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Elastic breakfast quesadillas

Do you remember the first cooking show you ever watched on TV? I’ve got a hazy memory as a young boy first watching The Frugal Gourmet with my dad. I tracked cartoons like a heat-seeking missile back then so I barely paid attention to the show, but my dad eagerly watched as Jeff Smith used fun ways to cook with eggs in his studio kitchen. The Food Network didn’t exist back then, so PBS was the source for a nation of foodies in the ’80s. They had (and still have) plenty of shows with a diverse collection of cuisines and hosts. Back then you could watch Martin Yan demonstrating expert level cleaver skills on Yan Can Cook at four-thirty, then see Julia Child cook whole chickens using a French method at five.

Now we’ve got a whole cable network dedicated to food with bona-fide celebrity hosts, as well as a rapidly growing list of youtube shows with hosts who run the gamut from hilarious and amateur to serious and professional. They keep popping up to entertain, teach, and inspire. There are even cookware manufacturers who team up with cooking celebrities to produce little recipe clips that make use of their products. To be honest, these type of channels barely show up as a blip on my radar considering the sheer volume of neat cooking things I eagerly consume on the internet.

Yet, the inspiration for my crispy egg-filled quesadillas you see above came to me after watching this Youtube video where George Duran cooks up a cool version of huevos rancheros using a non-stick pan by Umusa. Thanks George! I copy parts of his method in my elastic recipe so the eggs cook through in the same way. The additional convection heat from using a lid is the key. This recipe should produce a crisp tortilla surrounding two eggs, gooey melted cheese and a mix of your favorite chosen ingredients. It’s delicious, easy to make, costs as little or as much as you want, and requires only a small degree of technique before you get to eat quesadillas for breakfast.

If he were still around I think Jeff Smith of The Frugal Gourmet would dig it.

(note: Try to use tortillas that are roughly the same size as the pan you’ll be using. The recipe should work fine as long as there is less than an inch or two difference between tortilla size and pan size. My 11″ pan worked perfectly with some standard 9″ whole wheat tortillas.)

Elastic Breakfast Quesadillas

• 1/2 Tbs salted butter
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 tortilla (flour, corn, or whole wheat)
• 1/4 cup shredded cheese (monterey jack, cheddar, swiss, parmesan)
• optional: 1-2 Tbs cooked breakfast meats (bacon, sausage crumbles, ham)
• optional: 1-2 Tbs sauteed or fresh vegetables (onion, bell peppers, tomatoes, green onions, mushrooms)
• optional: 1 tsp fresh or dried herbs (dill, basil, oregano, parsley, chives)
• salt and pepper to taste

In this version I decided to include some leftover poached salmon, Monterey jack cheese, dried dill, and Old Bay for seasoning. Use whatever you’ve got on hand. It’s a great way to use up leftovers.

Add the herbs and seasonings to your eggs then beat to combine.

On medium heat, swirl the butter around your pan as it melts to completely cover the surface. Add the tortilla to the pan, then swirl it around so the underside evenly coats with the melted butter. Cook for one minute. Pour the egg mixture over the tortilla while shaking the pan so it evenly distributes to all the edges.

Cover and cook for another minute, then add your fillings in an even layer. Cover again, and cook until the eggs have visibly firmed up and the cheese has melted (two to three minutes).

Turn off the heat and use a spatula to fold the quesadilla in half, pressing down to flatten. Some of the cheese may squeeze out. Some of it may hit the pan, sizzle, then crisp up into golden edges of joy. You will thank me for those edges. Let this finish cooking for another two minutes.

Slice into wedges or just wrap the whole thing in a paper towel and you’ve got a delicious mobile breakfast.

Here are some more excellent filling combinations you might want to try:

• sauteed onions, bacon, green onions and Monterey jack
• diced ham and green peppers with American cheese
• mushrooms sauteed in butter and a splash of brandy with Swiss cheese

Posted by Matt on Jan 18, 2012 | 9 Comments

Post-Christmas sale items that can be helpful for future gift giving

I enjoy giving two types of gifts and often I can find at least some of the items necessary to give these types of gifts on discount during post-Christmas sales. The first is the personal gift, which is often representational of the shared history between the recipient and myself. These are the gifts I’ll eventually give to my closest friends and relatives, so I hunt for these items all year long, irrespective of the sale season.

The second type of gift, which I give far more often, are homemade food goodies. These treats are individually wrapped up in bags or boxes then decorated with little touches of festive color to create visual interest. Over the years I’ve made cookies, fudge, chocolate covered pretzels, peppermint bark, and spiced nuts in both salty and sweet varieties. Some of these are shipped to family members in other states, which is why most of my creations are slow-to-perish.

Sending these types of gifts is also cost effective and versatile. I primarily buy my containers cheaply after Christmas and in large quantities — I’ll browse places like The Container Store for any specialty jars I might need in the coming year. Finding recipients for these gifts never seems to be a problem for me. Who would turn down tasty treats in pretty wrapping? This makes them incredibly handy for spreading extra cheer when I unexpectedly want to give a gift.

When the times comes to use the jars or bags or whatever supplies I found on discount after Christmas, I’ll use them throughout they year on one of these treats:

• I’m a fan of the highly addictive Spiced Nuts. Recipes like these are great for adaptation as well, so feel free to make your own substitutions. (And, obviously, don’t give them to anyone who is allergic to nuts.)
• You can also use Martha Stewart’s Spiced Nuts recipe as a base for other flavors. You can mix up the spices to suit your taste, producing nearly infinite variations. You could also grab the biggest mixing bowl you own and whip up a double batch of just the nuts, salt, sugar, and egg whites to create a base-mixture for further seasoning after individually dividing it into additional bowls. This year I have been using almonds with smoked paprika, cumin, and allspice.
• Gingerbread Cookies, Brigadeiros, Golden Rugalach — I like to keep my cookies as small as possible since larger cookies are harder to package. Bigger cookies also break easier than small ones when shipped.
• Vanilla Sugar — This sugar recipe is so simple you’ll wonder why you haven’t made it yet. In my opinion vanilla sugar is best used as a wonderfully easy way to add sweetness and depth to a morning cup of black tea.
• Holiday Pretzel Treats — For the younger gift recipients, these little pretzel treats get devoured thanks to lots of gorgeous color from the M&M candy centers.

I prefer to keep everything handmade when it comes to my non-edible gifts as well. This great list from getrichslowly.org is bursting with inspirational gift ideas to help come up with the perfect personalized present. The craft section on marthastewart.com has a wealth of great ideas too.

What kind of gift giver are you? Is your kitchen a bustling factory of edible treats? I’d love to hear what gift package experiences you’ve had and where you find deals to stock up on gift-giving supplies.

Posted by Matt on Dec 28, 2011 | 1 Comment

Pre-Thanksgiving link round up

We’re a little overwhelmed by all the Thanksgiving cooking talk. Instead of rehashing our version of how to create the Thanksgiving meal, we’ve decided to share with you some of our favorite links for the big day — and a number of non-Thanksgiving links, to help you keep your sanity. Happy turkey day!

• Cook’s Illustrated has put together a Survival Guide to get you through making a gigantic Thanksgiving meal.
• This Sweet Potato and Marshmallow Biscuit recipe from Smitten Kitchen made our mouth water just looking at the images.
• Using a slow cooker for some of your side dishes can be a great and simple way to save time (and energy) in the kitchen. Check out The New York Times’ guide to “Which sides can be adapted for a slow cooker.” This is nice even for non-Thanksgiving meals.
• I haven’t tried it, but Michael Ruhlman’s Roasted Braised Turkey recipe looks amazing.
• Now on with some non-Thanksgiving links: The internet sure knows how to eat! Some tasty recipes end up as trendy sensations when they gain popularity through word of mouth (and stomach). Saveur magazine takes a look at eight great recipes that rocked the internet, including the swoon-worthy butter and onion tomato sauce.
• As the weather cools down my taste buds remember crisp Octoberfest evenings where I’ve happily munched fatty bratwursts and drippy saurkraut, then washed it all down with some delicious Spaten beer. Why not relive Octoberfest 2011 with this simply wonderful mustard-glazed red cabbage with apple from Serious Eats?
• Does your kitchen have a corner cabinet that never seems to work well for storage? Why not try this useful organizing idea for your pots and pans to transform that poorly used space into something wonderful?

Posted by Matt on Nov 23, 2011 | Comments Off

Oven roasted green beans with dark sesame oil

Green beans. You can steam them, boil them, saute them, but these cooking methods score 3 out of 10 on the flavor scale if you ask me.

You have to oven roast them if you really want to see all of the green beans disappear off a plate.

This ultra simple recipe is deceptively flavorful. Yes, there are only a few ingredients, but the high oven temperature works perfectly to blister and wrinkle the oil coated beans to a deliciously nutty brown. The dark sesame oil has such an intense flavor, which always reminds me of the hot and sour soup I ate so many times at our local Chinese restaurant growing up. If you have a similar connection to a flavor memory, this snack will bring you right back to that happy place.

• 1 lb fresh green beans (not frozen), stem end trimmed off
• 1 Tbs dark sesame oil
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Preheat your oven to 450ºF while you trim off the stem ends of the green beans. Wash and thoroughly dry the beans.

Spread the beans on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet, then toss with the oil, salt, and pepper. Arrange the beans to fit on the baking sheet in a single layer. Cook for 10 minutes, then stir the beans and cook for another 5 to 10 more minutes, or until the skin is wrinkled and beginning to brown in places.

Let cool for a minute, add a dash more dark sesame oil, then commence super-sonic snacking.

Posted by Matt on Nov 21, 2011 | Comments Off

Five wonderful reasons to own this set of mixing bowls

These lidded mixing bowls by Pyrex really take the cake (literally) when it comes to kitchen multitaskers. I love them so much because:

• These nifty bowls are microwave safe. I find this especially useful when a recipe calls for melted butter. Measure out your butter into the bowl, nuke that sucker, than add in the rest of your ingredients per the rest of the directions. So easy.
• Unlike traditional mixing bowls, this set comes with lids. I find it incredibly handy whenever I whip up cookie dough which needs refrigeration before being scooped. There’s no need to fuss around with using plastic wrap to cover a traditional mixing bowl.
• The biggest bowl in the set can be flipped upside down and used as cake storage. Just lay out the lid, place your cake on top, then cover with the bowl.
• You can use these lidded bowls to peel an entire head of garlic in ten seconds. I tried it. It works! As a bonus, the clear Pyrex glass lets you watch as the magic happens.
• The largest bowl is also perfect when used for no-knead bread. Just mix up your ingredients, cover, then wait roughly sixteen hours for the perfect dough to form. Bake up that sucker into some wonderfully chewy bread with the crispiest crust to ever come out of your kitchen.

Posted by Matt on Oct 31, 2011 | 4 Comments

Chopping an onion with ease

One of my favorite Youtube channels of all time is the smile-inducing Cooking with Dog. While there are hundreds of cooking shows out there, this is probably the only one hosted by a fluffy gray poodle named Francis. He narrates while his friend cooks traditional Japanese food. It’s a silly idea, but I just love to watch as they expertly create some truly awe inspiring dishes.

Sometimes they throw in clever little techniques, too. They use a neat trick to chop an onion (at what is close to a coarse brunoise cut, which is 1/8″ x 1/8″ x 1/8″) in the latest episode about a Japanese variation of Stuffed Peppers & Mushrooms.

Chopping those unwieldy veggies has always been a frustrating pursuit for me. The vertical cuts are a piece of cake, but horizontally slicing into the onion never goes well. My slices come out uneven and the knife always seems to pull out chunks which make it tougher to keep everything uniform in size.

Here’s how they do it on Cooking with Dog:

Step 1.

Quarter the onion, making sure to keep the root end intact.

Step 2.

Make evenly spaced vertical cuts in the quartered onion.

Step 3.

Flip the the quartered onion forty-five degrees so the other cut side if flat against the cutting board and make more evenly spaced cuts.

Step 4.

Finish by cutting across the initial cuts, producing a nice uniform mince.

TA-DA! I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to try this technique. It is so much easier than trying to do it with only cutting the onion in half. Thanks, Francis!

Posted by Matt on Oct 17, 2011 | 4 Comments

Link roundup for October 11, 2011

red heaven

• This great list of great kitchen organization resources posted by apartmenttherapy.com really got me inspired, and it’s a safe bet I’ll be buying some undershelf storage soon.
• I can’t get over how delicious and simple these jam straws are. I made a batch last weekend and I LOVED the way the jam turns all sticky. However, I think the heat setting in the recipe may be wrong. Try em at 375 degrees instead.
• Reading this America’s Test Kitchen recipe literally had my mouth watering. I can’t wait to try making these oven-dried tomatoes
• After watching Jacques Pepin create perfect omelets I’m ready to buy three dozen eggs and get some good practice. I just love his skill!

Posted by Matt on Oct 11, 2011 | 1 Comment

Vegetable peelers

In some homes they live together, organized into the same drawer as friends, laughing about all the vegetables they’ve peeled. There’s Jerry, the oldest peeler, who doesn’t see much action anymore, but he gets along well with the newer model version of himself—Mike. Mike’s new, sharp, and gets lots of use. He’s joined by Jim, a sleek ceramic model peeler whenever there are loads of veggies to process from the farmers market. They live as buddies of varying ages, and they get along because they’ve all done time at the same job.

Other homes may keep them separate. The oldest peelers live in some hard to reach cobwebbed kitchen cabinet, counting down the days until eventual donation while only the newest and still razor-sharp peeler lives in the glorious top drawer for every day use.

I’ve got just one in my home, but I think it may be time to upgrade. Erin told me she uses only one as well—this trusty OXO model (pictured above).

How did you come into owning your vegetable peeler? Was it a hand-me-down, or did you research the internet for the best device based on reviews and cost?

Deciding on the right peeler

If that’s your game, then start your search with the greatest gadget and gizmo grandmaster of them all: Alton Brown. In this Good Eats video, he highlights some great options, explaining their pluses and minuses in wonderfully geeky detail. You might also check out this totally sweet peeler list I found, lovingly written up on goodeatsfanpage.com.

With enough use, the edge of any peeler will eventually dull and become a real pain in the butt to use. The blade will slip around, making it hard for the edge to get a good grip, wasting your time and patience. However, there are two ways around this predicament: you can learn to sharpen your metal peeler, or look into purchasing one with a ceramic blade. Ceramic stays sharper a lot longer than metal, and if it does get dull you can always send it back to the manufacturer to be factory-sharpened.

Additionally, you might consider purchasing a julienne peeler. These neat gadgets contain a row of sharp teeth which are turned perpendicular to the blade, splitting the food as you peel to save time in the kitchen. I used to own this OXO model, but the flimsy teeth bent after a few uses, just as others have mentioned on amazon.com. By the positive reviews, this Swiss model seems to have sturdier construction and is worth further investigation.

A case for owning multiples

How many do you have in your home? An uncluttered kitchen should contain as few unused gadgets as possible. If you own more than one peeler and never use the rest then they are just taking up valuable room in a drawer and should be headed for the donation bin.

Or is there life still in those old peelers? Using the sharpening trick mentioned above, you could hone your aged tools into a more youthful shape, returning them to the top drawer for use. With newly sharpened peelers at your disposal, you really should put them to work.

Find a recipe which uses something like potatoes, eggplant, or zucchini, then buy loads of these vegetables now that they are in-season. Seasonal veggies are abundant & best of all cheap! Gather some friends and family to lend a hand peeling your purchase. When everything is peeled, cook the recipe and share the finished product with everyone as a way of saying thank you for the help. You get bonding and a good meal from a little team effort. How great is that?

Here are some recipes that will give your peeler some mileage while simultaneously using up the season’s bounty.

• Sweet Potato and Parmesan Chips
• How To Make Potato Chips In The Microwave
• Easy and Elegant Duchess Potatoes
• Good Eats Episode: Deep Purple, One Minute Eggplant

And if your peeler isn’t smoking from all the use after that, you can always use it to shave off some cold butter.

Happy peeling.

Posted by Matt on Sep 28, 2011 | 6 Comments

Kitchen round-up: Erin’s pots & pans

Matt’s questions last Friday about the pots and pans in our kitchen got me thinking about the cookware I own and how I use it. When I surveyed my collection, I was surprised by its size. I use all of the pieces regularly, and I feel that the size of my collection represents the diversity I have in my cooking repertoire. In a given week, I’ll roast, fry, saute, steam, bake, broil, and poach. Our family might enjoy French country cooking on a Monday and Chinese-style steamed pork buns on a Tuesday. My collection:

Posted by Erin on Sep 26, 2011 | 1 Comment

Kitchen round-up: Matt’s pots & pans

How would you describe the pots and pans you use in your kitchen? Do you own a rough and tumble crew of misfits? Maybe your collection is more akin to a massive extended family with brothers, sisters, and cousins all working together?

The cookware we own cycles as we age. The skeleton crew I owned during college was just a 10-inch fry pan and a 2-quart sauce pot, but their numbers grew when I was gifted an inexpensive starter set after graduation. By now, everything from my immediate-post-college era has been replaced with a miss-matched crew of pieces forged for specific tasks (and pictured above).

So what does your collection look like and how would you describe how they work together?

Posted by Matt on Sep 23, 2011 | 3 Comments

Fresh pasta walkthrough

If you’re anything like me, your youth involved eating pasta that started its life packaged in a box, living on a grocery store shelf until it was purchased by your family. My mom created wonderful things out of that dry pasta, like her Tuna Frittata or famous spaghetti and meat balls. I get a warm cozy feeling when imagining a pantry lined with boxes and boxes of pasta-based meal potential.

You are also like me if you tried fresh pasta for the first time in your twenties. My post-college years became a time for food exploration when I lived in Chicago. I gladly handed over roughly half my monthly earnings to the many restaurants that city has to offer. Chicago is a young foodie’s dream come true with all the diversity of flavors represented in such a tiny place. It would have been a crime to live there and not explore. Seems like it was only a matter of time before my wandering pallet experienced a bowl of freshly made pasta.

I recall eating it for the first time and thinking the texture was a lot like German spaetzle, yet it was much thinner and had a subtly different mouth feel thanks to the tomato sauce. It was delicate and chewy at the same time. It was different, and I was in love.

Despite this intense attraction, until recently fresh pasta has been something which only shows up in my home via the chilled plastic packages sold in grocery stores. The texture of that stuff is different than the fresh pasta from a restaurant. Less chewy. Yet making it from scratch seemed like a process which took too long. Was my desire for that unique texture enough reason to pass up the convenience of opening a box and having a meal in ten minutes?

Yes and no. Making fresh pasta takes time, but if you can find some joy in each step of the process it seems less like work and more like a project. Projects that end with a bowl of deliciousness are what I call fun.

I do not own a pasta rolling machine, so the steps listed below use only the bare essentials of what you need.

Step 1

Begin by scrubbing down your counter top until it’s nice and clean. Dry thoroughly.

Using your hands, create a mound using two cups of unbleached all-purpose flour. Poke down the center to form a well for the eggs. Add a half teaspoon of salt.

Step 2

Crack three eggs into the center of the well.

Step 3

Using a fork, gently scramble the eggs. Begin incorporating flour from the sides of the well, making sure not to allow the eggs to escape through any cracks in the wall.

Step 4

Continue moving the eggs around with the fork and incorporating flour until it starts looking dry. Scoop more flour into the eggs with your fingers. You should be able to start moving the dough around with your hands.

It should look something like this.

Step 5

Form into a ball and scrape down the counter to get rid of excess flour and dough crumbs. Knead the dough for about five minutes, adding flour as needed to keep it from sticking.

I like to put all the scrapings into a colander which I can shake over the dough to add flour.

Step 6

Wrap the ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for thirty minutes.

Step 7

Remove the dough from the fridge and let rest for ten minutes.

Step 8

Flour your counter top and begin rolling out the dough. It helps to start from the center and roll towards the edges. Be generous with the flour as you go to prevent the dough from sticking. Aim to roll out the dough to a sixteenth of an inch in thickness.

It should probably be even bigger than my example, since my batch ended up a bit thick.

Step 9

Visually divide your dough in half, then roll up each side of the dough towards the center line.

It should look something like this.

Step 10

Cut the dough using a long sharp chef’s knife, applying just enough pressure to go through without scratching your counter top. Make your cuts as wide as you like. I aimed for the width of pappardelle noodles.

Step 11

Insert your knife under the cut pasta and lift up…

VOILA! The pasta un-rolls itself.

Step 12

Dust with additional flour to prevent sticking. You can use the pasta right away, cooking it in plenty of salted boiling water for five minutes, or it can be frozen for up to three months. The noodles are best used immediately, but can be stored in your fridge for a few days before the texture starts to degrade.

Fresh pasta works best with sauces of light to medium body, so I thought to pair it with some of the simply magical butter and onion pasta sauce I’ve cooked in the past. The rich chewy egg based pasta combined with the buttery tomato sauce creates something truly wonderful.

When did you first try fresh pasta? Do you have fresh pasta making success stories? I’d love to hear some.

Posted by Matt on Sep 13, 2011 | 4 Comments

Fancy up a frozen pizza

If you aren’t familiar with her show, Sandra Lee hosts Semi-Homemade on the Food Network, which is where she creatively combines pre-packaged foods with other ingredients to create unique and time-saving meals. She’s received criticism for lacking real cooking skills, but in my mind her ideas are no less inventive than using exclusively fresh ingredients. For example, she loves using store bought rotisserie chicken as a base for pot pie. This kind of shortcut-minded thinking has a place in any kitchen, regardless of the ingredients you use.

The way I shop now has almost entirely scrapped any of the pre-packaged stuff I used to consume in college. I primarily purchase from a farmers market, then supplement my pantry with whole ingredients from the grocery store. I consider it a smart lifestyle choice to cook and eat this way because knowing exactly what I’m putting into my body is healthier than blindly diving into a plate full of chemicals, preservatives, and colorings. Additionally, it’s super convenient to cook large meals, which I split up and freeze for easy reheating. The last TV dinner I ate was locally made and was purchased at a farmers market.

Not too long ago, I was still doing the majority of my shopping in the center aisles at my local mega mart, and every visit included a trip through the frozen foods section to hunt for pizza sales. This was also right around the time I first caught Sandra Lee working her magic on Semi-Homemade. It was under these circumstances that I created my version of gussied up frozen pizza. While I’ve prepared it many times since then (especially as a quick party appetizer), I hadn’t thought to make this garlicy treat for a while since banishing convenience foods from my home. On a whim, I found the wheels of my shopping cart turning down the chilly frozen foods aisle, stirring up memories and a hunger for my yummy pizza concoction.

While this method would work perfectly well on some freshly homemade pizza, I have a spot in my heart for that crispy fresh-from-the-freezer crust, as well as the ridiculously convenient preparation.

Begin with any frozen pizza. I like to use one with minimal toppings so my additions properly shine through. Margherita pizzas are my favorite. On this occasion I grabbed one from Newman’s Own.

Begin by preheating your oven to the temperature listed on the box, then thinly slice up some peeled garlic. I go for about four nice big cloves. The thickness of the slices will determine the garlicy bite intensity, which is why I try to get them as thin as possible using a slicer with a nice sharp ceramic blade. In a small bowl, mix the sliced garlic with about a half teaspoon of olive oil and a big pinch of kosher salt.

The salt helps flavor the garlic, and the oil will help it cook, taking off the raw edges and producing a bit of sweetness. Spread this evenly on top of the pizza, then drizzle just a little more olive oil over the whole thing.

Add any additional herbs and spices per your preference. I like a few dashes of dried oregano, some dried thyme, and a few grinds of black pepper. Toss it in the oven and cook per the directions on the box.

When it comes out, the surface should have some nice browned spots thanks to the extra olive oil, and the garlic will have cooked ever so slightly in the heat of the oven.

Finally, drizzle on some red wine vinegar to cut through the richness of the cheese and give the whole thing a nice tart bite. Slice up your pizza and serve with some of the classiest two-dollar wine you can find. Enjoy!

Posted by Matt on Sep 7, 2011 | 5 Comments

The evolution of my tea storage

Am I weird or does anyone else love the first few months after a move when it’s time to really grab a hold of the new space and make it your own? Like many of you, my kitchen is where I really dig in to achieve ownership.

I moved into a new place recently, and those first few meals in the unfamiliar environment came together with a side of confusion. Meal creation was accentuated with haphazard bumbling around boxes, making my way to the hastily put away silverware so I didn’t have to eat with my fingers. Which of these boxes had the bowls? Eventually things felt a bit normalized once the spices and major utensils were put away. This time I noticed something: organization seems to be weak on the first arrangement. In my new place there’s plenty of shelf space to store all my stuff, but once everything is put away the spaces felt cramped. I knew my organization needed revision.

I dig finding little storage and organization revisions, like the recent changes I made to my tea collection. I used to store my tea in a squarish wire basket while living in my RV, but I often poorly squished the tea boxes and pouches into it like an irritating game of Tetris. The basket kept everything together, but it was mostly a pain to use. With all the teas in one place I could at least grab the basket and rummage around to find the right flavor. Too bad it took up shelf space.

One day I went to make my morning tea and noticed there were just two bags left of Irish Breakfast tea. I decided to clip the front of the box and discard the rest of the packaging, combining it with the remaining tea into a little zip-top baggie. It’s funny how little space it took up without the clumsy container. I thought I’d try keeping the rest of my collection in plastic bags as well. This ended up saving even more space and cut out the hassle of trying to fit all the boxes back into the basket every time. Some of the tea bags have labels on one side, so I kept them facing outward and easily recognizable. It all fit MUCH nicer. Hooray for organization revision!

Lately I’ve been looking for more excuses to hang my kitchen utensils so additional shelf space will be freed up. So far I’ve hung all of my commonly used spatulas, spoons, and tongs under a cabinet, and used some hooks to hang my measuring cups and spoons. With a few boxes full of screw hooks and removable 3M hooks it’s easy to find lots of new places for storing your kitchen wares.

After some brainstorming I came up with this back of the pantry door tea tree. I remembered buying these nice shiny magnetic clips for another project that never happened and I had a great magnetic strip that I wasn’t using which would work perfectly as the base to hang all the clips and baggies of tea.

After installation I noticed the whole thing clanged around a bit when opening or closing the pantry door. To fix this, I squished some removable putty behind the magnetic strip to give it some sticky cushioning. Now it holds tightly as the door moves and doesn’t make a sound.

Now the teas are visually accessible, allowing for easier selection, and they’re off the shelf so heavier things that are tougher to hang can have a place to sit.

Got any fun little kitchen organization hacks to share? I’d sure love to hear more great ideas.

Posted by Matt on Aug 25, 2011 | 1 Comment

Crispy, spicy chickpeas

I really like peanuts, but since my son is allergic, I haven’t eaten them in years. I like the crunch, the smoothness, the salty finish. They’re also incredible when they’re coated with a hot spice mixture that makes you want to grab an ice cold beer.

I’ve been looking for a replacement, and have turned to dried wasabi peas on occasion, but haven’t found a perfect alternative until just recently (although, dried wasabi peas are yummy). My friend Don turned me on to crispy, spicy chickpeas, and I think this will be my substitution. Best of all, it’s a really nutritious snack.

Making them is simple and allows for a lot of wiggle room, which is great when looking for a simple, healthful snack.

Crispy, spicy roasted chickpeas (garbanzo beans)

• 1 can (or more or less) chickpeas (your can may say garbanzo beans on it)
• 1 tsp (or more or less) olive oil or canola oil
• Optional spices: salt, pepper, chili powder, and/or cayenne pepper.

Heat your oven to 350ºF.

Drain the water off the chickpeas. In a bowl, mix the chickpeas, oil, and spices. Use as little or as much of the spices as you prefer. If you go too light, you can always add more later. Stir until the chickpeas are well coated with oil and spices.

On a cookie sheet, spread out the chickpeas in a single layer. Put the cookie sheet of chickpeas in the oven and bake the chickpeas until they are dried and look like walnuts (about 45 minutes).

Wait for the chickpeas to cool (it won’t take long), put them in a bowl, and serve with your favorite beverage. If you made the chickpeas as spicy as I like them, you’ll really want that drink.

Unfortunately, these do not store well. If there are leftovers, you’ll want to crisp them up in the oven for 10 minutes before serving them. They tend to get soggy in storage.

Posted by Erin on Aug 17, 2011 | 6 Comments

A well-seasoned wok

It ended up taking me seven rounds of seasoning, a total of 21 hours, to get my new wok the way I wanted it. I’ll admit, it is gorgeous and will likely never have to be re-seasoned. However, I still think 21 hours is a ridiculous amount of time to spend on the project. (See “The NOT simple way to season cast iron” for more details about this adventure.)

Before I show you the after photograph, let me start by showing you my inspiration. The following is an image from the phenomenal book The Breath of a Wok by award-winning cookbook author Grace Young. The image was taken by photographer Alan Richardson and is of Chef Danny Chan’s wok that he uses at home. Author Young admits that his wok is the “most extraordinary wok I have ever seen” and that its color is “a delicate teak tone reminiscent of the color often found in Chinese silk scroll paintings.”

My wok isn’t exactly teak colored, but it isn’t black. It’s somewhere between a rich golden wheat and the color of a glass of Bordeaux. It’s beautiful, and will hopefully serve me well over the next few decades.

Now, for comparison, this is where I began on Monday:

And, this is my wok now:

This photograph doesn’t do it justice. You can’t see the nuance of golden colors in it (the gold dots are a reflection of my kitchen lighting), you can’t feel its smooth texture, and you certainly can’t see the time I put into it. I am incredibly excited to cook with it this evening, but most importantly I’m thrilled the inane seasoning process is behind me.

The first five meals that I make in it will be stir-fry dishes with high oil contents. I may even fry up some bacon in it. I know from my experience with cast iron skillets that the iron continues to be very thirsty when you first use it, so I want to make sure I’m making foods in it that quench this thirst. I’ll wait to make rice in it for a month or two.

To clean a wok (or any iron cookware), I put water in it to soak while my family is eating dinner. After dinner, I’ll immediately wash it with a mild detergent and a soft sponge. Similar to what I do with my cast iron skillets, I’ll dry it with a towel and then pop it into a warm oven (roughly 200ºF) for 10 minutes. If I didn’t use my oven while making dinner, I’ll quickly heat up the wok over a stove burner on low for the same amount of time. I’ll take it out of the oven or off the burner, wait until it’s cool enough to touch (usually about the same amount of time it takes me to load up the dishwasher) and then I’ll wipe a very thin layer of olive oil or avocado oil into the inside of the wok with a paper towel. You don’t want it to be greasy, you just want a bit of protection for the iron while it’s in the cupboard.

Posted by Erin on Aug 11, 2011 | 3 Comments

The NOT simple way to season cast iron

Over the weekend, I decided that this week’s SimpliFried posts would be all about stir-fry. I love making stir-fry — it’s so incredibly simple and quick — and I knew it would be a great series. That is, it was going to be a great series, until Monday morning rolled around …

On Monday, I went to the cabinet where I keep our wok and pulled out this:

What you’re seeing here is a brand new, flat bottom, iron wok from The Wok Shop in San Francisco. You can see that it is silver in color, and a little shiny. Woks shouldn’t be silver and shiny. Woks should be black and matte.

Right before we moved into our new house in March, I tossed our old, nasty, inexpensive Teflon-coated wok and ordered this beautiful piece of craftsmanship. The only problem is that I forgot I had ordered the non-pre-seasoned version. To get it to its beautiful black and matte state, I would need to season it myself. (I have vague recollections of this decision, but can’t remember why I wanted the non-pre-seasoned version.)

Seasoning is not a difficult or long process, especially if you’re okay with using animal lard. In just a few hours you can have a nicely seasoned wok ready for your stir-fry. However, there is a slight chance my son might be allergic to animal proteins (because being allergic to peanuts isn’t enough of a burden), so I didn’t want to pick up some lard from my butcher for this project. I know enough about science to realize seasoning a pan in animal lard wouldn’t be much of an allergic risk to my son, but I still felt weird about it. If I could avoid using animal lard, I would.

In the February 2011 issue of Cook’s Illustrated, there was a sidebar to an article about cast iron cookware that discussed using food-grade flaxseed oil on cast iron pans. Cook’s Illustrated raved about the method and provided a link to an online article for how to reproduce the results of this method at home.

I dropped $20 on some filtered, organic, food-grade flaxseed oil at my local Whole Foods grocery store (you can find it with the vitamins in the small refrigerated section), and headed home to pull up the directions and start seasoning my pan. The article “A Science Based Technique for Seasoning Cast Iron” is thorough, and I most certainly did not read it well enough to realize that the process takes more than 18 hours to complete. EIGHTEEN HOURS.

It’s not difficult: You slather the pan in oil, wipe it down with a cloth diaper or paper towels, bake it for an hour in a 500ºF oven, turn off the oven and let it cool down inside the oven for two hours, and then repeat the process. The reason it takes so long is because the whole process has to be repeated at least six times. It’s noon on Wednesday and I have only made it through the process four times so far (12 of the 18 hours).

This was the wok going into the oven for the first time:

I found that putting a garbage bag under the pan during the oiling process helps to keep the mess at bay. I’ve also learned that cotton diapers, although much more environmentally friendly to use, leave little flecks of cotton on the surface of the wok, which creates little spots on the cure (they’ll all be gone by the sixth seasoning — they’re almost gone after the fourth — but it’s still weird to have a speckled pan). I have discovered, too, that although this process is extremely simple, it’s mind-numbingly tedious.

If you buy a new cast iron wok, get one that is pre-seasoned.

I don’t know how someone who doesn’t work from home could even season a pan in this manner. It would take more than a week to do it — one seasoning a night — assuming you had no where to go after work. Sure, I may end up with the world’s most glorious seasoning, which I expect I will, but this most certainly feels like overkill.

I’d show you an “after” picture, but I still have at least six more hours of seasoning to go …

Posted by Erin on Aug 10, 2011 | 6 Comments

Questions for cooks: Making sense of specialty butters

Reader Craig submitted the following to Questions for cooks:

Since you have been writing about butter lately, I wanted to ask about cultured butter. When I was an exchange student in Belgium, all the butter my host family served was “cultured butter.” I’ve never seen it for sale in the US, but I would like to buy some. Is it “compound butter”? I see that on restaurant menus sometimes. Thanks.

Compound butter and cultured butter are not the same thing. (I’ll explain the differences below.) And, you can buy cultured butter in the U.S., at least you can where I live. Organic Valley dairy makes it, and it is available at my local Whole Foods. As someone who has had the joy of eating cultured butter while in Europe, I understand why you want more of it. Mmmmmmm …

Compound butter: Just a way of saying butter with stuff added to it, like in our herb butter recipe. Compound butter can be sweet or savory.

Cultured butter: This butter involves a live culture being added to the cream before it is churned. I think of it as yogurt butter, because often people just add yogurt to the milk as the way to introduce the live culture. It has more fat than regular butter, is noticeably sweeter, and is easy to make at home.

There are other types of butter you might also see mentioned in recipes, and they are …

Clarified butter: This butter is just the butter fat. You heat and melt butter until the milk solids separate from the fat, strain off the milk solids, and what remains is the butter fat. It’s great for high-temperature cooking because butter fat has a very high burn point. Again, this is easy to make at home.

Ghee: Similar to clarified butter, except the butter fat cooks for much longer than with clarified butter. This process makes ghee able to be stored on the counter instead of in the refrigerator. Once again, you can easily make ghee at home.

Thank you, Craig, for submitting your question for our Questions for cooks column. Now go out there and buy (or make) yourself some delicious cultured butter.

Do you have any unresolved questions about cooking styles, methods, ingredients, gadgets, meal planning, or anything even closely related to resolving stress or confusion in the kitchen? If so, send us your questions and we’ll find you an answer. If we don’t know the answer, we’ll send it out to a specialist who can, and we’ll all learn something! To submit your questions to Questions for Cooks, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Questions for Cooks.” Share as many details as possible — the more information we have about your specific question, the better.

Posted by Erin on Aug 5, 2011 | Comments Off

How-to brown butter and a recipe for crispy sage brown butter cream sauce

While on a trip to New York City a couple years ago, I ended up taking refuge in a lovely Italian restaurant during an unexpected downpour. Once I realized the rain was going to be more than a few minutes long, I asked for a table and was delighted by my chance meeting with the restaurant.

My meal included a pasta dish that was topped with a crispy sage and brown butter cream sauce. At the time, I thought the “brown butter” aspect of the sauce was some kind of special butter, because the taste was magical. It wasn’t until I got home and did a Google search for “brown butter” that I learned it wasn’t a special kind of butter at all. It was simply butter that had been browned.

I was intrigued.

Browning butter gives it a nutty flavor, it erases the tang some butters have, and makes it delicious. All you need to do is melt butter in a skillet over medium heat and wait for it to turn a light brown. That’s it. Nothing else. You have successfully browned butter.

If you want to crisp up some fresh sage in the brown butter, remove the butter from the burner when it is brown and throw in some sage. The sage will fry in the butter and turn crispy. Again, that is all you have to do. It is really, really, really simple.

To make it into a cream sauce, whisk in some cream. If you want to get fancy, you can add a splash of lemon juice or dry white wine, but it’s not necessary. The sauce isn’t healthful, but it is really yummy and won’t give you a heart attack if you have it a few times a year.

Posted by Erin on Aug 3, 2011 | 1 Comment

Homemade salted and herb butters

Now that you’ve learned how to make homemade Fancy Butter, you may want to make it even more fancy. Super-fancy butter making isn’t difficult, and it tastes so amazing you’ll be impressed you created it. The first time I made the Herb Butter (the second recipe below) my husband stood in the kitchen searching for foods he could slather it on. You will, too.

Salted Butter

• 1 cup unsalted butter (I prefer the homemade Fancy Butter)
• 3/4 tsp Kosher salt
• An 8-oz. Ball jar

Set out the unsalted butter on your counter and allow it to come to room temperature.

In a glass bowl, mix thoroughly the salt and the butter. I like to put some butter into a large serving spoon and mash the salt into the butter with the back of a fork.

Use immediately or store in an 8-oz. Ball jar. Using the back of a spoon, firmly pack the butter into the jar, careful to smoosh out all air pockets. Then, put a little water on top of the butter before screwing on the jar lid. This water will help the butter to keep from absorbing smells and help to preserve the butter. Just pour it off before you use the butter, and add a little to the top each time you put the butter back into the refrigerator for storage.

Herb Butter

Based on Ina Garten’s Herb Butter recipe

• 1 cup unsalted butter (I prefer the homemade Fancy Butter)
• 1/4 tsp minced garlic (one medium clove should do it)
• 1 Tbl finely chopped scallions (both white and green parts)
• 1 Tbl finely chopped fresh dill
• 1 Tbl finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley (dried can work in a pinch)
• 1 tsp lemon juice (fresh or bottled, whatever you have on hand)
• 3/4 tsp Kosher salt
• 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Set out the unsalted butter on your counter and allow it to come to room temperature.

Mince and chop all of the herbs and put all ingredients except the butter in a glass bowl. Stir these ingredients together well.

Add the butter to the bowl and mix thoroughly. I like to put some butter into a large serving spoon and mash herbs into the butter with the back of a fork.

Use immediately or store in an airtight container. The Herb Butter should keep for about a week. I like to put a dollop of the Herb Butter on a freshly grilled salmon fillet, melted over roasted asparagus, or as a dip for crispy bread sticks.

Posted by Erin on Jul 27, 2011 | 2 Comments

Fancy butter

I love butter. I don’t eat it as often as I once did, but when I do eat butter, I want the experience to be glorious. I want it to make my taste buds sing. I want to be able to brag about it to my friends (although I wouldn’t, because that would be a little weird).

Buying butter from your local market is simple. And, since simple is a big theme on this blog, I’d be negligent if I didn’t acknowledge how easy it is to just buy butter.

However, making butter at home takes mere minutes and tastes incredibly better than the mass produced stuff. If you have 10 minutes and some heavy cream on hand, I strongly recommend whipping it up yourself. You’ll also get some amazing buttermilk out of the process, so it’s like you’re getting two great things for the price of one.

Fancy Butter, Basic Recipe

• 1 pint organic heavy cream (the best you can buy, cream as the only ingredient, and NOT ultra-pasteurized)
• Plastic wrap
• An 8-oz. Ball jar and lid
• Cheesecloth (natural, ultra fine)

Pour the cream into the bowl of your stand mixer and attach the whisk arm. Cover the bowl (as best you can) with plastic wrap or a lid specifically made for your mixer to keep the buttermilk from splashing out of the bowl. (If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can also use a food processor with a chopping blade. You can also close it up in a 16 oz. jar and shake it for a long time, and it will do the same thing, but with a lot more effort on your part.)

On medium-high speed, mix the cream until it separates into curd and buttermilk. You’ll know this has happened because you’ll hear the buttermilk sloshing around in the bowl and splashing up on the plastic wrap. You’ll also notice the curd will have a yellow hue to it.

Not done:

Done:

Drape a square of natural, ultra fine cheesecloth over a large glass bowl and then pour the buttermilk and butter into the bowl.

Wrap up the butter in the cheese cloth, and gently squeeze out the buttermilk liquid with your clean hands. At this point, if you’re keeping the buttermilk, pour it into a separate container (preferably glass) and then give the bowl a quick rinse. After rinsing the bowl, rinse the butter in the cheesecloth under the water, too. Over the bowl, squeeze out the excess water again. Be careful not to squeeze so hard that the butter squeezes through the cheesecloth. Repeat this butter rinsing and gentle squeezing process until the water is almost clear squeezing out of the butter (usually three or four times).

Pour all the remaining liquid out of the bowl, unwrap the butter from the cheesecloth, and let the butter rest in the bowl. Using the back of a spoon, firmly pack the butter into the 8-oz. Ball jar, careful to smoosh out all air pockets. Then, put a little water on top of the butter before screwing on the jar lid. This water will help the butter to keep from absorbing smells and help to preserve the butter. Just pour it off before you use the butter, and add a little to the top each time you put the butter back into the refrigerator for storage. My grandmother used to do this with margarine, and it works wonders with butter, too.

Your homemade butter should keep for up to two weeks, but I sincerely doubt you can go that long without eating all of it. It’s incredibly yummy.

Over the remainder of this week, I’ll show you how to make herb butters, clarified butter, brown butter, and throw in some recipes for how to use these amazing fats. Today’s recipe is just the beginning.

Posted by Erin on Jul 26, 2011 | 6 Comments

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