Inspiration

It's been a crazy week. Between traveling last weekend to visit family for the Easter holiday, the terrible weather earlier this week, and a sinus infection that has zapped my energy, I've spent zero time in the kitchen. As a case in point - Wednesday night we had cereal for dinner.

I did manage to do a little online shopping for some cooking inspiration, and I can't wait to get my hands on Kelly Geary and Jessie Knadler's Tart and Sweet: 101 Canning and Picking Recipes for the Modern Kitchen.

I experimented with water-bath canning at the end of last summer and it was a lot of fun (especially since it involved spending time with friends). It's also incredibly satisfying to open a jar of homemade salsa or jam in the middle of January and have a tangible reminder of summer's bounty.

Here's to a quiet weekend with cookbooks, sunshine, and lots of tea.

Pasta with Tomato Vodka Cream Sauce

You know what's better than tomato sauce? Tomato sauce with vodka. Because of their high concentration of alcohol-soluble flavors, tomatoes love vodka like peanut butter loves jelly. Throw in a little heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, and basil, and you might decide to skip the pasta altogether.

Pasta with Tomato Vodka Cream Sauce
serves 4
1 pound dried pasta
2 T olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 cups prepared tomato sauce (canned or jarred is fine; extra points for homemade)
¼ cup vodka
½ cup heavy cream
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
handful of fresh basil, chiffonade*
Heat the oil in a 10-12 inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion along with a pinch of salt and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Reduce the heat to low and add the tomato sauce and vodka.  Continue cooking the sauce for 15-20 minutes over low heat, stirring occasionally, until it darkens in color and is slightly reduced.

While the sauce is reducing, cook the pasta in salted water, drain, and reserve a cup or so of the pasta water.

Turn off the heat and stir in the Parmesan cheese and heavy cream. Taste the sauce for seasoning and add salt and pepper if necessary. If the sauce is too thick, stir in a little bit of the pasta water to thin it out.  Combine the pasta with the sauce (I do this by adding the pasta directly to the pan; no need to dirty another bowl). Plate and top with fresh basil.

*chiffonade = mad culinary skillz. Actually, it's French for "made of rags", but it does make for a pretty presentation and it’s easy. After you’ve washed your basil, separate the individual leaves from the stem and stack them on top of each other with the largest leaves on the bottom. Starting at the long edge, roll the leaves up. You’ll end up with a little basil snake. Now you chop - place your roll of basil seam side down on a cutting board. Starting at one end, slice through the roll in ¼ inch increments. Congratulations, you've just made beautiful little ribbons of basil!

P.S. This technique also works well for sage, spinach, and mint.

Egg and Chorizo Burritos

I've been feelin' the love for burritos lately. Besides the fact that I can fill them full of things I love they're also excellent refrigerator velcro - perfect for using up those little bits of things that accumulate in my fridge throughout the week. For lunch today I made just such a burrito stuffed with eggs, chorizo, and veggies. Here's a breakdown of the burrito-y goodness:

Egg and Chorizo Burritos

serves 2

4 oz. fresh chorizo sausage

1/2 red onion, diced

1/2 jalapeño, seeded and minced

1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 small russet potato, diced

1/2 tsp ground cumin

Pinch of salt/pepper

3 eggs

1/2 tsp butter

1/4 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 tomato, diced

Large handful of cilantro, chopped

2 T sour cream

2 large flour tortillas

Remove the chorizo from the casing and crumble the sausage in a pan over medium heat.

Once the sausage is cooked through, remove it from the pan and set aside. At this point there should still be a good amount of fat in the pan (if there's more than a couple of tablespoons drain off the excess).

Saute the onions, peppers, and potato in the remaining fat; season with a pinch of salt and pepper and the 1/2 tsp of cumin.

Cook until the potatoes are tender (about 7-10 minutes). When the veggie mixture is softened, in a separate pan, melt the butter and scramble the eggs. Now that all of your components are ready you can start layering on your tortilla - eggs, chorizo, veggies, cheese, cilantro, tomatoes, and sour cream.

The best thing about this kind of meal is the flexibility and creativity it allows. I stood in front of my fridge and starting pulling out random things. If I didn't have a fresh jalapeño I could have thrown in a canned chipotle pepper (and if I did that I could have added some of the adobo sauce to my sour cream). No eggs? Substitute beans or chicken or tofu. Want more veggies? Chop up an avocado or double the peppers or....well, you get the picture.

Happy Cooking!

Mini Banana Bread

The weather in Nashville this weekend was miserable - cold and rainy. Since I had no desire to venture out into the cold I stayed in and baked. I decided to whip up some banana bread because of the ridiculous amount of overripe bananas in my kitchen. Not just regular old banana bread, but mini banana bread with a cinnamon-sugar topping. Have you noticed that mini versions of food taste better? Maybe it's just me, but I have a thing for diminutive portions. This recipe also makes one regular loaf in case you don't have the same love for the mini loaf.


Banana Bread
makes 8 mini loaves or one regular loaf
adapted from Orangette

For the bread:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt OR 1/2 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup ripe banana, mashed (approx. 3 medium bananas)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup water


For the topping:
1 T granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 T dark brown sugar


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat an eight-piece mini loaf pan with non-stick spray. In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.

In a separate bowl, mix together the banana, eggs, oil, honey, and water. Tip - measure the honey after the oil using the same cup. The leftover oil will help the honey slide out more easily.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and stir until the mixture just comes together.

Distribute the batter evenly between the loaf pans filling each one about three-quarters full. Top each loaf with the cinnamon-sugar topping.

Bake for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (for a regular loaf bake for 1 hour). Cool the bread in the pan for 15 minutes (30 minutes for a full loaf) before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Wrap loaves in plastic wrap and enjoy within 2-3 days.

East Nashville Beer Festival

You do have your ticket to the East Nashville Beer Festival, right? No? Good news - it's not too late to purchase a ticket and have the opportunity for me to pour you a beer. That's right, I'm officially on the pouring team - yay!  Get all the event details here and, hopefully, I'll see you on April 9th. Cheers!

How to Cook - Dried Beans

It doesn't get much more basic than a pot of beans. Up until a few years ago I never bothered to cook dried beans. Man, did I miss out. Canned beans, while convenient, don't hold a candle to the flavor of dried. They're worth the small amount of extra effort, and, with a little planning, you can cook a batch and eat it throughout the week.

Don't forget to check out the selection at your local farmers' market and online purveyors, such as Rancho Gordo, for heirloom and specialty varieties not available at the supermarket.


I use the quick soak method because I'm perpetually running out of time. But if you have time you can just soak the beans for 8 hours (or overnight). Here's the lowdown:


Spread the beans in an even layer on a sheet pan and remove any damaged beans and debris (twigs, dirt, very small rocks, bread, apples, a duck!). Move the beans to a colander and rinse thoroughly. Transfer to a large pot and cover with about three times as much cold water. If using the quick soak method bring the water and beans to a boil, boil for 1 minute, remove the pot from the heat, and allow to sit, covered, for 1 hour.


After an hour (or 8 if you're not quick soaking), drain the beans and set aside - the beans will have doubled in size after their bath. In the same pot you used to soak the beans, saute a large diced onion in a little bit of bacon fat (you do have bacon fat, right?) or oil (for all the non-bacon fat folks) until translucent. Add the beans to the pot, cover with enough fresh, cold water to submerge the beans by about two inches, and bring to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, reduce the heat to low to maintain a gentle simmer. I generally stir the pot once every 20 minutes or so and start checking for doneness after an hour. The beans should be soft but not falling apart. Now is the time to add salt to taste. Serve immediately - alone or over rice.

Leftovers can be refrigerated for 4-5 days; cooked beans can be frozen for up to 3 months.


Keep in mind that these are general guidelines. Cooking time will vary depending on the age of your beans (older beans take longer), the type of bean you're cooking (lima beans cook faster than black), and the hardness of your water (use filtered or bottled if your water tastes funky). Feel free to play around with the aromatics - add carrots, garlic, shallots, and/or bell peppers. Play up the spices by adding cumin, oregano, rosemary, bay leaves, etc. And last but not least, a little bit of meat - particularly pork - goes a long way in the seasoning department. Fatback and ham hocks are my go-to meat seasonings and I typically just throw them in after I saute the aromatics.


Happy Cooking!

Orange Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze

I really wanted cake yesterday, but came up short on some of the usual ingredients - namely butter and eggs. Thank goodness for the internet. I found a recipe for a vegan orange cake and decided to give it a go. I'm not vegan (I love bacon and honey too much), but I can really get behind this cake. It tastes fantastic, it's surprisingly easy, and, given the price of eggs and butter, it's budget friendly. Tasty, easy, and cheap - this may be my new favorite dessert.

I realize that the cream cheese glaze negates the vegan-ness of this dish, but you could remedy that by thinning some marmalade with a little hot water and using it instead.

Orange Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze

serves 10

adapted from the kitchn

Cake

makes two 9-inch rounds

3 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp kosher salt

1 orange, zested

2 cups orange juice

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 T apple cider vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Glaze

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

3 T powdered sugar

Juice from half an orange

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the bottom and sides of two 9-inch round cake pans.

In a large mixing bowl whisk together the flour, sugars, baking soda, salt, and orange zest.

In another bowl mix the orange juice, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and mix just until you no longer see big dry patches of flour.

Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans and bake for 30 to 40 minutes.

Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 20 minutes before running a knife around the edge and turning out onto a cooling rack.

While the cakes cool make the glaze by whisking the softened cream cheese just until it becomes fluffy. Add the sugar and orange juice and whisk until thoroughly combined. If you need to thin out the glaze add a little more orange juice.

Glaze the cake while still warm making sure to pour a little bit of the glaze between the layers.