Kitchen Wench

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.

Growing up, my mom was always the health conscious one when it came to our family’s eating habits.  As a result, we didn’t eat a lot of cream soups or sauces at home, so I obviously rebelled by ordering them as often as possible whenever we went out to eat.  I don’t think I met a cream-based soup I didn’t like, and I adored pasta with tomato cream sauce.

Unfortunately, I no longer have the metabolism of a scrawny 12 year old, so I can’t eat clam chowder every day and expect to still fit in my pants.  However, I recently had a little leftover sour cream and discovered that just a little bit adds a nice tang and rich texture to regular tomato sauce. Plus, a tablespoon of regular sour cream has roughly half the fat and calories of heavy cream, and you can also buy low fat or fat free versions.

Creamy Tomato Sauce

• 1 large (28 oz) can whole plum tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp julienned sun dried tomatoes packed in oil
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 large leaves of fresh basil, chopped (optional)
• grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. In a large saute pan, heat olive oil over medium low heat.  Saute garlic until soft but not browned.  Add sun dried tomatoes and cook one minute more.  Add tomato paste and stir until the tomatoes and garlic are coated and fragrant.

2.  Add the canned tomatoes.  Using the back of a wooden spoon or spatula, break up the tomatoes into smaller pieces.  I like my sauce pretty chunky, so I usually break the tomatoes into halves or thirds.  Bring sauce up to a gentle simmer.  Add vinegar and sugar.  Taste and season with salt and pepper to your liking.  Simmer for 10 minutes, then taste again and re-season if necessary.

3.  Remove sauce from heat and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.  Stir in sour cream.  Pour over hot pasta and top with basil and Parmesan.

Makes enough sauce for 4 generous servings.  This sauce also keeps for a few days in the fridge and reheats easily.

Every time Lee and I go out to eat Vietnamese food, the conversation invariably devolves into us lamenting that there are no Vietnamese restaurants in our neighborhood.  We always  imagine how much better our lives would be if we could get Vietnamese within walking distance.  We’re certain we’d eat there all the time and that we’d  surely be skinnier if we went on an all pho or all bun diet.

The closest place to us is Nam Viet in Cleveland Park, but it’s a pain to catch the H bus across Rock Creek Park, and driving there on the weekend always turns into a parking nightmare.  Plus their food still isn’t nearly as good at what you can get at Eden Center or at Pho 75 in Arlington.  So, Vietnamese has become a bit of a special treat for us.

We’ve even taken to stopping at this pho place in Harrisburg on  to see Lee’s family at Christmas time.  Every time I eat there, I think about or mention how I wish I could get some pho in Columbia Heights for Christmas.  You can therefore imagine my shock when last month I was walking home from the Metro and I spotted a giant sign on the side of a building that read, “Pho 14 Coming Soon.”

I stopped.  I stared.  And then I pulled out my cellphone and called Lee to announce my discovery.  Sure, I was less than 2 blocks from my apartment, but this news could not wait.

Now on my walks home from work, I peer into the window, trying to figure out how close they are.  For a long time, the windows were covered in brown kraft paper and I hadn’t been able to divine much except for the fact that they’d installed light fixtures in the ceiling. Around mid-February, purple bubble letters appeared on the window that read “Coming in Mid-March”.

Well, my friends, it is now mid-March.  The kraft paper has come down and I can confirm that there is a big flat screen tv, a tiki-themed bar area, and a very kitchy-looking fake stone fountain.  The decor might not be the greatest, but I don’t care as long as the food is good.  Apparently tonight was the soft opening, and Prince of Petworth gives it the thumbs up.  Pending final inspections, they will be opening on Thursday.  I will be there, ready and hungry.

Pho 14 Vietnamese Restaurant
1436 Park Rd Nw
Washington, DC

I think you either love or hate this holiday, and I know a lot of people hate it.  I realize that despite the business it draws, restaurants must hate this day.  I showed up last night for a 5 pm dinner reservation at Brasserie Beck (the only time available when making a reservation 2 weeks in advance) and the hostess was already starting to lose it.  While we were waiting to be seated, some poor idiot called and asked if there were any tables left.  “No,” she said, clutching her head, “we are completely booked.  The restaurant is completely booked.”  I got the feeling she’d probably had this conversation countless times that day.

As we were escorted to the table, it dawned on me.  Eating out on Valentine’s Day is like the dining equivalent to flying on Thanksgiving weekend.  All sorts of people who normally never eat out or come into the city pop out of the woodwork for this one day.  They’re like those infuriating people in the security line who somehow haven’t heard about the 3 oz liquids rule.  You can usually tell just by looking — there’s the  guy in sloppy jeans and sneakers; the girl in an inappropriately tiny dress with inappropriately high heels; and that horrible couple that keeps making out at the table across from you.

As for me, I like Valentine’s Day.  But not because I like roses or chocolates or fancy dinners.  Don’t get me wrong–I like all of those things very much, but you can have them any day of the week if you really want them.  No, I like Valentine’s Day for far, far nerdier reasons.  I like Valentine’s Day in the same way that the staff at Martha Stewart Living likes Valentine’s Day: it’s an excuse to make beautiful, delicious things.  As I kid, I loved making paper Valentine’s.  Actually, I’d really love it if someone gave me some construction paper and glitter glue right now.  Now that I’m older, I like the excuse to bake something in the shape of a heart and put pink frosting on it.

Last year, I decided to indulge myself and I made a myriad of chocolate and vanilla cut out cookies.  I sandwiched some of them with raspberry jam and covered the others with all sorts of pink and red designs.  It was delightful. This year, I was felled by a bout of stomach flu and couldn’t make any cookies.  Well, I suppose I could have, but I wouldn’t have been able to eat any, and  no one wants cookies made by a germy person, no matter how pretty they are.  I’ll just have to wait until next year.

I just took this loaf out of the oven, and it’s so good than I ran to my computer to type up the recipe.  Now, beer bread does not have quite the same crusty texture and tender crumb as a yeast bread, but it’s quick, easy, and you can make it in an hour.  In other words, it’s about as close to instant gratification as homemade bread gets.

One thing I have learned is that baking with beer is a lot like cooking with wine–you should use beer that you’d actually drink.  If you don’t like how it tastes out of the bottle, you probably won’t like it baked either, so it’s in your interest to spend a little extra for something tasty.  I used Young’s Double Chocolate Stout because it is absolutely delicious.  Young’s is made with actual chocolate and is incredibly smooth.  The trick here is to use a beer that has a rich, malty flavor but is not strongly bitter.  This is a dessert bread and a very bitter beer is going to make your bread taste foul.  (I once made a completely inedible loaf out of some Bell’s Porter.  It was a grayish and tasted like burnt coffee–so, so wrong.)

I seem to be on a bit of a cherry kick here, but you could easily substitute a different type of  dried or fresh fruit.  For Christmas, I recieved a giant jar of homemade sour cherry cordial from Lee’s mom, and this seemed like a great way to use up the tipsy cherries left floating in the jar.  Fresh or canned sour cherries in water would also work just as well.

Chocolate Stout and Tart Cherry Beer Bread

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup whole sour cherries, pitted
• 12 oz Young’s Double Chocolate Stout

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9″x5″ loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.  Make a well in the center of the bowl and pour in beer and cherries.  Gently fold the flour into the beer, stopping when the dough has just absorbed all the flour.  Be careful not to over mix or stir vigorously, as this will destroy the bubbles and make the bread dense.

3. Pour dough into loaf pan and smooth the top with a spoon or rubber spatula. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Biscotti is one of those cookies that can be hit or miss.  I have nearly broken a tooth on dry, flavorless store-bought biscotti.  I know you’re supposed to dunk them in coffee, but I believe a good biscotti should taste delightful even by itself.  I’ve been tinkering with this recipe for years, starting with the original version for Chocolate-Dipped Cherry-Hazelnut Biscotti.  The first time I made it, I thought the orange zest was overpowering, and dipping the biscotti in chocolate was messy and time consuming.  However, I kept the recipe because I always ship some cookies at Christmas, and biscotti are very sturdy and keep for several weeks.  Instead, I started tweaking the recipe a little bit each year.  I dropped the orange zest and swapped out hazelnuts for almonds.  I tried mixing in chocolate chips, which tasted good if inauthentic.  This year I decided to simplify by ditching the chocolate altogether and enhancing the nuts with Amaretto.  The resulting cookie has the rich almond flavor and crunchy (but not rock hard) texture that I’ve been looking for all this time.

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Photo by Flickr user IRRI Images

Anyone from the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area will be familiar with my  favorite childhood grocery store chain, Byerly’s.  Growing up, I loved to eat this soup more than… well, any other soup. But I can’t get anything like it in DC, so I’ve tried to recreate it myself.  Of course, I did all this before Byerly’s so kindly posted their recipe on the internet, so it’s not exactly right, but I came awfully close.  Either way, it’s pretty delicious.

Byerly’s Wild Rice Soup

Wild rice almost an hour to cook, so I buy fully cooked vacuum packs of wild rice from Trader Joe’s.  I don’t taste a difference in flavor or texture; it’s perfectly cooked out of the bag.

If  you can’t get your hands on a aged white cheddar, omit the cheese.  I used an English cheddar aged 2 years and it has a rich, nutty flavor that adds a nice depth to the soup.  Regular supermarket cheddar tastes radically different and won’t work.

• 6 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup milk
• 4 cups cooked wild rice
• 1 cup carrots, chopped into 1″ pieces
• 1 1/2 cups celery, chopped into 1″ pieces
• 1 8 oz ham steak, cut into 1″ cubes
• 1 cup grated aged white cheddar
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp sage
• 1/2 tsp herbs de provence
• Salt and pepper to taste

1.  In a large pot or dutch oven, melt butter over low heat.  Once the bubbles have subsided, sprinkle in flour and whisk to make a roux.  Continue whisking until roux is golden brown.  Slowly add the chicken stock and continue whisking to get out any lumps.  Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.

2.  Lower the heat and bring soup to a simmer.  Add milk, carrots, celery, ham, rice, and herbs.  Simmer 10-15 minutes, until the carrots and celery are tender.  Turn off the heat and stir in the cheese.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  (The cheese and ham are pretty salty, so you may not need any additional sodium.)

3.  Remove bay leaf and serve with a sprinkling of sliced almonds.  This soup also reheats and freezes well.

Makes about 6 generous servings.

Better late than never, I say… This month has been incredibly busy; I’ve currently got one Christmas down and one more to go.  I wanted to get these pictures  up sooner, but this will have to do for now.  Click on the thumbnails for a full size image.  Recipes, where available, are linked.

Homemade Marshmallows from Alton Brown

Martha Stewart’s Pecan Bars

Almond Cherry Biscotti (recipe forthcoming)

Bittersweet Mocha Cookies from Fine Cooking

Smitten Kitchen’s Brownie Roll-Out Cookies

Jam Thumbprint Trios

Coconut Snowballs and Itty Bitty Gingerbread Men

Peppermint Meringues