Our Best Pizza Yet

Saturday night, J and I decided to whip up some cocktails with the leftover grapefruit from my Easter tart. We also decided that since we couldn't go to the Timbers game against Real Salt Lake, we would make a fun dinner and watch it at home. We hadn't made pizza in a while, mostly because we've never gotten the crust quite right and while tasty, is always disappointing in some way. I'm pretty sure we prepared ourselves for this time not being any different, because pizza is a lot of fun to make -- and eat. While I prepped the toppings, J juiced the grapefruit and concocted our version of a traditional Greyhound (recipe below) and we brought the laptop into the kitchen to stream the soccer game. 

I must admit, we did not make our own dough this time. It's a day-long (or with some recipes, two-day-long) process and we have an Italian market up the street that sells frozen dough for less than $3 and it is quite tasty. We let the dough thaw and rise for about 4 hours and I flattened it out on the counter. We let it rest for about 10 minutes and transferred it to the pan. J made up a sauce of tomato paste, fresh garlic, some dried basil, and a little water. I thinly sliced mushrooms, bell pepper, and onion in addition to the paper thin slices of pepperoni J had cut at the deli. We brushed the dough with olive oil, spread the sauce, topped it with mozzarella and a bit of Parmesan, layered the mushrooms, pepper, onions, and then pepperoni. We sprinkled just a bit more of the two cheeses and salted the outer crust, and threw it in the oven for 10 minutes. As we peered in the oven window I was shocked at the beauty that we created. Seriously, look at that pizza!

Now, two things that made this pizza outstanding: heat and thinly sliced toppings. While we prepped everything for the pizza, we cranked the oven up to 550º (highest temp) and let it heat up for at least 30 minutes. As I mentioned, J had the pepperoni sliced paper thin and I did the same with the mushrooms, bell pepper, and onions. This ensures that the toppings don't get soggy, and even crisp a little with the high heat. And look! We got bubbles. That never happens at home. I was so excited about how this pizza turned out that we're going to try it all over again sometime this week. 

The cocktails were not exactly a perfectly paired beverage for pepperoni pizza, but they were delicious and tasted like summer. They were also necessary for the numerous toasts we made on our perfect Saturday night. The baby is in bed! Cheers! The Timbers beat Salt Lake! Cheers! We rock at making pizza! Cheers! And Cheers!


Awmercy's Greyhound Recipe

2oz. Gin (not your best gin here -- we like Seagram's)
4oz. Fresh squeezed grapefruit juice (with pulp)
~1 tsp. Honey

Pour room temperature ingredients into a cocktail shaker, stir to dissolve honey, throw in a few ice cubes and shake to chill. This drink is very simple, so needless to say, it's the ingredients that make it spectacular. Our grapefruits were particularly tasty and the honey was fresh from Salt Spring island in Canada.

Eggs 'n Beans

For anyone who reads my blog with some regularity, you know that I am no stranger to beans. Love them. All kinds. I am somewhat of a bean snob, texture, taste, and look are very important. No mushy beans, thank you. Until Little came along, I'd swear by the dutch oven as the only way to cook beans. You can see why Little is confused to find my trusty Le Cruset on the shelf for the latest round of red beans and rice. However, I've found that the slow cooker makes a mean red bean. I've tested it twice now, just to be certain, that it produces the creamiest, most delicious beans ever -- maybe even better than my trusty red friend (gasp). Also, it takes about 10 minutes of prep time and I can forget about them for 4-5 hours without the worry of stirring to ensure that they don't scorch on the bottom. In a rush to get the beans going the first time, I left out the sausage for added convenience and found that the vegetarian version is pretty excellent. I've tried to restart my weekly regimen of making a large batch of beans of any variety so we can have delicious, healthy leftovers for various dishes. 

Our most recent creation with leftover beans, was an attempt to replicate the egg dish that I enjoyed so much at Hi-Life in Seattle. We made a couple of changes: replaced the flour tortilla with corn, added more scallions, and subbed my red beans for the spicy black beans. Without the added spice to the beans, I was able to liberally apply my favorite condiment, Cholula. The result was delicious and maybe even a touch better than the original. It was a perfect weekend dish, but I've actually made it part of my hearty second breakfast routine this week. Finding quick, yet gourmet-tasting, meals has been key to us actually eating regularly at home. 

It also means that I have time to devote to making food for Little. I realized the importance of this when I went to the grocery store last week to pick up a few jars of reserve food. I found that the prepared stuff is insanely expensive, full of preservatives, and well, kind of looks gross. As I held a jar of sweet potatoes that had a weird salmon pink color, and a jar of green beans that were sort of brown, I realized that I hadn't gotten so busy that I couldn't put a damn potato in the oven every once in a while. This week the little Sir is enjoying pureed chicken soup and rice, steamed broccoli, roasted red bell pepper sauce, and yogurt. He tolerates the broccoli, but gobbles it up when paired with the peppers. He's even had a taste of the pureed red beans and rice, which he initially downed, but now makes him gag. Not sure what's going on there, but no son of mine would ever reject red beans and rice.

Brasilliant's Slow Cooker Red Beans

1lb small red beans, picked through and rinsed

1 onion finely diced

1 bell pepper (red or green) finely diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 carrots, peeled and finely diced

3 celery ribs, finely diced

6c vegetable (or chicken) stock

6 oz. andouille sausage, diced (optional)

(here's where the recipe is a pretty inexact science)

1 T Penzey's Cajun spice

2 tsp thyme

3 healthy pinches of kosher salt (or more to taste)

Few shakes of onion powder

Few shakes of hot sauce (Cholula)

Add all of the ingredients into the slow cooker, set to high, put on the lid and forget about it for about 4 hours. You can stir occasionally if you want, but I usually leave the cooking part to J, which means that our beans are never stirred. After 4 hours, check for doneness. The beans should still be whole with skins in tact, but creamy and delicious inside. I usually find that this method cooks the perfect bean, but leaves the sauce a little soupy. I just uncover the beans, turn it to low and let it cook for another hour or so to let some of the liquid evaporate. 

If you were so inclined, adding some andouille sausage around the 3 hour mark would probably be pretty delicious. I think I'll try that next time around.

Three Day Soup

Way back in October, I had it all figured out. Miles napped like a champ -- three hefty stretches a day -- and even though I was sleep deprived from getting up at night, the free time during the day made life feel just fine. I caught up on work, blogged, and even started cooking again. I was quite pleased with the fact that I might actually be able to put delicious hot meals on the table at night. I had this brilliant idea to highlight all that free time by starting a series of posts on my blog called Naptime Gourmet. Like I said, I had it all figured out. 

Then Miles turned three months old, went on a sleeping strike during the day, and demanded constant attention during his waking hours. Not only was there no time for prepping dinner, but I was lucky to sneak in lunch some days. Dinnertime in our household was pretty turbulent and haphazard. At Miles' four month checkup, I shuffled into the pediatrician's office looking like a zombie and begged her to tell me that things would get better. She very nicely told me that I looked like death and that four months wasn't too early to start sleep training. I cringed at the thought, but Jesse and I were frazzled and desperate. It took three nights of hell to get him in a routine. He now sleeps, well as they say, like a baby.

Miles will be five months old next week, takes three decent naps a day, and will go six to eight hours at night uninterrupted. What does that have to do with food you ask? Well, I am no longer sleep deprived (most days) and have it all figured out again (ha). Naptime Gourmet is officially resurrected. It won't be easy. In fact, I'm pretty sure I will have to seriously challenge myself to prepare something new each week.** However, I'm going to give it my best try because cooking is one of my simple pleasures; it makes me happier and us healthier.

For the debut Naptime Gourmet (resurrected) entry, I have chosen a simple, healthy, delicious three day bean soup. Why three days? For starters, it took me that long to finally get the energy to cobble together the ingredients. My lack of ambition was stupid, since it took about fifteen minutes to prepare. Then, after cooking all day with what seemed like no progress, I thought I might have to hover over the slow cooker for that long for the beans to finally cook. And finally, this morning I realized that there's so much of it we'll be eating on it for a while. I really don't mind though, because it is insanely tasty.

Brasilliant's Three Day Soup

2 c. black eyed peas (insert lame Fergie joke here)
1 c. red lentils (or any other bean really)
4-5 c. vegetable stock (I use Better than Bouillon)
1 14oz can diced tomatoes (or 2 fresh, peeled and diced)
1-2 shallots, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 ribs celery, diced
3 carrots, diced
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. Penzey's Cajun Spice (I bet thyme would work well instead)


Place beans in slow cooker and cover with 2 inches of water. Cook on high for 2 hours, or until beans begin to soften. Add remaining ingredients, turn slow cooker on low and forget about it for 8-10 hours (or until beans are cooked through).The lentils don't really hold up to cooking for that long and serve more as a delicious thickener. Sprinkle with a bit of grated Parmesan and voila! Simple. Healthy. Tasty.

Side note: I wanted to render a little bacon for the recipe, but was feeling lazy and didn't want to go to the grocery store. I'm glad I didn't. I find that black eyed peas have a wonderfully smoky, almost meaty flavor on their own, so bacon or ham would have just been overkill. The point of this recipe is to let the beans speak for themselves. And because the soup cooks for such a long time, all of the flavors really meld together. One option to kick up the spice would be to mince a little jalapeno or throw in a touch of cayenne. But I think I'll just let Jesse liberally apply Tabasco at the table!


** Be warned, I am not above subbing in the occasional baby food recipe from time to time when Miles starts sampling more complex concoctions. I do, however, promise not to bore you with such delicacies as whipped sweet potatoes and breast milk.  

Tastes Like Fall

I picked up a pork tenderloin at the grocery store the other night because J and I were craving meat. I'm not sure why, but I suspect it has a lot to do with the cold rain that we've had for the past couple of days. Maybe it's some primal urge to put on bulk for the winter. So, anyway, I had this pork loin, some apples, and a craving for potatoes. I went to Epicurious to find an old favorite recipe and stumbled on something new: Roast Pork Tenderloin with Apples & Cider. The dish was amazingly simple and incredibly tasty. Paired with mashed potatoes with a little butter, cream, and smoked sharp cheddar, dinner tonight was top notch.

Side note: I also got to use my All Clad saute pan to its fullest by taking it from stove top to oven to table (well to serving dish). The only disadvantage of the whole oven to table part is when the chef forgets the hot oven's effect on the pan handle. Yes, I burned the ever-loving crap out of my right hand. Don't worry, no blisters, just throbbing hot fingers. I'm currently typing with my left index finger. What? I'm a dedicated blogger.

Thankfully, I had lots of help in the kitchen. J really stepped up to the plate in order to supervise Little doing his chores. (Actually, J is responsible for the stellar mashed potatoes.) Little was a trooper and chipped in by helpfully lubricating the counter top with his drool. Salivating while whisking is pretty hard work and not long after this photo he had a righteous meltdown followed by a 30-minute nap (the longest stretch he's managed lately much to our dismay). At least it allowed me to muddle my way through the rest of dinner prep handicapped by the lack of use of my dominant hand. Despite my injured state, the pork was fabulous. In fact, you could say it was so easy that one could make it with a hand tied behind their back (or dangling in crippling pain). Just a thought -- do you feel sorry for me yet?

As you can see, Little changed into his dress pj's for dinner (code for barfed all over his clean outfit) and chose to skip the pork for something much more delectable. Giraffe butt. Some say it's too gamey, but if Little could talk I'm sure he'd say that they're just weenies. Just look at that face. That's one satisfied baby. In my opinion though, I'd say that the squeaky, chewy giraffe meat doesn't hold a candle to the tender pork and apples.

Now that Little is finally down for the night, I'm off to Walgreens for some burn cream and maybe a little chocolate to soothe the pain.

Naptime Gourmet

My goal yesterday was to utilize Miles' morning nap time to the fullest. Some days I just don't have the energy to do much more than check my email and stare off into space, but Miles (knock on wood) has been sleeping really well at night, so I've been waking up quite refreshed. He went down around 10am and I got to work in the kitchen. 

I decided to crack open the Slow Cooker Gourmet and try another recipe since the first round was so successful. Sticking with the Mexican section, I flagged the Pork Stew in Tomatillo sauce. As I mentioned before, this isn't your average slow cooker cookbook, so there was some prep time involved. I roasted tomatillos, serrano peppers, onion and garlic under the broiler until everything was soft and slightly blackened. This veggie mixture was combined with chicken stock and I added a small bunch of cilantro before blending into a sauce and added a bit more salt. I was supposed to put a corn tortilla in there before blending to thicken the mixture, but I forgot. I will remember to do this next time.

Next, I salt and peppered a pork roast, diced it into 1 1/2 inch cubes and browned it in two batches and put the browned meat in the bottom of the slow cooker. I think browning the meat is one of the most important parts of having success with the slow cooker. If you skip this step then you'll likely end up with bland unappealing hunks of meat in whatever sauce you're cooking. It took some extra prep time, but was totally worth the effort. After the two batches of pork were browned, I de-glazed the pan with a little dry vermouth (white wine or even water would do as well) and poured the liquid over the pork in the bottom of the slow cooker. Don't skip his step! The browned juices are the best part. 

I then dumped the tomatillo mixture over the pork, covered the slow cooker and set it on low for 6-8 hours. If the sauce looks too thin, just remove the cover for the last hour or two to let some of the liquid evaporate. Even though the recipe had a bit of work before going in the slow cooker, I was still able to finish it up in about 45 minutes and still had time left over to clean up the giant mess I made in the kitchen.

And the result? Incredibly tasty. The pork fell apart when pressed with a fork and the sauce was tangy and slightly spicy. We served it over rice with a liberal sprinkling of queso fresco on top. The cheese melted over the hot stew and added a nice salty kick. I paired my meal with a Drop Top amber ale and it was perfect. It feels so good to be able to cook delicious meals again even though I don't have nearly as much time to devote to cooking as I did before Miles came along. I'm going to continue to experiment with recipes for the slow cooker and maybe even develop a few of my own once I get the hang of ratios and ingredients. 

Pork Stew in Tomatillo Sauce (Ingredients and Recap)

2-3 lbs pork loin (or a fattier cut if you wish)
3 lbs tomatillos
2 serrano peppers
1 onion peeled and quartered
6 cloves garlic peeled
2 c. chicken stock
1 c. fresh cilantro  
1 corn tortilla
salt to taste
queso fresco and fresh cilantro for garnish





Salt, pepper and dice pork into 1 1/2" cubes. Brown in two batches and place in slow cooker. De-glaze pan with white wine or water and pour liquid over pork.


Roast tomatillos, onion, peppers, and garlic under broiler until soft and slightly blackened. Blend veggie mixture with chicken stock, cilantro, and corn tortilla. Salt to taste.


Pour tomatillo mixture over pork and cook on low for 6-8 hours (removing lid for last hour or two if mixture isn't thick enough). Serve over brown rice with crumbled queso fresco on top.

More Purple Food

We had an abundance of these purple beans from our CSA sitting in the refrigerator. Tonight I needed a quick vegetable (other than salad) and decided to saute them with a little butter and garlic as a side for the main course. They were pretty cool looking, purple on the outside, and bright green on the inside. I couldn't wait to test them out. Much to our disappointment though, they didn't stay purple. As soon as they started to cook, they turned green and looked just like any other bean. Luckily they were tasty and we had no trouble finishing them all. 

The main course was much more exciting. Jesse and I purchased a slow cooker a couple of weeks ago knowing that life with a baby just wouldn't allow us to spend hours in the kitchen tending the oven and stove. When I was coming up short on inspiration for what to cook (other than pulled pork), my good friend Lauren suggested I purchase the Gourmet Slow Cooker. I was pleasantly surprised when not a single recipe called for canned soup! 

I decided to delve into the Mexican section and prepared chicken in peanut chili sauce for dinner, which really turns out to be more like a mole. The recipes do require more prep time than the usual slow cooker concoctions that I've seen, which involve dumping cans of stuff and cooking the crap out of it. However, I browned the onions and garlic, blended the sauce, and prepped the chicken in the 30 minutes remaining on Miles' nap time. It cooked for about 3 hours on high and the chicken was perfect. We served it over a quinoa pilaf and sprinkled it with a bit of queso fresco. Paired with our hypercolor beans, I was really happy that dinner exceeded my expectations. I can't wait to try out the next recipe on my list, pork stew with tomatillo sauce.

I made quite a mess with the blender and sauce, so Miles and Jesse offered to help with the cleanup. What can I say, I'm one lucky gal.

E & J Diner

One of my favorite meals to eat out is breakfast. In D.C., we frequented The Diner just around the corner from our apartment on Saturday mornings. Sometimes it was after a late night of drinking (where the reuben omelet helped soothe our hungover bellies) or just an early morning. Our rule was to get there before 9:30am to avoid the crowds of more sensible hungover people who slept off the previous night's debauchery. It was always fun to go around 8am when bleary-eyed parents would bounce infants and toddlers on their knees while scarfing down a stack of pancakes. We'd chat about the cuteness of the babies and the brilliance of choosing the diner for meals with little kids -- it was always so noisy that nobody cared when the little ones howled. 

Today, we were those bleary-eyed parents, but lacked any place like the Diner for an early morning meal. Last night wasn't particularly bad for sleep, but Miles was wide awake at 6:30am and ready to rock. I rolled out of bed, changed his position and popped in his pacifier, which bought us exactly twenty-two extra minutes of rest. Jesse groaned something to the effect of, "We've been in bed for 11 hours. I shouldn't be this tired." Mercifully, those twenty-two minutes were just enough for us to wake up and embrace the day (and our baby who was sounding more like a rabid Ewok). Jesse offered to walk over to Ken's Bakery to pick up a baguette for French toast, but then I remembered that we had bacon in the fridge. Hell yeah! Breakfast was on. 

By 7:45, Miles was fed, changed, and happily cracked-out on breast milk in his swing. So, I whipped up a batch of biscuits. Instead of baking and gorging on all twelve, we sensibly froze half of the uncooked dough for another sleepy Saturday morning. Once the biscuits were cut and ready, Jesse got to work on cooking up the bacon and eggs. It was a proper diner breakfast with orange juice, coffee, and a bottle of Cholula that I liberally applied to my scrambled eggs. I forgot how much I love Cholula and vowed to never eat eggs without her again. 

Throw a (Pickled) Egg on It!

Our friends Larson & Serena gave us this great book, Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it, a while ago. While I've poured over the pages from time to time and made plans to have a big pickling/jamming/curing day, it just never happened. 

When my mom was in town a couple of weeks ago, Jesse and I took advantage of her stay to go out for happy hour at Clyde Common for our anniversary. In addition to some of the most delicious mixed drinks I've had in a while (that'll have to wait for another post down the road) we shared small plates including an assortment of house pickled vegetables. On the pickle plate was a wedged pickled egg. I've always been kind of grossed out by pickled eggs, particularly the ones that are colored with purple beets, so I almost wanted to hold my nose when sampling. However, their eggs had a slight yellow tinge, which was not nearly as gross as purple, so I ate one. And I was hooked. It was mind blowing. We decided it was about time to give pickling a try. 

The only thing missing in our kitchen were all the ingredients for pickling spices. So, on Tuesday afternoon I decided to pick up the CSA solo (instead of our usual family trip that can become a somewhat harrowing experience with a screaming infant near the end). I left a few minutes early and stopped by Penzey's in the Pearl and purchased a jar of their pre-mixed pickling spices. This afternoon we decided to hard boil six eggs for a trial batch. They need to sit for seven days to attain maximum pickleness, so we won't have a verdict until then. I think they're pretty spectacular looking though.  


Here's the recipe for our first try at pickling eggs:
(I'll update later if we tweak it a bit)


6 hard-boiled eggs
1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
1/4 c. water
1 T. Penzey's pickling spices
1.5 tsp. kosher salt**
3 cloves garlic, sliced 


Place eggs and garlic in a 1 pint mason jar. Bring vinegar, water, salt & spices to a boil. Pour over eggs and garlic. Let cool on counter and place in refrigerator for 1 week. Enjoy!

**The first batch turned out to be way too salty, so I halved the salt to 1.5 tsp.

Anticipation

Today I go back to school for my third class in the sustainability certificate program. I have a morning meeting time in the sociology department this time around, which is a nice change from the evening courses that often left me feeling exhausted at the end of the day. I got my grades back from winter quarter and overall am pleased -- an A in the urban planning course and a B+ in economics. I think I'd normally be a little disappointed with a B+, but given my struggle to keep my head above water (due to my utter lack of economics prerequisites), the grade seems just about right. So, moving on.

While I'm excited to start my class this morning, the real treat is waiting for me on the hold shelf at the public library. A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled on a recipe for roasted chicken with caramelized shallots that was adapted from this cookbook. The chicken not only looks incredibly tasty, but is also a simple one-dish operation that you just stick in the oven. As many of you know, I love just about anything that can be roasted or braised for hours, so it's almost guaranteed to be a hit.

After sifting through the table of contents online at Amazon, I realized that it's been ages since I perused the cookbook section at the library. I feel truly spoiled that we have such a great public library system here in Portland and really should start taking advantage of it again. So, I went online and reserved the book (and then completely forgot about it). This morning in my email inbox I had a little reminder to come and pick it up! I can't wait to swing by the library on my way home from class and carefully select which meal I'm going to make first. I may also have to make a trip up to the second floor where all the other cookbooks live. I'm trying to create an arsenal of delicious, but not very complicated recipes that I can turn to once the baby arrives -- I have a feeling that cooking elaborate meals will not be on the agenda once mid-August rolls around.

The French Farmhouse Cookbook is perfect for this weather, since it's been terribly cold and rainy for the past few days. A simple hearty soup or roast chicken dish is just what we need to stay warm!

Cheese Crackers

This weekend Jesse and I spent a lot of time cleaning up the apartment (it seems like we do that a lot lately). Things had gotten pretty disorderly over the past week with me trying to finish up my final papers and projects. Also, we never really got around to finishing the back bedroom. Since our friend Ed is coming into town on Wednesday, there was a bit of motivation to keep up the momentum.

Between organizing and cleaning, I did take a break to do a bit of sewing and to make tasty snacks and dinner on Sunday afternoon. One of the food blogs that I read occasionally posted a recipe for homemade cheese crackers a few days ago and I'd been thinking about them ever since. It's a pretty simple recipe: flour, cheese, butter, salt, pepper, and a little water. The recipe they referenced called for regular grated cheddar, which is practically a crime in our house. Why would you make cheese crackers that don't even taste like cheese? It was simple enough to substitute what cheddar I did have on hand, Tillamook's extra-sharp white.

I realized after this cooking project that a full-size food processor is probably going to be at the top of my kitchen "to purchase" list. The mini food chopper just doesn't cut it. This isn't the first time that I've attempted to make a recipe that was just a little too big for the food bowl or too stiff for the motor. Anyway, the dough turned out just fine and the crackers are delicious. I used the smallest fluted piece of my cookie/biscuit cutter set, which worked perfectly. The crackers puffed up in the oven to just slightly larger than standard oyster crackers.

While I wouldn't call the end product a cracker exactly -- they're more like homemade cheese straws in texture than say, a Cheez-it -- the taste is phenomenal and would be way better than your average oyster cracker in tomato soup. I'd say bring these little guys to a party if you really want to blow away your friends.

No Inspirado

I haven't posted since before Thanksgiving. Where did the time go? I had a great visit with Jesse's family last week and got to meet The Crane Wife & Ancient Indian Wizard's awesome baby boy. Despite my great time in Santa Cruz, I did not take a single photo. So, what have I been up to you ask? Well, sorting out the tedious details of moving, like transferring insurance, calling around to find out where the heck our mail has gone for the past two weeks, and general sorting through piles of crap to find underwear and my toothbrush. I also have that pesky class to finish with a paper/presentation that just won't write itself.

I have made progress though. I unpacked the kitchen and was able to cook an actual, wholesome, delicious meal on Tuesday night -- black-eyed peas with sausage and roasted carrots with a balsamic glaze. Yum! It's been pretty cold in Portland lately, only getting into the low 40s during the day, so the beans were a nice stick-to-your-ribs meal. I was thankful for the leftovers, since I really didn't feel like cooking yesterday after preparing all afternoon for class. I am actually counting the hours between now and next Wednesday when I will finally be finished with school work for a few weeks. Winter quarter doesn't start until January 4th, so I'll have a bit of time to really get into unpacking over the next couple of weeks.

Also, I'm heading to D.C. next Thursday to meet up with Jesse for a long weekend. Our friend Kyle is defending his dissertation and we're going to spend a frosty weekend in our old home town. I'm excited to meet up with friends and kick off the holiday season!

Mexican Food the PBS Way

Since I've had more time to experiment with food, I have found myself perusing the shelves of the public library for new and interesting ideas for meals. Last week, I checked out two books after doing a pretty extensive internet search on the best authentic Mexican cookbooks. With that said, I'm about to write a review of two cookbooks without ever actually cooking any of the recipes. This blog entry isn't nearly as useless as it sounds, really.

When searching for the perfect cookbook, my first thought was to check out the reviews for Rick Bayless' many editions, since I used to love watching his show on PBS (his shows have sort of strayed off the cooking bit lately and tend to be a little new-age-self-finding for my taste). I seem to remember purchasing one of his cookbooks for my mom a long time ago that had a really simple, yet delicious recipe for red Mexican rice. Bayless has traveled extensively throughout Mexico and really takes pride in sharing the customs and food culture experienced over the years.

After contemplating over which one of his books to request from the library, I decided on Mexican Everyday, because many reviewers said that the recipes were authentic, but the ingredients list was simple enough to find just about anywhere. I feel like I can't really give this book an adequate review, because it just doesn't live up to my initial search -- authentic Mexican recipes. While Bayless uses traditional ingredients and techniques, I feel the recipes contained within the book are sort of pared down for the average cook; something you'd turn to for a quick, yet tasty, weeknight meal. There are a lot of sections that are "rifts" on a traditional application, such as "rifts on yellow mole". This time around, I'm not interested in a rift on anything, I want the real deal (even if it takes me 5 hours to prepare). Don't get me wrong, the recipes look delicious, but it's going back to the library for someone else to enjoy. I think I'll try Mexican Everyday again when I'm back to work full time, or otherwise occupied during the day.

The second book I picked up looks like it's right on target. Susana Trilling's Seasons of My Heart: A Culinary Journey Through Oaxaca, Mexico is also a companion book to a PBS television series. The book is divided into the seven regions of the state of Oaxaca and provides a wonderful context to situate the culture, food, and varied ingredients. I actually sat down yesterday and read the book almost entirely from cover to cover. For each recipe, Trilling gives a brief description of how she first encountered a food, or how it is traditionally prepared and eaten, and what other foods and drink should accompany the different courses. Her index of Mexican terms and descriptions of essential ingredients is an invaluable resource.

One of my favorite chapters was her section called "Traditions Evolve," where Trilling talks about her own variations on traditional recipes that incorporate her cooking background as well as her husband's. I also appreciated that she included this at the end after I was able to absorb all of the regional variations from Mexico and have a better understanding of the cuisine. I can certainly relate to this section, as I rarely cook a meal without altering it in some way that usually swerves toward Cajun or Southern-style preparation.

So why all the talk about these two recipe books that I have yet to put into use? Well, Jesse has been away since Friday on a business trip, which means he's eaten rich restaurant food (or take-out) for nearly a week. For the past three days, I have been in the throws of planning my first authentic Mexican meal and have hardly cooked a thing for myself. As a result, I am dying to get back into the kitchen. Also, it's a way to show my love and help him kick-start the post-work-trip detox. I won't tell you which recipes I'm going to make, because Jesse probably will read the blog before getting home tomorrow.

Stay tuned for photos and more!

Tiny Kitchen, Giant Oven

The kitchen in our apartment won't win any contests for size (it certainly has an "efficient" work triangle) and has a woeful lack of counter space. However, it more than makes up for its shortcomings with ample storage space and full-sized fully functioning appliances. In D.C., I struggled to work with our teeny tiny stove, which killed my soul on a daily basis. It was hard to clean because of the old scratched enamel top, the burners could never get low enough to simmer, and the oven never ever held a constant temperature. I suppose anything slightly better would have been an improvement, but our current stove is brand-spanking-new. It had a burning smell the first time we turned it on. I nearly cried.

The fact that it's electric is less than ideal. Eventually, I imagine that I will learn to control the heat well enough to prevent the near disasters at dinner time that have occurred this week. However, I still see the electric burners as a fair trade for a full capacity oven that is calibrated and will hold the same temperature for hours! HOURS! Equipped with an oven thermometer and a pantry full of baking items (thanks to my massive shopping trip last week), I decided to give my new oven a test drive. Brownies are probably the hardest desserts to mess up, so I decided that would be a good first try at baking in my (actually) new oven.

I usually make the "one bowl brownies" on the back of the unsweetened Baker's chocolate box, but for some reason they decided to switch it up and print "soft and chewy chocolate drops." I read through the ingredients and quickly realized that they were essentially brownie cookies and charged ahead. The oven preheated while I stirred and kept it's temperature throughout the whole process! A miracle!

The cookies were delicious, but more importantly the oven passed the initial test. Now I can move on to more complicated things like pies and tarts and maybe even a turkey. Oh man, it feels like Christmas!