We Be Jammin’

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This post at Simple Bites pretty much sums up my reasons for making my very first batch of strawberry jam this week. Seduced by the idea of fresh, local, organic strawberries, I went a little crazy with the cheese whiz and ended up with more strawberries than we were going to be able to eat (scandalous). A quick search quickly informed me that all I needed for strawberry jam were strawberries, lemons, and sugar. Turns out that strawberry jam is Monsieur’s kryptonite. I can’t get him to eat brownies or cookies or cake, but wave a jar of strawberry jam under his nose and he’s a goner.

The lemons looked so lovely that I followed Smitten Kitchen’s advice and just started snapping photos (you’ll notice the background in almost all her photos is the granite in her kitchen).

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The color of the finished product was intoxicating; so I took some more pictures.

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Then I realized that we have a prop room (aka the cabinet with the cutting boards) and that’s when all heck broke loose.

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Vintage silver spoon? Why, yes, I think I have one of those.

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Thanks to Baguette et Chocolate for the delicious baguette. No thanks for spoiling us so that now we can’t eat anyone else’s baguette.

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For the jam recipe, visit the inimitable Kate Payne.

Vinaigrette Just Changed My Life

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Red Striped Pants

Mademoiselle

There are moments in each of our lives that we can point to as defining moments. The moment we were born, the moment we learned to ride a bike, the moment we took our first solo drive, the moment we met the person we would spend our life with.

At 9 months, Mademoiselle is having a lot of those moments in rather rapid succession. The moment she slept nearly all night for the first time, the moment she started to crawl, the moment she realized Madame could walk away from her, the moment she stood without holding on to something. And those are just the moments I recognize. I’m sure she’s flooded with life altering moments daily that go unnoticed by anyone but Mademoiselle. Moments before which and after which, life looks nothing alike. And after which, we have a hard time remembering what came before. What was life like before she ate strawberries? Before she could sit up? Before she smiled? Even I have a hard time remembering.

Everything You Need

Everything You Need

Certainly making one’s own vinaigrette can hardly compare to crawling for the first time. It certainly didn’t require the mastery of any new motor skills, although it has changed my life and by extension, the lives of all my immediate family members. These are the top five ways that  making my own vinaigrette has irrevocably altered life in our home:

(1) I will NEVER dip my veggies in ranch or butter again (not even artichokes).

There is something about the bright but rich flavor of a classic French vinaigrette (white wine vinegar,olive oil, and dijon mustard) that brings out the best in veggies. Plus, vinaigrette, for some reason, never feels heavy or particularly guilt-inducing for me, unlike eating 2 tablespoons of ranch or half a stick of butter for instance…

(2) I will NEVER buy another bottle of salad dressing.

While I haven’t yet ventured into the world of creamy dressings (I’m going to have to start making this at home first), we consume mostly vinaigrettes anyway, and as fond as I am of Girard, Brianna, and Paul Newman, their bottled dressings just can’t compare to homemade, fresh vinaigrette. Not to mention, my vinaigrettes have no hidden ingredients. I’m not donating a portion of the proceeds from each of my vinaigrettes to charity, but I’m sure Paul understands.

(3) I will ALWAYS own at least 3 types of vinegar: balsamic, white wine, and apple cider.

I can make enough variations of vinaigrette with these 3 vinegars to keep me busy for a long time. Strawberry salad with goat cheese and candied pecans over spinach? Balsamic. Apple salad with blue cheese and toasted walnuts over butter lettuce? Apple cider. Everything else? White wine. I will certainly be experimenting with other vinegars (champagne, sherry, red wine, etc.) and oils (walnut, pistachio (?!?), sesame, grapeseed, etc.), but my fallback vinegars will likely always be balsamic, white wine, and apple cider.

(4) I will ALWAYS have dijon mustard in the house.

For years, we had mustard in the house for use in sandwiches and sandwiches alone. An 8 oz jar of mustard, likely spicy brown, could loiter in the fridge for a year before finally reaching the last spread. Since purchasing my first jar of Maille Dijon mustard at Cost Plus 3 months ago, we have gone through two 14 oz jars and have started our third. Not only has the mustard gone into vinaigrette, it’s also made it’s way into sauces for fish and chicken and Monsieur’s daily eggs as well as the customary sandwiches. I found these bad boys at the Gucci HEB this week and now dream of my own cork-stoppered pot of Edmond Fallot dijon mustard.

(5) I will make 90% of my vinaigrettes to order, that is, moments before they will be consumed, in limited quantities, without a recipe.

It’s certainly possible to make a large bottle or jar of dressing ahead of time and stash it in the fridge and I have, but what I’ve found recently, is that I prefer the flavor of vinaigrette I’ve just made over the vinaigrette that I made 3 days ago. I don’t know if it’s because the ingredients are out of proportion when poured from a larger bottle or that the oil is less fresh, but it’s just not as good. In yet another “who am I and where did this come from” thought, suddenly, making my own vinaigrette immediately before a meal occurs as simple and easy to do. I guess it’s become a habit.

So, I challenge you to make your own vinaigrette this week. After trying the proportions in both French Kids Eat Everything and How to Cook Everything, we’ve settled on a 1 Tablespoon vinegar to 2 Tablespoons oil ratio. So here’s our base recipe. This recipe dresses 2 salads. It can easily be scaled up or down.

3 T Vinaigrette

  • 1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard (try to find one without added sugar, like Maille or Trader Joe’s)
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced (you could also use shallots, if you’re fancy)
  • salt and pepper to taste (For us this is generally 4-6 turns of the grinder)

If you want balsamic vinaigrette, substitute balsamic vinegar for the white wine vinegar and omit the dijon mustard. How easy is that? For apple cider, substitute apple cider vinegar for the white wine vinegar and replace the teaspoon of mustard with a teaspoon of honey (if you’re in the mood for something a little sweet). I’ve also seen restaurants substitute caramel for the honey in an apple cider vinaigrette (the salad was pomegranate and hazelnut over mixed greens).

Once you’re comfortable making one basic vinaigrette, the others suddenly become much easier, even natural, and you may find yourself experimenting with flavor combinations, adding fresh herbs, and all in 30 seconds or less. You’ll wonder why you ever spent $5 on a 16 oz bottle of salad dressing that had been sitting on the shelf for who knows how long. I know I did.

What’s your favorite salad dressing?

Eating Radishes à la française

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When we first received black radishes in our weekly produce box, I referred to my go-to resource, the Bitt-man’s How to Cook Everything. He suggested eating them sliced with butter, salt, and pepper.

Huh?

My only previous encounters with radishes had been as shiny globes in mounds at salad bars, spicy slices in a restaurant garden salad, or the fastest growing vegetable that we never had any idea what to do with in our garden. Helene at French Foodie Baby had mentioned eating radishes with butter as had Karen in French Kids Eat Everything. But how? Melted on top? Cold in slices? How much per radish? I was quickly paralyzed by my overanalysis of such a simple vegetable and it’s most simple preparation.

The Black Radishes long gone, we received a bunch of red radishes this week, and I resolved to eat them immediately according to the preparation Dorie Greenspan provides in Around My French Table (drool-inducingly gorgeous, this is a book that will jump from temporary visitor, aka library book, to permanent resident in my home):

“If you want to serve radishes in the French style, wash them well, and if they came with stems and leaves, trim their topknots, leaving just enough greenery to serve as handles. Drop the radishes into a bowl of ice water and keep them there until serving. (You can even serve them on ice.) Serve the radishes whole accompanied by very soft butter for spreading on the radishes and a bowl of sea salt, preferably fleur de sel, for dipping; small rounds of dark bread or baguette are optional.”

Well, in 4 hours, our refrigerator froze our radishes; so I didn’t put them on ice. I carved little slices out of them, filled the slices with butter, and salted (and peppered) them. They were a quick, simple, refreshing veggie starter. I will never dip a radish in ranch again. Thanks to Dorie for the cure for my analysis paralysis. Now bring on the butter!

“Preferring raw…

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“Preferring raw milk cheese isn’t about sticking it to The Man or scoring some of that wink, wink contraband Camembert. It’s about a four-thousand year history of choosing the tastiest, most deliciously satisfying, and healthiest food possible.” -Rob Kaufelt, Proprietor of Murray’s Cheese

I’m pretty much obsessed with Murray’s Cheese right now (if you didn’t see my last post). This quote is from The Murray’s Cheese Handbook. Raw Milk is on my mind as the Texas legislature is considering a bill to legalize direct sale of raw milk from the producer to the consumer at farmer’s markets and market stands. Mademoiselle doesn’t drink cow milk yet, but if she ever does, I’d like it to be the best milk available and I’d like raw milk to be an accessible option.

Best….Present….Ever

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Or at least in the last month. =)

I might have to amend my previous statement where I said that my favorite thing to receive in the mail is chocolate because today, in the mail, I received this:

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There are several components to excellent gift giving. Accuracy or knowing the person and timing likely being the most important. Creativity is probably a close third. When this box arrived on my doorstep, I immediately knew who it was from and was both surprised and thrilled. The precursor to my post about cheese maintenenance was actually the discovery that Murray’s Cheese, the New York cheese purveyors featured both in Martha Stewart Living and in Saveur, offered their cheese packages on gilttaste.com. I immediately texted my brother. “Did you know there’s a gilttaste? Did you know Murray’s Cheese is on gilttaste.com?” The answers were Yes and No. And three days later there was cheese on my doorstep (the Francophile package no less). Score! Did I mention there are also pygmy goats on gilttaste.com? No? It was worth a try.

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The packaging is beautiful. Everything arrives in a Murray’s Cheese box that contains a Murray’s Cheese crate. All the cheese is impeccably wrapped in Murray’s custom cheese paper with descriptive labels. Comte Saint Antoine (which we’ll pair (?!?) with a Rhone Red), Bleu de Auvergne (paired with Sauterne), Delice de Bourgogne (champagne), saucissons sec, cornichons, and dijon mustard. I’m practically rubbing my hands together in evil mastermind glee planning the get together that will result in the consumption of this wealth of cheese and the accompanying wines that I was compelled to procure. Thank you to my brother and his incredible fiancee who are gift givers (and human beings) par excellence.

I wanted to follow up quickly on the results of the great cheese repackaging of 2013. After a week, I have concluded that the wax paper wrapped cheese is far superior in texture to plastic wrapped. The suspicious sliminess that frequently accompanies opened plastic wrapped cheese is totally absent from the wax paper wrapped cheese. I’ll never leave my cheese languishing in plastic again. When wrapping, however, I will endeavor to use less tape. From a practical standpoint, it makes it easier to unwrap and rewrap the cheese. My technique does not yet produce the artful packages you find at Murray’s, but soon….

I Am Shiva, Destroyer of Cheeses

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I was recently made aware that cheese should not be stored in plastic wrap (thanks for bursting my bubble Murray’s Cheese). Apparently plastic wrap encourages bad mold growth, off-flavors, and funky texture. This is the question that naturally follows: why do all my cheesemongers, including foodie-centric Central Market and Whole Foods flagship store sell their cheeses in plastic wrap? In fact, why do all my cheeses, regardless of where I purchase them, come in plastic wrap? Inappropriate and misleading! Freakin’ Americans!

That being said, I am now responsible for remedying this cheese-tastrophe when my cheese arrives home. Before bringing any new cheese home, however, I had to make amends with my existing cheese inventory*. Here it is, in its sorry state:

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First of all, whoa! Where’d all this cheese come from? Yikes it looks bad. I feel especially bad for my French cheese. It seems like somehow, the French cheese knows that it deserves better. Second, how can I properly store it?   Which is where this post from seriouseats.com comes into play. I loosely followed the instructions, which is really all you can do. The post should really go like this: 1. Tear off a piece of wax paper roughly 3 times the length of the cheese 2. Proceed to wrap the cheese like the most deformed Christmas present you’ve ever encountered. 3. Secure with tape. Voila! My first attempt was with a mystery parmesan of questionable origin. It looked something like this:

Step 1:

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Step 2:

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Step 3:

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Steps 4-8:

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Here, it starts to look like a Pinewood Derby car my brother once made. photo step 6

I am not above the judicious use of scissors. photo step 7

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Finvoila

After about 30 minutes of wrapping cheeses, my inventory looked like this:

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and I came to the following conclusions. 1. I need an actual masking tape dispenser a la the lovely dispensers you see behind the butcher (or proper cheesemongers) counter instead of a roll of masking tape 4 times as wide as the standard roll. This is a thought that falls under the same category as “I need more tablecloths.”  2. I need to finish the cheese I have before I buy any more cheese. 3. After 10 months of practice wrapping cheese, I should really rock the Christmas gift wrapping this year. Maybe I’ll get everyone cheese….

What cheese would you like to receive for Christmas?

*Pictured cheeses include: Mystery Parmesan #1 (cow), Mystery Parmesan #2 (cow), Bleu d’Auvergne (cow), 18 mo Comte (cow), Pyrenees Ossau Iraty (sheep), Tomme de Chevre Uscal Orange (goat), Bucheron (goat), Goat Cheese (goat), Uniekaas Parrano (cow), Cave Aged Gruyere (Emmi)(cow), Romero Fino (sheep), Raw Milk Morbier (cow), Goat Brie (goat and, thereby, apocryphal), Grana Padano Stravecchio Shredded (cow), Manchego (sheep, Costco), and a Reserve Gruyere Rind (cow)

P.S. I left the shredded parmesan and cheese rind in plastic/glass packaging and the manchego in it’s vacuum packed costco wrapper, assuming that it’s safer in an air-free environment until we’re ready to cut into it.

P.P.S I have also recently been made aware that I need to be both food and props stylist and also probably not take my pictures after the sun has gone down. Forgive the current quality of the pictures as I put out ads for my vacant stylist/photographer positions….

Underutilized Technology: The Freezer

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Recently we started to use the freezer for more than just ice cream and extra portions of baby food.

Cookie dough has recently taken up residence in our freezer, and all I can say is, why didn’t we do this sooner?

Before, when I baked, I would make all 36 cookies and then rush to eat them in 3 days before they went stale. I can eat a lot of cookies, but 36 in 3 days is a lot even for me. Monsieur is nearly saintlike in his ability to refrain from eating cookies. He’s of no help at all whatsoever. The only way I could finish all the cookies was to eat cookies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I made the necessary sacrifices, but even eating cookies for every meal and sometimes in between, a couple at the end were no longer up to snuff.

Every stale cookie I eat erodes morale and chips away at the good memories of perfectly baked, warm cookies. Stale cookies are not to be tolerated. Not to mention eating cookies at/for every meal violates a number of our new dining principles (as well as common decency).

And this is where the freezer has been so useful. Now, I make a maximum of 12 cookies and the rest are rolled into individual dough balls, frozen separately on a flat surface such that they are not touching, and, once frozen, they all go into a dated Ziploc bag, to be removed and baked at a later time (at the normal temperature and cook time).

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Not only does this eliminate the rush of trying to eat cookies before they go bad and eliminate stale cookies altogether, I look brilliant when I produce warm, fresh baked, homemade cookies immediately after dinner with no fuss and no cleanup. I imagine Lucinda Scala Quinn would be proud.

I have made “fresh” cookies for dessert after dinner Friday through Sunday this week and each batch was as delicious and fabulous as the first. Now I just need to make more cookie dough…..

Some of the Soon-to-Be-Regular Cookie Residents of My Freezer

  • Raisin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
    • This recipe is the closest I have to a “family secret” recipe. It started when I was in middle school as a “Not Mrs. Fields” variant and has taken on its own life since. 
  • Orange Chocolate Chip Refrigerator Cookies 
    • From a Williams Sonoma Cookie & Biscotti Cookbookmy mom gave me when I was in college. Of all the recipes in that cookbook, this is the only one I’ve ever made more than once, and is my favorite use of mini chocolate chips*. The page is stained by butter and cinnamon and marked with an Albertson’s receipt dated February 3, 2000. I imagine serving these cookies warm on saucers aside steaming cups of black tea or coffee. If you think I’m kidding, I recently purchased saucersfor just this purpose.  
  • Rosemary White Chocolate Chip Cookies (gluten free and flour versions)
    • From The 4-Hour Chef. This is the first batch of cookie dough I ever froze, primarily so that I could share the cookies with a gluten intolerant friend. She housesat for us, and when we returned, there was only one cookie left in the freezer. I wasn’t happy with the texture of the first batch and resolved to tweak them when I make them again, but they were a a hit regardless.

P.S. Despite my biologist mother’s aversion to raw fish, raw cookie dough has never bothered her in the least. The second biggest perk of having frozen cookie dough in the freezer? Eating cookie dough without cleanup.

*My favorite thing to get in the mail? 6 bags of miniature chocolate chips. Monsieur requests soy free.

What is your favorite thing to freeze?

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