this recipe.  It is not perfect.  But it is the best I've got. You know, Chocolate Chip Cookies sound so simple, but they are like many things in life...taunting, teasing, elusive.   But they are worth persuing.  Persistance here, has paid off.

These cookies, at your dad's request, are loaded with chocolate.  I mean chocolate all over your brother's nose chocolatey.  They are chewy and crisp.  They are not too sweet, as I've experimented with the amount of sugar, and find that less is better.  I've included a good amount of salt, well, because I love salty and sweet.

Love,

M.

Mom's Chocolate Chip Cookies

4 T. unsalted butter
1 T. coconut oil
1 T. Palm Shortening
1 T. olive oil
1/3 cup sucanat
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
1.  Beat butter, coconut oil, palm shortening, and olive oil with sugar until light and fluffy.  Add egg and blend thoroughly.  Add vanilla.

2.  In a small bowl, add both flours, baking soda, and kosher salt. Stir to combine. 

3.  Add flour mixture and chocolate chips to butter mixture.  Mix to combine.

4.  Use ice cream scoop to make cookies of similar size and uniform shape. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

5. Cool...or don't.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Macaroni and Cheese

Dearest Isabella,

For years and I couldn't even stand to look at macaroni and cheese.  Your grandparents had very active social lives when I was growing up.  The standard go-to meal when they were going to leave us with a sitter was macaroni and cheese.  I don't know how many of those yellow and blue boxes we went through, but I'm convinced my parents should have bought stock in that company. 

I reconsidered the idea of macaroni and cheese only because I was trying to come up with meatless options for dinner a couple of times a week. This macaroni and cheese was a huge factor in my macaroni and cheese rehabilitation.  I developed it after making a few alterations to an already quick and delicious recipe found on the Simply Recipes website.

One of the changes I made to the original recipe, was to add cream cheese.  This not only made the macaroni and cheese, tangier, smoother, and creamier, but it also made cleaning the pots afterwards a lot easier.

Finally, the special version of this recipe has a crispy, cheesy crust of bread crumbs, parmigiano reggiano, and olive oil. This was a great way to use up all the bread crusts that your brother made me cut off his sandwiches.  Every time I prepared toast or sandwiches for him,  I would just throw the crusts into a plastic bag in the freezer.  Then, when I needed bread crumbs, I would just empty the bag into my food processor.

Love,

M.

P. S. I experimented with fancy cheese like emmenthaler (emmentaler) and gruyere, but I found that plain ole' cheddar was the favorite. But when you are older, try different cheeses.

Here's What You Will Need:

2 quarts of water
kosher salt
1/2 a pound of whole wheat rotelle, bow-ties, or elbow macaroni
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 a pound of Extra, Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese, grated
2 ounces of cream cheese
2 teaspoons of flour
juice of half a lemon, or more
1 cup of whole milk
freshly grated nutmeg
fresh bread crumbs
extra virgin olive oil
parmigiano reggiano
black pepper

Here's What You Need to Do:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

Fill stockpot or large saucepan with 2 quarts of water.  Bring to a boil.  Add kosher salt until water is pleasantly salty.  Add your pasta, stirring frequently in the beginning so that pasta does not stick together.  Cook for about 9 minutes.  Drain and return to stockpot/saucepan.

While pasta is cooking, mix 1 tsp of flour with your grated cheese and toss.  Set aside.  Meanwhile, melt your butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Whisk in the remaining 2 teaspoons of flour.  Cook flour in butter for a few minutes to cook out raw flour taste, 2-3 minutes.  This is called a "rue".  You do not want to develop any color on the rue, so adjust your heat if needed.  Slowly whisk in your milk until smooth.  Put your whisk away to soak now! Turn off heat and add cheddar cheese and cream cheese.  Stir with spatula until smooth.  Grate nutmeg (about a 1/2 teaspoon) into cheese mixture.  Add pepper, and lemon juice.  Stir, taste, and add more nutmeg, pepper, lemon juice, or salt to satisy your taste.

Add your sauce to pasta, stir until combined.  You can enjoy this pasta here, or you can proceed to make it extra yummy.

Butter a glass pan.  I used my small Corningware dish.  Pour your macaroni and cheese into dish.  Sprinkle with fresh breadcrumbs to cover top of macaroni and cheese. Grate some parmigiano reggiano to lightly cover the top of the bread crumbs.  Lightly drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.  Bake in oven for 15 minutes, until topping is lightly browned and crispy.  Enjoy immediately.

This makes about 4 servings.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes

Dearest Isabella,

Summer will be here in two weeks.   I love Spring, and wanted to celebrate what is left of it with these Lemon-Ricotta pancakes. They are light, pillowy, sweet, and just heavenly with a sprinkling of confectioner's sugar and/or some fresh, organic berries. 

Lemons are exactly what comes to mind when I think of Spring. I'm thinking Meyer lemons might also be nice in these pancakes. 

This recipe will make about 8 pancakes.

Love,

M.

Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes

1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons of organic granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 rounded teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole, organic, plain yogurt
1/2  cup organic sour cream
1/2 cup whole milk
2 large, room temperature, eggs - separated
1 tablespoon organic lemon zest
1 lemon- squeezed for juice
1/8 teaspoon of pure lemon oil (I like McNess brand.  You can usually find it at Williams Sonoma.)
1/3 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
organic, unsalted butter

Note:  The yogurt, sour cream, and whole milk can be substituted witha total of 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk, if you like.  But then, I would add 2-3 tablespoons of melted butter to the batter, before you incorporate the egg whites.

1.  In a large bowl, sift flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. 

2.  Add egg yolks, yogurt, sour cream, milk, lemon peel, lemon juice, lemon oil, and ricotta right on top of flour mixture, and whisk until just combined (8 stirs or so).

3.  In a standing mixture, add egg whites and a pinch of salt to bowl.  Beat the egg whites on medium speed until frothy.  Increase speed to high, until soft peaks form. 

4.  Add 1/2 of whipped egg whites to batter to loosen.  Fold in remaining egg whites being careful not to deflate.

5.  Place nonstick pan over medium-low heat.  When hot (water dances off surface), brush with butter.  Use a 1/3 cup cookie scoop to drop batter onto pan - I use about two scoops per pancake.  Cook until pancakes are lightly browned on the bottom and edges are just set.  Turn and cook on other side for 1-2 minutes longer. 

6.  Serve with sprinkling of confectioner's sugar, fresh strawberry preserves or a fresh, berry coulis.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Buttermilk Biscuits

Dearest Isabella,

I cannot tell you how long it took me to make a decent biscuit.  I suffered through many indignities:  burned bottoms, doughy middles, too salty, no flavor, crusty, leaden paperweights.  I hope to save you the pain, my darling.

I grew up with Bisquick drop biscuits.  They were good.  At least, I thought so at the time. Your Grandpa Miles would make huge biscuits to accompany strips of crispy bacon and eggs with corn.  Yes, corn!

I know what you are thinking, and yes, while many Sundays I do resort to drop biscuits, they are always from "scratch".  Every once and a while, I will go the extra mile, and pat and cut-out a perfect batch of these tender, buttery biscuits.  The secrets I have learned for making perfect biscuits are noted in the recipe.

I serve these with organic butter from pastured cows, and strawberry preserves, or honey.  Eat in moderation and enjoy!  Your brother ate 3 of these today!  So much for moderation.

This recipe will make about 8-10 biscuits.

Love,

M.

Perfect Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour (up to 1 cup of this can be whole wheat pastry flour)
3 teaspoons of fresh, aluminum-free baking powder
1 teaspoon of fresh baking soda
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
3 tablespoons of cold, organic butter, unsalted
2 tablespoons of cold, organic lard  (or more butter)
1 cup of buttermilk
2 tablespoons of organic butter, melted

Preheat oven to 450.  Measure flour into a food processor.  Add baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Pulse just enough to mix. 

Add  butter and lard to flour mixture.  Pulse until butter/lard mixes with flour and forms tiny pebbles of goodness (This is often said in cookbooks to resemble "course meal". )

Add buttermilk, a little at a time, through top feeder on food processor, while occasionally pulsing.

Turn mixture out onto a floured board or countertop.  Pull dough together and knead 3 or 4 times.  Pat dough, with floured hands, into a rectangle.  Fold letter-style.  (This means that you fold the dough over onto itself in 3 sections, starting with 1 short end.) Repeat entire process 2 more times, beginning with pressing into a rectangle. Pat dough into  a 3/4-inch thick rectangle on a lightly floured surface. 

Cut dough into 6-8 squares. I prefer this to cutting them out with a biscuit cutter as you handle the dough a lot less.

Place each biscuit touching the next, on a baking sheet lined with unbleached parchment paper.  Baste biscuit rounds with melted butter.  Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes until golden.  Eat immediately.

Options: 

You can substitute 1 cup of whole, organic yogurt for buttermilk.  These are amazing!

To turn these into drop biscuits: After adding buttermilk, use small ice cream scoop to drop biscuits onto baking sheet.  Bake as above.

You can opt to cut these out with a biscuit cutter.  Just make sure to push straight down through the dough.  Do not twist.

Beginnings

Dearest Isabella,


This is for you.  I have a book you see.  A book of recipes that I have been adding to since you were born.  Mostly they are family favorites.  Dishes that are only made once a year, for special occasions.  Dishes that have been passed down from my grandmothers, and likely their grandmothers before them.  But the pages of this book are small, and I have so many stories that I want to share with you.  So it begins, Dearest Isabella.


You see, I love food.  I'm sure you already know that about me.  When I make Sunday breakfast, I feel like I am making memories that you and your brother will remember for your lifetime.  My father used to make breakfast on the weekend, and I remember the anticipation of it to this day.   I was usually the first one up, and I loved having my dad all to myself.  Processed "maple" syrup, margarine, and boxed pancake mix never tasted so good!


Of course, there will be no boxed pancakes coming from my kitchen.  I try every day to pass along to you what I have learned in my forty years on this planet.  Real food, organic..when at all possible, seasonal, and  preferably, local.  I believe it makes a difference for you, your health, and for our planet.


Love,


M.