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The Ten Most Recent Posts By SaraBir

From Talk

Levee House Rolls

My first restaurant job was at the Levee House Café in Marietta, Ohio. I got all of my best restaurant insanity stories from that place, partially because of characters who worked there, and partially because I was volatile and young at the time. I broke their refrigerator once because I had a fit and kicked it. This says a lot about both my temper and the state of the refrigerator.

The Levee House is still there, and they are still serving the wonderful bran rolls that keep locals returning. They’re soft and tender and lightly studded with bran. Levee House roll fan Pete Hoffman asked me for the recipe months ago, but it was only now that I made a batch and wrote down the measurements, which, true to restaurant style, were previously vagaries like “fill this pot to here with water” and “get a big blob of Crisco…”

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 cups water
  • 1/2 cup shortening
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 4 teaspoons active dry yeast
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup wheat bran
  • 6 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more or less

PROCEDURE

1. Bring the water to a boil. In a large bowl, use a sturdy wooden spoon to beat the shortening with the sugar and salt until combined. Pour the boiling water over the shortening mixture and stir until the shortening melts.

2. Sprinkle the yeast over the water. Let sit until the yeast becomes foamy and creamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in 4 cups flour, then the bran. Add the eggs, one at a time. Continue stirring in flour, one cup at a time, until you have a sticky, slightly loose dough. Knead with your hands for about three minutes. Dust the top of the dough with flour, cover with a towel, and set aside to rise until the dough doubles, about 2 hours.

3. Heat the oven to 425 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet. To shape the rolls, gather a blob of dough in floured hands. Flatten it into a rough disc shape. Making a circle with your thumb and first finger, squeeze the disc of dough through this, and pinch it off when you have a ball about the size of a small lemon (2-1/2 to 3 ounces of dough). Repeat with remaining dough, placing rolls on the baking sheet about two inches apart.

4. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside until doubled in volume, about an hour. Bake until lightly browned on top, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool slightly and serve. These are heavenly when consumed shortly after they are baked, with a little butter. Makes about 2 dozen. Note: You can either space the rolls a few inches apart so they bake separately, or closer together so they bake like money bread and you have to tear them apart. Both are nice, but if you like crust, choose the former. Also, if you are not a big fan of shortening, substitute a stick of unsalted butter.

From Recipes

Barley Risotto with Mushrooms

The flavor of barley works especially well with mushrooms. I like asparagus in this, too, but it's out of season; if you want to get your greens on, throw in a few fist fulls of rinsed, fresh spinach during the last several minutes of cooking. Browning the mushrooms over high heat makes them especially meaty; it also keeps them from getting slimy and overcooked.

Ingredients

10 to 12 ounces white mushrooms 4 to 6 cups vegetable or chicken stock 1-2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon butter 1/2 small onion, minced 1 large clove garlic, minced 1 cup pearled barley ½ cup dry white wine 2 to 3 tablespoons mascarpone cheese

Procedure

1. Brush off the mushrooms and separate the caps from the stems, reserving stems. If the mushrooms caps are small, halve them; if they are large, quarter them.

2. In a medium saucepan, add stock and mushroom stems. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover, and keep at a very gentle simmer.

3. Meanwhile, put a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and add the mushroom caps. Brown without disturbing for about a minute, then toss and continue to brown mushrooms on all sides. You want the mushrooms to be golden brown; they will shrink a bit in size, but not much, and they will not release much liquid. (It is best to have plenty of room in the pan, so brown the mushrooms in two batches, if needed). Remove mushrooms from pan; set aside.

4. In the same pan, lower heat to medium and melt 1 tablespoon butter. Add minced onion and cook, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. Add the barley and cook 1 minute, stirring to coat with butter. Add the wine to the pan. Stir until almost all of the wine is absorbed.

5. Meanwhile, remove the solids for the stock; discard solids. Keep stock at a simmer. Add about half a cup stock to the barley mixture and stir until almost all stock is absorbed. Continue adding stock one ladle at a time, tasting barley periodically to check doneness.

6. When barley mostly cooked but still has some bite, add the mushrooms to the pan. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Cook until barley is fully tender. Add a few last splashes of stock if needed (you want the risotto to be loose but not soupy), remove from heat, and stir in mascarpone cheese. Adjust seasoning, divide between plates or bowls, and garnish with freshly grated parmesan cheese. Serves 4 as a main course.

From Recipes

Lemon Pepper Cocktail Bread

This easy, sandwich-like appetizer is not particularly refined—it’s messy and buttery—but since it combines cheese and bacon, no one will mind too much. Just be sure to set out lots of napkins so everyone does not muck up their glasses of white wine with greasy fingerprints.

It was only recently I discovered this was not a main course. My overworked mother used to make it for dinner when my father was traveling out of town on business. It’s not very healthful, which is probably why we kids loved it. My brother called it “loaf.” So you could enjoy this before dinner or for dinner, but in any case I wouldn’t recommend calling it “loaf” unless you are serving someone under 10.

Ingredients

1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter, softened 1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh chives 1-1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 2 teaspoons poppy seeds 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 1 1-pound load unsliced Italian bread about 12 ounces sliced Swiss cheese 1/2 pound bacon, cooked, drained, and cumbled

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Make the lemon-pepper butter: In a large bowl, beat the butter until smooth. Beat in chives, lemon zest, pepper, and poppy seeds. Mix the mustard and lemon juice together and slowly beat in until combined. Season to taste with salt and set aside.

2. Being careful to keep the bottom crust intact, cut incisions in the bread crosswise, making slices about 3/4 inch thick and leaving bottom 3/4 inch of the bread uncut (you’ll wind up with an accordionesque loaf). Place loaf on a sheet of aluminum foil. Reserve 3 tablespoons lemon-pepper butter, then spread remaining butter on all cut surfaces of the bread. Insert one slice cheese in each incision, then sprinkle bacon into each incision. Spread reserved 3 tablespoons lemon butter on top and sides of loaf.

3. Wrap loosely in foil, and bake for about 20 minutes, until the cheese is melted. Unwrap the top and bake an additional 5 minutes. Serves 6 to 12 as an appetizer.

*Note: If you want to be classy, use gruyere cheese. If you can’t find it sliced, grate it instead.

From Recipes

Chicken Tarragon

In honor (or rather acknowledgement) of Fashion Week, here’s a recipe from 1955’s Fashion Cooks, by the Fashion Group of Chicago. It was contributed by Patricia Dougherty Boysen, the past regional director of the Fashion Group of Chicago, and it’s the sort of recipe that never goes out of fashion. I’d omit the teaspoon of “kitchen sauce” (Kitchen Bouquet) from the recipe, on the grounds that these days, few people have such an item in their kitchen. If you brown the chicken sufficiently before baking, it should have a lovely color without the kitchen sauce.

Ingredients

(Serves 6 to 8)

2 young, small fryer chickens, each cut into 6 or 8 pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
½ cup unsalted butter
1 cup dry white wine
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh tarragon leaves, chopped
1 teaspoon kitchen sauce, optional

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Over low heat, melt butter in a heavy skillet, and brown chicken slowly until golden brown, adding more butter if necessary (to avoid crowding the skillet, you may want to do this in two batches).

2. Transfer pieces to a casserole or baking dish, and add wine, tarragon, and kitchen sauce, if using, to the drippings in the skillet. Pour over the top of chicken, cover, and bake 45 to 50 minutes, until the thickest pieces are fork tender.

3. Arrange chicken on a warm serving platter. Skim fat from pan drippings; discard fat, and transfer drippings to a skillet. Over high heat, cook until reduced by at least half. Pour some of the reduced drippings over chicken, and serve the rest on the side. .

Note: Fashion Cooks encourages browning the chicken and placing it in the casserole with the sauce ingredients ahead of time. Cover and chill until baking time. "Pat serves this with a pilaf, a green salad and fruit dessert," the book says.

From Recipes

Pasta with Tomatoes, Corn, and Feta

My friend Bryan asked me for suggestions for utilizing the abundant crop of tomatoes in his backyard (he lives in California, where tomatoes lazily ripen into the early fall). I told him to can them, but not everyone has the energy or equipment to do that. In the meantime, you can always eat lots of fresh tomatoes. It’s your last summer fling.

This pasta dish came about from my last visit to my parents’ house. They had corn on the cob, beautiful beefsteak tomatoes, and fresh basil in dire need of use, so I threw them all together for a simple but flavorful pasta dish. Juicy tomatoes help make the sauce for the pasta, so don’t use plum tomatoes for this. If you don’t have fresh corn, use frozen, which is often superior to out-of-season fresh corn.

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

1/2 pound uncooked pasta (spaghetti, linguine, or fettuccini)
3 to 4 large, ripe tomatoes, cored (the more tomatoes the better)
2 to 3 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels (thawed if frozen)
2 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced crosswise
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 bunch (three cups loosely packed) basil, thinly sliced
4 to 6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

Procedure

1. Put a large pot of salted water on to boil and cook the pasta according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile, chop the tomatoes. Place in a large bowl and set aside.
Toast the corn in a heavy, dry medium skillet over medium-high, stirring occasionally, heat until you see charred spots on the corn, 2 to 3 minutes. Add toasted corn to tomatoes.

3. In a small skillet, heat the garlic and olive oil over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is a light golden-brown (do not allow to burn). Pour over corn-tomato mixture. Stir in the basil and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

4. When the pasta is al dente, drain it quickly, allowing some of the cooking water to cling. Add pasta to tomato-corn mixture, toss with the feta cheese, and season to taste with more salt and pepper.

Note: You can substitute Parmesan cheese for the feta, if you wish.

From Recipes

Vitello Tonnato

Per VickyB’s request, here’s a recipe for vitello tonnato, a famous Italian appetizer of cold, sliced veal served with a creamy tuna sauce. Save your beautiful ruby tuna steak for another night, because vitello tonnato is always made with canned tuna. The most labor-intensive part here is cooking the veal, which itself is not very difficult—and feel free to use leftover roast veal instead.

The following recipe is a condensed version of the one that appears in Laurousse Gastronomique, and it’s a bit old-school. If the process of browning veal bones and deglazing a pan just to get a few tablespoons of liquid strikes you as overly fussy, just skip it altogether, and instead thin the sauce with water or chicken stock.

Continue reading »

From Recipes

Molasses Cookies

This was my Grandmother’s recipe. I don’t recall her ever making these, to be honest, but by the time I came along she’d already raised six kids, and I think she’d happily put her baking days behind her.

Molasses cookies are comfortingly simple, and they travel well—perfect for sending in a care package, if you are into that sort of thing. These have just the right amount of spice to compliment, not dominate, the molasses.

Continue reading »

From Recipes

Crew Honey Apple Bars

This recipe comes from Judy Chorpenning, who for years worked tirelessly to provide wholesome food to my high school’s crew team when we traveled to regattas. She and other parents of crew team members would set up at tent at the race site and offer us cookies, granola, fruit, and crock pots of vegetable soup. For reasons I’m still unsure of—perhaps in the interest of our athletic performance—white sugar was barred form these foods. Thusly these apple bars, which include a touch of honey, are not terribly sweet, but it allows the flavor of the apples to really come through. Judy Chorpenning passed away a few years ago, but making these now helps me recall both her kindness and her baking skills.

Continue reading »

From Recipes

Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies

"Ed’s post last week":http://www.edlevineeats.com/post/1580/ got me thinking about how hard it is to find a really great chocolate chip cookie; the issue is that no one cookie can be the chocolate chip cookie for all people. Some prefer crisp cookies, while others insist on gooey, doughy ones. These cookies tread the happy middle ground between the two.

This is one of the great urban myth recipes—supposedly, years ago, a woman dining at Neiman Marcus asked for their cookie recipe, was told it would cost $2.50, and was later shocked to find a $250 charge on her credit card. For revenge, she shared the recipe with as many people as possible. Even if the story is a fabrication, the cookies are great, and the addition of ground oats adds to their wholesome appeal. This version is from Nancy Baggett’s _The All-American Cookie Book_.

Continue reading »

From Recipes

Chocolate Crinkles

This time of year always arrives with the bittersweet pang of summer’s twilight mingled with anticipation for the season to come. To ease the transition, all this post-Labor Day week we’ll have recipes for lunchbox-ready cookies.

The dough for chocolate crinkles is remarkably similar to brownie batter, so the key to making these is to think like you are baking brownies—that is, underbake them to yield a rich and fudgy final product; overbaking them results in a dry and crumbly mess. This recipe is based on the classic that appeared in Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book.

Continue reading »

The Ten Most Recent Comments By SaraBir

From Required Eating

Your Worst Meal Ever

I was in fourth grade, and we were visiting Walt Disney World's then-newish Epcot Center. I was young and a sucker and really did believe in the animitronic magic of the place. Epcot center had an international gallery of plazas pretending to be other countries--Germany, England, China, etc. One night we ate dinner in a fake Aztec temple in fake Mexico, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. The following night my parents made a dinner reservation for the restaurant in fake Morocco. The restaurant was brand-new, nearly empty, and totally screwed up. We waited two hours for food I was not interested in at all in the first place. I fell asleep with my head in my mother's lap, more out of boredom than fatigue. I awoke to a dry, bland mess of couscous. It was midnight by the time we got out of there. The only redeeming quality of fake Morocco was the belly dancer.

From Talk

Leftover White Bread

It depends on the kind of white bread you have. Whait sandwich bread does not hold up as well in many of the following applications, but bread pudding, croutons, and bread salad all will work. If it's crusty white bread, like a country loaf, then the world is your oyster. Here's a list of ideas, Google away. Oh, and I do realize this post is one day too late, but oh well.

-bread pudding, sweet or savory

-bread salad, a.k.a. panzanella

-big-ass croutons to top a salad or plop in brothy soup

...or, whatever the bread, you can always make it into fresh breadcrumbs to top macaroni and cheese, or a cassoulet-type assemblage of beans, garlic, tomatoes, and the charcuterie of your choice. Or use the breadcrumbs to bread a chicken, pork, or veal cutlet, or even a catfish fillet. Saute it, squeeze lemon over the works, and there you go!

From Serious Eats: New York

The Best Bagel in New York City

I fear I will sound like a ninny saying this, but I'm fond of Brooklyn Bagel Company in Astoria on Broadway. Why is it called Brooklyn Bagel Company when the place is in Queens? Are there more Brooklyn Bagel Companies in Brooklyn? I don't know. But I like their bagels a lot.

Mini bagels are the size that regular bagles used to be. Mini bagels are the way to go, because you get a bigger ratio of chewy exterior to bready interior. Having just moved from California, most any New York bagel is better than what I'm used to.

From Talk

vitello tonnato

Hi, Vicky. I haven't made vitello tonnato in quite a while--like, 7 years--but I'll comb through some cookbooks and see what I can do.

From Serious Eats: New York

For Sale: Eating Pleasure. Price: $2

Casa del Pan (probalby one of a thousand similarly named Casa del Pans in the NY metro area) in Astoria on Broadway and 38th Street has these great beef empanadas for $1.25. It's a rich, rich beef filling encased in a substantial yet flaky dough. Casa del Pan is open 24 hours, and these savory little beef empanadas have sated my drunken hunger on a few late nights. I had one for lunch today, in fact (my first sober daylight empanada) and it was surprisingly filling. I paired it with their passion fruit drink for a vaguely Papaya King-esque taste sensation.

From Serious Eats: New York

Delicious for a Dollar?

Alas, if only a cream puff at Beard Papa were not $1.25!

From Talk

Where do you find great wings?

Dinosaur best in the city? It's good, but please tell me there's something better. The sauce is way too sweet, cloyingly so.

From Serious Eats: New York

Is a Fancy-Pants Burger A Contradiction in Terms?

The best burger I ever had was at Manka's Inverness Lodge in Inverness, CA--they used to have a weekly burger night, but they unwisely did away with it a number of years ago. Anyway, the burger was stupendous--juicy with flavorful char. Manka's takes pains to squeeze as many food pedigrees onto their menu as possible, and the Hobb's Bacon, etc. put the fancy pants on this burger.

Still, I like me an In-N'-Out sometimes. Sizzler does a pretty decent burger, and it's in the "gray zone" of burger snobbism--not fast food, not white tablecloth.

Folks, if you eat something and it tastes good, be happy. Some of us might not be down with dropping $20 on a burger, but is anyone making you? It is not ideologically flawed to hang with both fancypants and fast-food.

From Serious Eats: New York

Why do most birthday cakes suck?

As a poor person, I usually offer to make birthday cakes for friends. Everyone wins--I don't have to run all over town searching for a meaningful gift, and the friend gets a homemade cake. Chocolate with 7-minute icing or yellow cake with chocolate buttercream are always big hits, but a dense Queen of Sheba torte is actually easier to make, and it serves hundereds of people because it's so rich. But really, who has time to make a cake?

I grew up in the midwest, which has no Carvel. Now we live about a block away from a Carvel, and while I'm underwhelmed with their ice cream, I'm curious about this Fudgie the Whale cake. Is it any good if you're not a little kid or an adult with Carvel nostalgia?

From Serious Eats: New York

Does a BLT Need the L?

I'm a fan of the L. The crisp edges of a toasted pullman loaf (or toasted ciabatta, or challah, whatever the bread vehicle) are dry and pointy, while the crispness of lettuce is cool and soothing. So you get two kinds of crispness.

I know iceberg lettuce is held in distain in it's not in a wedge smothered in blue cheese, but I quite fancy it on burgers, tuna sandwiches, and BLTs. It's all about texture, not flavor.

Responses to Comments by SaraBir

From Required Eating

Your Worst Meal Ever

This really happened when I was in Georgia for my father's second funeral.

A sandwich supper that consisted of cold Velveeta and Treet sandwiches on Wonder bread dressed with MIracle Whip mixed with ketchup and pickle relish. Served with Mountain Dew, choice of regular or diet.

Do you hear the banjos?

Tina

From Serious Eats: New York

Delicious for a Dollar?

Chelsea79, I didn't know the Dumpling House has great wonton soup. I'm definitely going to try it.

From Serious Eats: New York

Delicious for a Dollar?

At the Dumpling House, on Eldridge between Broome and Grand, $1 will get you a pint of the best wonton soup you've ever had, 5 succulent fried pork and scallion dumplings, or 4 tasty pork buns. A giant sesame pancake sandwich tips the scale at $1.25 for vegetable and $1.50 for tuna or beef, but its worth the extra quarters.

From Serious Eats: New York

Why do most birthday cakes suck?

"Moist cake and a not too sweet frosting." I like that as a birthday cake mantra. Maybe we should add "smooth, not grainy" to the frosting description.

From Serious Eats: New York

The Best Bagel in New York City

Thanks for the tip, Decca. I've never heard of the Bagel Store. I will check them out next time I'm in Williamsburg.

From Serious Eats: New York

Why do most birthday cakes suck?

I agree with Ed. Most birthday cakes are tasteless cavity traps. I like the red velvet cupcakes from Amy's bakery. I haven't tried the cake version, but I'm sure it has to be the same recipe. For the Red Velvet cupcake she uses a whip cream for the top (not icing), and her cupcake is moist. For me, it's all about moist cake and a not too sweet frosting.

From Serious Eats: New York

The Best Bagel in New York City

If you're ever in Williamsburgh, my vote - hands down - is:
Bagel Store
(718) 218-7244
247 Bedford Ave

Bagel Store
(718) 782-5856
754 Metropolitan Ave

They have a nice crust on the bottom and they are chewy. To me, they are the real deal.

From Serious Eats: New York

The Best Bagel in New York City

I didn't even know about La Bagel. I will check it out. Sounds promising. I agree with you about Ess A Bagel. Its bagels are too big and too sweet.

From Serious Eats: New York

The Best Bagel in New York City

I don't know why Essa Bagel gets such good marks. I think their bagels are too large and too soft and have little flavor. But about a block away is La Bagel. The best I've had. Of course, I haven't sampled every bagel in the New York tri-state area, but La Bagel is my idea of what a begel should be. It's at 263 1st Ave.

From Serious Eats: New York

The Best Bagel in New York City

Bagel Hole in on 7th Ave. in Park Slope makes a nice version of the old-fashioned chewy dense bagel that must be eaten that day. Terrace Bagel in Windsor Terrace makes very good slightly larger slightly softer bagels and good bialies. I had some good bagels from a place on Coney Island Ave. in Midwood, as well. Kosar's seems to have changed recipes withing the past year or two. Their classic bialies are no more, in my humble opinion, although the onion board (pletzl) is still tops.

H&H always was second rate. The place near Columbia is great (Absolute). Columbia Hot Bagel used to be great too.

Anyone remember the great New Jersey bagel places of yesteryear? I remember one on Chancellor Ave. in Irvington, and another on West End Ave. in Jersey City. Both were great places, basically wholesalers with small service counters. My dad would take us late Saturday night to get the early edition of the Sunday paper and hot bagels. Wiggler's in Union, NJ was great also.

I'd love to hear about other great bagels which are no more...