Pantry Essentials: Tubed Tomato Paste
November 30th, 2007
The easiest way to get great tomato flavor into your dishes in the winter when good, fresh tomatoes aren’t available is tomato paste. I never ended up using the canned stuff on a regular basis because it tends to be overly acidic, and because I never could use an entire can. Luckily, tomato paste is available in smaller quantity and (much) better quality in tubes — similar to travel-sized toothpaste tubes. While you end up paying more per ounce than canned paste, it’s a lot tastier, a lot more useful, and always on hand when you need it. While the tubes will probably run you $4-5 dollars at your grocery store, you can get a supply (12 tubes) at Amazon for under $25, which works out to under $2 a pop.
For a unique, flavorful, fast pizza sauce, combine tomato paste, our roasted shallot vinaigrette, and olive oil.
Balsamic Onions and Goat Cheese Quesadilla
I discovered Meghan’s blog, Tales of a Culinary Novice, through a comment she left here recently, and she’s got some super swanky recipes up. One in particular caught my eye while I was there: Balsamic Onions and Goat Cheese Quesadillas. Mmm. I’m going to go make a few of these right now.
Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette
November 27th, 2007
Home-made vinaigrettes are a great way to add a lot of flavor to a dish without a lot of cost or a lot of fat. Here, roasted shallots give the vinaigrette a great balance of sweetness and earthiness, and provide body. Although a white wine or even sherry vinegar would be a more classic choice here, the rice vinegar allows the complexity of the shallot to shine.
I paired the vinaigrette with mizuna and pear, but it would go well with a variety of salads (spinach and apple, endive and walnuts, etc) or any number of entrees (pork medallions, roasted new potatoes).
Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette with a mizuna and D’anjou pear salad
Find recipes for leftovers at LeftoverChef
Looking for a use for those 12 pounds of turkey you didn’t eat yesterday? Leftover Chef lets you search for recipes based on what you’ve got hanging around in your fridge waiting to be used. Remember kids, there’s no better way to save money than using all of your leftovers.
Michelada
November 22nd, 2007
Michelada
Michelada
- Juice from half a lime
- Coarse salt
- A dash Tabasco
- A dash Worcestershire Sauce
- Ice
- Negro Modelo
Rim a highball glass or tumbler with lime and salt. Squeeze lime into the bottom of the glass, then add Tabasco and Worcestershire; mix. Fill glass with ice. Carefully pour in beer — it’ll want to foam over. Enjoy, topping off the beer as necessary.
Rouxbe - Video Cooking Demonstrations
For the audio-visual learners among you, Rouxbe (pronounced ruby) offers up a variety of step-by-step videos for different recipes and techniques. While the narrator quickly lulled me into a deep slumber, the videos are beautifully shot and edited, and the recipes all look to be good quality, if not the most adventurous.
Fermented Cacao
November 18th, 2007
In Tyler’s post about the origins of chocolate, he wonders about the nature of fermenting cacao. The comments resulted in some salivation over Dagoba Xocolatl. Now, the New Yorker’s food impressario Bill Buford tell us about both. Ostensibly a profile of Dagoba’s founder Frederick Schilling, the his article leads the reader through expositions, alchemistry, assassinations, plantations, sex, mythology, history, and finally into a steaming vat of steaming cacao:
“Badaró then removed his clothes. He landed with an awkward splash. Three of us were in a trough that might comfortable accommodate an adult pig, and the fermenting cacao was up to our necks. Badaró had taken to invoking some god, humming in his deep voice. “We must immerse ourselves and connect to the Aztec gods,” he said. He disappeared, sinking below the surface.
Unfortunately for the eager reader, Extreme Chocolate: the quest for the perfect bean, from the October 29th magazine is not available online; and those unable to find this work of gonzo gastronomy in print must content themselves with NPR’s interview with Buford and a few pictures.
Persimmon Jerk Chicken
November 16th, 2007
One of the fun and challenging things about belonging to a CSA or produce delivery service is finding ways to use ingredients you might not have picked out on your own. Having received Fuyu persimmons for a fourth straight week and growing tired of eating them out of hand, I resolved to find a savory application for the persimmon’s unique taste.
Cursory research online revealed little besides persimmon pudding in terms of cooking applications. Undaunted, I pushed ahead.
I suspected the tropical flavors of persimmon would pair well with a traditional Jamaican jerk sauce, so I set out to do some testing. Halving and broiling the persimmons revealed complex flavors of mango, apple, roasted squash, and spice.
Roasted Persimmons
Guide to Food Photography Gear
The author of the excellent food photography blog Still Life With … has just posted her updated gear list for food photography. Remember it isn’t necessary to have the best gear to take nice photos; but it certainly doesn’t hurt.