Basta Pasta!

Here's yet another lovely Christmas gift being put to work. My dad and stepmom gave me the pasta maker attachments for my KitchenAid, and ohhh boy, what a joy they are.

Honestly, why try to do something the "old fashioned way" if you've got a stand-up mixer? I mean, I'm all about DIY, but I have absolutely no problem relying on a machine for some of the heavy lifting. In this case, it means I can make homemade pasta all by myself... Provided someone else takes the pictures. It took me a while to get the dough to the right consistency, though. It wasn't wet enough on my first try, but I tried to knead it out anyway. After a bit of frustration, I finally added just a few drops of water and that changed the game. Look how excited I was! (Yes, I know I should've cut it. But c'mon, how fun is it to see how far you can stretch!?)I used the most basic pasta recipe available: a simple egg, flour, and water recipe found in the user manual for the attachments. Once I got the dough to the right consistency, it rolled out beautifully. After rolling it to its thinnest setting, I rolled it through once more to make fettucini.To top it off, I made a very small batch simple alfredo (1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup fresh parmesan, 1/8 cup heavy cream, and black pepper melted together) and served it with a healthy green salad. All in all, a big success. Machine or no machine, though, this is a big task. I'd like to learn to make very large batches and then freeze or dry it. Take the 'get all the work done at once' approach. Any tips for fresh pasta, my friends? Any luck with whole-wheat pastas?

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We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming...

I'd like to take a moment to forget about cooking and to tell you how much this day means to me. Today, when we watched Barack Obama take the oath of office and become President Barack Obama, I was unbelievably moved. This moment in history has already inspired millions--and I sincerely believe that this is our country's chance to rebuild and bring about a change deeply rooted in hope.

Ryan and I had the pleasure of being in Chicago shortly after the election--the photo above is us in Grant Park. If we could have been in D.C. today, we would have, but celebrating in Austin the day that we ushered in President Obama was amazing.

Please do your part to give back to our country: listen to the President's call to community action. Get involved, give back, take responsibility, and watch your world change around you and with you.

Yes we can!

And stay tuned, because soon I'll update the blog with the lovely dinner we had to ring in the new First Family!

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Mmmmpanadas (kind of)

I've been trying all sorts of new things lately. Surely you'll be caught up soon, but the Reader's Digest version goes like this: homemade stock, homemade granola bars, homemade pasta, orange beef stir-fry...

So I'm definitely taking more risks in the kitchen, which sometimes ends in an "OH MY GOSH THIS IS SO GOOD" and sometimes with "Eh, um, yeah--this is good." And sometimes it involves watching your boyfriend get up from the table and make himself a deli plate. :)

A few weeks ago, very shortly after receiving How to Cook Everything for Christmas, I decided to try and make empanadas. There was soyrizo in the fridge that needed using, as well as a pint of fresh blueberries, so I thought I'd make savory and sweet versions. Let the fun begin.The dough was easy enough to make, though I think it was a little on the dry side. I'm still learning how to get dough perfect. But as for filling, the soyrizo was delish with cheese, and the blueberries got stewed together with sugar and cinnamon and... mmmm. These little pies were baked, not fried, so they weren't quite as mouth-watering and delicate as the authentic ones I've had the pleasure of devouring.

Empanadas, from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus a little more
1/2 cup masa harina, fine cornmeal or more all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons shortening or vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk

1. Mix the flour, masa harina, baking powder, and salt together in the food processor and process for about 5 seconds. With the machine running, add the 1/2 cup shortening and process for 10 seconds. Then, with the machine running, add about 1/2 cup cold water, just enough for the dough to form a ball. Don't add more water than necessary; the dough should be fairly dry. Knead by hand until smooth, just a minute or so.

2. Divide into 12 pieces, roll into balls, and wrap in plastic or cover with a damp towel and let rest for at elast 20 minutes. (You can refrigerate the dough overnight; be sure to let it come to room temperature before proceeding.) On a well-floured surface, rolle ach piece into a 6-inch circle, adding flour as necessary.

3. Preheat the oven to 450ºF. Place a couple of tablespoons of the filling in the center of each circle of dough, followed by a sprinkling of cheese if desired, then fold each circle over. I seal the seam with a few drops of water and press with the tines of a fork to close. Put on an ungreased baking sheet and brush lightly with milk. Bake until the dough is golden brown and hot, and about 20 minutes. Serve immediately or at room temperature.

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Just let me whip something up!

Last week after Ryan and I opted to work out in the gym, we were so hungry by the time we got back home that we almost caved and ran out for food. Knowing we had a smattering of fresh veggies in the fridge, I put up my argument for staying home.I insisted: "Just let me whip something up!" The skeptical BF looked at me warily, so I shot back. "Or YOU can go get whatever YOU want and I'll cook something for me here."

He stayed (lucky for him). I boiled some capellini (almost a whole package!) and topped it with butter, parsley, and lemon. I threw together a salad and an easy citrus dressing...and voila. Dinner on the fly, and healthy to boot.I think part of eating sustainably is learning to work on the fly like this--bringing together what you do have to make something delicious. It's so much better than spending money, not to mention adding to your carbon footprint, by going out to grab food. PLUS, the hungrier you are the more likely you are to opt for fast food. Quickly becoming a strict no-no in our household! (See Ryan's quote from yesterday's post.)

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The Quest for the Perfect Loaf of Whole Wheat

I'm a fan of whole grains. I really, truly am. And so it makes sense that after a couple of successful white loaves from the bread machine, I should be able to whip up some super-healthy whole wheat bread. Right?

Wrong.

It started with not a complete failure... I used some white flour and some stone-ground whole wheat. But what emerged was far too dense. And there was another hiccup: I wasn’t around to remove the paddle at the right time, so it baked right into the loaf.
Back to the density: this has been the problem with my handmade loaves in the past. Not enough yeasty action. In fact, when this wheat loaf came out of the bread maker, Ryan said, “It looks like what you used to make before I gave you the bread machine.”

It wasn’t a total waste; I cut thin slices, toasted them, and spread on some local chevre and delicious chutney. A beautiful afternoon snack!


Before getting too discouraged, I did the tiniest bit of research and looked at three different grocery stores to find the finest-ground wheat flour around. To think, the two specialty stores (Central Market and ‘Ho Foods) didn’t point me in any kind of direction. But at my neighborhood HEB, I found Bob’s Red Mill Organic Whole Wheat flour in a five-pound bag.

They claimed to be the “best” for wheat breads, and so I gave my recipe another try. Same recipe, same size, just different flour. However, this loaf was still dense and incredibly dry. So I did MORE research and read about the vital-ness of vital wheat gluten (aka gluten, aka wheat gluten, aka vital wheat gluten flour, which was available in the bulk section at both Whole Foods and Central Market, though it took some asking around to make SURE that it was what I was looking for!)

You see, let me bust out a little bread science for you fine folks. Gluten is actually a part of some grass-related grains including wheat, rye, and barley (in the endosperm, if you remember from junior high science class what that part is). Thanks Wikipedia. “Legend attributes the discovery of gluten to Buddhist monks in 7th century China who sought meat-like ingredients for use in their vegetarian diet. With easily available wheat flour and water they made a dough which they submerged in cold water and kneaded. The water dissolved the starchy components of the dough and left behind an insoluble, gummy mass, 70% to 80% of which was gluten.”

Long story short, gluten makes breads chewier and fluffier. And I'm still not sure why. So, loaf three began... I followed the recipe on the back of Bob's flour bag (which called for gluten, and molasses) to make the next loaf. Girls' night was about to start, so I had to get everything in the machine and fly out the door. Before I left, I noticed how much higher the dough was, and decided to go ahead and remove the paddle because I didn't want it to bake in again.

In the meantime, I go out to meet my friends and Ryan gets home. Sweetheart that he is, he cleans the kitchen. And then when he hears the machine start beeping, he runs into the kitchen to remove the paddle, oblivious to the fact that I've already done so.

I'm totally going to give him major props for this attempt. He took the uncooked dough out, searched for the paddle, puzzled as to where it could have gone, and then realized I'd already taken it out. He dropped the dough back in and let the machine work.

So when I get home and ask, "Oooh, how's the bread?", he has a rather suspicious look on his face and says, "I dunno--how IS the bread?" At that point, I bolt into the kitchen to uncover this monster of a loaf that looks like it's been grabbed by a bear.

The good news? It's much chewier and less dense than before, and the flavor is fantastic! SO we'll stick with that whole wheat recipe for now, and hopefully keep improving upon it. For now, here you go...

Best-Yet Whole Wheat Flour Recipe, thankfully and only slightly adapted from Bob's Red Mill label)
For a 1.5-pound loaf...
1 cup Water 80-90 degrees
2-1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour (Bob's Red Mill)
1-1/4 Tbsp Milk Powder (Non-Fat Dry or essence of buttermilk, which is what I used)
1 tsp Salt
1-1/2 Tbsp Canola Oil
1-1/4 Tbsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten
2 tsp Molasses
2 tsp Yeast, Active Dry

Dump these ingredients in the bread machine in that order. We like light crust. Good luck!

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This is gonna be one of those "Oh my damn" meals...

It started off with a half-pound of bacon. Yes. A half-pound of all-natural uncured bacon in all its fatty glory. I'd told a friend about the amount of bacon in the recipe I was considering for Friday night dinner, and she and I exchanged "yeah, right" looks. But when push came to shove and it was time to get dinner going, I could not resist roughly chopping half of the package and tossing it in the Dutch oven.

The soup was a big first-time for me: I'd never eaten, let alone cooked, lentils. This may come as a surprise, but I'm not an expert in legumes. I grew up eating pinto beans (my grandmother's) every Saturday, but have yet to make a successful pot. Lentils are quick-cooking and I figured I'd have good luck with them.

Armed with Mark Bittman's book and this recipe, I set out to make a bacon-lentil soup. I used up what I had in the fridge (Greenling was delivered today, and we have a fridge full of fresh local greens), which included half an onion, some organic carrots and celery, two shallots, and two cloves of garlic.

I chopped up the infamous half-pound of bacon, tossed in the pot, and then chopped the veggies. When the bacon was almost done, I threw in the vegetables and cooked them until tender. I drained a bit of the grease, but not too much (it's Friday night, after all) and then poured in about 2/3 cup lentils, a bay leaf, and 1/2 quart organic, free-range chicken stock.
I brought it to a boil, then reduced the heat and let it simmer, covered, for about forty minutes. The recipe I modeled mine after was very accurate, and the lentils were nice and tender. I added another 1/2 quart of stock and some black pepper, and let it simmer for another ten minutes.
And then I texted my friend and told her I had zero regrets about using all that bacon. If I could communicate a scent to you right now, you would understand. Delicious bacon, sizzling to crispy, fatty perfection, crackling on the stovetop... Need I say any more? Not to mention, I'd started a loaf of parmesan-peppercorn bread in the machine and ohmigosh it smelled gooooood.

Ryan ate two bowls of the soup and half of the bread. I would've eaten more except it was all gone by the time I was ready for round two.


"I don't mind getting fat off of your cooking, but if I get fat off of fast food, I'm gonna shoot myself." Pearls of wisdom from my beloved.

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Improv Lunch

So I mentioned that I received Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything book for Christmas. This book is a-m-a-z-i-n-g. I have had it for less than two weeks and have already gleaned a wealth of information from its pages. My favorite new recipe so far is a million times easier than pie: the Simple Yogurt Sauce. Of course, me being me, I couldn’t just use his recipe. I had to alter it in my own darn way.

His calls for a cup of yogurt and only one clove of garlic... In the interest of wanting to not waste any yogurt (just in case I didn't follow through on my goal to make the sauce), I purchased two individual 6-oz yogurt cups and surprisingly made two separate recipes right away.

For the first batch, I used 6 oz of plain yogurt (whole milk, cream top), mixed with one minced clove of garlic, the juice of half a lemon, salt and pepper to taste. I skillfully sliced half of an avocado (currently on sale at the grocer!) and smashed it in the best I could. What resulted was a creamy, tangy dip that pleased both me and my dear friend Ellen when coupled with chips and celery stalks. It even served as a nice spread for our sandwiches...on fresh homemade bread, might I add!

Batch two came into being last night when I craved ranch dressing to go along with the super-unhealthy pizza Ryan brought home (football watching food--Hook 'Em!). I had one more 6-oz container of yogurt, but this time I added two cloves of minced garlic, a whole mashed avocado, and plenty of garlic salt and pepper. Ryan played taste-tester, and we agreed it needed something but weren’t sure what. After trying a few bites with celery salt, chili powder, and extra garlic salt, we decided to leave it as it was.

This dip came in handy for lunch today. Did I mention my delicious-but-ugly loaf of cinnamon swirl bread? (I didn't photograph it, therefore I didn't blog about it I suppose...) Apparently I did not roll the dough thin enough when I dumped the raisins and cinn-sugar on top and rolled it up... Because what came out was a thick loaf of sweet bread with a fat L-shaped blob of cinnamon-sugar raisins in the middle.

The heel of the loaf was void of all sugar-coated fruit, and I packed it along with a couple of slices of Muenster, some turkey, a pear, blackberries, and celery for lunch. After a jaunt in the toaster, I topped the bread with the meat, cheese, and thin-sliced pear, and that was a deliciously sweet and savory compliment to the tangy yogurt dip and crisp celery stalks. The blackberries were my delectable dessert.

Don't tell anyone, but I pride myself on bringing lunches that evoke "oohs" and "ahhs" from my colleagues who are nuking canned soups or frozen dinners in the communal kitchen while I assemble my tasty towers. I waltz down the hall, lunch in hand, shoulders held high, and eat it at my desk while I read my favorite food blogs and dream up the next meal.

Ahh, food--it's all I can think about, really.

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New Year's Resolutions

For Christmas, the kitchen gifts were lavished upon me. Between Ryan, my parents, Ryan's parents and his aunt, I made out like a serious kitchen bandit. At this rate, there will be nothing on my hypothetical wedding registry. ;) There were the books...

And the KitchenAid pasta attachments...
Then there were the Give It A Rest spoons made from organic bamboo...
And of course, the bread machine.
There were also a handful of vintage cake stands. That adds up to 7,500 new recipes and techniques, at least 10 new tools, a great deal of time- and energy-saving tactics, and even enough flair to show it all off to guests.

This means I have a lot of work to do. We even got a 25% off coupon from Greenling (since we haven't ordered in months), so I put in our order and next week we'll get a shipment of fresh local goodies. Let the cooking begin!

Tomorrow I'm going to try soyrizo, cheese, and green chile empanadas with my famous salsa. And soon I'd like to make cinnamon raisin swirl bread. With just shy of 10K recipes to try, time's a wastin.

Ryan is preoccupied with bicycle maintenance (I just heard an "uhoh" followed by a not-so-healthy-sounding gear spin from the makeshift bike shop in our living room) so that leaves me with plenty of time to try my hand at new things in our kitchen. And yes, we're "organized" enough that I was able to get everything to fit in our cabinets and still managed to make the kitchen look LESS cluttered. Hi-five.

All this to say...this year I plan on cooking a LOT, keeping the kitchen clean, and blogging all about it. So, readers, hold me to it! If you catch me not blogging, I'll bake you a loaf of bread. :)

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