Lamb

I can't eat lamb. I've tried. I've even tried to blog it. I have pictures from two recipes, now 3, that may not see the light of day, because I can't eat lamb.
I tried.
I promise I tried.
Out of all three recipes, I ate most of it. Maybe most. Except for tonight.
It was just too tender. And yummy. And moist.
And with a flavor I just could not get my mouth around.
It's hard, because I don't know if it's one of those things that I don't like because of what it is (baby sheep, you know, very cute lambies) or because of what it tastes like (shrimp, you know, out of the ocean water I swim in, that murky gulf, it's supposed to be safe with no jelly fish or anything (ignoring the oil - tar - I used to have on my feet after every beach trip)).
I very much would  like to objectively describe the recipes we've made with lamb. There have been two with lamb shanks and one of a rack of lamb, which is not called lamb rib, apparently. And, in truth, they all very lovely, with great flavor and tasty results.
But I'm not posting recipes. Sorry. I don't usually do the preachy thing, and I'm not now. It's just not something I can do myself, the lamb thing. Pictures, maybe. Tomorrow. But not recipes. If you want them, let me know. They are very good, after all. It's part of that inner struggle.

(Go Ravens. No struggle there, just proper team spirit.)

A New Year

Bon Appetit's food predictions for 2011 and my friend's ambitious blog, Foods I Like, got me thinking. I doubt I'll be cooking rabbit, or trying 365 (or 367) new recipes in 2011, but I do have some food goals for this year. In addition, I turn 30 this year, in August. In the spirit of other "30 before 30" lists in the bloggy world out there, I have a list of 30 food related things I would like to accomplish before I turn 30. 8 months and 8 days should be enough time, right? I've tried to make the goals mostly quantifiable, but a few vague ones slipped in. There is also some overlap, with some recipes able to fit into multiple items on the list, for example,  but that makes it more fun.

Did I forget anything? Do you have any ambitious (or not so ambitious) food goals for 2011?

The List:
1.     Expand my breadmaking abilities (oven and bread machine, it doesn't matter)
2.     Do a 30 posts in 30 days blog feature

3.     Find (another) (equally tasty) halibut recipe

4.     Master ravioli

5.     Explore new dessert recipes and techniques (one a month, say?)

6.     Organize my recipe binder

7.     Lose 20 pounds (doc says 30, but I'll start with 20) (the Husband says this one isn't food related, but I disagree)

8.     Learn how to jar something – strawberry jam, Husband’s mom?

9.     Host a dinner party

10.   Use our restaurant gift certificates

11.   Make sushi

12.   Find a beer I like

13.   Eat at top 5 Mexican restaurants in Texas

14.   Try a new recipe every week before the big day (and blog each one) 

15.   Eat at 10 restaurants I haven’t been to yet

16.   Visit the Texas olive oil producer

17.   Cook shellfish

18.   Learn how to make chicken shawarma

19.   Make tuna tartare

20.   Make one recipe out of every one of my cookbooks

21.   Submit a recipe to Food 52

22.   Finish reading “In Defense of Food”

23.   Use our fondue set. It’s been in the garage since we moved (about 3 years now). Even better, I actually bought fondue cheese back in Baltimore, and it got tossed when we moved out of the apartment.

24.   Try one new vegetable a month, cooked 3 different ways (8 total)

25.   Make dog treats

26.   Master my ice cream maker for at least one signature recipe

27.   Go through my kitchen cabinets and get rid of redundant equipment and things we don't use

28.   Eat a main course salad for dinner once a week

29.   Grow 4 kinds of tomatoes (and keep track of which plants are which!)

30.   Cook the perfect brisket. And remember how to spell brisket

Rosemary Olive Oil Bread

I made bread this weekend with my bread machine. I decided to get adventurous and try a new type of bread. We’ve done whole wheat and we’ve done white, but I noticed this time as I was looking through the breadmachine book, that I have the option to do French bread. Also with the reading of the breadmachine book, I discovered some hints and tips that had the potential to transform my bread attempts into something that tasted as spectacular as it smelled.

The recipe was an adaption of the Italian Herb Bread recipe in the breadmachine book (I know bread machine is two words, but it is so much more fun to type it as one, especially when followed by “book”). When I assembled the ingredients, I thought we would be enjoying a lovely piece of red meat and an even lovelier bottle of red wine for dinner, but the Husband was in an unfortunate state from having consumed large quantities of red wine the night before. So we had soup instead, and the bread was still a fantastic addition to the meal.

Rosemary Olive Oil Breadmachine Bread

The instructions for this recipe correspond to the one for my bread machine. I have no idea if they are all the same, so if the instructions for yours differ, please alter accordingly. Also, I used a tiny bit more yeast than it called for, because I wanted a fluffier, lighter texture.

Wet ingredients go in first.

3 tablespoons olive oil

1¼ cup water

Chopped rosemary. I used about 2 tablespoons, and we both decided it could have used more.

Dry ingredients

3½ cups bread flour

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon garlic power

Make a little well in the top of the dry ingredients, careful not to get any wetness into the well. Add the yeast.

2 ½ teaspoons breadmachine yeast

Turn the machine on and let it go to town. Try not to get frightened by the machine when it suddenly starts to knead the dough when you’re standing in front of it with your back to it. Enjoy!

You want pictures, you say? We may have eaten it too fast for pictures. It also makes lovely toast for eggs, and lovely bread to accompany NY strip roast.

Kitchen Toys

The weather outside is frightful...

If you've been anywhere near my house in the past week, you've probably heard me singing this and various other Christmas songs loudly and very off-key. I love this time of year, and I love Christmas music. Until recently, I didn't celebrate Christmas, and so had very mixed feelings about this time of year. But not the songs. I've always loved them. 

When I met my now husband back when we were in school, he told me wild tales of Christmas and warm fuzzy goodness that was his family. And I was jealous. Big time jealous. It's the one holiday I always wanted to celebrate, but never got to, being Jewish and all. Don't get me wrong, I love my religion, it's history, and my family traditions related to the holidays, but this time of year was always challenging and full of guilt for me. 

As we became closer, and our relationship grew, my exposure to his Christmas also increased. The first time I visited his family (and met them, and saw his house) started on Boxing Day (that's the day after Christmas for all of you non-Canadians out there). When I arrived at the house, I was overwhelmed with the complete immersion into Christmas that I experienced. His mom is an incredible Christmas decorator. The decorations weren't the only thing - there were presents for me. For me! How cool was that?

The next year, I was invited to participate in all of Christmas. All of it! From Christmas Eve all the way through traveling to Canada on Boxing Day for extended Christmas with his extended family. At this point, we had been dating seriously for almost 3 years, and knew we planned to continue our relationship after we graduated (it was, after all, Senior year). That Christmas was my first candlelight Christmas Eve service, my first unable-to-sleep-because-I-was-too-busy-being-excited-and-watching-for-deer-out-of-the-window-in-the-moonlight, my first Christmas morning, my first sticky buns, and my first (and only) white Christmas, which resulted in my first snowman. 

Man, take a Jewish girl from the south and throw her into a Baltimore Christmas, and that is what you get.

As the years have gone by, my Christmas experiences have progressed from that tingle of excitement that kept me up most of my first Christmas Eve to excitement over spending a relaxing few days with family I see not nearly enough anymore. Moving down to Austin has just a little bit to do with that. Last year, for the first time, I participated in Christmas in a new way, a behind-the-scenes sort of way that involved stockings. I'll leave it at that.

It's my 9th Christmas this year, the third year we've had a full-sized tree at home (something I always wanted but swore I would never do), and the third year we're spending the holiday itself at the Husband's brother's house, complete with his wife, their daughter, my mother-in-law, and her giant yellow Lab, Max. And I cannot wait. 

(Here comes the guilt again, it's Chanukah now, and I feel like I should be writing about the beauty of the lights, or the joy of sharing my family traditions with the Husband. But that's not what this post is about. There will be another one about Chanukah.)

Anyway, the purpose of this post was to discuss some of my favorite kitchen toys, in case you're in need of gift ideas, or need padding for your own wish list. 

1. Kitchenaid mixer. We do so many things with it (and with attachments). Ice cream, ground beef, and pasta, to name a few things. We occasionally use the food processor attachment.

2. Spatulas. I use them for everything, even making eggs, and have a variety of sizes and shapes. These are particularly cute and festive.

3. A good knife. We did just update our knife block for one with more slots, but all you really need for most tasks is one really good knife.













4. A kitchen scale. Ours weighs in 4 different weights. Indispensable tool. Just don't let it jump off of the top of the refrigerator, because it most likely will stop working at that point.

Thanksgiving 3

And finally (I know, a week later) we get to the food.
The day was lovely, the food all came out wonderfully, and we were mostly relaxed. I say mostly because out of the 5 of us (me, the Husband, his mom, and my folks), 3 of us spent the morning increasingly anxious about when the turkey needed to go into the oven. Guess which three.

Every time one of us would go from the kitchen to the living room, we would ask the dear Husband if he knew when the turkey was to go in. It went something like this:
Me: When should the turkey go in?
Husband: I don't know yet, I'll let you know when I look it up.
Me: Please do it soon.
(I walk back in the kitchen and exchange eye rolls and general moaning about boys with the moms)

5 minutes later, in the living room
My mom: Have you looked up the turkey time yet?
The Husband: Not yet. I will soon.
My mom: Ok.
(She walks back into the kitchen, to the same reactions from us as I received moments before.)

10 minutes later, in the living room
Me: Husband, I am getting nervous. Please look up the turkey time NOW.
Him: Lay off. I'll let you know when I do, and it will be fine.
Me: It's more important than your fantasty football. You're losing this season anyway. Look it up now and we'll all leave you alone.
Him: I'll do it when I damn well please. Get back in the kitchen where you belong, woman.

It got to the point where each time one of us would open our mouths in that room, my dad would already be laughing. Aside from that minor stress-inducing incident, the day passed very smoothly, ending with a lovely meal of Thanksgiving-y goodness.

Mom's Corn Casserole
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 can cream-style corn (14-15 oz)
1 can corn kernels (11-14 oz)
1 1/2 cup grated cheese (I've used cheddar, Colby jack, and jalapeño jack at different times)
8 oz sour cream
1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix (8 oz)

Method
Preheat oven to 350. Melt butter in a large bowl. Add corns, 1 cup grated cheese, sour cream, and muffin mix. Stir to blend. Pour into a greased 7x11 baking dish or a round casserole dish. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese melts. Let stand for at least 5 minutes. Serve warm.

Thanksgiving, Part 2

There are many things to be thankful for this year, all right here at home.

Our tomatoes have taken off the past few months. There are probably around one hundred fruits on the plant.

And peppers. Lots of peppers that, somehow, the deer  have not managed to decimate this year.

Eggplant, herbs, and so much more.

I am very thankful we are in a place where we can have a vegetable garden.

But - the weather - we're supposed to get our first real freeze tonight. So we'll probably have to say goodbye to the garden for the year.

There may be pickled tomatoes in my future. And fried green ones. Lots, because as you can see, we're not ready for a freeze! Despite the worries, it's nice to have such a garden for which to be thankful. Some of our treasures are treasures in part for the reason they sometimes bring us grief, or fear, or worries. We get that much more joy out of them and we're that much more invested in them. (And it makes me feel all grown up and proud. You would think hosting Thanksgiving for the fourth year in a row would do it. But no, it's worrying about my plants that did it.)

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm off to the turkey trot with the family.

Thanksgiving

It's the 4th annual Davey Thanksgiving Extravaganza....

A little history:
Year 1: cooking for 7 in a tiny Austin apartment. Generally a success, despite such tight quarters. We used all new recipes, an adventure for us since we never hosted Thanksgiving before.
Highlights included Cornbread Dressing with Roasted Fall Vegetables, Cranberry Cornmeal Quick Bread, my mom's corn casserole (recipe later), and a roasted garlic-cauliflower soup.
Year 2: cooking for 12 in our new house. Such a difference in space. Equally a success. We used a lot of the same recipes from the year before, and added a few new ones, like poached pears and pumpkin creme brulee, and, in a nod to the Husband's Canadian roots, Smashed Rutabagas with Ginger Pears.
Year 3: cooking for 12 (not quite the same 12 as the year before). It was still generally a success, despite too-salty gravy because we salted the turkey. We added a cranberry sorbet and an amuse bouche of butternut squash ravioli (all handmade) with sage butter sauce. The Herb and Cheese Poppers as a mid-day snack were a huge hit.

And this year.
Year 4: Still discovering lists and menus from the previous years in the November issues of cooking magazines. I am much more relaxed than previous years, in part because the number of eaters at my table has dropped to 5. The menu this year features a lovely heritage turkey, the Husband's mom's stuffing, my mom's corn casserole, gold and sweet potato gratin, braised spinach, butternut squash ravioli with walnut-cream sauce, roasted root vegetables, carrot cake, my mom's pecan and fudge pie, Goode Co pecan pie, and an apple/pear salad. Oh, and multi-grain rolls and mini corn muffins. Not in that order, of course.

Unlike previous years, I have not written out a detailed timeline for Thursday yet. And it's Tuesday afternoon. I do know that tonight I will be baking. Carrot Cake, cranberry walnut scones, and corn casserole (for a pot-luck at work tomorrow) are on the list for tonight. I also know that tomorrow the Husband will make the pasta for the ravioli and go to the store for any last minute ingredients, including lettuce and other such delicate perishables, while our mothers enjoy a day of shopping at the San Marcos outlet malls and I try to make the time pass quickly at work. I know when I come home I'll prepare the dough for the rolls, and set it to rise.
I am not concerned about the schedule for the big day, and I'm trying to figure out why. I know the day will progress smoothly with a schedule, but I still haven't put one together. Am I that confident in our cooking abilities this year? Am I more relaxed because there are fewer guests? Have we done this Thanksgiving thing enough to have it down? Will I have a minor spaz tomorrow afternoon and quickly write up a timetable, only to discover I'm still missing some key ingredients (impossible, because the grocery list making process was ridiculous, but still)?

I guess I'll have my answer in two days. You'll get the full report, don't worry. You'll also get (hopefully) lovely photographs of our meal, with brilliant (ha) descriptions and reviews of each dish.

In the meantime, what are your plans? Are you hosting? Are you bringing your favorite dish to someone else's? More importantly, what are you cooking, or, if you're not cooking, what are you eating?