Building a Cook's Library

I don't have enough "real" cookbooks besides the Better Homes and Garden one, which sucks because it's full of bland, uninspiring recipes that are a little too 1950s casseroley for me.

But you do need classic, "bible" type cookbooks. I only have thin, not-as-useful ones that I got as gifts, like a tapas cookbook, an Asian vegetables cookbook, a "best-ever chicken" cookbook and some random international cookbook. I also have two dessert bibles (Great Desserts From Great Chefs; Dessert Circus), and those are very good. But I need more bible-like ones for other foods and other types of baking. Cooking is a religion, and you need textual inspiration and affirmation.

Books for which I intend to scour Liberal College City's used bookstores or get on my next book budget or birthday, which I also suggest to you in order of importance (e.g get the high-ranked ones first, the Chez Panisse ones are not as necessary to building your store of skills and ideas):

How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman (this is like the New Testament)

Barefoot Contessa at Home by Ina Garten (I like books for home cooks; too fancy and you'll never make them)

Jacques Pepin's Table (out of print, but a good book!)

The Tartine Bakery Cookbook (the best bakery in America)

Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child (low ranked only because the above are more versatile and cross-cuisine)

The Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook (the slow foods movement: a good idea, hard to keep up, hard to sustain in less agricultural parts of the country)

Chez Panisse Desserts (the Tartine book is better)

Irresponsible Picnic: Lemon-Fennel Chicken Sandwiches and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yesterday, with some help, I escaped the library by going on an impromptu, irresponsible picnic--the best kind! We went up to a nearby park that was really beautiful, sat next to a lovely lake, watched ducks swim, and froze our bottoms while filling our bellies with Not-Turkey Sandwiches. It was very awesome.

Next time I am packing a thermos of laced hot cocoa. First I have to buy a thermos. And whatever you lace hot cocoa with.

Lemon-Fennel Chicken Sandwiches With Sauteed Peppers, Onions, Arugula, and Basil Pesto

See the recipe for basil pesto.

Ingredients for Two Sandwiches:

3 chicken thigh cutlets (or 2 chicken breasts, if you must use dry, bland, healthy white meat)

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp. fennel

1/4 cup of flour to dredge

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 red bell pepper, julienned into small strips

1/2 onion, cut into thin half-rings

2 slices of swiss cheese

1 tbs. basil pesto (or more)

Handful of arugula

1/4 cup olive oil

Two ciabatta sandwich buns, split in half (or just cut up a ciabatta however you want)

Salt, pepper, and fennel up the chicken pieces on both sides. Squeeze the juice of the lemon over the chicken pieces, and allow to marinate. At least 10 minutes for light flavor, a few hours or overnight for total juiceyness and strong lemon flavor

Heat the oil in a skillet until ver hot. Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour, tap excess off. Fry in pan, 3-4 minutes each side (or more) until crisp and browned and cooked through. Remove to a plate. After cool, cut into thin slices.

Add the peppers and onions to the skillet, and sautee until soft and slightly charred.

Spread the homemade pesto on the toasted ciabatta. Arrange everything in the bread to your liking, and "sandwich" together.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Underbake for soft, chewy cookies, bake a little longer for crispier ones. I do both.


2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1.5 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.

Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended.

Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup* at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

* 1/4 cup cannot be right, as it made a cookie approximately 8″ across, an egregious excess by any standard. For a typically oversized cookie, use 1/8 cup.

Hey Presto, Basil Pesto!

Instead of a picture of green paste, I give you a picture of love: a basil plant given to me by Amber, and the source of many pesto meals. I have to wait a while between pesto yumminess, but fresh pesto is worth it!

I toss this with pasta and grated parmesan, or spread it on sandwiches. Pesto makes everything better!

Basil Pesto

2cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts
3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Special equipment needed: A food processor

1. Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. (If you are using walnuts instead of pine nuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first, before adding the basil.) Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.

2. Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Makes 1 cup.

Grad Student Eating

Cereal

Ingredients:

Cereal
Milk
Bowl


1. Open box. Pour desired amount.
2. Add milk to desired ratio of dry-to-wet
3. Be careful not to over-milk, as this will result in soggy cereal. Too little milk, though, and the flakes will masticate into a dry paste.


Turkey Sandwich

Ingredients:

-Two slices whole wheat Orowheat bread
-2 slices each of Foster Farms' oven roasted turkey; ham; and smoked turkey. This may be found in their "Club Sandwich" variety pack
-1 tablepspoon Best Foods mayonaise
-1 Roma tomato, sliced thin
-A couple of leaves of romaine lettuce
-1 slice of Provolone Cheese

1. Spread the mayo on the bread. Layer three pieces of lunch meat on each piece, to give your sandwich stability.
2. Arrange tomato slices on one piece of bread and lunch meat
3. Place the lettuce on the other slice of bread and lunch meat
4. Put the cheese on either piece, and "sandwich" the two slices of laden bread together.
5. Cut in half diagonally or perpendicular, enjoy.


Seriously, I cannot eat like this anymore. I would rather not eat. I might be able to go back to pizza again, but I cannot eat another turkey sandwich, and I've only had three this week.

I have taken to making quick pasta, which I can bring to school for a long day of work and eat cold, because there are no public microwaves at Liberal College Law. Only in the journal offices, and I don't affiliate. But I would rather eat cold pasta than another turkey sandwich, the thought of which fills me with nausea and tears.

Fortunately, a savory savior is coming at 9:45 pm tomorrow.

Chicken Soup

I have served this soup to TC, The Philosophical Werewolf, The Roving Commenter, 1L,* and The Dude, to much acclaim. It is the Soup of Friendship and Love. It is The Roomie's favorite soup, even after she went vegetarian, making it the soup for which people make moral compromises. It is currently my only solace in my state of feverish illness, and the tastiest placebo I know.

It's also the easiest way to make chicken soup without using a whole chicken, which I think is 1) needlessly difficult to butcher, and 2) inefficient. It uses only dark, flavorful meat, but very low fat due to the fact that I remove the skin and fat. After refrigeration, no fat surfaces to the top.

It takes a while to make, but if you make it the following multi-stage way, you'll build up the flavors of your stock layer by layer, starting with the things that take the longest to cook but impart the most flavor. The onions add a great flavor, the carrots a nice sweetness, the celery a bright flavor, and the thyme the ultimate finish. Of course, you could do all the sous cheffery the night before, toss all the vegetables in at once after the stock is built, and it'll end up tasting good anyway.

Warning: this is a recipe for 10 quarts of soup. No less, maybe even more. I have a good-sized stock pot, and this is all just fits.


Ingredients:

10-12 (at least) chicken thighs, de-boned, skinned, trimmed of fat, and cut into bite-sized pieces. Reserve the bones.
3-4 tablespoons of salt
One large yellow onion, cut into small wedges
1 lb. yukon gold potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 lb. large carrots, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 lb. celery, cut into bite-sized pieces
5-6 sprigs of thyme, tied into a bundle
Optional: 1/2 lb. pasta


Put the chicken + chicken bones into the stock pot, along with the onions and salt. Fill the pot 7/8 full, giving it room to boil.

Bring to a boil on high heat, and skim off the scum as it rises and discard. After it comes to a boil, there will seem to be no end to the scummy seepage, until you turn down the heat to medium-high. Stir the pot as you skim, because this will bring the scum to the top. Check the color of the stock, which should be turning a nice pale yellow.

This takes about an hour for the water to boil and . So while you wait for things to boil, cook, and release scum, you can chop the vegetables. Otherwise, this will be cooking for about an hour and a half, before you add the first round of vegetables:

Add the carrots , and cook for a half hour. While the carrots are cooking, peel and chop the potatoes, and add those along with the thyme. They cook for another half hour. While they cook, chop up the celery, and toss that in, and cook for another half hour, until everything is tender and the thyme leaves have totally fallen apart from their bundle. Fish out the chicken bones, and serve.

In total, this soup will have been cooking for 3 hours on medium-high. If you want to add more body to the soup and make it a little more filling, add pasta in the last 15 minutes. I did for the first time yesterday, and the starchy release added a nice body to the broth and the noodles made me feel fuller longer. Of course, upon reheating the noodles became swollen and slightly mushy. This isn't that bad though, because my usual MO is to bake biscuits and tear them up into my soup and make faux dumplings.

* From 1L, a message decrying his omission from the list of Chicken Soup Lovers:

I am DISGUSTED and defeated to have been left out of your post on Chicken Soup. Not only have I had it, but I loved it. I demand, pursuant to The Rules of Belle Procedure (RBP 15(a)(2)) that you amend the post to include my pseudonym, 1L, noting that I've had it.

Duly noted, and pursuant to RBP 15(a)(2), amended in favor of petitioner 1L. It is so ordered.

Fusilli with Sundried Tomatoes, Basil, and Asiago

Last week, when my pizza supply ran out, I was faced with the conundrum of foraging through my dried goods pantry. It was either another bowl of oatmeal or a box of crackers, as I didn't want to defrost anything. But then I rememered that I had pasta, and could eat "real food" after all.

Ingredients:

Whatever pasta you think is enough for one person

2-3 tablespoons sundried tomatoes packed in oil

1/4 cup shreded Asiago cheese (parmesan will also work, of course)

1 tablespoon olive oil

Freshly torn basil

Crushed red pepper flakes to taste

Cook the pasta, and drain well. Toss with the tablespoon of olive oil, however many sundried tomatoes you want, and crushed red pepper

Add cheese, toss again. Thow the torn basil leaves on top.

Eat, satisfied that you can create a not-completely-inedible meal from your pantry.

Sage Porkchops, Yams Baked with Cranberries and Walnuts, and Cranberry-Apple Cobbler

I made this meal on the fly, literally: my plane landed last Monday at 11:30 am, I got home by 1 pm after waiting for baggage and taking the door-to-door shuttle, quickly typed up an assignment, jumped on the bus and had class from 2:20 to 5:30, then I went grocery shopping on the way home, and whipped up this meal in a couple of hours. Almost all was ready by the time The Dude came by at 8:30 pm.

It is not hard to make pork or lamb chops. The simpler, the better, and they cook up quick, making them a good weekday meal (e.g., not soups, stews, roasts). The meat should be cooked right before serving, and not completely cooked through--pink is okay, even for pork. The sides are what take a while to make, although I am not entirely sure that The Dude likes my side dishes. He never seems to finish them, and while that may ostensibly be due to a somewhat reasonable desire to limit carbs, he polishes off my desserts. This makes me wonder if I am not correct in my intuition that I am a better baker than I am a cook. In any case, for those of you that like my side dishes, the recipes:


Pan Roasted Pork Chops With Sage and Garlic

Ingredients:

Two pork chops

10-12 sage leaves

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

Freshly ground sea salt and pepper

In a large, heavy skillet, heat up 1/4 cup of olive oil until hot. Drop in about 10 sage leaves and fry until crispy, just a few minutes. Remove with slotted spoon or tongs or chopsticks and drain on paper towels. Do the same with the garlic slices.

The oil is now infused with sage and garlic. Fry the pork chops, already seasoned with salt and pepper, in the oil until well browned on both sides. The middle should be pink and not tough.

Add the sage leaves and garlic back to the pan, and the juice of one lemon, swirl everything together to form a sauce, and spoon over the plated pork chops.

Serve with these side dishes, which you've already prepared and kept warm:

Sauteed Zucchini and Yellow Squash

This is not hard. Slice up 2-3 squash, sautee in 2 tablespoons of butter until tender and browned, and grind copious amounts of sea salt and pepper over it. Grate the zest of a lemon on top. Lemon zest makes everything better.

This works really well with blue lake green beans, which are at least tasty. Also, asparagus.

Squash and other such vegetable marrows are watery, bland things, and I serve them because they are good for you and usually on sale.

Yams Baked With Cranberries and Walnuts

This would have been better with pecans, which I didn't have on hand:

Ingredients:

One and a half to two large yams, diced

1 cup of fresh cranberries

3/4 cup walnuts

1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

3 tablespoons of butter, diced

Toss the yams, nuts, cranberries and brown sugar together, and put in a large baking dish. Pour the orange juice over the yams, letting it sink to the bottom. Add the diced butter on top.

Bake at 350 F in the center rack of the oven for about an hour (to an hour and a half), tossing the yams in the juice every half hour to prevent drying out and burning on top. The yams will absorb most of the orange juice, which combined with the brown sugar and butter will make a sweet, tangy sauce.

Cranberry Apple Cobbler

I must credit Daniel Goldberg, blog buddy and master of MedHumanities Blog, for this recipe. I must also wish him felcitations and acclamations for the recent birth of his daughter, Maya-chan, born on November 29 at 7 lbs. and 8 oz. According to Daniel, "she is already translating Latin into French, and has rejected 5 of the most eligible bachelors in the nursery."

No doubt, she is already a foodie as well!

The Dude and The Roomie ate this up, and The Best Friend (who happened to be in town for a day) cried delightfully that it was "sweet, nutty, tangy goodness!"

(I used two 9x6 dishes for the following, tartlet pans would be prettier):

Ingredients:

2 medium baking apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

1 cup fresh cranberries

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup chopped nuts (being from Texas, I always use pecans wherever possible, but walnuts would work fine, too)

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 cup pastry flour (all-purpose flour will also work)

1/2 cup butter melted

2 teaspoons finely shredded orange peel

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease four tartlet pans and set aside. In a large bowl, mix cranberries, apple slices, 1/2 cup of the sugar, and nuts.

Spoon mixture evenly into pans; set side.

2. For topping, in a medium bowl, combine eggs, flour, melted butter, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, orange peel, vanilla, and a pinch of salt.

Stir with a fork until smooth, and spread topping over fruit mixture.

3. Bake about 30 mins or until topping is golden and fruit is tender. Cool slightly on a wire rack. Dust with confectioners sugar and serve warm.

These can be made up to 24 hrs ahead and chilled. Reheat in a 350 F oven for 15 minutes or until warm.