Great Grains

Although my parents deny ever being hippies, I distinctly remember spending the 70’s going to the health food store, making our own yogurt, eating carob (YUCK!), and stirring up big batches of granola…lots of granola.

Unlike the disdain I had for its cereal cousin, oatmeal, I have always loved granola.  It’s portable, nutritious, and delicious.

 

Sometimes the brands seen in grocery stores pop up on “worst cereal lists” for their unnaturally high calories, sugars, and fat grams.  These can also be pretty pricy, and I don’t always like the combos they offer (I’m not a fan of raisins and have a slight nut allergy).  While Trader Joes carries a couple brands that are to die for – the ginger, almond and cashew is amazing and the mango, passion was so different from the norm that I had to try it and loved it – I enjoy making my own.  It’s easy and its fun, the kids can help, and I make any flavor I decide and choose organic ingredients too.  Plus, when I double the batch and need to use two cookie sheets, I am able to customize each according to personal tastes (one kid likes almonds and the other doesn’t, my husband loves raisins and no one else does).

 

I think I found the original recipe in the 1994 Cook’s Illustrated annual, but I’ve added and subtracted enough that I now feel free to call it my own.

I buy my oats in the bulk section of the grocery store – nice thick rolled oats, not the thin, flaky quick or instant types that would not hold their own against the add-ins.  As for those, I try to match their amount with the quantity of oats.  For example: 3 cups of oats = 3 cups of extras.

The tasty bits I mix with the oats vary by my mood, what’s in my pantry, or what looks good in the other bulk food containers.  The last bunch I made had dried cranberries, slivered almonds, raw shelled sunflower seeds, and sesame seeds.  Other favorites around here include coconut, walnuts or pecans, banana chips smashed into bits, diced dried apricots, and dates.  The fun thing about making our own granola is that the flavors are limited only by our imagination – and what won’t scorch in the oven (so far, so good on that one though). 

The following recipe makes about twelve half-cup servings, but I usually double it and end up with enough for a few weeks.  I store it in a sealed container (my Lock & Lock containers work well) in the cupboard next to the Cheerios, and it seems to last for at least that long without tasting stale.

      

Great Granola

Ingredients:

3 cups rolled oats

3 cups add-ins of your choice (choose raw unsalted nuts when possible, chop dried fruits into small, uniform sized bits)

1/4c honey

1/4c maple syrup (real stuff!)

4T canola oil

½ t cinnamon or powdered ginger (optional)

1t vanilla (optional)

Instructions:

-Heat oven to 325 degrees

-Combine oats and add-ins in large bowl

-Combine honey, maple syrup, and oil in small sauce pan.  Heat over medium heat (but do not boil) until combined.  Remove from heat.  Add spices and vanilla if desired.

-Pour liquid on top of oat mixture.  Immediately stir with wooden spoon or silicone spatula (works best) to combine.

-Scrape contents onto parchment lined cookie sheet or jelly roll pan.

-Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes stirring every 5 minutes for even toasting and to check for doneness.

-Remove pan when granola is lightly toasted and immediately spread out evenly on parchment or a cool cookie sheet.

-When completely cooled, eat and enjoy.  Store unused portion in airtight container for up to one month.

I think when the current blend is gone, I’ll have to make my own ginger cashew granola.  I’d also like to hear what creative combinations you’ve tried!  

A Bad Baker Redeemed

I’ve written before that this self-proclaimed Good Cooker is a Baaaad Baker. I’m serious about being baking impaired but may have found my redemption when I checked out Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for More Food: Food x Mixing + Heat = Baking from the library. In this book (I think I might end up purchasing), AB stated good cookers don’t always make good bakers – especially the “throw stuff into a bowl until it tastes good type of cooker” (like me). Exact measures and procedures are a must to ensure success.

When my daughter asked for homemade cinnamon rolls for her birthday (I always tell them I will make ANYTHING they want for their birthdays - luckily no one has yet to ask for a crown rib roast or a chocolate soufflé), I knew it was time to quit putting off the inevitable, stop being intimidated by any recipe containing yeast, and jump into this baking thing feet first. Fortunately, I remember AB had a great overnight cinnamon roll recipe.  It was long, complicated and, yes, intimidating, but I was determined to avoid the whole canned Pillsbury-pop-open-cop-out I'd resorted to in the past.   

I bought the buttermilk, cream cheese and some fresh yeast (I’m superstitious like that – yeast and baking powder get replaced on a regular rotation around here), gathered my other ingredients and went to work. By the way – I used to love buttermilk as a kid and took a big swig of the stuff while I was cooking, and YUCK!

Since it was already 9:00 pm, I realized I’d better get hoofing if the rolls were to be ready to go in the fridge before midnight. With little time to spare and the need to have five “room temperature” eggs, I submerged them in some warmed water to hasten the process. (The 6 ounce measure of room temperature buttermilk was created in much the same manner.) I precisely measured twenty ounces of flour with my kitchen scale and followed all the other steps in the dough-making process to the letter. The result was an absolutely perfect ball of dough that rolled out nicely and behaved on cue. (I must also note that this was the FIRST TIME I ever used the dough hook that came with my now ten-year-old KitchenAid® mixer.)

Next came the fun part – stuffing, rolling and cutting. I found rubbing the dough with softened butter to be much easier and practical than basting it with runny, melted stuff. In retrospect, I also decided 8 ounces of brown sugar was way too much – at least for my taste. However, at the time I used it all in keeping with my vow to follow the recipe exactly but found the finished product to be a little on the sweet side. After the cinnalog was rolled, pinched, and gently stretched, I “cut” it apart – not with a serrated knife as the recipe states - but with dental floss (plain not minty, please). This method neatly severed off perfect rolls without mashing or otherwise deforming the cinnamon spirals.

A sit in the fridge overnight and a quick bake and frost in the morning produced some of the best cinnamon rolls I’d ever eaten and certainly the best ones I’d ever baked! I am far from calling myself a Good Baker, but I do have to say…Cinnabon EAT YOUR HEART OUT!

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls courtesy of Alton Brown: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/overnight-cinnamon-rolls-recipe/index.html

Here’s a video too if you happen to be a visual learner like me: http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/overnight-cinnamon-rolls/44875.html

Hot, hot, hot, hot, stuff!

Yesterday I went to the store just for eggs. I didn't even get a cart because I only needed eggs.  Alas, when I passed by the cheese on the way to the cackle-berries, I couldn't resist picking up a package of Cabot Hot Habanero Chedder.

I have a special place in my heart(burn) for spicy foods.  (Indeed, my entire kitchen is decorated in the style.)  If it makes me sweat, I love it.  But, I should quantify that statement; altough I once took 3rd place in the Bayou Boogaloo & Cajun Food Festival hot pepper eating contest, hot is not enough (or perhaps too much) for me - it has to taste good too.  I don't like to suffer unless it is worth it.

Growing up in MeatandPotato Town, Ohio, the spiciest thing I ever ate was black pepper - the preground stuff from the shaker can.  Once out in the wide, wide world, I easily became tempted by the forbidden (or should I say forsaken) fruit.  I speak, of course, of the Capsicums, the more popular being:

~Capsicum annuum - jalapeño, pimento, cayanne, and even bell peppers (ok, so I had those before)
~Capsicum frutescens - tobasco (as in the sauce - did you know it has to age THREE YEARS before hitting the grocery shelves?!) and my true love Thai (aka Bird's eye) peppers
~Capsicum chinense - habanero and Scotch bonnet

And, yes, they are fruits - technically berries but not technically "pepper".  (Black pepper = Piper nigrum.  Black peppercorns are the unripe, dried, fermented version, white peppercorns are ripe and dried with the outside husks removed, and green peppercorns are also unripe and usually preserved in brine. PS - The brine is a killer add to a Bloody Mary) 

My first time with this potent produce involved margaritas and a glut of jalapeños.  As a neophyte, I was unaware of the end consequences of my actions (but I digress).  Later in life I was exposed to the fabulous world of Thai cooking (by my neighbor Anne), and learned the hard way the hazards of playing with fire when cooking with the aforementioned Thai peppers.  (Always use gloves and NEVER rub your eyes - especially if you wear contacts. Owich!)  Nevertheless, my consumption of these has matured and is as frequent and varied as possible.

My preferred application of any pepper is salsa.  And, one of my absolute favorites is a black bean and corn salsa I make to top grilled chicken breasts (or often just to eat alone.)  Here's roughly how I do it:

Chicken marinade
1/3 cup olive oil
juice from two limes
1 t kosher salt
1/2 t fresh gound black pepper

Wisk to combine.  Place four thawed boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or equivalent chicken parts) and marinade in zip top bag for minimun one hour (or overnight).

Salsa
1 can yellow corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 large vine ripe tomato, diced
1 medium sweet onion (vidalia or walla-walla preferred), finely diced
1 green pepper, seeded & diced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 (or 2) fresh jalapeño, seeded & finely diced
juice from one lime
kosher salt to taste

Combine all and let set at room temperature to allow flavors to meld.  Grill chicken, top with salsa and eat!

Another hot topic - Atomic Fireballs - love me sum cinnamonalicious Atomic Fireballs.  Check out this great site detailing the birth of the fireball!   http://www.ferrarapan.com/html/atomic.html

Holiday delay

The holidays have always been about cooking and baking for me. I plan far in advance what I will make. I stew over my ten or so Cook’s Illustrated annuals and crack open my old-timey Betty Crocker Cooky Book. (I don't need bookmarks because "favorite" pages are always marked with a glob of dough or stuck together with molasses.)  I make my final selections, write out my shopping lists, and gather only the best ingredients – heavy cream, real butter and vanilla, Scharffenberger chocolate and cocoa, and new spices – especially new spices. I regularly restock spices this time of year. A good rule of thumb is six months for ground spices and twelve months for whole. (I grind most everything but cloves. My grinder doesn’t do them fine enough to suit me). This is another reason I love The Spice House. They sell herbs and spices in a variety of sizes from less than an ounce up to a pound.  This permits me to purchase what I will need for about a year. Oh, and I always buy a fresh can of baking powder regardless of the expiration date. There is nothing more disappointing than having ones baking powder fail (unless you really like hockey puck biscuits).

Because we spent Christmas visiting family out of state, my efforts this year were slightly delayed. We will celebrate our Christmas on New Year’s Day. So, today I baked Cook’s Illustrated double chocolate cookies, pfferneuse and gingerbread men. All three involve flour and, even worse, copious amounts of powdered sugar. This is a bad thing, as I am messy beyond compare when I cook. I frequently use my hands and often wipe them on my clothes without thinking (and I'm usually wearing black). I routinely spill, slop, splatter, and splash – activities that are only truly appreciated by the little dog who stands at the ready to clean up after me. Today I even turned on the mixer a little too high while adding cocoa/flour mixture. Poof! A fine dusty layer still coats my kitchen. All of this ensures I have just as must powered sugar on me as on the pfferneuse.

Photo by Susan Wenzel 

Nonetheless, everything is delicious. Now, if I could just find someone to finish the dishes.

Gold, Frankincense & Saffron

Yesterday I received a Christmas package from my sister-in-law containing gifts for the girls and spices for me. A few weeks ago she told me about a new spice market near her house in South Pasadena and asked if I wanted anything. I had just placed a big order from http://www.thespicehouse.com/ but had forgotten a couple items. As I planned to make pfferneuse and gingerbread from an old German recipe, I told her I would deeply appreciate allspice and “real” cinnamon. **I most recently learned – I think from Alton Brown – that most cinnamon sold in stores is not really cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) but cassia (Cinnamomum aromaticu) – a close relative.

This made me start thinking about spices ...how much I didn’t know then, how much I know now, and how much I still have to learn. Case in point: About ten years ago I visited Bali in Indonesia and very near The Spice Islands (aka Maluku Islands) – so named for the abundance of spices grown there. Unfortunately, at that time I was not as enamored of cooking as I am now and missed my chance to stock up. I did, however, buy whole nutmeg, anise, cloves and a bunch of other goodies for my Aunt Carol who is a cooker extraordinaire.

Years later I found myself in the middle-east, Dubai to be exact, and made a point of visiting a couple of the souks (Arabic for market). Souks, I soon learned, are both market places and festival places. The range of goods sold in each and the opportunities for people watching were mind-boggling! At the gold souk, I gawked at the millions and millions of dollars of gorgeous gold jewelry (sold by the gram regardless of the workmanship involved) on display in each storefront and finally settled on an intricate 22k filigree ring for $15(US) a gram ($466 an ounce – a good deal at the time).

Photo by Susan Wenzel

Then…I ventured into the spice souk. Surrounded by the kaleidoscope of colors and panorama of smells emitting from row after row of huge burlap bags and bins of every kind of spice, herb and nut imaginable – I was quickly approaching sensory overload. After gathering myself, I was determined to not make the Bali mistake. Now older and wiser, I purchased all kinds of amazing items including premium grade frankincense (not a spice but a highly prized tree resin used in perfumes and incense) and then honed in on my intended target – saffron. Saffron, stamen from the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus), is one of the most expensive, highly prized items in the food world. (I most recently saw 1 gram for sale in a specialty market for $9). This fragrant and richly colored spice is loved just as much for the exotic aroma and taste it imparts as it is for the golden hue it gives to rice, chicken or even custard. After passing on bins of yellowish-orange saffron in one crowded little store, I succeeded in persuading the merchant I meant business. He finally pulled a small tin from a shelf behind the counter. This was the stuff I was looking for – the good stuff. After parting with about $12, I walked away with nearly a full ounce of rich smelling, deeply red colored tiny curls of saffron.

My penchant for purchasing spices both at home and abroad has earned me the nickname of “Spice Girl.” Although I’ll admit I’ve moved far beyond seasoning my food with only salt and pre-ground pepper, there are so many more spices to learn and flavors to explore!