Strawberry Daze

  This past weekend, my hometown had a strawberry festival.  Succulent, ripe rubies are in abundance in May around here, although with the mild winter, the berries have weighed down the vines earlier than usual.  Recently I blended up this recipe from Southern Living's Big Book of BBQ - Strawberry Tea Slush.  Cool strawberries hit the tongue, and background notes of tea and lemonade round out this slightly tart slush.  I believe this is what summertime tastes like.  Here's the beauty of this recipe, though; it uses frozen strawberries that can be found in your freezer section year-round.  Keep in mind this has just a little over of an hour of chill time before blending.

Strawberry Tea Slush

Yields 6 cups

Ingredients

2 cups water
4 tea bags, regular size
1 1/2 cups frozen strawberries
6 oz. frozen lemonade concentrate
1 cup ice cubes
1/4 cup powdered sugar (can add more to taste if you prefer a sweeter drink)

  Start by steeping the tea.  In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil.  Take the pot off the heat and add in the tea bags.  Cover and let the tea steep for 5 minutes.  Remove the tea bags and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

  Add the chilled tea, frozen strawberries, lemonade concentrate, ice and powdered sugar to a blender and process until the mixture is slushy and smooth.  Serve right away and enjoy!

Note: Resist the urge to squeeze those tea bags when removing them.  Squeezing releases very bitter liquid into the tea.

  Now that you are sippin' on strawberry goodness, want something to nibble on?  One of my dear friends brought in this amazing salsa made with not tomatoes, but strawberries to work.  Heavenly!  This is another treat from Southern Living, found in the March 2012 issue.  She didn't have the avocado, but it was still fantastic.  The magazine suggests serving this with grilled or pan-fried meats, seafood or poultry aplenty, but it was very tasty on plain ol' tortilla chips.  Give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

Strawberry Salsa

Yields about 2 1/2 cups

Ingredients

1/2 cup red pepper jelly
1/3 cup chopped fresh chives
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon lime zest
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 cups fresh chopped strawberries
1/3 cup dried sweetened cranberries
1 small avocado

  In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the jelly, fresh herbs, lime zest and juice, and red pepper.  Gently fold in the strawberries and dried cranberries.  Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.  Right before serving, dice the avocado and add to the chilled salsa mixture.

Weighty Matters, Part II: Consider the Scale

  There are many makes and models to choose from when shopping for a scale.  The most common types on store shelves are spring scales and digital scales.  My money is on the digital variety.  Spring scales are easy to use, but some of the spring type may have difficulty registering small amounts of ounces or see more wear and tear on parts versus the digital scale.  Spring scales may be cheaper, but consider the features available on digital scales.  Today's digital scales can have handy functions like metric-customary conversions, fraction-decimal conversions, or even some models may have the specific feature of measuring liquids based on a liquid's unique density.  While each cook will need to decide what is important for them, I ultimately look to three major factors - tare functionality, sizeable maximum weight, and accuracy,
  The tare function is a great feature that extremely useful.  Taring sets the scale back to 0.  This aspect will allow you to ignore the heft of mixing bowls or weigh individual ingredients as you add them in. 
  Another consideration when choosing a scale would be the scale's maximum weighing capacity.  With a large enough max load, you don't have to weigh ingredients before adding them to a bowl; you could put the work bowl on the scale and weigh as you go.  Think about the size of your work bowls - the scale will bear them along with the recipe elements.
  Accuracy.  There's no point in owning a scale if it doesn't work properly.  This is why I like digital scales - accurate and I don't have to adjust anything.  I'm a klutz, so I avoided a manual scale I could blunder with.  Also check to make sure you can read the output.  Tools are to help, not make things more difficult. 

Weighty Matters, Part I

  Meet Escali.  Escali is strong...nicely built...handsome...intelligent...precise...helps me in the kitchen.  The perfect partner, really.  I am in love.

You wanna meet him, don't ya?

Huh?  What were you thinking about?!  Escali is my kitchen scale.

  I hope to expound upon something I wrote earlier on this blog and on various food forums in the past about measuring ingredients, and the difference between volume and weight. Most American recipes are written with the ingredients doled out by volume, compared with much of the rest of the world that measures by weight.  Some attribute the deviation to early settlers using what was on hand, which more often than not, included teacups and the like, but no scales.

  Many cooks swear by using weight instead of measuring by volume.  Some of the benefits are:

• Consistent results each time a dish is made.
• Baked good especially benefit - factors such as humidity or how tightly the flour is packed into a cup can cause variances in the amount that goes into a recipe.
• Less equipment used and dirtied up during prep (or mise en place, if you please.)

What IS the Difference?

  Now you've thought about some of the advantages, what exactly is the difference between volume and weight?

  Volume, quite simply,  is how much space something takes up.  Weight, on the other hand, is how much an object weighs - how heavy, how much mass it has.  These two properties aren't exactly the same, and this can be seen particularly with dry ingredients.  A cup of shredded cheese does not weigh 8 ounces like a cup of water.

  Really!  I'll prove it.

 The same cup filled with water would have the same volume (space), but different weights (quantities of mass).  That 2 cup package of pre-shredded cheese in your fridge weighs 8 ounces.  In fact, I've found most cheeses -harder, shreddable, sliceable, crumbly varieties- are half the weight of the volume you'll need to shred or crumble.  [i.e. 3/4 cup shredded cheese takes up the same volume as 6 ounces of water is 3 ounces of cheese in brick form.  Handy to keep in mind while shopping.]  Frequently on my recipes, I'll try to include weights in parentheses along with the more traditional volume measurements.

Next time, Weighty Matters, Part II: Consider the Scale

Sausage and Zucchini Carbonara

  The other day, while lazing on the couch with my iPad, I thought it was a grand shame I had all these interesting cooking apps, and I've not tried many of recipes in them.  Taking a few minutes to browse and swipe, this marvelous dish popped up on Jamie Oliver's app.  Italian sausage.  Zucchini.  Bacon.  Lemon Zest.  Pasta.   Yeah, I was goin' have to make this one, and you might, too.  This recipe says it serves 2 - well, those servings are very generous.  I'm thinking with a salad served along side, more like 3 or 4.

Sausage and Zucchini Carbonara
Serves 2-4


Ingredients
3 Italian sausages
2 slices of bacon
8 ounces dry spaghetti (recipe called for 9, but boxes around here come in 8 & 16.  Sorry, Jamie)
2 egg yolks (use the whites for breakfast in the morning, or freeze them)
1 medium zucchini
1/2 cup heavy cream
zest from 1/2 of a lemon
2 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
a small bunch fresh Italian parsley (about half a bunch sold by my store)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

  In a stock pot, or other pot large enough to boil the pasta, add lots of water and a little salt (around 2 teaspoons.)  Put the pot on the stove to boil.  Now is a good time to do your prep work.  Chop the parsley finely, and set aside.  Trim off the ends of the zucchini.  Cut the zuke in half, lengthwise, and repeat for each half.  Now you should have 4 nice spears.  Slice up the quarters, and set aside.  Chop the bacon into small pieces.  Put a large frying pan on the stove with a little bit of olive oil on medium heat to warm.  Here's the fun part - you are going to make meatballs out of the Italian sausage.  With a sharp knife (paring knife works wonders for this), slit the sausage casing and squeeze out the sausages.  Wet your hands and pull each sausage apart into 6 chunks.  Roll each chunk into a mini meatball.  You should end up with about 18 little guys.

  By now, the pasta water should be boiling.  Add the pasta and cook according to package directions, making sure to stir from time to time, to keep the pasta from sticking.  Add the meatballs to the hot pan, and saute them for about 6 minutes, or until brown all over.

  While the pasta is boiling away and the meatballs are becoming golden brown and delicious, start putting together the sauce.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and cream.  When those are thoroughly combined, whisk in the lemon zest and half of the grated Parmesan.  Add in most of the parsley to the egg mixture and stir.  Set aside.

  When the meatballs are brown, add in the zucchini slices and bacon to the frying pan.  Continue to saute until the bacon is cooked.

  The pasta should be finishing up about this time.  Carefully ladle out a cup of the pasta water and set aside.  This will be used to thin out the sauce later, if desired.  Drain the pasta in a colander.  Once drained, add the pasta to the large mixing bowl with the egg mixture.  Toss the pasta all around with tongs.  The heat from the pasta will cook the eggs and melt the cheese.  Pour the pasta and sauce into the frying pan with the meatballs, zucchini, and bacon.  Toss everything together; if the sauce is too thick for your liking, add in some of the pasta's cooking water until the consistency you desire.  Plate up the pasta and top with more of the parsley and Parmesan.  Enjoy!

BLT Benedict with Avocado-Tomato Relish

  I'll admit it, I've been in a bit of a funk lately.  So, when sorting through some digital pics recently, I realized I had a few things I've not posted here yet.  Bacon, eggs, avocado, and tomatoes....who could resist?  I couldn't when I saw this recipe in Southern Living's March '11 issue.

BLT Benedict with Avocado-Tomato Relish

Ingredients
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 avocado, diced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, divided
6 large eggs
1/4 cup mayonnaise
6 thick slices of bakery bread
3 cups of your favorite lettuce mix
12 cooked bacon slices

  We're going to start off by making the relish - combine the grape tomatoes, diced avocado, basil, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and 2 1/2 teaspoons of the red wine vinegar in a small bowl. Set aside until you are ready to assemble the benedicts.

  Poach the eggs - Fill a large saucepan with 3 inches of water. Bring the water to a boil and reduce the heat until the water steadily simmers lightly. Add the 1/2 teaspoon of red wine vinegar; this will help the egg whites curl around the yolks as the eggs poach. Break the eggs, one at a time into a small bowl, and slide them into the simmering water. Simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, or until they are done to your liking. Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon.  Or, if you have an electric food steamer with a rice bowl, you can cheat like I do, and poach your eggs in it.  *wink*

  Assembly - Spread a layer of mayonnaise on one side of the toasted bread. Add about 1/2 cup of lettuce, 2 slices of bacon, followed by one poached egg on top of each toast slice. Top with the relish and enjoy!

A Blast from the Past

"What is patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child?" - Lin Yutang

  We live in a world full of food trends.  Food trends?!  Who would have thought as a younger self we would be in a time where we see food as being trendy.  In a day of constant flux, sometimes we forget the past.  The New York Public Library is looking to preserve our food history, and they would certainly appreciate any help they can get.  Got a minute?  Have more?  Then check out this link:  menus.nypl.org

  The NYPL is in the process of transcribing historical menus, and they need a helping hand.  This past week, I've been transcribing when I have a few spare moments of idle time.  And, it has been very interesting.  Menus from the 1800s-1950s, from railways to the Waldorf, all sorts of cuisines...all of these dishes and drinks are being put into a searchable database.  Who cares?  Chefs seeking inspiration, historians, authors looking to add that last detail that sucks you in...the every day person who is just plain ol' curious.  Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing how this project develops. 

  The process is very easy.  Pick a menu that looks interesting and look for stuff you can eat, drink, or in some cases, smoke.  Click on the first letter of the line, and you'll be taken to a screen where you can type in what you see and the price.  Keep in mind, many are written in a time when most prices were under a dollar so that 40 on the menu is .40, not $40.  And that's pretty much it!   But as a first time user, I highly recommend reading the Help section (http://menus.nypl.org/help).  It will give you a clear idea on how to enter some items properly for the database. 

  I hope I've piqued your interest, and you'll take a few seconds to at least swing by to see what it is all about!

Still Kickin'

  I'm still alive and kickin', despite the lack of posting.  I deeply apologize, but man, the school year has started, and I've had to hit the floor running.  We're already more than 3 weeks in!  

  Still cooking, and my newest object of obsession is.... *drumroll*  meals and desserts for two.  I'm really having hits and misses on the dessert area.  I hope to start sharing some of my experiences with you fine folks soon.  So, sit back, pour a glass of tea, and relax.  I'll be back in action before you know it!