Shades of Green

This slaw is just so good it would be cruel of me not to share. Cool, crisp, and fresh, it was the perfect foil to Sunday's dark, sweet, savory mole.

I hesitated to share this recipe because I didn't really do anything to it. But the fact of the matter is is that it is so simple and well crafted there isn't really anything to do to it. The only difference in the version I made versus the original recipe is that I used green cabbage instead of red (the store was sold out of red). I'm also including the size cabbage you should use, because a 'head' of cabbage can vary quite a bit.

Without further ado, Green Onion Slaw.

Green Onion Slaw
Recipe by Bobby Flay via Smitten Kitchen

Notes: Onion and cabbage can be prepped ahead of time and held in the fridge. The dressing will separate so it should be made just before serving as per SK's suggestion, though the ingredients can be measured/prepped ahead(chopping green onion, removing serrano stems). Leftovers can be kept a day or two in the fridge and retain flavor, but the dressing will separate and the texture will become less smooth.

1 cup green onions, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 serrano chiles, whole (do not de-seed), stems removed
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup pure olive oil
1 head cabbage, finely shredded (red or green, 1.5-2 lbs)
1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves

Blend green onions, vinegar, chiles, mayonnaise, salt, pepper and oil in a blender until emulsified. Place cabbage and red onions in a bowl, add the dressing and stir until combined. Fold in the cilantro and season with salt and pepper to taste.

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Death by Caramel (and Chocolate)

I don't really like chocolate. How can you not like chocolate you may ask? Chocolate is nice, but most chocolate just bores me. When I do want chocolate though, I want it rich, dark, and bitter, like moist earth. You can describe my favorite coffee similarly. I usually prefer my chocolate in small, "just right" sized proportions and I prefer that it not stand alone. I love the bitterness to be offset by a bite of sweetness from a piece of fruit, or the toothsome meatiness of a bit of nut.

Of course there is another way to go.



Caramel. Sweet, silky, luxurious caramel. Soft, chewy, buttery, caramelized caramel. Caramel and a hint of spice. Dulce de leche caramel. Pair it with dark 70% or higher chocolate, and you are headed towards a mighty fine dessert.

I recently had the opportunity to make a batch of brownies as a going away gift for a coworker friend of mine. I think the brownies I came out with may not have been what the rest of my coworkers expected, but I certainly enjoyed them and I think the departing friend did as well which is enough for me.



Actually, to be perfectly honest, I may have found myself trying not to lick a tin can, and instead hunting down every food item in the house that would taste good with the residual batter in the bowl or the residual caramel in the measuring cup, particularly the caramel, after making these brownies. They are THAT good.

I started with David Lebovitz' recipe for dulce de leche brownies. Then I adapted. Because its what I do. A touch of extra vanilla here, a sprinkle of ground canella (Mexican cinnamon) there, and replacing the regular chocolate with 50% extra-dark and 50% Mexican chocolate, the last of my stash from Oaxaca.



The next time you are in need of some serious chocolate, a dessert that doesn't soft shoe around, try these brownies. Cut them into small squares, and have just one (or two, or three - whatever is just right for you) with a cold glass of milk, a nice cup of coffee, or even a glass of red wine. If you're looking for death by chocolate, there are worse ways you could go.

Dulce de Leche Brownies
10.5 Tbs butter, plus extra to grease the pan
4 oz. dark chocolate
4 oz. Mexican chocolate
1/3 cup cocoa powder
4 eggs
1 1/3 cups sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla (I may have run out of vanilla and used half vanilla/half dark rum)
1.5 tsp cinnamon, preferably ground canela
1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/3 cups Dulce de Leche*

1) Line a 13x9in pan with a long sheet of aluminum foil that covers the bottom and reaches up the sides. If it doesn't reach all the way up and over the sides, use two overlapping sheets of foil. Grease the bottom and sides of the foil with some butter or non-stick spray.

2) Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the chocolate pieces and stir constantly over very low heat until the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth.

3) Add in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and then the flour.

4) Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan. Drop one-third of the Dulce de Leche evenly over the brownie batter and drag a knife through to swirl it slightly. Spread the remaining brownie batter over, then drop spoonfuls of the remaining Dulce de Leche in dollops over the top of the brownie batter. Use a knife to swirl the Dulce de Leche slightly.

5) Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 to 45 minutes. The brownies should feel just-slightly firm when done. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

According to David, these brownies become better the second day, and will keep well for up to 3 days.

*To make your own dulce de leche at home, take one 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk, remove the label, and cut two holes in the top with a can opener. Place in a medium sauce pan and fill saucepan with water one inch from the rim of the can. Simmer over medium-low heat for 2-4 hours depending on how thick you want your caramel (I used about 2.5 hours for the caramel in these brownies), refilling water as necessary. One 14oz can makes just enough caramel for the brownies.

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Mystery Box...

Ooh, a mystery box! What could it be? A thousand dollars? A puppy? An old boot? Nobody knows, and that's whats so great!



Actually I know exactly what is in this box! It is chock full of local organic produce from my CSA (community supported agriculture) program from Eatwell Farms! (ooh... green!)



This is a typical box that I pick up every other Thursday from a location near me. Its always a surprise as to exactly what is inside, but I always know that I will have 1-2 weeks worth of fresh, in-season produce from my farm in Davis, CA which is about 70 miles away from me. Pretty close!



Eating fresh, in season, locally, and organically as much as possible is important to me because of the benefits for my personal health and well-being and for the health and well-being of the environment. Amazingly enough, my CSA happens to be pretty easy on my pocket book, too. I'm excited about the effect this has on my life and my cooking, so I thought I would share. I'll get back to cooking and other adventures this weekend.

A note on local and organic foods and CSA's: what you eat and why is a personal choice that you get to make as an adult. I know for me that getting this box every other week encourages me to eat my veggies, try new things and be creative (do you know how to cook celeriac?), and do something good for the environment while fitting in my budget. It's win-win-win for me, but isn't necessarily for everyone. If you are curious to learn more about CSA's, THIS is a good place to start to find out more about what a CSA is and where you can find one in your area.

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Wondercon 2010 Pregame: Thai Fighter

Wondercon brings people together. Its true. You never know who you are going to find yourself bonding with over the new movie or tv show preview, a shared disapproval of a particular story element or artist re-imagining of your favorite character, or the search for that hard to find volume in the 50% off trade stacks.





Friday night I found myself brought together with a family friend from Los Angeles, his girlfriend and another local friend from Oakland, and their friends from SF. Old and new, all enjoying a bit of shop talk, a bit of geeking out, some great Thai food, and a few really good vegan cinnamon cupcakes - complete with dino-decorations. Thanks Wondercon!





I really need to get the recipe for those cupcakes, especially the frosting. It never hurts to have a good vegan baked good recipe in your back pocket.



Also, I failed to take photos of any of the restaurant's food because 1) I forgot I had my camera until after dinner, and 2) if I had remembered, the battery burnt out on me after only 5 shots anyways. The restaurant was a great recommendation from the Los Angeles team's hotel front desk man. If you are in the area, Bang San Thai on O'Farrell is a solid eatery that has a large vegetarian/vegan section in addition to the regular meat based Thai classics. The Pad Kee Mao was delicious, and the pumpkin curry got rave reviews.

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And Sometimes You're Just a Flaming Ball of Gas

There is no recipe tonight as I am turning in early to be fresh for Wondercon tomorrow. I feel like I have reached a right of passage of nerdom - my first con. I could almost cry (JK). So point is, I'm taking it easy. I posted a link this morning and I've got a little story for you tonight.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Martha I am not. My first ever blog recipe was almost foiled (twice) because once because I left the onions burn while I was prepping other ingredients and once because I let it go too long in the braise while I was taking a bubble bath and a bit too much liquid cooked away.

I recently found a recipe for tomato sauce with which I am completely enamored. Its ridiculously simple - three ingredients - and it tastes amazing. It is also easily adapted to make some of the best tomato soup you will ever eat. The first time I made the sauce however I decided to cut the recipe in half so that it didn't make too much and because I only had half of the called for tomatoes.

I didn't account for the fact that half as much liquid probably wouldn't stand up to the required simmering and that perhaps I ought to add a bit of water to compensate. Setting my stove top as low as it could go, I put a lid on my pot and - here is where the learning experience will come in - I walked away. I thought it a bit odd that I could no longer hear the soft plop plop plopping of its thick simmer and that there was perhaps a faint sizzle, but I didn't think too much of it until I got the smell. The very distinctive smell of burnt food. Not just any burnt food, but burnt tomatoes and all their now "caramelized" sugar.

When I grabbed the pot off the fire I was pleased to see that it was just the edges and bottom that suffered. Without scraping the pot at all so as not to scrape up any burnt bits I poured the salvageable portion of the sauce into a clean pot and added a bit of water to thin it out. I did remember (barely) to snap a picture though before fully washing my new favorite stainless steel sauce pot.

Don't do what Janey Don't does do kids, and remember to pay attention in the kitchen! This time it was burnt tomatoes, but you never know when it may be a fingertip. Safety first!

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A Culinary Soul-Mate?

This article from Culinate pretty much sums up my entire culinary viewpoint. Minus the Veganism.

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This is so meta.

This is me, blogging about being blogged about by a blog that I am following along with on a blog challenge. If you couldn't follow that first sentence, the short version is The Kitchn used another one of my Cure photos on their website. Whoopee! It's like getting a big pat on the back for all my hard work!

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Happy Pi Day!

Just a quick check-in folks. Its been a bit busy over here at Casa de Rosa between work, school, life, and my troubling need to sleep, but I wanted to show you all this lovely picture of my pi day pie (March 14th - 3.14...). It was the traveling pie show today as I packed up my crusts, my filling ingredients, and my baking accoutrements and headed over to my friend Lyssette's. The pie turned out great, even if I do think the flavor profile it slightly resembled a McFastFood's apple pie (in a good way). After a great dinner with friends, there was just enough left for both Lyssette and I to be able to have a slice for breakfast tomorrow. And pie for breakfast is in fact one of life's great pleasures.



I used this pie-crust recipe. I usually use the Pioneer Woman's pie crust, but wanted to branch out. I used all butter though instead of the small amount of shortening and mostly butter called for in the recipe. I think in the future I would keep the small bit of shortening to loosen up the dough a little. It was pretty tight when I rolled it out and was very difficult to get to the proper thickness. The filling was just diced apples, white and brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, lemon juice, vanilla, and cornstarch to thicken. Put it all together and bake 15-20 minutes at 425 and then 35-45 at 350 until golden brown.

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Bread.

Fresh. Baked. Bread.



Smell it. Taste it. Say it with me now...
Fresh Baked Bread.
Its like a little prayer. Well, it is for anyone who isn't avoiding carbs anyways.



I don't know what too me so long. This recipe has been floating around the internet for almost FOUR years. Where was I? Drooling over the thought, and lamenting my lack of appropriate cookware.




No knead bread was introduced to the the world by Jim Lahey of the Sullivan Street Bakery via Mark Bittman of the New York Times, though its based off of recipes that have been around for ages. Its got 4 ingredients, 5 if you are me and you like to mess with things, and is so easy a 4 year old can do it.



There were two problems with this recipe that do put it out of the reach of some (including me for so long). One, this recipe takes time. By trading out the physical effort, one must put in almost a whole day of waiting. So hard!



Secondly, one needs a large pot that can be put in a very, VERY, hot oven. My new baby came in handy in this capacity, but, as this is a fairly recent acquisition, I was ill-equipped before now.



If you have the hardware, and you have the patience, please make this bread. Its so good. Fresh baked bread is pretty much always good, but THIS bread is really good. It's chewy, full of big holes for filling with butter, and has a crispy crunchy golden crust. Do it. Do it now. What are you waiting for?


No Knead Bread
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery

(I made mine with a bit of whole wheat flour from my farm, but if you don't have any or don't want to use any, just use all all-purpose flour)

2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 tsp instant yeast (like Fleischmann's RapidRise)
3/4 tsp kosher salt (or 1 tsp table salt)
1 1/2 cups warm water

Special Equipment: a large (6-8 quart) heavy pot with a well-fitted lid.

1) Mix all of the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
2) Slowly pour in the warm water.
3) Stir into a gooey, sticky mess of dough, cover, set aside. It will look wet. It's supposed to.
4) Ignore the dough for 8-10 hours.
5) Uncover, and with wet hands, lift the dough out of the bowl and fold over on itself several times. Just flop it around, this is not kneading, this is just poking it. This helps, I promise. This will help get more of those delightful big bubbles.
6) Put the dough back in the bowl, cover, ignore for another 8-10 hours.
7) Sprinkle some cornmeal or flour on a board, and with wet hands, lift the dough out of your bowl and drop on the board.
8) Fold it over and flop it on itself a couple more times and shape as best you can into a ball-like shape.
9) Place the ball of dough onto a floured towel (NOT terry cloth) or piece of parchment paper. Place back in the bowl and let it rise another 1-2 hours.
10) 30 minutes before the dough is finished with its final rise, place the pot in the oven and preheat to 450 degrees.
11) When your dough has finished its final rise (it should be about double the size), quickly open the oven, lift off the lid of the pot, drop your dough in the pot, bake for 30 minutes.
12) Remove the lid of the pot and bake an additional 15-30 minutes. The bread should look brown, shiny, and thump when you tap it.

Let cool, slather with butter, enjoy!

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A Case of the Blahs

I mentioned on Wednesday that I would elaborate on why exactly I will be spending this weekend, at least in part, cleaning my kitchen and I am here to say, my kitchen has a case of the blahs.

Everyday can't be all glamor, fame, and Martha, some days will always be cheese on toast and pajamas till Three Noon. But something that can help that feeling of doldrums is to give your home a little once over and take some time to think about how you use your space. Underutilized space, mess, and clutter can create little energy vortexes in your home that make it so much less fun to spend time in, and right now I need to re-energize my kitchen.

I am going to be doing the Spring Kitchen Cure hosted by the Kitchn, part of the Apartment Therapy blog group. The Cure makes it easy to make over your space (in this case, the kitchen) a little at a time until you turn around and find out that you've actually made a much bigger difference than you thought possible.

Today is the end of week one (of four) and I thought I'd share a little of my progress. Part one of the first week's assignment was to take some before pictures, especially of your fridge, freezer, and pantry. You may think your space is okay, but try taking a before and after of your freezer and you will be AMAZED.





The second part of the assignment was then to purge anything that needs to be gotten rid of. Got any undated freezer mysteries? Toss 'em. Four year old jar of unknown condiment you used once? Toss that too. Spices, oils, or vinegars that are past their prime? Gone baby gone!

Finally, wipe down every surface, bottle and jar before you put it away. I have to say, just the act of throwing away the few things I did (I tend to keep my fridge pretty clear - I'm a bit of an expiration nut) was very satisfying. I can't wait to work on week two and straighten up my utensil and tupperware drawers (yes, I realize the dorkiness of that statement, but I stand by it).

The kitchen is pretty much one of my favorite places in a home and mine could use a little pick-me up before spring and summer roll around and I want to do nothing but cook all of that yummy fresh produce. I think this cure is just what the doctor ordered. Don't worry, I will be putting up a special weekend post with TWO recipes I made with some of the odds and ends I needed to clear out but just couldn't bear to throw away. Also, next week, look for recipes for Masala Daal and Naan. I'm feeling spicy.

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The Sophmore Slump

Nearly a week without cooking anything of consequence. How is a girl supposed to keep her blogging up if there isn't anything to blog about? Well, to be fair my parents were in town and we went out to eat quite a bit. I was hoping to regale you all with visually stunning photos of what I ate, but 1) I forgot to take pictures of most of it, and 2) I think the best thing I had all weekend was a martini at Scoma's in Sausalito. Gin. Extra dry. With an olive. Mmmm... nothing like raw oysters and a big fat Martini to make everything right with the world.

So instead of showing you, I will tell you about the one thing I did make (which I also conveniently failed to take a picture of), Jamie Oliver's Chicken in Milk. It was so good. Go make it. Go. Right now. No, seriously. You need to have made this for yourself yesterday because it really is that good. It is also incredibly simple.

I pretty much never follow a recipe explicitly unless I am unfamiliar with the end product or cooking technique, or if I am baking. This recipe is so simple, straightforward, and practically perfect that the only thing that could be adjusted is one of the cooking instructions. The recipe calls for the lid of your cooking vessel to be off the entire bake time, but another blogger made the accidental discovery that its even better if you leave the lid on for the first hour and then take it off to finish for the last 20-30 minutes. Leaving the lid on for the majority of the cooking time prevents the delicious sauce from evaporating and turning into charcoal at the bottom of the pot, and makes the chicken that much more moist and juicy.

So that is all I have to show for the last week. I'll come up with something better next time, I promise.

P.S. Jamie Oliver just won the 2010 TED Prize to pursue his desire to help revolutionize the way we teach children about food and eating. His work goes hand in hand with Michelle Obama's new Let's Move campaign to fight childhood obesity. There are so many things I could say but I think that these inspiring people and their projects can speak for themselves. Please click on the links to these sites to learn more about these projects, and, if you would like to become more involved, find out ways that you can offer your support.

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