Month: April 2004

Man, it’s cold in the office today. I think someone turned up the AC just to spite me.

Props to Sara for linking to me yesterday. She quintupled my hits.

So, do you want to hear how I screwed something up? Of course you do! Well, I decided to make the Maneschewitz mix matzoh ball soup last night. I added some carrots, celery, onion, and parsely to make it a little more substantial. (The celery was kind of a mistake. I didn’t like the final texture.) So I’m supposed to add two and a half quarts of water. I know my parents add more than that since it’s WAY salty. I also have a box of broth open in my refrigerator. So I figure I’ll use the three cups of broth I have (pretty salty on its own) and to that add three quarts of water. Somewhere along the way, I got pints and quarts mixed up.

Cutting the story short, I made salt soup. Mmmm.

Argh, I’m going to have to throw out food again. I just realized that my chicken is almost two weeks old. Note to self: in the future, only make half a chicken. Or just buy dark meat. You’re not going to be able to finish it before it goes bad.

I heard on the radio that the price of milk is going to go up soon by something like fifty cents a gallon. Wahoo, I get to pay even more for dairy. I can hardly wait!

In other news, half and half sucks in tea. I need to buy a little container of milk and bring it to work, because this is not working for me. And speaking of tea, hot water that comes from coffee machines makes terrible tea. It’s horribly bland. Boil your water in the microwave if you have to, but coffee machine water SUCKS. That’s how I burnt myself the second time. I was boiling water in a coffee cup in the microwave. The ceramic got really, really hot. So I asked Ryan if I could borrow one of her big ol’ plastic mugs. Problem solved.

I finished the strata this morning. Damn, that’s good. I want to hold a brunch or something so I can make it again. I need to make more tomato-sausage-mushroom sauce (aka Jonsauce) this weekend; I’m almost out. I also want to try out Jon’s chili recipe (the best!) using pork shoulder instead of beef. I think it’d be good.

(Erika) Strata

8–10 (1/2-inch thick) slices supermarket French or Italian bread (6–7 ounces)

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

4 medium shallots, minced (about 1/2 cup)

6 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

8 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced

Salt and ground black pepper

1/2 cup medium-dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc

6 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated (about 11/2 cups)

6 large eggs

1 3/4 cups half-and-half

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 225 degrees. Arrange bread in single layer on large baking sheet and bake until dry and crisp, about 40 minutes, turning slices over halfway through drying time. (Alternatively, leave slices out overnight to dry.) When cooled, butter slices on one side with 2 tablespoons butter; set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. When foaming subsides, add mushrooms and brown. Remove from pan. Heat (another) 1 tablespoon of butter and add shallots. Sauté shallots until fragrant and translucent, about 3 minutes; add mushrooms, spinach, and salt and pepper to taste and cook, stirring occasionally, until combined, about 2 minutes. Transfer to medium bowl; set aside. Add wine to skillet, increase heat to medium-high, and simmer until reduced to 1/4 cup, 2 to 3 minutes; set aside.

Butter 8-inch square baking dish with remaining 1 tablespoon butter; arrange half of buttered bread slices, buttered-side up, in single layer in dish. Sprinkle half of spinach mixture, then 1/2 cup grated cheese evenly over bread slices. Arrange remaining bread slices in single layer over cheese; sprinkle remaining spinach mixture and another 1/2 cup cheese evenly over bread. Whisk eggs in medium bowl until combined; whisk in reduced wine, half-and-half, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste. Pour egg mixture evenly over bread layers; cover surface flush with plastic wrap, weigh down (use two 1-pound boxes of brown or powdered sugar, laid side by side over the plastic-covered surface), and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Remove dish from refrigerator and let stand at room temperature 20 minutes. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Uncover strata and sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup cheese evenly over surface; bake until both edges and center are puffed and edges have pulled away slightly from sides of dish, 50 to 55 minutes. Cool on wire rack 5 minutes; serve.

Okay, so I am never making those mini twice-baked potatoes EVER AGAIN. I’ll make a couple of regular sized ones and cut them up, sure, but these mini ones take so long to hollow out. I had thirty-two halves to hollow. Man alive. They had better be good, that’s all I’m saying.

And I made strata! Exciting. I’ll post the recipe tomorrow.

Dear lord, I’m tired. Last night’s D&D campaign went until 2:30am. I’m supposed to be cooking up a storm, but after going out and shopping for everything, I’m kind of exhausted. I might take a nap and stay up late tonight, working in the kitchen. On my list of things to make: mini twice-baked potatoes, strata, and matzoh ball soup.

Yeah, I think I’m going to take a nap.

So I did make cookies. Go me. The cookies were the gialetti (my first blogged recipe). They turned out all right, but I forgot that I was using unslated butter and then forgot to add a pinch of salt. So, they’re a wee bland. Still pretty damn tasty, though.

And stock! Woohoo! But almost better than the stock is the fat… mm. Jon will probably make French onion soup with some of it, and I’m thinking I might make matzoh ball soup with the rest. It doesn’t matter that Passover’s done with, matzoh ball soup tastes wonderful all the time. And chicken fat makes wonderful matzoh balls. I’ve never made the real thing, just the Manischewitz mix (which I actually have a box of on my counter). My dad, who likes his matzoh balls made out of… let’s say tungsten, says that the secret is to refrigerate the dough twice, once before and once after shaping into small balls.

I have to offer an apology to Alton Brown. After some pondering, I have found that there are three of his recipes that work for me, and three that don’t. So he comes out sort of neutral. Recipes which work: pizza dough, croutons, chicken stock. Recipes that don’t work: tomato sauce, clam chowder, broiled chicken. Here is his chicken stock recipe.