Success & Failure: Adventures in dutch oven cooking!

My lovely parents gave me a dutch oven as an early Christmas present over Thanksgiving this year (thanks!) and I was very excited to experiment with it. As the title of this post would imply, I have taken this bad boy for a couple of spins and one resulted in a great success and the other in a great failure.

Let's start with success!

I love soups when it's cold out and it's been REALLY cold out. I took the dutch oven for it's inaugural test drive by cooking an interesting Shrimp Chowder from Williams Sonoma. To make it extra hearty I added some frozen corn and whole wheat orzo pasta. On the whole, the recipe was surprisingly easy...while you chop the veggies you roast the asparagus and shrimp in the oven and then just add them in at the end.

It's also relatively healthy because it's jam packed with veggies, has the lean protein from shrimp and gets it's creaminess from just a cup of nonfat evaporated milk.

All in all, this is a great recipe that I will make again. It was definitely hearty enough as a main course for dinner and the leftovers made a nice lunch the next day. I would actually recommend this recipe to even a novice cook...seriously, this is SUPER easy, FULL of flavor and is actually quite "impressive" looking at the end. Also, the dutch oven worked beautifully for this dish! It heated the soup evenly, was a snap to clean (whoever invented that enabled finish is my hero!), and the pot is heavy enough that it doesn't shift on the stove as you stir.

Annnnnd on to the failure.

I'm more of a cook than a baker, but I have definitely baked my share of bread in my time. I have been reading about Mark Bittman's "quick bread recipe" for the last year and always wanted to give it a try. The catch was that I never had a dutch oven so this was my first opportunity! In short, this recipe was a disaster. I'll spare you the play by play, but, just like in life, there are NO SHORTCUTS IN BREAD.

Looking ok if not a little flat. 

"Turn the loaf out onto a rack and let cool". 

WHOOPS. 

Why does my "loaf" more closely resemble a cow-pie?

DISASTER.

Why grocery shopping doesn't have to be a pain in the ass

Grocery shopping can really suck. Especially if you're like me and tend to frequent Trader Joes and Whole Foods. I once asked a Whole Foods employee how he doesn't have a panic attack every time he comes to work. His response was, "Well, I just try to be mellow and calm...for the most part people are cool and will move out of my way when I need to get through...but there are a lot of douchebags."

Yes Whole Foods man...there certainly are a lot of douchebags at the grocery store. And on top of the classic douches there are screaming children, carts left in the middle of the aisles, old people who never hear you say excuse me, and the crowds. OH the crowds. Unfortunately, we need to eat and thus we need to grocery shop.

Personally, I am a weirdo and I love to grocery shop. I think it's because I learned at an early age to never go into a grocery store without a battle plan. In college I was a personal assistant for a family in Beverly Hills and I had to do all their grocery shopping as part of my job. A week's worth of groceries for a family of 5 (plus a  housekeeper). That's a lot of food, trust me. The woman I worked for was actually a pretty good cook and she planned out all her family's meals for the week. She would write everything out: "6 tomatoes, on the vine, highest quality available", "2 lbs premium ground beef, lowest fat content", "6 french cornish hens, ask the butcher to slice down the middle and package for you", "1 package fruit roll ups" (surely her son's request), "1 jar kosher dill spears, highest quality/most expensive". She would then give me an envelope full of hundreds and send me on my way. 

My first trip to the store was a disaster. It took me forever to get through the list in the time allotted...you see I only had 45 minutes to get through the store and drop off the groceries before picking her son up from soccer practice. I didn't know where to find anything in the store and I didn't know the difference between a shallot and a scallion. (Note: shallots = small brown onions, often sold in little net packages, and scallions = long green onions often sold in bunches) 

Over time, however, I learned how to navigate a big grocery store with ease. I learned how to pick the best veggies and how to order from the meat counter. I even made friends with the store manager who let me cut the lines! In the end, I learned to love grocery shopping...something I am forever grateful for. 

This brings me to my theory: grocery shopping doesn't have to suck, people just see grocery shopping as a real pain in the ass because they don't know what they are doing. 

Take it from an ex-professional grocery shopper: The first step to grocery shopping inner peace is to go in with a plan. 

Now I'm not saying that you need to plan out every meal you're going to make through the entire week, or write out the exact number of tomatoes you need per week, but having a few recipes in mind certainly doesn't hurt. More importantly, you should stop for a second and ask yourself which ingredients go together? For example..."Gee, I want to make that amazing Williams Sonoma shrimp dish that calls for feta cheese...I'll probably have some feta leftover so maybe I should pick up some tomatoes and cucumbers and throw together a Greek salad later in the week." This is critical when you're buying unusual ingredients or else you'll end up having a lot of food go to waste. That's not good for the earth (even if you compost) or for your wallet. So just take a moment to think before you go to the store. 

If you aren't shopping for multiple days then that's fine, just buy exactly what you need for for dinner that night...DO NOT...I repeat, DO NOT just starting picking food off the shelves at random as a way to buy a week's worth of food. You'll end up with a full refrigerator and I guarantee most will go to waste. 

In short: figure out what you want to cook, what you need, and then write a list. Write your list according to grocery store department. This way you aren't making laps around the store. You can see my example above. It's not pretty...but it got the job done. It's not the most complete list I ever made, it's not a week's worth of groceries, but I wanted to include a real list not something I drafted up for the blog.

Well, I hope this is helpful. This is also reminding me that I have some people coming over for dinner and I'm not sure what to cook....any ideas?

"I could write a blog...I have thoughts!"

Couldn't have put it better myself.

I can tell this will be my favorite movie of the year.



Ironically, I've never actually cooked anything by Julia Child. Though I do own her cookbook...perhaps I too should embark on a "recipe a day" challenge!

Down to business - 2 Recipes & a Craft

It's business time.

Recipe #1 - Basic Risotto how-to

No recipe link here...this is a dish I make quite often so I just kind of do it from my memory. I'll do my best to write it out for you. The nice thing about risotto is that it's great for vegetarians because you can always add meat on the side and it's great for those who are gluten-intolerant because it's all rice. You can use whatever veggies you have on hand.

Ingredients:
Arborio Rice (it will double in size as you add the broth)
1 yellow onion
garlic (either finely chopped, or run through a garlic press)
parmesan/parm reggiano cheese or a mix of both
1 Tetra-Pak veggie or chicken broth (though it never hurts to have extra)
1/2 cup dry white wine (I like to use extra dry Vermouth. Martini and Rossi preferred)
Various vegetables: My favorites are asparagus, mushrooms, tomatoes, fresh basil, but you can really do anything...butternut squash, zucchini etc.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 large wok-type pan
1 small saucepan (to heat the broth)


First you should cook up your vegetables. In this case, I steamed the asparagus and sauteed the mushrooms in olive oil. When they are done, just put them aside on a plate to add at the end.



Now chop up the onion and peel a few gloves of garlic. Pour your broth into a saucepan and turn on low. This is an ESSENTIAL step. The broth must be hot in my experience or else your rice will turn out all mushy and weird.

Pour a liberal amount of olive oil in the pan and saute the garlic for a couple minutes until nice and fragrant. Add the onions and saute for about 5 minutes, do not let them brown/caramelize.



Next, add a few more tablespoons of olive oil and stir in your rice. Saute the rice in the oil for about 3-5 minutes. They say the rice should appear "transparent" over time...I've never noticed this effect.

Next add the wine to your taste and simmer until it is all absorbed. Your stove should be on about medium heat. Do not let the rice "cook dry" thus sticking to the bottom of the pan. This is not a "set it and forget it" meal.

Add the broth about a half a cup at a time letting it fully absorb before you add more. Give the rice a few stirs. There is no need to constantly stir as that can create mushy rice, but make sure the broth is evenly distributed.



Taste the rice as you go...it should be firm to the bite but not raw. The rice should be about double in size. When the rice is done, turn off the stove and add any spices you like. I am a fan of the obvious salt/pepper but also fresh basil (or dried) and even a little oregano or rosemary. Then add the cheese. I add a lot of cheese because cheese is DELICIOUS.


It should melt quickly. Fold it into the risotto.

Lastly, add your vegetables and you're done!

Yum!

Recipe #2 - Curried Cauliflower ala Williams-Sonoma
Click here for the recipe.

I used this basic recipe, but added half a yellow onion, a couple of tomatoes, three red potatoes and frozen peas to make it a full meal. I also cooked up some brown jasmin rice on the side. Perfect!


Beautiful cauliflower from the Farmer's Market and other veggies from my corner-store.

I chopped up all the ingredients and then poured them into a big salad bowl. I then sifted the spices through and mixed them up with my hands. Finally, I spread them in a single layer on a couple of baking sheets and cooked at 425F for about 45 minutes. The recipe says that it should only take about 30, but potatoes always take forever.


Take the veggies out every once and awhile to turn them. If they start to stick (which mine did) you can give them a quick spray of cooking spray (I use Pam Organic Olive Oil).

Then I mixed up the sauce which was just yogurt and dijon mustard. I was a bit skeptical about the sauce...never had THAT at an Indian restaurant, but it turned out to really compliment the dish! I didn't add all of it though.




Ta da! Aside from the fact that it takes a long time to roast the veggies, this was a very easy and delicious dinner! It was especially good because I don't often cook Indian. I just realized that this was also a gluten-free dinner...I am accidentally on a roll.


AND FINALLY...a craft update. So after discovering those felted coasters I decided to take a stab at felting myself. I discovered this adorable little yarn store near the Marina called Greenwhich Yarn. Super cute, very helpful ladies, great selection and it's been there for 30 years. A bit far away, but totally worth it. I walked all the way back (about 2 miles) and it was super fun...great walk through a few fun neighborhoods.

At first I wanted to make placemats, but then I decided to try something smaller since I'm just experimenting. I opted for hot-pads.

These were quick to knit up. I did them in an afternoon. I used size 15 needles, and double stranded the yarn (one verigated and one solid). I cast on 30 stiches and used a basic stockinette stich.

The end result pre-felting:


I washed the pieces twice on the hot cycle at my local laundromat. Unfortunately, I just don't think the water got hot enough because they didn't shrink nearly as much as I thought they would. I think I'm going to try and refelt them again the next time I do laundry. Or maybe try another laundromat. Even better...maybe I'll have to mooch off a couple of friends who are LIVING THE DREAM and have their own in-unit laundry. Someday...

The end result post felting:




They're a bit large and a bit square. But still kind of fun. I'm happy to be back into knitting and I'm looking forward to more trying out some more felting projects. I also think I'm going to crochet a cute border and a knob-loop on these so I can actually use them in the kitchen.

What else should I felt?