Shallot or Shall-not

When I made that scrumptious spinich lasagna the other day, I (for the first time ever) bought shallots.  The recipe called for them, so I blindly bought them.  I never had before because they seemed no different than small onions to me - expensive small onions. 

As I dined on my leftover lasagna tonight, I started thinking about those shallots.  I noticed the lasagna didn't really have a distinguishable onion flavor, so why did I have to put those expensive onions in there then?  I decided to find out. 

For Valentine's Day, my husband bought a copy of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking for me - not because he is an inconsiderate oaf who doesn't know how to treat a woman but because I specifically asked for it.  (PS - he also gave me a ginormous bouquet of lillies).  On page 19 of my gift is where I started my shallot research.  I figured if Julia couldn't explain it to me, no one could.   

Julia says, and I quote, "Shallots with their delicate flavor and slightest hint of garlic are small members of the onion family. (ha! I was right. So why not just use onions, Ms. Child?  hmmm?)  Julia reiterates, "delicate flavor!" and continutes, "The minced white part of green onions (spring onions, scallions, ciboules) may take the place of shallots.  If you can find neither, substitute very finely minced onion dropped in boiling water, rinsed and drained.  Or omit them altogether." 

Sooooo, all types of onions belong to the genus Allium and shallots (Allium ascalonicum) are mildly flavored onions as are spring onions (Allium fistulosum) AND boiling the eye-watering, nose-burning, pungent regular yellow onion (Allium flavum) gives it a milder flavor.  (Oh, I see.)  AND...garlic too is an Allium (Allium sativum to be specific) which is presumably how shallots can taste like mild onions AND garlic.  Whew! 

A little more research led me to discover there are actually some 700 or more species of Allium - and not all are edible.  Come to think of it, I did see several species in my Breck's bulb catalog.  (ow, my head)  

Well, I've always heard, "Use the right tool for the job."  I guess this is a clear-cut case of, "Use the right onion for the job!"  From now on, if a recipe calls for shallots, I shall use shallots!

(Thanks to http://brecks.com/ for the picture of Allium caeruleum - "Azure Allium.")

Leftovers again?

I had company this weekend which prompted me to "show off" my cooking a little.  Now, I don't mean show off like "nah nanny boo boo, see what I can do" but more like inspired to go the extra mile to make the food a little more special, a little richer, a little more...well, everything.  This resulted in making a little more than we needed which means we have a little more than a few leftovers. And, if I do say so myself, they are GREAT leftovers. 

Friday night we had Cook's Illustrated spinach lasagna that called for layers of a spinach and Béchamel sauce mixture, lasagna noodles, and three kinds of cheese: whole milk cottage cheese and freshly grated Fontina and Parmesan cheeses (My Microplane® grater made quick work of the Parmesan.  How did I ever get by without it?).  When I went to the store looking for Fontina cheese, I could only find Fontinella.  I was perplexed.  It seems to look and smell (yes, I sniff cheese) similar to Fontia, so I bought it hoping it would do.  When I got home and did a little research, I discovered it seems to be an acceptable if not entirely accurate substitute for the Alpine region specialty cheese.  Regardless, it melted well and gave the dish a wonderful texture and rich flavor. 

I also used the Barilla no-boil noodles.  I got hooked on these a few lasagnas ago.  My Cooks Illustrated recipe lists these as a favorite but recommends they be soaked in hot water for five minutes to reduce cooking time.  It did.  Amazingly, my lasagna was done in 40 minutes as opposed to the 2-3 hours it normally takes.

Saturday I made Alton Brown's Coq A Vin (the two bottles of wine dish sans pearl onions).  It was a very time consuming recipe to make but the results were way worth the trouble.  I got a little panicked about halfway though cooking when I noticed the wine had turned the chicken a delightful shade of purple and the onions edges and garlic an ink blue.  However, my worries were in vain.  By the time it finished cooking, the color had mellowed to a rich burgundy.  Served over egg noodles and paired with green peas in a cream sauce - it was a fabulous dish to behold (and eat). 

(I am no wine connoisseur - not by any means - but think the Beringer Founders Estate 2007 Pinot Noir I bought to be quite tasty.  What?  You think I would serve something without first sampling a wee bit?) 

We finished Saturday's meal with cherries jubilee.  I'd never made this simple combination of dark cherries, lemon rind and juice, sugar and rum cooked into a sauce and served hot over vanilla ice cream but found it to be the perfect finish to our Valentine's Day meal.  (PS - I didn't torch my eyebrows when I flambéd the rum - unlike the cognac and cream sauce episode.) 

While there is plenty of lasagna and Coq A Vin, there are no leftover cherries.  So, aside from any additional dessert, I don't have to cook the rest of the weekend.  My only problem is deciding which leftover to serve for dinner today.  Somehow I don't think there will be any complaints with either choice. 

Wee admin note

I've changed the blog settings to permit comments from "Anonymous" readers.  Please keep questions, comments and snide remarks clean and relevant. 

Thank you for reading! 

If it were the last food on earth

I finally figured out what I'm making for Valentine's Day and it's not chicken marsala (even though I have a great Cook's Illustrated recipe for it).  I was setting up Good Eats to record and noticed the show on Coq A Vin was scheduled for tonight.  I'd already watched that episode but remembered being fascinated by making a dish that used not one cup, nor even one bottle but TWO whole bottles of wine!  Two bottles of Pinot Noir to be exact. 

So, I am making the Coq A Vin.  (Coq = chicken and vin = wine)  Now, should I use Alton Brown's version or Julia Childs'?  Whichever one I decide on, I already know I will not be using pearl onions....

There are few, very few - probably less than six - foods I cannot STAND!  Among them are pearl onions, liver, and dandelion greens (another story for another day).  I would probably starve before I'd eat any of these - especially pearl onions.  I like sour little cocktail onions, and I love crispy rakkyōzuke  (a type of tsukemono or Japanese pickle) which are a tiny, sweet whole onion often served with Japanese curry.  But pearl onions...these must have been invented by the devil himself.

They pop when I bite into them and are just generally nasty.  I can't stand them.  I would apologize to all of you pearl onion lovers but realize my disdain for them means more for you!  You can keep your pearl onions!  ICK!!

P.S. I love every other type of onion known to man especially spring onions and Walla Walla Sweets (I ordered a 10# case from Cavalli's Onion Acres in Walla Walla, Washington for a ridiculously cheap price - about $12 including shipping. www.bmi.net/cavalli/ Check them out!) 
     

The Musical Fruit

Beans, beans the musical fruit

The more you eat, the more you toot

The more you toot the better you feel

So let's eat beans with every meal

No, Benjamin Franklin did not coin that sweet ditty, but he really did say, "Fart proudly," so I felt compelled to include it.

Beans, also known as legumes (because they are of the family Leguminosae or alternately Fabaceae) are, in a word, the bomb.  They are probably the most versatile, nutritious, delicious, cheap, easy to prepare and rather (in my opinion) underestimated and underappreciated (and most joked about) little powerhouse of a food - dried beans, that is.  ("Green beans" are immature beans eaten, usually whole, while the pod is still tender and before the little beans inside have been given a chance to ripen and dry.)

According to the U.S. Dry Bean Council (never knew there was such a thing), the thirteen most popular dried bean varieties grown in the US (mainly in the midwest) are Baby Lima, Large Lima, Black, Blackeye (yes, the black-eye pea is really a bean), Cranberry, Dark Red Kidney, Light Red Kidney, Garbanzo (aka chickpea), Great Northern, Navy, Pink, Pinto and Small Red.  Of course, there are a bazillion other types of beans (including fava beans which I heard are fabulous with a nice Chianti), but these are the most commonly consumed.

So, where was I going with this?  Oh yeah...Beans - nutritious and delicious - aside from having lots of fiber (thus giving them their symphonic side-effect), are packed with a perfect blend of protein (16 grams per cup) and complex carbohydrates along with a fair dose of calcium, potassium, folate and even a dash of iron.

I've already touched on bean soup, so I'd like to share another of my new favorite bean recipes compliments of another of my favorite no-nonsense cooks, Mark Bittman.  This one actually came from my Runner's World magazine (yes, I run - just very slowly) but also is in his cookbook Kitchen Express (of which I have a copy - it's great).  I was hesitant at first to use smoked sausage in a stew but figured it was good enough for my gumbo and finally made the recipe as is.  It was hearty and delicious and loved by all! 

 

Cassoulet with Lots of Vegetables
2 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound Italian sausage, bone-in pork chops, duck breasts, or chicken legs, or 1 pound of a combination of meats
1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
2 leeks or onions, washed and sliced (I used leeks)
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch lengths
3 celery stalks, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (I omitted the celery because I didn't have any at the time and I'm not a big fan of cooked celery except in clam chowder)
2 medium zucchinis, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 cups canned tomatoes (and juice), chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
2 bay leaves
4 cups canned white beans, drained and liquid reserved in case needed (or frozen like I wrote about a few posts ago)
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock (preferrably homemade from your squirreled away stock of stock in the freezer)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add meat and cook, turning until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove from pan and drain off all but two tablespoons of fat. Turn heat to medium, add garlic, leeks or onions, carrots, celery, and zucchini; season with salt and pepper. Cook five minutes, or until softened. Add tomatoes and juice, meat, and herbs. Bring to a boil. Add beans and boil again, stirring occasionally; reduce heat so mixture bubbles gently. Cook for 20 minutes, adding stock or bean liquid when mixture gets thick. Fish out meat; remove bones and skin and chop into chunks. Return to pot and add cayenne. Warm through. Serves four.

CALORIES PER SERVING: 580
CARBS: 82 G
PROTEIN: 40 G
FAT: 11 G

(Thanks to http://americanbean.com/ for all the fabulous bean facts.  Check it out - there's tons of information and some great recipes at the site!)

Luv me sum leftovers - Part I

Preheat oven and pizza stone to 450 degrees.

Take:
-1 loaf ciabatta bread, split
-2 thin sliced sweet onions, carmelized (soften with 1T olive oil and add 1t of fresh ground black pepper, 1/2t kosher salt, 1T Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce)
-About a 1 pound chunk of leftover pork loin roast sliced super thin (layer on top of onions in pan after adding sauce and heat through, flipping once to coat with yummy goodness)
-8 slices swiss cheese

Layer meat, onions and cheese on bread, close sandwich and wrap securely in foil (sprayed with cooking spray).  Place on cookie sheet and top with hot pizza stone (yes, you can use a panini press but this works just as well and all the gooey goodness stays inside the foil).  Bake for 10 minutes, unwrap, slice into six pieces and eat. 

I suppose this is akin to a Cuban less the mustard, ham and pickles that I did have but decided to not use.  Whatever you want to call it, it was DELICIOUS!  (and there are no leftovers left over from the leftover, so I can't show you the final product)

Julia & Alton

I watched Julie & Julia a few nights ago.  It melds the stories of Julia Child (what a cool lady!) and a middle-aged woman in a culinary rut who starts a blog documenting her efforts to hone her cooking skills by making all the recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  I'm certainly no Julia and while I am not in a rut (nor do not consider myself "middle-aged"), I know my skills could use some honing.  (If you remember, I said my baking was subpar.)  I went to the library (fabulous place - all the books you need and more - for free) and checked out Julia Child's Julia's Kitchen Wisdom: Essential Techniques & Recipes from a Lifetime of Cooking and Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for More Food: Food+Mixing+Heat=Baking.  

Now, the other night I was talking to a friend, and she asked me if I'd ever made anything so good but then forgotten how I'd made it.  I told her the answer to that was yes, all the time - because I was a "mash together a recipe or two and then add a bit of this and a bit of that because I had ideas how to make it better" cooker.  I further described my cooking style as "Throw a Bunch of Stuff in a Pan and It Tastes Great."  On the FIRST PAGE of AB's baking book in the FIRST PARAGRAPH it says, and I quote, "'Cooks' who enjoy facing a pan and tossing in 'a bit of this and a bit of that' usually get away with it as long as they don't burn the meat or forget to put water in the rice..."  (Yes, I've since searched my kitchen for hidden cameras.)
 
That may explain my baking handicap - either that or my oven is on crack (AB says all ovens lie) - or both.  While I've made excellent cakes from scratch and can throw down a tasty quick bread or pan of muffins in no time, my breads, pie crusts and biscuits, in a word, stink.  

The rest of the first chapter goes on to explain why precision is essential to successful baking.  Precision.  I think I can handle that.  I have a Salter Aquatronic Electronic Kitchen Scale that measures grams as well as ounces (and mililiters and fluid ounces) and a mathematical mind (I did teach myself trigonometry after all), so I intend to use this book - and whatever Julia has to say in hers - to be a better Good Cooker.  I don't think I will make a souffle any time soon, but I may attempd the herbed Italian loaf again.  I'll keep you posted.