Kitchen Wench

In American restaurants, the kids menu tends to consist of things that are fried, white in color, or both (see chicken fingers, french fries, mashed potatoes). In Japan and Korea, kids get to eat something called omurice or omu-raisu. I saw this dish for the first time during Tampopo, a bizarre Japanese send up to noodle shops and food fetishes from the 1980s. (If that plot line sounds even remotely intriguing to you, Netflix it now. You won’t be disappointed.) I actually ate omurice for the first time at a tiny Korean restaurant near Dulles airport. My friend explained that this was “kid’s food”, but she had a craving, so we ordered it anyway.

For the uninitiated, omurice is a omelet filled with fried rice and topped with a few artistic squirts of ketchup. I know the ketchup part sounds a little strange, but trust me when I tell you that the ketchup is key; the sweetness of the tomato really brings the whole thing together. There is also something incredibly comforting about eating omurice; even if you didn’t grow up with it, the flavors and textures have a simplicity that practically screams home cooking.

A few weeks ago, I developed my own acute hankering for omurice. I followed this recipe from Just Hungry, substituting as needed (I didn’t have any meat, but I threw in some spinach and scallions). The technique is very simple. Saute your veggies, add pre-cooked meat, a little ketchup, and rice until heated through. Remove from pan, pour in lightly beaten eggs, cook until barely set, then flip over the rice mound. Apply ketchup designs as desired. Technically, you should put the rice back in the pan and fold the egg over, but that’s a little trickier, as the recipe explains. It tastes just as good without making the full omelet fold. Watch the omurice-making scene in Tampopo for some complex omelet folding action.

I love this recipe because it’s really quick, easy, and is a great way to use up leftover rice. It makes a hearty meal for one, or a great late night snack. Next time, I want to try it with some peas, carrots, and ham. However, for a true throwback to my childhood, I think I would have to use Spam. Yes, I used to eat fried rice with Spam as a kid. And, like omurice, it was delicious.

This is a great salad for fall or winter, though you can substitute ingredients to make it perfect for any season. I’ve adapted from this 2002 recipe in Bon Appetit. I served this at my holiday dinner party and brought it to Christmas potluck last month. This is also great with dried fruit or fresh berries.

Mixed greens with apple, pomegranate, and candied walnuts

• 2 bags of store-bought, pre-washed mixed greens
• seeds from 1 pomegranate
• 1 cup Candied Walnuts (recipe follows)
• 2 Granny Smith or other tart apples, thinly sliced
• Maple Lime Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

Layer greens and apple slices in a bowl or on a plate. Drizzle with dressing and top with nuts and pomegranate seeds.

Serves 12.

How to seed pomegranates
I think this is the easiest and cleanest way to seed your pomegranate. Fill a bowl half way full with cool water. Slice your pomegranate in half and submerge it in the water. Press your thumb into the skin-side of the fruit until it breaks in half and inverts. Flick the seeds off the skin. The seeds will sink to the bottom and all the skin and white pith will float to the top. Discard the skin and drain the clean seeds in a fine mesh strainer. The strainer will catch any tiny bits of leftover skin. By seeding underwater, you also avoid getting the dark red juice on your clothes and hands. You can store the seeds in the refrigerator for several days.

Candied Walnuts

• 1 egg white
• 1/2 tbsp water
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp all spice
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tbsp dark honey
• 1 cup of raw nuts

1. Preheat oven to 325 F.
2. Whisk together whites and water until slightly frothy. Whisk in sugar, honey, and spices until sugar is dissolved and mixture is syrupy. Stir in nuts.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread nut mixture onto pan. Bake for 10-15 minutes (sugar can burn easily, so time depends on your oven), stirring halfway through cooking. Mixture should be golden brown, tacky, and a little foamy when finished.
4. Allow nuts to cook for half an hour on the baking sheet, then break apart. Nuts will keep in an airtight tupperware for at least a week, though everyone around here eats them up in a few days.

Maple Lime Vinaigrette

• 1/2 cup of mayo
• 1/2 cup real maple syrup (B or C grade)
• juice of 2 limes
• 6 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 4 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 cup vegetable oil (you could substitute walnut or another nut oil)

Whisk together mayo, syrup, juice, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. Slowly pour oil in while whisking to emulsify dressing. Alternatively, you can make the dressing in a jar. Add all ingredients to jar, seal tightly, and shake until oil is incorporated. Dressing will keep refrigerated for 1 week.

Makes 1 3/4 cup of dressing.

• 10 eggs
• 4 slices of bacon, cut into 1″ pieces
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 small Yukon gold potatos, chopped into 1″ cubes
• 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup finely grated aged cheddar cheese
• 1 teaspoon Penzey’s Country French or other French herb seasoning
• 1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
• Salt, pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Cook bacon over medium heat in either a 10″ cast iron or non-stick skillet. When bacon is crisp, remove from pan and allow to drain on paper towels.
3. Pour off all but 2 tbsp of bacon fat from pan. Add onions, garlic, and potatoes and cook until onions are translucent and potatoes have softened. (Add more bacon fat if needed.)
4. Break eggs into a large bowl. Add milk, salt, pepper, and herbs. Whisk until yolks and whites are well combined. Stir in grated cheese.
5. If your pan is oven safe: After potatoes and onions have softened, stir bacon bits back in. Pour egg mixture into the pan and cook until the sides of frittata have started to set, 8-10 minutes. Once sides have set, place pan in the oven to continue cooking.
6. If your pan is NOT oven safe: After potatoes and onions have softened, pour them into a 10″ greased baking dish. Add bacon bits and pour egg mixture on top. Place dish in the center of your oven. You will need to increase the baking time 5-10 minutes.
7. Bake frittata until top is set but the middle is still runny - approximately 10-12 minutes. Open oven and sprinkle breadcrumb mixture on top of frittata. Continue baking until puffed and browned on top, another 10-12 minutes.
8. Slide a butter knife around the edges to loosen. Cut and serve. I paired this frittata with a salad of mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, and cornichons in a red wine vinegarette. (Add some of the pickle vinegar for an extra kick.)

A note on cookware: Cast iron skillets are great for this sort of thing, but are verboten for folks (like me) that have a glass top range. They will scratch the surface. Non-stick cookware is a good alternative and makes removing the frittata very easy. However, not all non-stick cookware is oven safe. Check the manufacturer’s information first. I use a Calphalon non-stick pan and it is oven safe to 450 F.

I find the prospect of this blog simultaneously brilliant, fascinating, and horrifying. Some intrepid folks from the Midwest (we are a hearty bunch) have embarked on something called the One Year Project. They will take Rachel Ray’s cookbook, 365: No Repeats A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners and actually…

*gulp*

… eat Rachel Ray’s cooking every day for an entire year.

For Ray-Ray lovers and haters alike, this endeavor will be the ultimate test–is RR totally overrated, or just a easy target for elitist foodie snots? Some of us have already made up our minds, but it will be interesting to see how her recipes stand up to real life testing. Day 58 shows our fearless friends suffering from serious boneless skinless chicken breast overload. I don’t know how they’re going to make it, but I wish them luck.

The February issue of Gourmet has a recipe for risotto which claims to only take 15 minutes to cook the rice. I was rather stunned when I first read the recipe. Risotto is not what comes to mind when I think of quick or easy dishes. Usually it involves careful stirring and monitoring and, if you’re not paying attention, it’s easy to burn the bottom layer of rice onto the pan. And, while I’ve never considered risotto a dish that is out of reach for the amateur cook, Gourmet’s recipe for Red Beet Risotto with Mustard Greens and Goat Cheese is pretty much impossible to mess up. It’s really pretty brilliant.

First of all, I made this dinner in a blistering 28 minutes. Eat that Rachel Ray. Secondly, I subsituted, failed to measure, and/or included ingredients in the wrong proportions. I didn’t have mustard greens, so I used kale instead, which was not a big deal. I just put it in the pot earlier to give it some more time to cook. I also only had half the amount of required goat cheese, but I think I made up for the flavor loss by using chicken stock instead of broth. Finally, I broke a cardinal rule of risotto. This is a little embarrassing, but I’ll admit it: I substituted jasmine rice for arborio.

I know, I know, how can you make risotto without risotto rice?! It’s always made with arborio or sometimes carnaroli rice. Well, Gourmet said I could do it. So, I did. Technically, the dish is probably not risotto anymore, but, you know what? It turned out just fine. Actually, more than fine. It was tasty, incorporated some of my favorite flavors (namely, beet and goat), and I’d definately make it again.

Well. This is kind of embarrassing. My apartment has a Jenn-Air glass top stove, and I’ve been having a hard time getting it as clean as the day I moved in. But, thanks to the power of the internets, I just spent my Saturday night reading the Southern Living message board’s “Cleaning Glass Top Stove” thread.

During this time, southern ladies with handles such as “emptynester” or “2kidsmom” offered their opinions on razor scrapers, discussed the merits of Ceramabryte vs. Weiman cream polishes, comiserated over annoying “MILs” (Southern Living speak for “mother in law”), and recounted tales of scraping off boiled-over hot pepper jelly.

I felt like I entered into a different place… a place where people say “ya’ll”, actually make their own jellies, and are delighted by grandchild-proof burner switches. And, while this has been very educational and will hopefully lead to a cleaner range, I think I might be turning into a 57 year old woman from Texas.

As I near the end of week three at my new job, life is finally starting to feel routine. So routine that I’m starting to grow tired of doing all my cooking with 1 measly Calphalon pan while awaiting the moving truck from Minnesota. That said, I’ve been able to do quite a bit with a handful of utensils and a kitchen that’s only 8 feet long.
Personally, I blame Trader Joe’s. Six bucks for a big filet of wild salmon, four dollars for a bottle of wine, imported cheese that isn’t $20/lb, and this fabulous hydroponic Boston lettuce… At the rate I’m going, they should hire me to write The Trader Joe’s Cookbook.

Cooking lately has been strangely liberating. At school, I would have to carefully plan a meal for my housemates; I don’t know about you, but most of us can’t just throw together food for ten with things lying around the house. But with only two people, I can just go to the store and impusively buy whatever looks delicious. The challenge then is to come home after work and figure out what I can do given my base ingredients. All my cookbooks are in transit, so I’ve been doing practically everything off the cuff.
Cookbooks are really inspiring and also are really important for learning technique. But it’s also been good to be recipe free for a while. When you first start cooking, it can be difficult to even follow a basic recipe. It was hard for me to imagine the day when I wouldn’t need measuring cups and spoons. But, that day has come. And with it, comes the measurement-less recipe. Cooking in often instinctual, and good ingredients can often make or break the meal. So, here’s my version of a caprese salad. Get some fresh ingredients, make it to taste, and it will be delicious.

Alicia’s “Caprese” Salad

I’ve seen a number of caprese salads in my day; some I’ve liked better than others. All of them feature tomatoes, basil, and fresh mozzarella in some combination, but I think the balsamic vinegar is really where it’s at. There aren’t exact measurements because this recipe is pretty much idiot-proof. You can adjust as you like.

• 4 small-medium heirloom or other good quality flavorful tomatoes
• 2-3 oz fresh mozzarella “pearls” or perlini or dice a ball of fresh mozzarella into 1/4″ cubes
• fistful of fresh basil, chopped
• extra virgin olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• salt, pepper, sugar to taste

1. Chop tomatoes and place in a large glass bowl. Sprinkle with salt and sugar to bring out flavor.
2. Add basil and mozzarella.
3. Toss with equal parts olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Be sure to use good quality oil and vinegar, since the flavor will make all the difference. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. If you have time, place salad in refridgerator to marinate for 20-30 minutes before serving.

It seems like the internet has suddenly gotten really boring. Or at least, everyone else’s blogs have gotten really boring. Sadly, I don’t think I’m any exception to this rule; I’m just treading water until I have to move and start my new job. I thought about making up some lie for a blog entry, like the harrowing tale of my first foray into competitive eating during which I stuffed down 20 burritos in less than 5 minutes… er, well, you get the idea. Needless to say, the reality is much more mundane, but I did make some decent oatmeal cookies and I’ll share the recipe here.

Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal Cookies

Adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook

• 1 3/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup desicated coconut (dried, unsweeted coconut)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped dried Fuji apple pieces (You can use regular dried apple, but Fuji apples are much sweeter and flavorful. They sell them in my local Costco store.)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit. Grease or line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Stir together oats, flour, coconut, cinnamon, soda, and salt in a bowl.
3. Using an electric mixer at medium speed, beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until well combined. Add oat mixture and beat until combined. Stir in dried apples.
4. Drop rounded tablespoons of batter onto cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart. Make sure to flatten the cookies, as they will not spread much during baking and look pretty lumpy otherwise. Bake until golden, about 10-12 minutes.

Minnesota has welcomed me home with open arms… arms filled with grass and tree pollen. I woke up Friday morning clawing at itchy eyes, sneezing as I rolled out of bed to check my alarm clock. I’ve moved back down to school and there is no air conditioning in my house, so the windows are all open, and I am popping Claritin to no avail. I am still itchy and sneezy, and the decongestant is making my head feel like it’s floating above my body.

The upshot of this is that I have no appetite whatsoever. Case in point: This afternoon, I made a beautiful apple pie and have had no urge to eat it, despite skipping lunch and only eating a bowl of Cheerios for breakfast. In fact, I’ve actually been able to allow the pie to cool the required 3 hours so I may cut it without all the hot apple filling gooshing everywhere.

The moral of this story? Clearly, Claritin-D is an effective weight loss method. However, it’s doing little to curb my runny nose and will be ruining my dinner tonight. So, after I took my pie out of the oven, I walked to the co-op and bought this box of all-natural outdoor allergy pills. If they work, fabulous. If they don’t, my sinuses will be no better than they already are, but at least I can enjoy my pie.

Well, it’s that time of year again. It’s nearly Christmas and suddenly all the things that I’ve been trying to get done leading up to this moment still aren’t done and I find myself just sort of… giving up. For two days I’ve been in this fog; I can’t remember half of what’s on my To Do List (or maybe my brain is just blocking it out) and I’ve thrown my hands up at getting those remaining people presents. None of us really needs anything, I don’t have the time or will to shop, and this year, I really don’t have very much money and the economic forecast is not looking so rosy.

The thing is, the money, cooking, cleaning, and shopping stress isn’t really what’s at the heart of this. Really, it just comes down to that impending sense of doom–that all this effort is really just leading up to several suffocating hours trapped in the same room as your entire extended family. All I want to do is cook the amazing spread I have planned and then hide in my room with my dinner plate. And, this is really selfish, but I really want to cook what I want, regardless of whether certain people have the gall to complain about it. We host Christmas every year and if I’m going to entertain you in “my” own house, I expect that you will respect the effort that I have put into planning a menu (yes, a menu where the dishes were carefully selected) and not complain that maybe your favorite vegetable or meat was not featured this year.

I don’t think this is a matter of feeling underappreciated–I don’t really want to start having Christmas at someone else’s house because I like that my dad and I do the cooking. For one, I can’t stand the thought of eating bad food at Christmas. For two, I sort of feel like if you have some people who have a clear standout skill, it makes sense to let them do what they do best. It’s sort of like my “gift”, I guess. Really, I think I just want some appreciation for “the art” of the Christmas meal. The thought, the time, the work, the tradition! C’mon people, I just want a little RESPECT! *overdramatic head toss*

Seriously, as frustrated as I’ve felt for the last 24 hours, I have come to some more productive conclusions. You can’t please everybody, and your family is probably the toughest audience of all because you didn’t pick them. I can choose my friends, usually based on the fact that we have common interests or otherwise understand each other. There’s no point in twisting myself out of shape for someone who is never going to be satisfied, be it with my salmon or with my political views. It’s easier to say you’ll grow a thicker skin than to actually do it, of course. But I have to start somewhere, and it might as well be over a piece of fish.