10 Minute Meals

Now that I'm working from home, I'd love to experiment with actually eating lunch and eating it right - which in my book means DELICIOUS tasting (first), shortest prep time possible, virtually no clean up, and then finally, semi-good for me.  Yes, I'd like to have my cake and eat it too please.

My latest white bean one pot soup is spot on and is now my go to when I'm hungry and need something hot.

This soup is a keyed down version of a cranberry bean soup that we used to make at Masa's.  Of course, there, I shelled the beans by hand, and cooked them for 3 hours with a mirepoix.  Then, we had to make a bacon foam with gelatin and heavy cream, so that whole soup literally took 5 hours to make.

It's bliss when you can transform something so complicated into something so easy. Of course, true connoisseurs would never call it the same thing, but hey - I don't think they studied the economics of opportunity cost.  There's a scrooge in all of us.

 

The only thing I have to remember is to keep a can of cannellini beans ($0.89) from TJ's, and some heavy cream in my pantry.  The whole soup takes 10 minutes to make and clean up is just one pot and a blender.  

Whad'ya know. I might just start doing a 10 minute meal series.  Maybe I'll get famous!

Here's the recipe:

1 can of cannellini beans

1 cup water or chicken stock

1/4 cup heavy cream

salt & pepper to season

Rinse cannellini beans

Throw beans and water or stock in a sauce pan

Bring to a boil and add the cream

Return to a simmer

Whiz everything in a blender and season to taste

Serve yum.

 

And on his farm he had some pigs...

The English have a bad rap for their cuisine. I don't blame the rest of the world - after all having spent some time in boarding school there more than ten years ago, I was convinced no other place in the world had worse food.

The 'classics' of English cuisine are usually Pub Food gone wrong. Soggy fries with over battered fish, bland mushy peas, overly salty steak and kidney pie with a starchy sauce, you get the drift.

For a long time, the only redeeming quality of the cuisine was their afternoon British cream teas, with lovely soft scone and rich clotted cream. And perhaps, English breakfast, which was a treat we'd have once a week for lunch, black pudding and all. I still 'oft long for clotted cream and scones here in the states. Fortunately or not, the closest they come is when I make them at home...


Anyway, in the more recent years, the cuisine has undergone a resurgence, with Fergus Henderson at the helm. The chef of St John's (re) paved the way into the classic British gastropub, with nose to tail eating at his London eatery.

Such has been the turnaround in the food, that I now find myself yearning for the streets of London, pub crawling the same way you'd go tapas hopping in Spain.

I was fortunate enough to be able to pay tribute to the Queen's land in September, and satiate some of my craving for this revamped fare, Six months pregnant and with a 18 month in tow.

We spent about 10 days in the new forest, which is the oldest nature conservancy in England, commissioned by King William I some 1000 years ago. There isn't a lot to do for a city girl like me, but we managed to score some really good eats. The local pubs had some of the best fish and chips, and the cream teas were fantastic wherever we went! I even managed to organize a family reunion at The Cider Pantry, which was fabulous even for a simple Sunday roast lunch.

All that for another day, but best was definitely a restaurant called 'The Pig', heavily influenced by nose to tail eating. Set on some lovely grounds, the restaurant is part of a high end B&B with an old world victorian feel to it.

We chanced upon it on recommendations and loved it so much we had to go back the next day for more.

Homage to the name, the menu has a series on small plates to start, all from various parts of the fine animal - Crunchy crackling, fried bits of lard, and pork liver pâté. Normally I am not a fan of pork liver, but this pâté was truly one of a kind. I'd have had another serving if I wasn't avoiding liver for the vitamin A toxicity, another pregnant woman gripe.



The restaurant also cures it's own charcuterie, which we tried, again fabulous, but my favorite appetizer of the day was the black pudding with soft egg. House made of course, and where would you get something like that in the states? It was delicious, tasty and soft, not crumbly and dry which a lot of poorly done puddings tend to be. If I lived in England, I wouldn't be anemic, for sure.








Their non-pork appetizers were also great, like their garlic escargots, and mussels and clams steamed with seaweed and vermouth, served up in a creamy broth with crunchy bread. I tried a little on our first visit and decided it was worth a whole order on the second. Both were inspirations for dishes in my menus here.






I had their award winning venison for my dinner, and it was very good, done to perfection (medium rare, again another pregnant lady faux pas), but their best dish was the pork bath, which is the jowl of the pig.


The cheek is first steamed until tender, then either roasted or deep fried so that the skin turns to crackling. It's a combination of crunchy with melt in your mouth fat and meat, served with house made apple sauce. The whole dish is probably worth a few days of calories, but it is so worth it.


Finally, to end, I tried a sampling of their mini dessert, which came with roasted marshmallow, lemon curd mini cones, and butterscotch toffee, the perfect little sweet bite to end the meal!


The Pig is one of the best nose to tail restaurants I've visited, and although I was really craving a meal at St John's, The Pig was more than able to let me go home happy!

Do visit if you get a chance to visit the New Forest.

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The Le Creuset Companion

My first Le Creuset purchase involved a long period of deliberation in the bloomingdales home department, during one of their home sales. Never having been able to afford them before, the array of colorful, enameled, cast iron casseroles always seemed like a distant dream. For a kid in culinary school, going to bloomies closely resembled looking through the window of a candy store when you were 5 years old - an uncontrollable, mouthwatering desire, but so out of reach; no matter how much begging one went through.

Never knowing before that a sale at Bloomingdales could slash prices of designer goods to an affordable cost, I was faced with the possibility that owning my own Le Creuset oven could actually be reality. The pot in question was a small 2 qt, cherry red french oven at just under $100, about 40% off the original price. At the time, I was just starting to invest in small appliances, and had previously splurged on a red cuisineart blender/food processor combo to match my red kitchenaid mixer, and so, I thought to myself - this Le Creuset french oven in red would be the perfect addition to my new luxury collection of cooking tools.




I made the purchase on my American Express Clear card, declining an additional 15% discount to sign up for the Bloomingdale's card (this I eventually signed up during a large shopping expedition after I had exited the poor student arena).

I was so happy. My prized little red pot was used for everything from cooking ramen to making soups, sauces, small braises etc. I even kept the box that the pot came in, not being able to bear throwing it away. As my cooking became more sophisticated, my little pot also matured with me; handling expensive ingredients like foie gras, truffles, bone marrow, and the best wines. We had such a fine time together, experimenting with new ingredients, keeping familiar food warm, and it became a very special part of my culinary adventures (life in some translations).

As my culinary repertoire increased, so did the size of my parties, and eventually, I was no longer able to use my favorite red pot for most of my cooking. Having also grown into a larger income, I was able to supplement my cookware collection with larger Le Creuset pots; the next one being a 9 qt Cobalt French Oven, seconds, from TJ Maxx. There they were, side by side, quite a sight; a little red pot, and it's big blue brother.

(A note about this blue pot, I almost burned a house down with this one, while attempting to do a mass reduction of lobster stock, and conveniently leaving the house. The pot did actually burn to irreparable damage, however, a friend rescued it from the garbage and is still currently attempting to refurbish it. It's been about 3 years since that sad fate)

I eventually reached a stage in life where I had the luxury of being able to choose the Le Creuset colors that I wanted to expand my collection with, rather than be restricted to only those that had the largest discounts. When making the decision to pick a color, I had very much wanted to stick with the original red - how lovely it would be to have a collection of Le Creuset ovens in bright red!

However, in honor of my first red pot, I chose to single it out by keeping the rest of the pots cobalt blue. Never any seconds either; but always on sale in some way or another; mostly from the bloomingdales home sale section.

(If you were curious about the red appliances that I originally wanted my pot to match with; they failed miserably and I eventually splurged on commercial quality blenders and food processors in a stylish black. The red KitchenAid still works marvelously though)

My current collection (all cobalt) includes: two 2.75 Qt round french ovens, one 5 Qt oval french oven, one 7.25 Qt round french oven, one 9.5 Qt oval french oven, one 8 Qt stock pot, one 12 Qt stock pot, and of course, the original red 2 Qt round french oven. I also received a red whistling kettle as a gift, making it 9 pieces in total.



My pot and I have moved several times together - into small kitchens, even smaller ones, a huge one, and a medium kitchen. Through it all, it's always been able to find it's place in the forefront of all the other cookware, a little flash of red in the sea of blue.

These days, I use my little red pot for what has been the most glorious and honorable cuisine in my entire life - baby food; where it cooks up everything from petit peas, to brown rice and barley. While I relish being at the pinnacle of my culinary career, whenever my gaze falls upon the little red one, it reminds me of my humble beginnings, both as a chef, and as a person.

They say that sharing a meal is the best way to get to know another. Every once in a while, this is what my red pot and I do - over some korean ramen topped with an egg, indulging in those memories of the more unassuming times.


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Location:Middlefield Rd,Palo Alto,United States

Steak & Tomatoes

I've sunk back into a lull of not blogging; but I did want to share a very easy pasta recipe that I made when the family was in town.

Overwhelmed with the harvest of tomatoes, and also a request for pasta on a steak night, I threw together something entirely from the garden.

It's a light, tangy, tomato sauce, and perfect for a late summer evening. The best part of it? It only takes 5 ingredients & 15 minutes!

Summer Fresh Tomato Pasta

Serves 4

2 cups Tomatoes, diced/halved if cherry
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 ea lemon, zested & juiced
1/2 cup Basil, chiffonade
2 tbs Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

4 servings noodle pasta, cooked according to directions

Heat olive oil in a heavy pan, add garlic, and cook till tender, but not browned
Add the tomatoes, lemon juice & lemon zest
Cook on high until tomatoes are soft, and liquid is mostly cooked down, depending on how thick you like the sauce
Season to taste
Stir in the basil chiffonade
Toss with pasta & serve

Happy Birthday Chef Laura!

Oh yes, and Chef Laura had birthday over the weekend with Princess Cake (genoise, custard, jam, meringue and marzipan)!



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Frozen Fish and Flowers

Been doing some interesting cooking lately, what with the tomatoes in our garden in full harvest -we're getting about a quart of tomatoes a day now, and full sized zucchini and squash every few days. I've also started ordering from Farm Fresh to You in hopes of becoming a healthier eater now that I'm actually obliged to cook for three.



I've been on a 3 week cooking rampage - Cook through the weekend that I get my delivery, then wait 3 weeks before cooking again. It's been working out with me freezing a stash of food, so that all we have to is heat it up for a quick and nutritious meal. Maybe I'll start a series called 'Eating well for the busy mom' or something; although I'm still not done with my 101 pasta series!
Jumping on the frozen food bandwagon, I decided J would benefit from eating organic, and unprocessed food. I just couldn't stand the thought of him chowing down that jarred stuff - I don't care if it costs $15 an oz. It can't be that good for you if it is stored in a jar on a shelf!
I wanted to see if he could be a raw vegan for the first year of his life, but as I conjured up recipes in my head, it just became so tiring. Besides, how would he ever get enough carbs that way?
So, I instead put out my IQF skills, and for his first home cooked meal, whipped up brown rice porridge and steamed green beans. Everything ended up being processed eventually but I can live with it if I'm doing it myself.
I also froze everything in cute little shaped ice trays - so now we have green bean fish and starfish and flower snapped brown rice porridge. I figure it might help him make eating veggies and rice fun, although he might be too young to tell the difference yet.



We'll see how he likes it, he gets to try some tomorrow!


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Location:Middlefield Rd,Palo Alto,United States

The Easy Date

When it comes to pastries and desserts, I definitely hang up my apron strings. The long standing feud between dessert & savory chefs is most likely true - I have never met one who is an expert in both.

However, it's imperative that every savory chef have a couple of desserts on their repertoire, and vice versa. It makes no sense to say to your dinner guests, "sorry, I don't do dessert" after a nice meal. It's almost as sacrilegious as not serving wine with dinner.

I've worked to perfect a few desserts that I can call on for any occasion, and am striving to extend myself as a dessert chef (apprentice is a more appropriate word) as well.

One of my favorite dessert ingredients to work with is the ancient date. It's no wonder the date has been a staple and favorite in many cuisines of old, what with the sticky, chewy, and sugary flavor. Most of the dates that we get over here are dried, which concentrate the flavor even more; although I did have the opportunity of savoring a fresh date when I was in Israel, and it is quite delicious as well.

It's an extremely versatile fruit to work with, and not only that, but as there are so many different varieties, just using a different type of date can give dessert a new twist.

One of my stock date desserts is the sticky date pudding, first introduced to me in Australia, where the dessert is exceedingly popular, although I first attempted this only a few years back.

I do not make my pudding particularly sticky. I kind of relish the lighter, spongy texture; but this is because the butterscotch/rum/brandy/toffee sauce that it's served with is severely thick and rich that it works for a nice balance.

It's also such an easy dessert that you can make it just hours ahead to serve it warm or at room temperature. If you're in a pinch and want to do this ahead, it's not a big deal. Just make sure the sauce is thoroughly warmed before generously lathering it over a slice of pudding.

Here's the recipe:

Sticky Date Pudding
Serves 8

1 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
1 1/4 cup Dates, pitted & chopped
1/2 tsp Baking soda
3/4 cup Boiling Water
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Salt
3/4 cup Brown sugar
2 ea Eggs
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
4 Tbs Butter, melted

Preheat oven to 300F
Combine dates and baking soda
Pour water over baking soda and leave to soak for 15 minutes
Remove half of the dates and set aside
In a blender, combine the remaining dates and liquid, as well as all the other ingredients, except the flour
Blend until mixture is well combined
Pour liquid mixture into flour and stir until batter is uniform
Stir in the reserved dates
Pour batter into well buttered 8" cake tin, and place tin in a water bath
Cover water bath tightly with cling wrap (yes it can go in the oven)
Carefully place pudding in oven and bake for about 40 minutes or until pudding is puffed and springs back when lightly pressed
Serve with Toffee sauce (recipe below)

Toffee Sauce recipe
16 oz Butter, chopped
1 1/2 cup Brown sugar
1 cup Heavy cream

In a heavy saucepan melt the butter until it foams
Add the brown sugar and stir until sugar dissolves
Add the cream and cook until sauce thickens slightly or to desired consistency



This post is especially for Laura S my Bar Method instructor!
- It makes no sense because iPad spellcheck is dense

Location:Middlefield Rd,Palo Alto,United States