Kitchen Wench

If I had to rank my flavor preferences, I would say that citrus-based desserts are generally near the bottom of the list.  I’d rather eat chocolate or berries before, say, lemon meringue pie.  Generally, I don’t like lemon-flavored sweets because they are either too tart or remind me of dish soap.  But Meyer lemons are an entirely different story.

Meyer lemons are a cross between regular lemons and mandarin oranges.  They have a thinner skin, are not as tart, and have a wonderful tangerine-y fragrance to them.  They have a very short growing season (which is happening right now) and are usually rather expensive.  So, when I saw them for sale in Whole Foods for $1.99/lb, my locavore guilt and hoarding tendencies combined head-on with the rush of impulse shopping, and I walked out of the store with four lbs of lemons.

So, what to do with all these lemons?  Some Googling got me this list of 100 Things to Do with Meyer Lemons (it was like they wrote this article for me).  I’ll admit, some of the suggestions are a bit of a stretch (for instance, “35. Throw a Meyer lemon for your dog to catch and play with”), but most are pretty mouth-watering.  This post is all about number 14, Meyer lemon curd.

Lemon curd is surprisingly easy to make and calls for ingredients that you probably already have on hand.  If you’re ambitious, you could can it, but that’s a bit out of the scope of a weeknight project.  It also freezes well, thank goodness, because I made four cups of it.  This stuff is fantastic over fresh fruit, skyr, yogurt, cheese, cake, bread… Honestly, Meyer lemon curd would make an old rubber tire taste good.  I could drink it straight out of the tupperware.  It’s that delicious.

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Cake is kind of my white whale.  For the longest time, I just couldn’t get it right, despite being able to handle seemingly more complicated things (e.g., pie crust) without incident.  After a slew of failures early on in my baking career (bundt cakes that got stuck in the pan, layer cakes that resembled the leaning tower of Pisa, etc), I came to the sorry conclusion that I might just be better off buying a box mix.  But you can always tell when cake comes from a mix — it’s moist and has a nice texture, but it never tastes homemade.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy my fair share of artificially-flavored things, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the taste of real butter or vanilla.

But this cake  is practically idiot-proof:  it is tender, moist, and light every time.  Just like a box cake, except it tastes about a million times better.  The secret is in the buttermilk.  I’ve never baked anything with buttermilk that didn’t turn out amazing.

The original recipe calls for raspberries, but you can use any berry you want.  The other change I made is the addition of almond extract.  Having made this cake several times now, I find that it’s a bit dull with just vanilla.  The almond brings out the sweetness and lightness of the cake and contrasts wonderfully with the berries.  If you don’t like almond flavor, some citrus zest would also work nicely.

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My friend Ilana and I had a baking day on Saturday, and we made this bread recipe from Serious Eats (along with chocolate cake from The Atlantic Food Blog).  The chocolate cake was good, but the bread really exceeded our expectations.   It’s like Fall in a loaf of bread! Personally, fall is my favorite season, partly because of the weather, but mostly because of the food.  So, if you’re anything like me, I think you’ll really like this bread.

Pumpkin Walnut Cranberry Bread

From Serious Eats.  Adapted from by The Sweeter Side of Amy’s Bread by Amy Scherber and Toy Kim Dupree.

• 1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
• 5 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 14oz can pumpkin puree
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• Zest of 1 small orange
• 7/8 cup water
• 4 1/8 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 1/4 teaspoons nutmeg
• 2 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 1/4 cups fresh cranberries
• 1 1/3 cups toasted walnut pieces
• Turbinado sugar for sprinkling on top of the loaves (optional but makes a great crunchy top)

1. Position one rack in the top third of the oven, and preheat the oven to 350F. Grease 2 loaf pans.

2.  In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, cooled slightly, with the eggs. Whisk in the pumpkin puree and sugar. Stir the orange zest into the water then add to the pumpkin mixture and whisk to combine.

3.  In a separate bowl, add the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and whisk together.

4.  Pour the dry ingredients into the liquid ingredients and fold gently until almost combined, then add the cranberries and walnuts. Finish with a few gentle strokes combine without over-mixing.

5.  Divide the batter evenly between the 2 prepared loaf pans (batter will nearly reach the top of the pan). Sprinkle the top of each loaf lightly with the turbinado sugar, about 1 tablespoon per loaf, to form a crystal crust.  Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the loaf. [Note: When I made this, I needed to bake them for closer to 75 minutes.  Your experience may vary, but don't fret if it's taking over an hour.]

6. Cool the loaves in the pan for 15 minutes, then carefully turn them out of the pans and place the loaves on a wire rack until completely cooled. Wrap in plastic film and store in the refrigerator. These loaves keep well for 3 to 4 days, and freeze well if wrapped in plastic and then foil.

Makes 2 very large loaves.

This simple recipe is from the September issue of Saveur magazine, one of my favorite food magazines.  Because it doesn’t have a lot of ingredients, it’s one of those dishes where the quality of produce really makes a difference.  In other words, this soup is all about the late summer sweet corn.  Unfortunately, corn in the Mid Atlantic doesn’t compare to Midwestern sweet corn.  If you’ve ever had it, the kernels are plump, juicy, and sweet as candy.  I think it has something to do with the cooler temperatures helping the sugars in the plant develop?  I hear that’s how it works with maple trees… Point being, corn here is not nearly as flavorful.

So, I tried my best with the recipe.  I bought my corn, bacon, herbs, onions, and garlic at the Mt. Pleasant farmers’ market this weekend.  While everything else was great, the corn was small and a little bland.  I had to add some sugar and a fair bit of salt and pepper to punch it up.  If you have great sweet corn at hand, omit the sugar.  Otherwise, with a little doctoring, this makes some pretty tasty corn chowder.

Corn Chowder

Adapted from Saveur magazine

• 4 ears of fresh corn
• 4 strips of bacon, chopped
• 2 1/2 tbsp salted butter
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 2 large cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 rib of celery, chopped
• 1/2 a medium white onion, chopped
• 1 small bay leaf
• 3 cups milk (I used 2%)
• 3/4 lb of red potatoes, cut into 1/2″ cubes
• kosher salt, sugar, and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp sliced fresh basil for garnish

1.  Shuck corn, removing as much of the silk threads as possible.  Working over a large bowl, slice corn kernels off the cob.  Scrape the knife along the cob to remove all the juices.  Reserve 3 of the cobs and slice in half.  Set aside.

2.  In a large pot or dutch oven, heat bacon over medium heat.  Cook until crisp.  Reserve 1.5 tbsp of bacon for garnish, leaving the rest in the pot.  Add butter, dried basil, garlic, celery, onion, and bay leaf.  Cover and cook until vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes.

3.  Add corn, cobs, milk, and potatoes.  Cover and bring chowder to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.  Skim any foam from the surface of the soup with a slotted spoon.  Discard cobs and bay leaf.  Season with salt, sugar, and pepper.

4.  Remove pot from heat.  Using an immersion blender, puree soup to your desired consistency.  (The original recipe calls for pureeing 3/4 cup in the blender.  I got a little enthusiastic with the stick blender and ended up with a thicker chowder.)  Serve with reserved bacon and basil sprinkled on top.

Makes 4 servings.

Lee and I busted out our new blackberry gin a few Saturdays ago while watching the Capital Pride Parade roll through Dupont.  We subbed the blackberry-infused stuff for regular gin to make some mighty refreshing gin and tonics.  Be sure to include a healthy squeeze of fresh lime to balance out the sweetness. You won’t be disappointed.

Blackberry-infused Gin

• 2 pints blackberries
• 2 cups sugar, dissolved in 1 cup of water
• 2 cups gin

Combine all ingredients in a glass container with an airtight lid.  Mash up berries with a potato masher or large spoon. (I used a meat pounder.) Seal and allow to infuse for 2 weeks, shaking vigorously once a day.  Strain out berries, squeezing out excess juice.  You may wish to infuse for more or less time, depending on how intense you want the flavor.

I’ve been trying to come up with a way to use my rosemary-infused vodka, but it’s a pretty distinctive flavor.   Searching for inspiration, I started thinking about how I cook with rosemary: I like it on lamb chops.  I then thought about what other flavors I had kicking around that taste good on lamb (pomegranate, lemon, saffron, cardamom).  Turns out, they also all taste good together over ice.

And then I realized then when you make up a new cocktail, you have to give it a (stupid) name.  I thought about giving it a name that somehow referenced lamb, but that didn’t sound appetizing.  I googled “rosemary vodka” and got several hits for a drink called Rosemary’s Baby. Rosemary’s Baby, as you probably know, was a novel from the 1960s that was later turned into a Roman Polanski film starring Mia Farrow.  I’ve never seen it, so I decided to check out the plot summary on IMDB.

Well, it turns out that the movie is all about SATAN WORSHIPPERS.

I thought… well, I don’t know what I thought it was about, but satan worshippers was NOT at the top of my list.  Needless to say, I don’t think I’ll be naming any tasty beverages after that movie.

Not Rosemary’s Baby

• 2 oz Rosemary-infused vodka
• 1 tbsp homemade grenadine (recipe below)
• 4 oz club soda
• slice of lemon
• dash of Sunshine Bitters

This would probably work better mixed in a cocktail shaker with ice, but this method will work in a pinch.  Combine vodka and grenadine in a glass with ice.  Stir to combine.  Top with bitters and soda.  Squeeze the juice out of the lemon, then drop rind into the glass so the citrus oils infuse the drink.  Stir and enjoy.

Rosemary-infused Vodka

• 2 cups vodka
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary

Place all ingredients inside a glass jar with airtight lid.  Seal and allow to infuse for 4 days, shaking vigorously once a day.  Remove rosemary.  You may wish to infuse for more or less time, depending on how intense you want the flavor.

Homemade Grenadine

Grenadine, as you may or may not know, it actually made from pomegrante juice.  A lot of people dislike the taste of grenadine, probably because the stuff you get in the store is artificially flavored.  Real grenadine tastes much better and is super easy to make.

• 2 cups pomegranate juice
• 1 cup sugar

Simmer juice and sugar until thick and syrupy.  Pour into an airtight container.  Keeps in the fridge indefinately.

Frankly, I don’t like eating cucumbers all that much.  They’re just so… watery.  And kind of, well… blah.  And every time I try to make a nice vinegary salad with them, they release all their liquid and dilute the dressing.  I’m not even sure if cucumbers have any real nutritional value aside from some fiber, which makes them even less worth eating in my book.

But cucumbers in a drink is an entirely different matter.  In fact, I think cucumber and gin might be the next great flavor combination, right up there with peanut butter and jelly or lamb and mint.  I’ve read that some gins (namely Hendrick’s) are made with cucumber, which explains why the flavors seem to pair so perfectly.  In any event, I really encourage you to try making your own cucumber gin.  It’s super easy and completely worth the effort because it takes the lowly gin and tonic to a whole new level.

Cucumber-infused gin

• 2 cups gin
• 4 garden cucumbers (the little chubby ones from the farmers’ market) or 2  supermarket cucumbers

Peel cucumbers and slice lengthwise.  Scoop out seeds and discard.  Slice or chop up cucumber — the shape doesn’t really matter, you just want to maximize the surface area.  Place cucumber and gin inside a glass jar with airtight lid.  Seal and allow to infuse for 4 days, shaking vigorously once a day.  Strain and discard cucumber.  You may wish to infuse for more or less time, depending on how intense you want the flavor.

Cucumber gin and tonic

• 2 oz cucumber gin
• 4 oz tonic water

Combine ingredients in a glass with ice.  Stir.  Garnish with a slice of cucumber, if you like.

I’ve been shaking and tasting my infusions every day and, one by one, they are reaching the point where they’re ready to be strained and drunk.  I’ve been working on a few recipes and will be publishing them as I perfect the proportions.

Here’s my recipe for basil-infused vodka and a lemon and basil vodka gimlet.  (I’m not sure if it’s still technically a gimlet without lime juice, but I don’t know what else to call it.)  I can’t take credit for the flavor combination — I saw it on this blog, but they used a different method to make the drink.  In any case, it tastes amazing: bright, refreshing, and perfect for summer.

Basil-infused vodka

This recipe is based off of Chow’s recipe for a basil digestif.  The digestif recipe calls for Everclear 151 because it picks up the flavor faster than vodka.  Everclear is also really strong, and I probably would not be able to type this blog post after consuming a cocktail made with it!  If you want to use this as a mixer, it is probably worth waiting the few extra days it takes to infuse using vodka.

• 1 cup vodka
• 3/4 cup simple syrup
• 7 fresh basil leaves

Place all ingredients in a clean glass jar with an airtight seal.  (I used Mason jars.)  Seal and allow to infuse for 10 days, shaking vigorously once a day.  Remove basil leaves.  You may wish to leave the basil in for more or less time, depending on how intense you like your flavor.

Lemon Basil Vodka Gimlets

• 2 oz basil-infused vodka
• 1 oz simple syrup
• juice of 1 lemon
• 4 oz club soda
• sprig of fresh basil

Crush the basil leaves in your fingers to release the oils.  Combine all ingredients in a glass with ice.  Stir and enjoy.

Oh, hello there. I haven’t blogged in quite a while, mostly because I’ve been out of town a lot, busy at work, and thus not keeping enough food in my house.  It’s gotten to the point where I’ve been making the same three pasta dishes over and over (penne with either carbonara sauce and peas, amatriciana sauce, or chard, raisins, and ricotta cheese).  I was boring myself.  But now that it’s summer (what happened to May?!), I’m excited again to cook and bake things with all the nice fruits and vegetables in the farmer’s market.

Between reading this article on digestifs on Chow.com and getting a giant bottle of homemade cherry cordial for Christmas, I’ve been wanting to infuse my own alcohol.  On Tuesday, I decided I was going to just do it.  So I spent the next two days running around after work in search of Mason jars and buying an embarrassing amount of vodka from the corner liquor store.  For the record, it’s surprisingly difficult to find larger glass canning jars.  If you live in the District, you’ll need to go to either The Container Store in Tenleytown or True Value Hardware at 17th an P.

Once you have your equipment, it’s pretty easy.  I stuck with gin and vodka, as they have pretty neutral flavor profiles.  You will want to use something with a high alcohol content, as it will draw the flavor out of your fruit/vegetable/herb faster. Beyond that, you just put it in the jar with the alcohol and let it hang out until the flavor is the desired strength. Some recipes also call for the addition of simple syrup, but otherwise there’s not much else to it.  Currently in the works are cucumber, blackberry, and ginger gins and lemon, orange, grapefruit, Asian pear, basil, rosemary, and Darjeeling tea vodkas.  I also made a small bottle of Sunshine bitters.  I also whipped up some ginger and lime simple syrups, along with homemade grenadine.

Right now I’m still waiting for most of my flavors to finish infusing.  If they don’t taste terrible, I will post the recipes, along with any original cocktail creations.  I’m generally planning to keep it fairly simple — cucumber gin and tonics, lemon basil vodka gimlets.  However, I am getting pretty excited at the prospect of an alcoholic Arnold Palmer with tea vodka and lemonade.  I’m also contemplating the future: Green tea vodka, soda, and lemongrass simple syrup? Coffee vodka with vanilla bean syrup?  Well, maybe I’m getting ahead of myself here…  I had no idea it would be this fun.  So many possibilities… in the meantime, I need to clean my apartment so I can start inviting people over for drinks.

I must confess, I’ve never been a big bread pudding fan.  I guess I’m a fair weather bread pudding eater — I like it if it’s good and think it’s pretty disgusting when it’s bad.  Good bread pudding, in my mind, should be light, eggy, and fluffy.  Too often, bread pudding is so dense and sugary that it’s like eating a brick of hardened custard.  Gross.

My dad likes bread pudding, and so does my boyfriend, so I’ve tried to make it on a couple occasions.  The first time, I used this Epicurious recipe by Maya Angelou.  I don’t know why, but I just assumed that since Maya Angelou was a great poet that she would also be a great cook.  Well, I was wrong.  The bread pudding was just kind of blah, nothing special.  It wasn’t custardy enough, and now that I look at it, it’s clear that the recipe needed more fat.

I forgot all about my bread pudding failures until last week.  I had half of an enormous loaf of Italian bread from Heller’s Bakery and a potluck at 6, so I thought I’d try bread pudding again.  This time, I based my pudding on a recipe for Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding from the Little Fountain Cafe in Adams Morgan.  I didn’t have chocolate chips, so I chopped up some Ghiradelli bars and threw in some strawberries and amaretto.  It was really freaking good.  The texture is light, pleasantly eggy, and not to sweet.  Plus you really can’t go wrong with strawberries and chocolate.  This is my new bread pudding recipe and I’m sticking to it.

Chocolate Strawberry Bread Pudding

• 1 lb loaf of stale, white Italian sandwich bread (brioche or challah bread would also work), crusts removed and cut into 1″ cubes
• 6 tbsp butter, melted
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 lb of strawberries, diced into 1/2″ pieces
• 3 oz  bittersweet chocolate, chopped into 1/2″ pieces
• 1 oz white chocolate, chopped into 1/2″ pieces
• 1 tbsp amaretto
• 1 1/4 cups half and half
• 3 large eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to350.  Grease a 9″ x 13″ glass baking dish.

2.  Toss chopped strawberries with amaretto and set aside.

3.  Place bread cubes in a bowl and toss with 4 tbsp of melted butter. Spread a layer of bread into the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle with the chocolate and strawberries.  Top with the remaining bread cubes.

4.  In a bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together eggs, egg yolks, half and half, sugar, and vanilla. Pour egg mixture over the bread.  Gently toss the mixture make sure everything is evenly coated.  Allow to sit for at least 30 minute to allow the bread to absorb the egg.    (You can make this up to 1 day ahead, just cover and refrigerate until you are ready to bake it.)

5.  Mix the brown sugar with the remaining 2 tbsp of melted butter.  Drizzle over the top of the bread pudding.  Bake until puffed, brown, and set in the center, about 45 minutes.  This would be nice served with some fresh strawberries and vanilla ice cream, but it’s also good all by itself.

Serves 12.