Today's Washington Post Food section features an article on soups. Four chefs share 9 recipes each featuring common "pantry" items. (In quotes since some of the featured ingredients are actually freezer items.) The recipes are all quick cooking and range from Sweet Potato-Apple to Cuban Black Bean to Shitake Hot & Sour. Looks like one to clip & save.
I have this very hazy recollection of someone asking for a savory rhubarb recipe. I searched the archives (briefly, I admit it) and didn't see it. But thought I'd post this link anyway for Crisp Duck breast with rhubarb-ginger confit. It combines a couple topics I've seen go by -- crisp duck & confit come to mind -- and it sounds good!
I posted a link in the Thanksgiving Recipes! thread earlier to a recipe for Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Apple Cider Sauce. Some one asked me to report on the results, so here goes:
I started late (mistake #1) making a recipe I had never made before (mistake #2). I hadn't cleared my counters (mistake #3) and my pastry bag was too small (mistake #4.) Then my food processor broke mid-puree. (Not really a mistake, call it mishap #5). I had to dig out my potato ricer to finish the dough. In spite of that, the gnocchi were actually pretty darn good!
This dough is very soft--a lot more potato than flour. You need to pipe it into boiling water since you could not possibly roll it. (You could spoon or scoop it though.) It cooks fast and overcooks very easily. 45 seconds is all it took, 60 seconds and the gnocchi turned to mush. I browned them off ahead of time and then packaged up the sauce, sage and gnocchi separately to travel. I crisped them up and sauced them right before dinner. They were very tasty, not overly sweet. The apple came through nicely, the sage wasn't overpowering. Nice fall flavors and pretty colors.
All in all, I'd say it was a hit; I would make it again. Any else try a recipe for the first time on Thanksgiving? How did yours turn out?
Cheers,
Karen
The answer to that would depend on what kind of cookbook? General purpose? Baking? Vegetables? Meat? Fish? Ethnic? Reference or pictures?
I like Joy of Cooking (70's edition) for general purpose, there's a Rick Bayless I love for Mexican, a Lidia Bastianich book for Italian. I really like my professional baking book by Bo Freiberg for desserts. For pictures, my current fave is the French Laundry book. I use my Cooks Illustrated or Fine Cooking mags alot for reference or ideas. And one cannot omit Julia -- Mastering The Art of French Cooking -- or Madeline Kammen or Jacques Pepin. They are ALL my favorites :-)
You might want to look at these previous threads in the archives that asked the same question, What is the best cookbook ever? and Cookbook Quandry?.
I've seen recipes that use a risotto style technique ... have lots of hot stock/water on hand (3-4 to 1, at least) sauté some aromatics, add the couscous and toast. Add a bit of white wine and cook till absorbed. Then add ladles full of stock until the couscous is done.
If you count ladles and know its volume, you can figure out about hoe much liquid it will take.
Depends. How far past? Just a few days or a few years? If it's just a few days, they are probably safe to eat but may not taste as good as fresh. If it's years, I'd toss 'em. And what is in them? If they have any fruit, nuts or other filling, I'd be more conservative than with a plain(er) cookie since the filling might spoil more easily.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, CA has a similar site, Seafood Watch. There are downloadable cards and lists on fish, fishing, gear, restaurants etc the Restaurants & Retailers page.
Mac Users -- the site doesn't seem to work well in Safari -- use Firefox.
Here's another duck salad recipe I clipped but I didn't save the source. Had to be a weekly food section from either the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, LA Times or New York TImes. You should be able to adapt this with the rhubarb sauce I just posted.
2 boneless duck breasts, skin on (about 12 to 14 ounces each)
Kosher salt
1 tablespoon minced shallots
2 1/2 tablespoons good sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/2 cup good olive oil
3 heads Belgian endive
3 ounces mache or other delicate baby lettuce
Navel oranges, peeled, cut in 1/2, and sliced
1/2 pint fresh raspberries
1 cup toasted whole pecan halves
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Place the duck breasts on a sheet pan, skin side up. Sprinkle with salt and roast for about 20 minutes, until medium-rare. Remove from the oven, cover tightly with aluminum foil, and allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove and discard the fat and skin on top (unless you're making cracklings), slice the duck, and then cut the slices crosswise into julienned pieces.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the shallots, sherry vinegar, orange zest, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Whisk in the olive oil and set aside.
For the salad, trim the bottom half-inch from the endive and cut them diagonally into 1/2-inch slices. Separate the leaves and discard the cores. Place the slices in a large salad bowl. Add the mache leaves, oranges, raspberries, and toasted pecans. Toss with enough dressing to moisten. Gently toss in the warm duck meat and serve immediately.
I just clipped a recipe for a rhubarb "bbq" sauce from this week's Washington Post. It would work for a grilled duck breast salad.
Tangy Rhubarb “Barbecue” Sauce
The Washington Post, May 7, 2008
• Course: Condiment
Summary:
This is a nice change of pace from the usual smoky and/or sweet barbecue sauces. The rhubarb gives it thickness and a fruity flavor. The amounts below are suggestions only. Add more honey if you like it sweet, more apple cider vinegar if you like a vinegary kick. Or leave out the ketchup and double up on the mustard and vinegar for a Carolina-style sauce.
The sauce is good with grilled pork chops and chicken thighs, but it’s a particularly good match with duck breasts that have been pan-fried and sliced. It may be refrigerated in an airtight container for 2 to 3 days.
Makes about 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients:
• 2 to 3 teaspoons mild olive oil or vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup finely diced onion, from 1 small (2-ounce) onion
• 8 ounces rhubarb, thick stalks cut in half vertically, then cut crosswise into 1/4-inch slices (2 to 2 1/4 cups)
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon water, plus more as needed for thinning the sauce
• 2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard, or more to taste
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey, or more to taste
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Apple juice, for thinning the sauce (optional)
Directions:
Add enough of the oil to coat the bottom of a medium (2-quart) saucepan; heat over medium heat.
Add the onion and cook, stirring, for 5 to 6 minutes, until it is translucent and soft, watching closely to make sure it does not brown. Add the rhubarb, brown sugar and water; increase the heat to medium-high. Allow the sugar to melt, bringing the mixture to a low boil. Cook for 6 to 7 minutes, stirring every minute or so, until the rhubarb has softened and can be mashed with a spoon.
Remove from the heat and let the mixture sit in the saucepan for 15 minutes. Then add the mustard, vinegar, honey, ketchup, salt and pepper to taste, stirring to combine. Transfer to a blender and puree, or use an immersion blender in the saucepan to puree until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasonings.
To serve, warm the sauce. For a thinner sauce, add water, apple juice, if desired, or the cooking juices from whatever main ingredient the sauce is being served with.
Recipe Source:
From In Season columnist Stephanie Witt Sedgwick.
You can freeze frosting -- it might deflate it somewhat but whip it again once defrosted and it should be ok. On cake batter, I doubt it would freeze well. But why bother? Just bake the cake and freeze that. Baked off and well wrapped, cakes freeze well.
I made a dark chocolate cake from Fine Cooking that was very good. I used an orange-flavored olive oil .... added a lovely subtle flavor.
Oooh ... pet peeve! There is so much water in canned tuna these days. Must be almost a third of the total weight. I think instead of raising prices, manufacturers just increased the amount of water in bits.
When the pouch style first came out, it seemed really expensive in comparison to canned. I bought some of each and weighed the drained tuna. Turned out that ounce for ounce, they cost about the same when drained. But now, the pouch tuna has more water in it than it used to! Same sneaky trick. Remember when a "pound" can of coffee was 16 oz? Nowadays, its what, 12 oz?
As far as taste goes, canned is of course not even in the same zip code as fresh. I like Italian tuna best ... packed in olive oil. It has more flavor than the more common grocery store brands.
Julia Child's Kitchen Wisdom and Beard on Food are at the top of my list and I use Jacques Pepin's books too. Lately, I've been using Books from Gourmet and Bon Appetit where they feature their all-time "best"
Must say I don't "use" a lot of recipes, except for baking, and read for ideas and then cook from what's in season and/or at hand. After cooking for a very long time and, now, scaling my favorites to a "cooking for one after work" format, my menus have changed a lot. I have a massive collection of my favorite recipes that I use a lot. Most of my favorite dishes are from many sources. Kitchen Wisdom is my book of choice for young cooks - if you had no other book, you'd be able to learn to cook without any other book. I am enjoying browsing the web too - versions of almost anything are there for the taking
World Vegetarian by Madhur Jaffrey - she's never failed me
(but if the veg thing puts you off you can get one of her meat friendly books)
My 70's edition of the "Joy of Cooking" is my go to when I'm trying something new. It gives the basics and the "why for" to most dishes and techniques. For decades, it was gifted to every set of newlyweds I knew. Even though I just dissed Betty Crocker, I must admit that I spend a lot of time with the Better Home & Gardens from the late 70's just as Angie_Earthy does and for the same reasons... Just plain good home cooking. I spend more time reading cookbooks than any other genre, save the Bible...
Joy is always useful, and if I could only keep one cookbook that would be it. But during summer months I get alot of use out of my Bobby Flay cookbooks, and I reference the Dean and Deluca book alot as well.
But from a pure packaging point of view, I love the Balthazar cookbook. The cover binding, the font and photos are all a great match for the recipes contained within.
my favorite books to cook from are not even cookbooks... laurie colwin's two books of food essays and amanda hesser's cooking for mr. latte have supplied a majority of the keepers in my recipe repertoire.
Thanks everyone! I don't know which to buy first, (I'd honestly like to get them all) they all sound great! I have a feeling cookbooks will quickly become my new passion.
My favorite is the Fannie Farmer Cookbook. I have the funny early 90's edition that has a microwave cooking section. Everything is a little old-fashioned, but the recipes are solid, and there are reference pages that teach you about foods and techniques.
Favorite baking book is Susan Purdy's A Piece of Cake, re-released as The Perfect Cake. I also like the Martha Stewart Pies and Tarts book for the pictures.
The Gourmet Cookbook is my no-fail, go-to cookbook. Otherwise, it changes daily: at the moment I like Thomas Keller's Bouchon, and James Peterson.
BIttman's How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian are spectacular resources.
Martha Stewart's books are indispensable, especially for baking, I've found.
Williams-Sonoma Baking book is fantastic and comprehensive, too.
I am also indebted to Mollie Katzen's (and Moosewood Collective) collection. These books are stupendous for vegetarians and meat eaters alike.
I could go on and on...
The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book -- because it is from this treasure trove of easy-to-follow recipes that I managed to bake FLUFFY 100% whole wheat bread (years after I had given up on this seeming "impossibility")!
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