The Smells in My Kitchen

[Luet]

Fie on you and your nearby TJ's!

[locke]

I made tonkatsu.! mmmm it was delicious. yum yum.

I bought the pork (about half a lb, two slices) from mitsuwa, so they actually had some fat and were rather well marbeled rather than being the pathetically lean and unedible pork that TJs sells.

I pounded them down to about a 1/4" thickness (originally 1/2" thick), kosher salt and fresh ground pepper on both sides, dredged in flour, egg wash and finally in panko. Dropped into hot olive oil in a cast iron skillet. I cooked them for 3 minutes on each side. came out beautifully golden brown, the first one was an incredibly delicious medium, but figuring I should cook the other a little more (thinking I'd save it for tomorrow) I put it back in the skillet for a couple minutes to finish it off. I wound up eating it anyway, also good, not quite as good well done as medium, but still tender and moist, which is saying something for modern day pork cooked to well done.

I also cooked up a bag of TJs harvest hodgepodge veggies with some salt and pepper. A good dinner.

[Young Val]

I baked my first ever loaf of bread from scratch! Sans bread machine!

I made Smitten Kitchen's Light Whole Wheat and omigod, it was INCREDIBLE.

Pictures to follow when I get around to uploading them!

[locke]

mmm, of course it was delicious, it's a peter reinhart recipe. God I have one of his books, the bread is sickenly good. of course it'll have you making entirely too much of the stuff, and I can't eat it all. I love the sourdough, but I can't make a loaf every two-three days.

[Young Val]

My goal is to make one loaf a week. A new type of bread each week, too. Between me, my boyfriend, and my roommate we should be able to enjoy it without eating too much of it or getting sick of it by the end of the week (is it possible to get sick of homemade bread?!)

[locke]

(is it possible to get sick of homemade bread?!)

No, this has been proven by several scientific investigations and internationally lauded organizations to be completely impossible, it violates conservation of energy or something.

[locke]

tonight I immediately put the second portion in a container and in the fridge so that I wouldn't be tempted to eat it all.

I sauteed some garlic in olive oil, took some frozen chicken breasts and seared each side. salted and peppered, let it get hot then added about a cup or more of vermouth. Grabbed a meyer lemon, squeezed it over the chicken and put the halves in to stew with the chicken. tossed in some dried thyme as well.

Then I cut up a white onion with some salt (to sweat it) and let it sautee in butter gently for about forty minutes. (until the chicken was done) I pulled the chicken out then added a teaspoon of arrowroot powder (mixed with two teaspoons of water first) to the pan of reduced vermouth and other yummy goodies from the cooking, swirled that around til it thickened (love how arrowroot does that so much better than other thickeners) then dumped the semi-carmelized onions into it to create a meyer-onion sauce that I poured over the chicken for serving. mmmm it was good, the sauce was a bit strong on the lemon side, but I could just use half the lemon rather than a whole one. still since meyer lemons are sweeter and more savory than a regular lemon it was quite lipsmacking rather than sour.

The only downside is that the frozen chicken cooks out very very dry.

also had a half cup of brown rice (with furikake, kuru goma and umeboshi) while I was waiting for the chicken to cook, and I just finished cooking some frozen vegetables. would have been better to cook everything so it was done at the same time, but this way I feel more full and less harried by cooking.

and Iron Chef is on tv, so I'm happy.

[Young Val]

Adam! Brine your chicken to keep it from being too dry! If it's just chicken breasts, throw them in a ziplock bag with salt water and a pinch of sugar. Let sit for a few hours in the fridge--possibly overnight. Voila! Juicy chicken!

[locke]

ahh I had not thought of doing that with frozen chicken breasts. excellent idea!

[locke]

Adam! Brine your chicken to keep it from being too dry! If it's just chicken breasts, throw them in a ziplock bag with salt water and a pinch of sugar. Let sit for a few hours in the fridge--possibly overnight. Voila! Juicy chicken!

Kelly is a genius!

I made the chicken again, but forgot to put the chicken broth with the vermouth, no worries, I did put in porcini mushrooms, capers and green peppercorns though and then made an awesome sauce. I don't think I needed to salt the chicken as the sauce reduced a bit salty, but still delicious.

[steph]

A big ol' pot of chili. And by big ol' pot of chili I mean 12 quarts of chili. Man, does it smell good! So does the corn bread that's baking to go on the side! Yum!!

I soaked and cooked 2 lbs of beans and added them to 5 cups of sauteed mirpoix, 2 jalapenos, 2 seranos, 1/2 can of chipotles, 1 1/2 tablespoons of minced garlic and a costco-sized can of crushed tomatoes. Salt, pepper, chili powder, oregano and lots of cumin were added.

Simmer all day and you have probably 8 dinners for the 4 of us all for around $10 for the pot! (I like to cook in bulk and freeze so that I have meals ready for crazy days when I don't have time to cook.)

[Luet]

I made homemade corn muffins today with actual corn. Mmmm.

[powerfulcheese04]

I baked about 4 dozen sugar cookies today! And I'll bake about a dozen blueberry muffins tomorrow.

[Young Val]

At the moment, pizza. Homemade whole wheat pizza. From scratch, per my new resolution to make as much from scratch as possible.

Last weekend I made my weekly bread, as well as spinach and feta quiche, and lemon tarts.

This weekend is bread, red velvet cupcakes, and strawberry, chocolate-covered cake balls. And possibly a bunch of other things, too.

[Dr. Mobius]

I baked about 4 dozen sugar cookies today! And I'll bake about a dozen blueberry muffins tomorrow.

You still have my address, right?

[Petra456]

So, I bought some really cool cookie cutters a while back in San Francisco and I don't know what kind of cookies I can make with them. I know the obvious (sugar cookies) but are there any more types of cookies you can use cookie cutters with?

[Jayelle]

At the moment, pizza. Homemade whole wheat pizza. From scratch, per my new resolution to make as much from scratch as possible.

Last weekend I made my weekly bread, as well as spinach and feta quiche, and lemon tarts.

This weekend is bread, red velvet cupcakes, and strawberry, chocolate-covered cake balls. And possibly a bunch of other things, too.

Seriously now, you open a B&B or a bakery, and I'll be there.

[locke]

So, I bought some really cool cookie cutters a while back in San Francisco and I don't know what kind of cookies I can make with them. I know the obvious (sugar cookies) but are there any more types of cookies you can use cookie cutters with?

yes, these were in today's paper

Tortona chocolate cookies


Total time: 35 minutes, plus chilling and cooling time for the dough

Servings: 2 dozen cookies

Note: Adapted from chef Elena Guerrero-Berman of Massimo's Delectables. Be careful not to grind the nuts to a fine powder or flour; the nuts should have some texture (you will see small bits in the cookies when they are baked). A food processor will work best for grinding the nuts.

2 cups (4 sticks) butter, softened

2 cups sugar

1 cup ground hazelnuts

1 cup ground almonds

1 tablespoon vanilla

4 cups pastry flour

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer using a paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, cream the butter with sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl periodically.

2. Gently fold the ground hazelnuts into the butter mixture until evenly combined, then fold in the ground almonds thoroughly.

3. Stir in the vanilla. Gently add the flour, 1 cup at a time, until thoroughly mixed. Slowly add the cocoa until combined. The dough will be very thick at this point, and you should easily be able to roll a small amount into a ball.

4. Shape the dough into a flat disc and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough at least two hours, but preferably overnight.

5. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Roll the dough to one-half-inch thickness between 2 sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap (this keeps the dough from sticking to the rolling pin and alleviates the need for flouring). Cut hearts or other-shaped cookies approximately 2 1/2 inches in diameter, and place the cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake the cookies until puffed slightly and set on top, about 15 minutes. Rotate the cookies halfway through for even heating and coloring.

6. Remove the cookies, still on their sheets, to a rack to cool completely before serving (they're fragile just out of the oven and will crumble if moved while still warm).

Each cookie: 317 calories; 4 grams protein; 35 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams fiber; 20 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 40 mg. cholesterol; 3 mg. sodium.

[Young Val]

You guys are too sweet! And you're all welcome over anytime you're in town!

I love to cook and I always have. One of my earliest ambitions was to be a pastry chef! My nana owned an authentic Italian bakery in Boston when I was growing up, and I spent a lot of time there with her. My other grandmother is also quite the cook. I've always enjoyed cooking for myself and those around me, but I always reasoned that I was too busy (mostly, I was too lazy) to really make a habit of it. And baking is something I would do every once in a while, for fun!

Recently, though, since I've been making a ton of changes in other areas of my life, I decided to make a change here, too, and get serious about cooking. It's healthier, it often tastes WAY better, and I really enjoy it! I find it super relaxing!

I'm also going to start trying to plan a week's worth of meals ahead of time, so that I can do all the proper grocery shopping and all of that. You know, like an actual adult. The way I shop for food at the moment is horrific. I have no lists, no plans, and I just sort of toss things into the cart at random.

Tonight I'm just going to toss together a salad after I hit the gym. But tomorrow night I'm going to make chicken pot pie!

[Young Val]

grrrrrrrrr stupid "common word error debug" thing!!!

and now I have no delete button either. boo!

[Petra456]

Thanks Adam, those sound awesome. Now I just need to find the time to actually make them.

[locke]

Kelly!

I caught the tail end of Iron Chef and Cat Cora made a deep fried peanut butter ball--like a hushpuppy--but it was a curry/chocolate peanut butter ball.

Any ideas on what to do before I jump into experimentation?

lol, now I have to watch the rerun of the show to see if I can see what went in it.

[LilBee91]

The way I shop for food at the moment is horrific. I have no lists, no plans, and I just sort of toss things into the cart at random.

While that is slightly horrific, it isn't as bad as my mother. She has her grocery list in an excel spreadsheet, arranged in the approximate layout of the store. It makes sense and all, but I find it a little scary.

[Gravity Defier]

She has her grocery list in an excel spreadsheet, arranged in the approximate layout of the store.

I bet that cuts down on time in the store, which is all I care about. That is genius.

[Dr. Mobius]

That's how my parents do it, except it's not an excel sheet and just a columned word document with everything listed in the order you'll come to it as you go up and down the aisles. They have one for the grocery store and they also do it for Target. Kinda throws you off, though, if you go to a store with a different layout than the one you're used to.

[zeroguy]

My cell has a 'notepad' tool for writing arbitrary text. I usually use that, as I can mark stuff off easily once I get it, as well.

[locke]

I made ooey gooey chocolate cookies for the office tomorrow

damn are they chocolatey!
the recipe was printed in the LA times a few weeks ago and I saved it to my recipe file, this is the first opportunity I've had to make them. They're from a favorite restaurant/nosh joint of mine over by CBS, Milk, which makes one of the best burgers in LA and has very good other sandwiches and very good shakes as well.

recipe below. I used Ghiardelli unsweetened chocolate and Ghiardelli bittersweet chocolate chips. Since those come in an 12 oz bag and I got the last one of bittersweet at the store I also grabbed a bag of semi sweet Guittard chocolate chips (best chocolate chips EVER) and dumped one third of that 12 oz bag to make up the rest of the chocolate chips, I think this 'triple chocolate' approach made the cookies even better. Oh and I used kerrygold butter king arthur flour and vanilla sugar of course, which is the only kind I use any more. :-p

A regular sweeper ice cream scoop (a #40 or a #30 I think) portioned these out almost perfectly for 16 cookies.

Milk's ooey-gooey double-chocolate cookies

Total time: 40 minutes, plus 1 hour chilling time for the batter

Servings: 1 1/2 dozen

Note: Adapted from Bret Thompson of Milk in Los Angeles.

1/4 pound (4 ounces) unsweetened chocolate

4 tablespoons ( 1/2 stick) butter

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 pound bittersweet chocolate (chunks or chips)

1. In a bowl set over a pot of simmering water, melt the unsweetened chocolate and butter. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.

2. In the bowl of a mixer with a paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using a fork, combine the eggs, vanilla and sugar. Mix just until incorporated and set aside.

3. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.

4. Add the melted chocolate to the egg mixture and mix just until combined. Stir in the sifted dry ingredients and mix just until combined, then stir in the bittersweet chocolate.

5. Cover the batter with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to chill thoroughly. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

6. Divide the dough into 18 portions. Grease your hands (to prevent the dough from sticking) and shape the portions into balls. Place the balls on a greased, parchment-lined sheet pan, leaving 2 to 3 inches between each.

7. Bake until the edges of the cookies are just set and the center is still soft, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. Place the cookies, still on the parchment, on a rack and cool completely before serving. They will be very soft.

Each cookie: 251 calories; 4 grams protein; 29 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams fiber; 18 grams fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 42 mg. cholesterol; 92 mg. sodium.

[powerfulcheese04]

My kitchen smells like chocolate cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies. This is what I'm giving my boyfriend for Valentine's Day!



Closeup on the cupcakes:

[LilBee91]

Those are way cute.

And they look delicious.

[Petra456]

Kimmie, those are super cute! I want to rearrange them so bad.

Adam, I hate you. Hate hate hate hate. Those look amazing.

[Gravity Defier]

I want to rearrange them so bad.

Me, too! I'd switch middle row, 3rd column with middle row, 4th column and 3rd row, 3rd column with 3rd row, 1st column. (Where the closest row to the viewer is 3rd row and the furthest is 1st). That way solid hearts are in the 1st and 4th columns and open hearts in the middle two.

[Dr. Mobius]

I'd swap A1 with A2 and C2 with C3 so that they're alternating both horizontally and vertically.

B4 mysteriously disappears during the process. >.>

[locke]

I'd have two solid columns bracketing two open columns but honestly I didn't even think of rearranging them until Alea mentioned it.

Thanks fred, they were delcious, almost too chocolately. I'm sort of attributing my headache I got today to eating three of them.

[Gravity Defier]

I didn't even think of rearranging them until Alea mentioned it.

Only it was my Twinny who mentioned it first; notice I quoted her.

[LilBee91]

Not only did I not think of rearranging them, I also didn't notice there were solid hearts in addition to the outline ones. Yay for being observant!