Katie at the Kitchen Door

Globally-inspired, seasonal recipes

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1 Dessert

Girlfriends and Toffee-Coconut Crack Cookies

I was thinking a lot about my girlfriends on Friday night, and how nice it is to have people out there who love you, and who tell you they love you, besides your mom and your grandma and your boyfriend. (And your dad and your brothers and your all your crazy aunts… I don’t want anyone to feel left out).  Trevor’s been away for a week and I won’t see him until the end of the next one, so I was missing him a little and remembering the feeling I had for so much of sophomore year – part loneliness, part boredom – and being so glad I’d moved past that phase, when Steph called, just to see how I was doing.  And we chatted for a little bit, and then we both had to go, and so we said our goodbyes, followed by quick “I love you”s.  And it’s really nice, hearing that, in a sincere way, from someone who is far away but still cares.  Later, I talked to Becca, and the same thing happened.  And then I was less lonely, and happier.

I also got some not-so-great news about another girlfriend on Friday night, someone who I love very much.  It’s the sort of thing where there’s not much you can do other than wait and be supportive and try your best to understand.  And let them know they’re loved.  So this weekend, I’ve been thinking about her and sending love her way.  And to all my other girlfriends, past and present.  Even though that might be the hippy-dippy-est sentence I’ve ever written, that’s what I’m doing.

Point being, go remind someone that you love them.

In other news, I’m headed to Spain for work until Wednesday.  It might be unlikely, but I’m hoping to get a few touristy hours in – any suggestions for the best thing to do in Madrid with 3 hours?  And I’m bringing a few of these cookies with me, which might just be the best cookies I’ve ever made.  Coconut, toffee, AND chocolate chips?  Yes, please!

 

Toffee-Coconut Crack Cookies

Recipe adapted slightly from Two Peas and Their Pod.  Makes 15 large cookies.

These might be the most delicious cookies I’ve ever eaten.  They’re super sweet, with a chewy-crunchy goodness from the melty toffee and toasted coconut.  The dough is a little bit dry when you put them on the pan, but they hold together really nicely, forming some of the prettiest cookies I’ve seen.  These are a must-try.

  • 1 c. shredded sweetened coconut (use unsweetened if you don’t love super-sweet cookies)
  • 1 c. flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 c. brown sugar
  • 4 TBS (1/2 stick) salted butter at room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • 3/4 c. Heath toffee bits
  • 3/4 c. chocolate chips
  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Place coconut on a baking sheet in a single layer, and toast in the preheated oven for 5 minutes, until some pieces are golden brown.  Stir together and set aside in a bowl.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and baking soda.  Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, cream together softened butter and brown sugar.  Add egg and vanilla, and beat until smooth.  Mix in dry ingredients, then mix in toasted coconut, toffee bits, and chocolate chips.  Form into disks with your hands and place on baking sheet.  Bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown on the edges and beginning to crack on the top.

0 Food

Greatist Collaboration: Fresh Snap Pea and Radish Salad

Just a quick hello to bring you a quick super-seasonal salad I’m sharing over at Greatist this week.  I missed my last post over there (I know, you’ve heard it before, but work really has been crazy), so I wanted to make this one extra, er, healthy.  Which it totally is.  And not only is it healthy, it’s fresh, full of flavor, satisfying and a great use of some of the spring produce we already have in abundance – radishes, peas, and mint.

I made this salad last Saturday to go with the Vermont quiche we had for dinner.  Last Saturday was such a great day.  Even when I know I have to work weekends, I try and take one full day without touching anything related to work.  For me, that day is usually Saturday.  Sunday I’m getting organized and ready for the week, so working can feel like a natural part of that, but Saturday is my day to recover, catch up with Trevor, and do whatever I feel like doing.  And last Saturday, whatever I felt like doing consisted of a long run, a few photoshoots, and 3 beautiful hours gardening with T, taking plenty of breaks to sunbathe and drink rhubarb-hibiscus spritzers.

Our garden is tiny, and definitely an experiment, but it brings me so much joy.  I like taking a few minutes every day, either in the morning or when I get home from work, to just walk through and check on the progress of all the tiny vegetables and herbs.  It’s especially nice after a light rain, when everything sparkles a little.  I’m amazed at how much change can occur in a 24 hour period – today there were flowers on the fava beans that weren’t even buds yesterday, and 3 tiny new leaves appeared on every bean plant.  Even just standing there for a few minutes and watching all the green brings me this great centered calm feeling.  I sometimes wonder what my roommates think when they catch me just staring at a box of dirt and green things.  (Actually, I remember wondering the same thing about Megan last year, when I used to sit on my windowsill and watch my shoebox full of lettuce.  Literally, I planted a garden in a shoebox.  It didn’t go that well.  But Megan lived with me for 4 years; she knew these things about me already.)

Something about eating something as fresh and seasonal as this salad after a day spent working in the garden felt just right.  And I wanted to share that feeling with you.  Plus, it doesn’t get much faster, easier, or healthier than this, which is what Greatist is all about!  Head on over there for the recipe.

Other Greatist guest posts (fast, simple, and healthy!):

3 Breakfast

Vermont and a Maple-Apple & Brie Quiche

I’m currently supposed to be at work, working, but I’m shirking a little bit and sitting outside in the freshly manicured garden to write to you about our trip to Vermont, because amazingly beautiful spring Sundays don’t come around all that often, and when they do, I’m pretty sure they shouldn’t be spent inside at the desk where you’re going to spend the upcoming week.  There’s plenty of time for work, but not so much time lately for just enjoying life, and sometimes you have to make executive decisions about your own happiness.  Like, “I’ll go to work later.”

Trevor and I spent last weekend in Arlington, VT, down on the Southwestern border just a few miles from NY, smack dab in the middle of the Green Mountains.  We went to celebrate his birthday, as well as just to get away, which we haven’t done in a while.  It was lovely.  We stayed at the West Mountain Inn, thanks to a really good Groupon deal that included dinner, two breakfasts, and two nights at the inn.  The inn is a huge old place sitting on the top of a hill, surrounded by 150 acres of land filled with well-kept trails, quiet streams, and forest.  The inn was nice, the food was good, but it was the land that really got me.  Sunday morning we went for a run along the trails that was so refreshing and peaceful – it’s been ages since I’ve run in the woods, with no other people, soft dirt trails, and just the sound of your own breath and the morning birds.  I wish I could run like that every day.

We also spent a surprising amount of time just hanging out at the on-site alpaca barn, watching the alpacas (what funny creatures!) and the den of baby fox kits living under the barn.  The tiny kits were very active in the early evening, and we spent a few hours watching them roll and tumble on top of one another, prance and pounce, and catch a surprising number of small mice and voles in the adjacent field.  They were fairly used to people being around, although still quite cautious, which allowed us to sit and watch their whole evening ritual.  One of my favorite things to do (obviously) is take pictures – it’s part of vacation for me, and an afternoon spent alone in a beautiful landscape with just my camera is my idea of heaven – and having the foxes, as well as alpacas, chipmunks, frogs, and salamanders, to chase around with my lens was such a treat.

Since Sunday was such a beautiful day, we decided to spend as much of it as possible outside, hiking.  We took a 4 mile hike to Lye Brook Falls, which was fairly easy (but not boring-easy) climb to a gorgeous fall.  We chose a big flat rock at the bottom of the fall that jutted out into the sun and took a nap there, with mist from the falls blowing over our faces and the sun just warm enough that we didn’t get chilled.  The water was ice cold, but we stuck our toes in anyways.  Our first hike of the season!  Hopefully one of many.

The afternoon we spent relaxing over sandwiches, pickles, and cream sodas from Graze in downtown Manchester, the cute-if-yuppy nearby outlet town.  We ate in a park and continued to enjoy the sun, before heading back to the inn for the always-available coffee and brownies, and a shower (plus a nap, if you were Trevor).  Each night before dinner the inn put out a lovely tray of cheeses, crackers, and berries (including the sweetest blackberries I’ve ever had), which was half our dinner – the other half was popcorn at the tiny two-screen movie theater in Manchester, where we saw The Avengers.  (It was Trevor’s birthday, we had to do something he wanted to do…).  The theater was independently owned, meaning their advertisements were all local-local, like, “come to blah-blah farm to celebrate your birthday, only 5 minutes away!” and “join the VT skateboarders club!”  I got a kick out of it.  And Avengers was good, even if Scarlett Johansson’s Russian accent was really bad, I totally loved the Hulk character.

On the drive back Monday I had plenty of time to muse over what I could make to share with you that would represent our weekend.  Maple syrup was a given, because one of my favorite things about breakfast in Vermont is that real maple syrup is always available in the quantities that I like.  I will never, ever eat fake maple syrup, and one of those tiny little cups of “real maple syrup” they give you in Massachusetts restaurants is about 1/4 the amount I need.  The West Mountain Inn, though, served maple syrup in pitchers.  Just right.  From that starting point, my mind wandered until it settled on this quiche, which I knew would be perfect – apples caramelized in maple syrup, brie and aged gouda, sopressatta for just a little spice.  And it was perfect.  I didn’t get around to making it until last night, when, along with a fresh pea and radish salad I’ll share with you later this week, it made a filling and comforting dinner after a lovely day working in the garden.

And now I’ll do a little actual work.  But I’m not going inside just yet.  Last weekend was sort of a kickstart to summer, and now that it’s around, I plan on enjoying it every chance that I get.

Maple-Apple Quiche with Brie and Sopressatta

A Katie at the Kitchen Door original.  Serves 6.

  • 1 1/4 c. flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 stick butter, cut into small cubes, then placed in freezer
  • 3-6 TBS ice cold water
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 c. heavy cream
  • 3/4 c. milk
  • 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
  • 4 oz. aged gouda, grated
  • 4 oz. fresh brie, thinly sliced
  • 2 medium apples, cored and sliced
  • 1/4 c. maple syrup
  • small pat of butter
  • 1/4 c. diced sopressatta
  1. Make the crust: In a large bowl, mix together flour and salt.  Add in frozen butter cubes, and use a pastry cutter to blend until the mixture has the texture of coarse sand, with pea-sized chunks.  Add the ice water 1 TBS at a time, stirring with a fork between additions to moisten dough.  Use as little water as possible to get the dough to come together – I’ve never been able to accomplish this with less than 6 TBS, but some people can do it with only 1 or 2 TBS.  Shape dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap, then refrigerate for 1 hour.
  2. Preheat oven to 375°F.  In a large frying pan, place pat of butter, and melt over medium heat.  Add maple syrup and apple slices, and cook, stirring occasionally, until apples are soft, about 5-10 minutes depending on the thickness of your slices.  Add diced sopressatta and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes.  Remove all from heat.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, milk, nutmeg, and gouda, until fully combined.  Set aside
  4. Flour your counter and a rolling pin, and roll out the chilled dough into a 11-inch circle.  Place dough circle over 9 inch quiche or pie pan, and press gently into the sides.  You can either trim off the extra that hangs over the edge, or leave it, as we did.  Poke a handful of holes in the bottom of the crust (this is to prevent the crust from bubbling – you can also use pie weights instead) and place in preheated oven for 15 minutes, checking part way through to make sure the bottom isn’t bubbling up (if it is, poke gently with a knife to allow the air to escape).  Crust should be beginning to brown.  Remove from oven, and layer apples, sopressatta, and brie on the bottom.  Pour egg mixture over the top.  Carefully place in oven, and bake for 30-35 minutes, until top of quiche is golden brown, and the egg mixture is cooked all the way through.  Enjoy hot, warm, or cold!

3 Breakfast

Rhubarb-Polenta Cake with Cinnamon

This post was intended to be about the long weekend I just spent in Southern Vermont, hiking and sunbathing and resting.  But today was just one of those days, and when I arrived home from work at 9pm (far too late), soaking wet (forgot my umbrella), hungry, and disgruntled, I wasn’t really in the peace-and-sunshine sort of mood.  I was more in the judge-everyone-around-me sort of mood.  I’m looking at you, anxious guy on the subway playing molecule identification games on your iPhone and continuously jiggling your legs back and forth into mine.  And you too, large thighs girl eating chicken with your fingers on the subway.  And you, angry bus driver man with no pity for a soaking wet girl carrying a partially split bag of groceries.  Usually, none of you would bother me, but today, I judged you all.  In fact, the only person that I really liked when I got home from work was my roommate Allison, because she happened to be cleaning the bathroom, and it kind of made my day.

So, even though I’m over most of my grouchiness, no Vermont stories today.  But I did make a cake that I wanted to share with you, so I’ll do that for now.  And the story of me making this cake is actually kind of similar to the story of me being a grouch, in that it involves a rainy afternoon and needing a little comfort.  Because as soon as I stepped off the train on my way home yesterday afternoon, it started pouring.  Pouring in that torrential, summer way that you know can’t last for more than an hour and is kind of inspiring in its intensity and makes me want to kiss someone (preferably Trevor, unless Ryan Gosling is available) Notebook-style.  I didn’t actually mind the rain that much, but by the time I got to my front door, I was dripping, so I stripped down and threw everything into the laundry and hopped into bed with a bowl of fresh linguine, cream, and parmesan, and watched the Desperate Housewives finale.  (By the way, I can’t believe it’s over, like, forever.  I might have to start at season 1 again.)  And after that, my errands and ambitions for the rest of the afternoon started to seem very unappealing, whereas baking one of the gorgeous, simple, rustic cakes from Nigel Slater’s Ripe, which my parents had just given me as a birthday present, and staying in bed eating it seemed quite appealing.  So, that’s what I did.

Since my dad had given me several pounds of just-picked rhubarb on my way out the door earlier that afternoon, I used some of it to make this Cinnamon-Polenta-Rhubarb cake.  With a dollop of whipped cream and a drizzle of rhubarb syrup, it definitely hit the spot.  It seems that I have a thing for all things tangy and polenta-based, especially in the springtime, as is evident from this cornmeal-cranberry cake and this strawberry-cornmeal breakfast cake.  I just like the hearty unfussiness of these cakes – easy to make, easy to eat, not too sweet, with a burst of fresh tartness from the fruit.  This particular cake was a bit different from the others, somewhere halfway between a cake and a crumble, with a gritty crumb and smooth filling.  Given that I wasn’t digging leaving the house, I made some substitutions – brown sugar for golden baking sugar (don’t even know where I’d find that, anyway), orange oil extract for orange zest, grits for coarse ground polenta, etc. – but it still came out great.  Next time, I’ll try it exactly as written, but I don’t think the changes I made took too much away from the cake’s character.

Rhubarb-Polenta Cake with Cinnamon

Adapted from Ripe.  Serves 8-10.

  • 1 lb. rhubarb, rinsed and cut into 1/2 inch slices
  • 1/4 c. turbinado sugar (sugar-in-the-raw)
  • 4 TBS water
  • 3/4 c. coarse polenta or grits
  • 1 1/2 c. flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 3/4 c. light brown sugar (or sugar-in-the-raw, blended in the food processor for 5 seconds)
  • 1/2 tsp orange oil or zest of 1 orange
  • 10 TBS cold butter, cut into cubes
  • 1 large egg
  • 3 TBS milk
  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Place sliced rhubarb, turbinado sugar, and water in a baking dish and stir to mix.  Roast for 30 minutes, then remove from oven.  Use a slotted spoon to remove rhubarb pieces to a bowl.  Reserve syrup for drizzling on cake.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together polenta, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and brown sugar.  Use a pastry cutter to cut in the cold butter until the mixture has the texture of wet sand, with the largest lumps the size of peas.  In a small bowl, beat together egg, milk, and orange oil (or zest if using) until combined.  Add to flour mixture and stir gently with a fork, mixing just until the dough is thoroughly moist and slightly sticky.  Take care not to overmix.  Add 1 more TBS milk if dough is not slightly sticky to the touch.
  3. Grease 8-inch cake pan.  Spoon 2/3 of the batter into the pan, pressing into the bottom and up around the edges.  Spread the rhubarb on top of this layer, leaving 1/2 inch between the rhubarb and the edge of the pan.  Spoon the remaining batter over the top of the rhubarb – it most likely won’t cover all the rhubarb, but don’t worry about it.  Bake for 45 minutes, then let cool on a cooling rack for at least half an hour before removing from pan.  Serve with fresh whipped cream and a drizzle of the reserved rhubarb syrup.

0 Fall

Cookbook of the Month: Girl in the Kitchen

Don’t worry, I’m going to write about the book.  Especially after I left you hanging last month.  But I can’t tell you about it yet.

Because I have to tell you about this mac and cheese, first.

This mac and cheese is amazing.  AMAZING.  It has oomph – lots of rich, smoky, garlicky, spicy oomph.  I ate it for 3 out of 4 meals this weekend.  (What, you eat lunch on the weekend?  Hasn’t anyone introduced you to brunch??)  Then I brought it for lunch on Monday.  And I still wanted more.  But I have an affinity for weighing less than my boyfriend, so I froze the rest and hid it from myself and made broccoli and edamame soup to distract myself.  Which is currently working, but probably won’t for long.

Alright, let me break it down for you.

First, there’s the homemade breadcrumbs.  Made from soft french bread drenched in a red-pepper garlic butter, then toasted and blitzed with freshly crisped bacon to make the world’s most incredible bread crumbs.

Yes, I said bacon.

Then, there’s the cheese sauce, which starts with whole milk, gets infused slightly with onion, thickened into a roux, and then mixed with havarti, cheddar, and smoked gouda.

Not too shabby.

Add to the cheese sauce lightly browned sopressatta, granny smith apples, and the requisite macaroni, top with the afore-mentioned incredible bread crumbs, and bake.

Did I mention you cook the cheese sauce in the bacon pan?  Well, I should have.  Because the slight smoky hint throughout the whole dish puts this baby over the top.

Moving on to praise the woman responsible for this incredible, decadent recipe, Stephanie Izard – author of Girl in the Kitchen – knows food.  I’ve never been to her Chicago restaurant, Girl and The Goat, but next time I’m in town, I’m absolutely going, especially after testing out some of her recipes in my own kitchen (usually I estimate that what I can reproduce is about 60-80% as good as if the author of the recipe/original chef were making it, so recipes that turn out really well in my kitchen must be pretty amazing in a restaurant).  I also made (and loved) this Asparagus and Arugula Pasta with Almond-Parmesan Breadcrumbs recipe (she really works those breadcrumbs) from Girl in the Kitchen, as well as a nice spring salad with pickled rhubarb, goat cheese, and roasted asparagus.

I already wrote a little bit about the aesthetics of the book here, but I’ll recap briefly.  This book is fun.  It’s got beautiful, bright photographs, drink pairings for every recipe, ingredient spotlights and tips, and great recipes.  I even like the typeface (dork alert).  The recipes are unique, creative, and delicious.  However, these are “Sunday recipes,” as in they’re not something you can easily whip up on a work night when you have 20 minutes to eat and clean up before you crash.  Many of them take planning ahead, have multiple components, and take several hours.  It’s also not a particularly healthful book.  There are certainly very healthy and light recipes included, but there are also recipes like this one that could ruin any diet.  The effort to make these dishes (and calories to consume them) seems to pay off, but this is most likely a cookbook I’ll turn to more for special events and weekend dinners rather than my weekly menu planning.

Oh, and there’s no dessert section in this book, which I just feel like is something you should know.  But I kind of appreciate her sticking to the area she considers her strength, rather than rolling everything into one book.

And now let’s get you back to that mac and cheese.

Make this.  Soon.  Don’t think about the ingredients while you eat it.  Just enjoy it.

Macaroni and Cheese with Apples and Bacon

Adapted from Girl in the Kitchen.  Serves 8-10.

I’ve rearranged the steps of Stephanie’s original recipe to make it such that you only need 1 sauce pot and 1 9×13 baking pan, because I hate using multiple dishes, but if you’re pressed for time (or happen to have a resident dishwasher), feel free to do multiple steps simultaneously (like cook the pasta, warm the milk, toast the breadcrumbs and fry the bacon) in different pans.  Also, I only used about 3/4 of the sauce this made because I was worried it would overflow, but I left the proportions in the recipe below close to the originals.  If you have extra sauce, freeze and use at a later date as a pasta topping.

  • 1 stick salted butter, divided
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 4 c. cubed fresh french bread
  • 6 c. whole milk
  • 1 small onion, halved
  • 4 oz. bacon
  • 3 Granny Smith apples, cored and diced
  • 2 TBS apple cider vinegar
  • 8 oz. sopressatta or other dried Italian sausage, preferably spicy
  • 1 lb. orecchiette or other shell pasta
  • 1/3 c. flour
  • 8 oz. havarti, grated
  • 4 oz. cheddar, grated
  • 4 oz. smoked gouda, grated
  1. Preheat oven to 375°F.  In a large pot, melt the stick of butter over low heat.  Add garlic and red pepper flakes, and cook over low heat for 1-2 minutes, until garlic is fragrant.  Pour into a small bowl.  Spoon 1/4 c. of the garlic butter (about half) into a 9×13 in. pan and add the bread cubes, tossing to coat with the butter.  Toast in the oven for 15 minutes, or until very crisp.  Set aside.
  2. In the large pot, combine milk and onion and heat over medium heat.  Bring just to a simmer, then continue to cook at a gentle simmer, stirring frequently, for 15 minutes.  Pour hot milk into a large bowl and set aside.
  3. In the large pot, fry bacon until crispy.  Remove and place with bread cubes.  Place bread cubes and bacon in a blender or food processor and pulse several times to make breadcrumbs.  Reserve breadcrumbs.
  4. In the same pot, still with the bacon grease, cook sopressatta for 1 – 2 minutes over medium heat, until slightly crispy, then remove with a slotted spoon and add to 9×13 pan.  Add apples to pan (still with bacon drippings) and cook for 2 minutes, until just beginning to soften, then add to 9×13 pan.  Add the vinegar and toss to coat.
  5. In the same pot, melt the remaining garlic-red-pepper butter.  Add flour, and stir until flour becomes nutty and brown.  Slowly add hot milk, 1/2 c. at a time, whisking in between to make sure there are no lumps (this process is called making a roux).  Once all the milk has been added to the flour-butter mixture, bring just to a boil, stirring frequnetly, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook until sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.  Remove from heat, stir in all the cheeses except for 1/2 c. of the havarti, and let melt.  Pour cheese sauce into 9×13 pan with apples and sopressatta.
  6. Rinse out the pot, then fill with water, and salt heavily.  Bring salted water to a boil, then cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain pasta, then add to the 9×13 pan with the cheese sauce, apples, and sopressatta.  Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top as well as remaining 1/2 c. havarti, then bake for 5 minutes at 375.  Change oven setting to broil, and broil for 5 minutes.  Remove and serve while hot.

2 Drink

Rhubarb-Hibiscus Mojitos for Cinco de Mayo

A day with two different drinking holidays occurring simultaneously is a good day.  Especially when you’ve had the week I’ve had (which involved multiple nights working past 9, as well as multiple nights with cereal for dinner.  Not ideal.)  Personally, my preference falls towards the tequila-drenched holiday rather than the more upstanding mint julep-y one, but if you’re celebrating both, more power to you.  Although I’d recommend starting with the mint juleps before moving on to the tastebud killing tequila shots.

I realize that all the bloggers who are on top of their lives posted their Cinco de Mayo recipes yesterday, or even a few days ago to give people time to consider actually making their recipe for today.  But I am celebrating today, and I am drinking these today, so you are seeing them today.  And I promise, they will also be delicious on June 2nd, and July 28th, and probably even November 8th, although it might be hard to get rhubarb then.
The inspiration for these came from Antojitos, which has a watermelon-tequila mojito recipe as well as a hibiscus margarita recipe, but in the end I decided I wanted to get a little bit more creative with this and the resulting drink is all my own.  I’ve had a huge bunch of rhubarb from my parents’ rental house sitting in the fridge all week, so I wanted to use some of that, and I thought that the strongly floral, bright pink hibiscus water would be a nice complement to the sweet-tart rhubarb syrup and tequila, both visually and flavor-wise.  These mojitos are pretty, interesting, not too sweet, and super yummy.  A success.  Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Rhubarb-Hibiscus Mojitos
A Katie at the Kitchen Door Original.  Serves 4.
  • 3 c. sliced rhubarb
  • 3/4 c. sugar
  • 1/2 c. water
  • 3 hibiscus tea bags
  • 2 limes
  • 12 sprigs mint
  • 2 TBS sugar
  • ice cubes
  • 4-8 oz. white tequila, depending on how strong you like your drinks!
  1. Place rhubarb, 3/4 c. sugar, and 1/2 c. water in a large saucepan and bring to a boil.  Lower heat, and simmer for 15 minutes, until rhubarb is pulpy.  Strain the mixture through a sieve and reserve the juice.  Keep the rhubarb mash for another use.
  2. Bring a teapot of water to a boil.  Pour the boiling water over 3 hibiscus tea bags to fill 1 mug (you want very strong tea).  Set aside and let steep.
  3. In each of 4 medium glasses, muddle 1/2 TBS sugar, 4 lime slices (1/2 lime) and 3 sprigs of mint.  Place 3 ice cubes in each glass, then spoon 4 TBS rhubarb syrup, 4 TBS hibiscus water, and 1-2 oz. tequila over the ice.  Stir together and enjoy!

0 Uncategorized

April Roundup

What I’ve been reading, eating, seeing, and generally digging this month.

I only managed to get through two books this month, but, surprise, surprise,  they both happened to be food-related.  The Saucier’s Apprentice is an easy read (a prerequisite for anything I’m going to attempt reading at 8am in a crowded subway car) and a fun look into the cooking school vacation circuit in Europe – I have plenty of pages bookmarked with vacation ideas. It has surprisingly mixed reviews on Amazon, but I enjoyed it.  Extra Virginity takes an in depth look at the olive oil industry, providing the history, science, and culture that surrounds olive oil.  It takes a particularly hard look at the state of the industry today, which is wrought with fraud and corruption.  An interesting look at a topic I knew very little about.

I can’t stop listening to White Noise’s new album, Angela’s Mashes.  White Noise is a 20-something mashup artist who in my opinion is 10 times better than GirlTalk – his mixes are creative and perfectly executed.  90% of my runs include one of his albums as a soundtrack (although I think his older album, Spoiler Alert, is my favorite for running).  My favorite tracks on this new album are T.D.S.F.A. and Too Many Lights.  Check it out.

Delicious Boston eats?  The truffled burrata and arugula salad at Via Matta is maybe one of my favorite dishes of all time, and I had it three times this month.  It’s perfect, and surprisingly filling.  It doesn’t hurt that Via Matta is about 30 feet from my office.  I also had a great dining experience at The Blue Room in Kendall on my birthday.  The food was solid, if nothing groundbreaking (although the arancini with genovese pesto were really, really good), but the service really made the night memorable for me – a waitress who brings a free appetizer, free creme brulee (how did she know??), and tops off your wine just because it’s your birthday gets five stars in my book.

In my own kitchen, this butternut squash and pear soup is the best butternut squash or sweet potato soup I’ve ever made – all the veggies get roasted before being souped, which gives the end product an amazing depth of flavor and creaminess.  And these toasted coconut and toffee cookies are like crack – they are incredible.  Make them.

As part of Cambridge Science Festival I went to an interesting presentation on the science of dirt and how it relates to agriculture.  Did you know that one tomato seed has the genetic potential to produce 150 tomatoes, but on average only produces 8 due to lack of soil minerals?  The guy who spoke, Dan Kittredge, was very bright and engaging, and is working to educate farmers about how to make their foods more nutrient dense.  You can check out his program at Real Food Campaign.

And of course, as you can see, I’ve been so excited about the fact that it’s spring.  I’ve been bringing my camera with me out on the weekends and even on nice mornings for my commute, and every fresh burst of color brings me a little more inspiration.

That’s all.  Apologies for no cookbook of the month this month!  I had one in mind, but I didn’t have a chance to finish testing it.  You’ll see it soon though – maybe I’ll even make May a two-fer.

0 Cookbook

Greatist Collaboration: Chipotle-Honey Chicken Tenders

Even though my roommates make some variation of roast chicken breasts probably 80% of the nights that they cook, I almost never think to do the same.  I’m more of the one-pot-soup or pretend-healthy-pasta type.  However, after seeing this recipe in Melissa Clark’s In The Kitchen With A Good Appetite and realizing that it was perfect for Greatist (easy, quick, and healthy), I decided to join my roommates in their nightly chicken-baking routine.

Only partly through, I got distracted.  See, the reason I don’t usually make roast chicken is that, well, I don’t really like it.  To be 100% honest, chicken freaks me out a little bit, even though I think it tastes good.  But something I do like is fried chicken, especially when it’s in the form of super kid-friendly chicken fingers, which my 13 year old brother basically subsists on.  Whenever he makes them, all of my other family members, including me, sneak them from the baking tray when he isn’t looking, which causes him much angsty 13-year-old wrath. So as I was laying the lovely chipotle and honey marinated chicken strips in the roasting pan, I couldn’t get the image of hot, crispy, crunchy fried chicken tenders out of my mind, even though fried chicken is a decidedly un-Greatist-friendly recipe.  So I compromised, and made both – the first half of the chicken got baked with the sweet potatoes, the second half of the tenders got dipped in flour mixed with panko, then shallow-fried in canola oil, because I  believe in satisfying cravings.

 

I had some of both versions – baked and fried – for dinner that night.  And I can say with honesty that both were very, very good – the spicy-sweetness of the marinade gave the chicken a surprising and interesting flavor.  So I feel comfortable recommending the healthy baked version, for which you can find the full recipe over at Greatist.  However, if you’ve got ‘dem fried chicken cravings, go ahead and indulge.  You won’t regret it.

0 Dessert

Strawberry Breakfast Cake for My Parents

Today is my parents’ 25th anniversary.

25 years!  That’s a long time to be with someone.  And I can’t imagine it’s a particularly easy thing to do, for them, or for anyone.  But my parents are still cute together.  They still hold hands. They still tease each other, and play.  Two summers ago, our family was out on an island picnic in Maine, and I remember watching my mom chase my dad around the beach, both laughing, and thinking that I wanted to have that.  To still be playful with the person I love after all that time.  I took a picture, to remember.  I have another picture, from this Christmas.  My dad is hiding a grapefruit down my mom’s shirt, and wearing his silly bathrobe that he only wears once a year on Christmas.  I want that too – for whoever I’m with to still do annoying things like hide random objects in my boobs.  Sometimes it’s the little things.  Sometimes it’s the big things.  My parents support each other.  They have dreams.  They share things, big things – me, my two brothers, two homes, plans for the future, 25 years of memories.

Given that my birthday is only a week before my parents’ anniversary, it’s almost always overshadowed in my mind by… well, me.  But this year I figured I’d share the spotlight I typically save for myself, and give back to them a little.  So last Saturday we went to the beach, and walked around plum island, and had a lovely dinner at Oregano in Newburyport, and I brought them this cake.  Really I wanted to make them a much fancier cake, this cake to be specific, but work sort of got the better of me last week and I ended up needing to meet them by train, making cake transportation hard.  Not that that’s an excuse, so parents, you can expect more from me in the future, but I at least wanted to bring them a small treat and let them know, if only via blog post, how happy I am for them.

So parents, congratulations, I hope you have a relaxing time in Maine this week, and I love you!

Strawberry Cornmeal Cake

Recipe from The Family Kitchen.  Makes 1 loaf of cake.

A few notes about this cake – it’s very good, in a simple, homey way.  I thought it was a little bit sweet, so would consider reducing the sugar slightly (although I haven’t tested how it would affect the crumb), and don’t be shy with the strawberries – 1 1/2 c. wouldn’t overwhelm the cake or make the batter too moist.  I’ve left the recipe as written originally here though, since that’s how I made it.  A final comment – this cake smells AMAZING.  Like, truly delicious.  I should know – I sat on the train with it for an hour and a half and wanted to devour it the entire time.

  • 1 stick salted butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 c. sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 6 oz. greek yogurt (1 Chobani container)
  • 1/2 c. plus 2 TBS cornmeal or polenta
  • 1 c. AP flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 c. sliced fresh strawberries
  1. Preheat the oven to 350° and liberally grease loaf pan.  Whisk together the cornmeal, flour and baking powder in a small bowl, and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat the eggs in one at a time, incorporating fully between additions.  Stir in yogurt and vanilla.  Mix in the cornmeal mixture until just combined, then fold in the strawberries.  Pour into loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes, until top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few crumbs clinging to it.  Cool for 10 minutes in pan, then invert over cooling rack to finish cooling.

0 Beef

Tequila and Lime Skirt Steak Tacos

My dad told me that since my birthday week is over, I can’t write any more posts about it.  So this post will have to be not about  the event for which I threw this party, but rather about the party itself, which could’ve been for any old reason, really.  It could’ve been an early Cinco de Mayo party, or a Mother’s Day party to which I didn’t invite my mother.  Or even a “just because it’s grilling season” party.

Anyway, last Saturday I threw a party at my house, and we ate and drank and it was very fun, and the food was very good, so I thought I’d share some recipes and pictures.  The culinary theme was Mexican, so we had tequila-marinated steak tacos with pickled red onions and queso fresco, spicy chipotle cream dip, fried avocados, sangria, and margaritas.  It was a beautiful Saturday night, so we sat outside in the garden, and my roommate hung up the outdoor lights that signify summer is coming, and Trevor grilled, and it was a great way to spend a night.  Even though it did require most of Sunday to recover from the events that took place after the party, which included stops at a few more party locations, more than a few more drinks, a little dancing, and waking up at my friend’s Newbury St apartment on Sunday morning surrounded by marathoners.  And let me tell you, waking up in last night’s clothes and stumbling out into a street filled with people gearing up to run 26 miles the next day does not make you feel like a successful person.  But it was pretty funny.  All in all, the evening was well worth the recovery.

The steak tacos were definitely the gastronomic highlight of the evening (well, besides the tequila shots, but I can’t very well share a recipe for tequila shots).  It’s a very simple recipe from Antojitos, which is one of my all-time favorite cookbooks (full review and more recipes here).  You just briefly marinate skirt steak in tequila, olive oil, lime juice, and onion, then grill until medium, rest, slice, and serve with your favorite taco fixings.  The marinade and grilling results in a very tender and flavorful steak for such an inexpensive cut of beef.  We served them with guacamole, queso fresco, chipotle crema, and pickled red onions, and they were delish.

Grilling season!  Summertime!  Get excited for it.

Tequila-and-Lime-Marinated Skirt Steak Tacos

Recipe from Antojitos.  Serves 6.

  • 2 lbs skirt steak, fat trimmed
  • 1 c. olive oil
  • 1/2 onion, sliced
  • 1/2 c. tequila
  • 1/4 c. fresh lime juice (2-3 limes)
  • 1 TBS sugar
  • 1 TBS kosher salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 12 small tortillas
  • 1 recipe pickled red onions (recipe below)
  • 1 recipe chipotle crema
  • 2 avocados, diced
  • 1 c. crumbled queso fresco
  1. Rinse the steak under cool water and pat dry with a paper towel.
  2. In a large glass baking dish, mix olive oil, onion slices, tequila, lime juice, sugar, salt, and black pepper until thoroughly combined.  Lay steak in marinade, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes (do not leave it for any longer than 30 minutes or it will get tough!)  Prepare your grill.
  3. Lift steaks from marinade and place on grill.  Grill for 2-3 minutes on each side, until outside is seared and inside is medium.  (Read about the finger test for determining the doneness of meat here!)  Transfer the steak to a cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes, then slice against the grain into 1/2 inch wide strips.
  4. Serve steak on tortillas and top with red onions, chipotle cream, avocados, and queso fresco.  Eat hot!

Quick Pickled Red Onions

Recipe adapted from Antojitos.  Serves 6.

  • 1 red onion, very thinly sliced
  • 1 c. fresh lime juice
  • 2 jalapeno chilies, seeded and diced
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  1. Stir together onion, lime juice, chilies, and salt.  Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 3-5 hours, stirring once or twice, until onions have begun to turn bright pink and have softened somewhat.  Store in a glass jar in the fridge for up to 1 week.  (Flavor will continue to develop over the course of the week).