Blog, interrupted
By Ann | April 29, 2008
Sorry for the long silence, mes amies. I unexpectedly started an intensive French class last week that meets M-F for five hours a day. Sadly, this leaves very little time for (a) cooking, and (b) blogging. Instead, I spend a lot of time pinching my nose to make nasal vowel sounds and generally bumbling my way through simple sentences (Je m’appelle Ann!) — ah, the joys of learning a new language.
Anyway, this is just a note to say I haven’t forgotten about Cooking the Books and I’ll try to post once or twice a week. I have a new Five Items first course to blog about and another cookbook to start reviewing. Until then, bon appetit! A+
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Five items: Quinoa, ancient grain
By Ann | April 22, 2008
Welcome to another, long overdue edition of Five Items. Today’s dish, quinoa pilaf, is more of a starchy side, but it would be a terrific accompaniment to tofu steaks, either my version or Martha’s, for a fast, high-protein meal.
But first, what is quinoa? Pronounced keen-wah, it’s an ancient grain from the Andes region that once played a ceremonial role in Incan and Aztec cultures. An incredibly hardy plant that can survive extreme weather and high altitude, its seeds (pictured above) are packed with protein and essential amino acids. Apparently, the leaves of the plant can also be eaten as a green vegetable.
I like quinoa because of its delicate, slightly crunchy texture and cute appearance — the seeds unfurl into tiny spirals when cooked. It’s also high in fiber and very easy to cook.
Here are the five ingredients:
1. 1/2 cup onion or shallot, finely diced
2. 1 tablespoon ginger, peeled and minced
3. 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
4. 2 cups chicken stock
5. 1 cup broccoli florets, blanched
In a medium saucepan, heat a dash of olive oil over medium-high heat and saute the onion and ginger until softened. Add the quinoa, stock, salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine, bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed. Fluff quinoa and add broccoli. Stir to combine over a low flame until heated through.
Topics: Five items | 1 Comment »
Wrapping up
By Ann | April 21, 2008
Before we say goodbye to The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The New Classics, I thought I’d offer a few final positives and negatives –
+ Offers lots of easy, healthy, low-fat, flavorful recipes that are great for everyday dinners. Many of these are labelled “fit to eat” and have nutritional information.
+ Recipes for ethnic dishes like curries or lentil soup taste surprisingly complex without being fussy.
+ At 672 pages, the book covers a wide territory, offering unique ideas for almost every course.
+ Dessert lovers will adore the multiple chapters on sweets, which make up almost a third of the book, and include everything from cookies to candy, pies, frozen treats and fruit desserts.
– Many recipes are real yawners, bland and dull.
– A few recipes (like the one for Elke Wood’s lemon squares) have confusing instructions, which resulted in kitchen errors.
– Most of these recipes are available on-line at Martha Stewart’s website, which begs the question: Why buy this book at all?
Favorite recipes:
Broiled black pepper tofu – offers a terrific new (to me), method to make tofu steaks.
Fish burgers – light and fresh, but still satisfyingly a burger.
Southern Indian curry with mustard seeds – flavorful, exotic and complex.
Least favorite recipes:
Braised chicken with olives, carrots and chickpeas — very, very bland.
Spaghetti with garden vegetables — if possible, even blander than above recipe.
Haricots verts and goat cheese salad with almonds — ingredients were too rich, while the flavor was too plain. Also looked quite unappealing.
Would I buy this book? Probably not. I think there are better comprehensive cookbooks out there (Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything comes to mind), and frankly too many of the recipes made from the book ended up in the garbage or doused with too much Sriracha.
So, there you have it folks. Stay tuned for the announcement of our next Cooking the Books project, coming soon! In the meantime, fans of Top Chef may want to check out my recap of last week’s episode, posted at Washingtonian.com.
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Nonstop Top Chef
By Ann | April 16, 2008
I’m on my way to So Cal this afternoon and won’t be able to post for a few days. But here’s a little interview I did for the Washingtonian with Top Chef contestant Spike, in which he discusses his new Capitol Hill burger joint, why Padma’s so calm, and where he keeps his secret ingredients.
When we return… final thoughts on The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The New Classics and a new cookbook!
(Photo courtesy of Bravo.)
Topics: Articles | 1 Comment »
CtB goes DIY (and some unfortunate news about overdue library books)
By Ann | April 15, 2008
Ta da! Here are the results of my very first DIY project! I inherited this particle board dresser from a friend six years ago. I forgot to take “before” photographs, but it started out an uninspiring “birch” color, with various stains, scratches and ugly nicks.
I’d long wanted to paint it but was intimidated by the process, particularly sanding. But finally I just couldn’t stand it anymore, so I googled “painted furniture” and found these extremely helpful instructions from Martha Stewart’s website.
I made a trip to Lowe’s (a store I’d never heard of before Friday) and purchased my supplies — a tarp, 2-inch paintbrush, sandpaper, spackling compound (to fill in any nicks), a putty knife, primer and paint. It’s hard to see in the photo, but I chose this Martha Stewart color, Araucana blue, a very pale blue inspired by the eggshells of Martha’s hens.
I also unearthed a 2-year-old gift certificate to Restoration Hardware to buy these pretty glass knobs:
I started the project on Friday and finally finished it yesterday. I am really, really happy with the results — the overall cost was about $100 (though $50 was paid for with a gift certificate that I otherwise wouldn’t have used), but that is so much less expensive than a new dresser!
Anyway, as you might suspect with all this DIY activity, I haven’t been doing much cooking. And then I made the horrifying discovery that The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The New Classics is overdue to the library — and because I’d renewed it once before, I can’t renew it again! And so, mes amies, I must return Martha to the library and hastily conclude my Cooking the Books review — unfinished — or should I say, half-baked?
I know this news is rather disconcerting, but fear not, Cooking the Books will return with a new cookbook to review soon!
Topics: Totally unrelated to food | 2 Comments »
Olive
By Ann | April 14, 2008
I must confess that DIY took up most of my weekend, leaving not much time for cooking. My painted dresser looks very pretty, however, and I will post pictures of it when it’s dry and assembled (annoyingly, I forgot to take “before” shots — sorry).
In the meantime, I wanted to post some pictures of my friends’ adorable new kitten, Olive. She’s only eight weeks old and still super tiny (not to mention super cute). Olive was adopted by my friends Lucia and Mike this weekend and is adjusting well to her new Brooklyn home.
According to Lucia, Olive has already learned how to jump from the couch to the coffee table. She likes the computer and her laser toy and is being a very good girl while her owners are at work.
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Top Chef redux
By Ann | April 11, 2008
Between Top Chef and the Real Housewives of New York City (don’t even get me started on Alex & Simon!!) I can’t stop watching Bravo TV!
I’ve started doing weekly Top Chef recaps for the Washingtonian. Check out my thoughts on Zoi’s crazy earrings, Dale’s bitter rant and Richard’s unclean salmon here.
(Photo courtesy of Bravo.)
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Back again
By Ann | April 10, 2008
Finally, we are happy to present another edition of Cooking the Books: The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The New Classics! Today’s dish is daube de boeuf provencal from the “meat” chapter, a classic French recipe that proved to be very easy and delicious, yet also a lengthy endeavor.
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What’s authentic?
By Ann | April 7, 2008
Apologies again for slacking off on the Cooking the Books: The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The New Classics. I can’t even blame my laziness on my back, which is now (practically) pain free. What have I been doing instead of cooking? Well, this weekend I was away in Boston visiting my friends Sherry and Brian, who spoiled me with North End Italian fare, South End Franco-brunch food, and a visit/realization of life-long dream to Orchard House, home of Louisa May Alcott.
I will be back with another edition of Cooking the Books soon. Tonight, I’m marinating beef chuck roast in red wine; it needs to soak for 24 hours! Tomorrow I will turn that drunken beef into Martha’s daube de boeuf Provencal (ooh la la!).
Until then, I wanted to direct your attention to this fascinating article in the New York Times, Is Cuisine Still Italian, Even if the Chef Isn’t? It turns out most restaurants in Italy are (surprise, surprise) staffed by immigrants many of whom hail from Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Romania or Bangladesh. One Tunisian chef even won this year’s prestigious Gambera Rossa award for Rome’s best carbonara. Not surprisingly, some Italians are questioning if this food cooked by non-Italians can really be considered authentic. Obviously there are some racial elements to this story, but I do think the question is intriguing: If Italy’s high-end food is cooked by immigrants, will authentic Italian cuisine eventually disappear?
Topics: In the news | 1 Comment »
Ode to Sriracha
By Ann | April 4, 2008
Oh, Sriracha
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee drizzled on scrambled eggs or squirted on a boca burger
On pho, of course, but also on spaghetti
In lentil soup, or any soup, really
You could enliven any boring leftover Martha Stewart concoction
(In fact you often have)…
My back is feeling much, much better — thank you for your concern and well wishes! Unfortunately, despite my improvement, there hasn’t been a lot of Cooking the Books activity recently. Chris is still away and I have been eating out (bad blogger, I know).
So, today I thought I’d post about my favorite condiment, Sriracha, a hot sauce that has often been compared to crack cocaine on Chowhound because of its addictive quality. According to this fascinating Wikipedia article, Si Racha is actually the name of the seaside town in Thailand where the sauce originated. There are several varieties, some spicier then others, and Wikipedia specifies that in California Sriracha is commonly used on french fries and pizza. Personally, I like it best mixed with mayo into a fiery sauce, squirted on leftovers, or mixed into soupy noodles.
How do you enjoy Sriracha?
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