Mulled Maple Syrup

October 11, 2011 by

In an ideal world, this syrup would have gone along with yesterday’s post.  But of course, that didn’t happen. Instead it went something like this: in a moment of child-like frustration with my spice cabinet (yes neighbor, you do live next to someone who huffs and puffs at 8 am), I noticed the container of mulling spices sitting at the back of the cupboard. Distracted from my mini temper tantrum, I pulled them out as a reminder to pick up cider at the store.  The little tin sat on my counter for most of the day, until around 2 pm, something clicked. While enjoying a cold leftover pancake, the tin caught my eye. Something needs to come together here, I thought.  Knowing I couldn’t actually put the spices in the pancake batter, I moved on to the syrup.  Could one mull syrup?

Well, I decided to try. Warming the syrup with the spices the way I had always done with cider, I attempted to infuse the syrup with their flavor. After a half hour or so on the stove, I was delighted to find that it did, in fact, work! But wait, it gets better.  Brilliant idea number two struck when I decided to store my syrup in a little bottle I had on hand. Wrapped in green ribbon, does this not make the perfect little holiday gift? Add a sweet hand written label and you’re good to go! I definitely foresee a craft weekend in early December.

Ps: I bought my mulling spices here, but you can peruse lots of options here. Or, if you’re up for a challenge- you can make your own!

Mulled Maple Syrup

1 c real maple syrup

1/2 T mulling spices

Place the mulling spices and maple syrup in a small saucepan and simmer over very low heat for 20 minutes. The heat must be kept very low so the syrup doesn’t boil; it should only be warmed through.  After 20 minutes remove the pan from the heat, place the lid on top, and let rest for an additional 20 minutes.  After the mixture has rested, strain out the mulling spices and pour the syrup in a small container or pitcher.  Serve immediately or store in fridge.

Note:  The ratio of spices to syrup is 1/2 T of mulling spices for every cup of syrup.  If you’d like to make bigger quantities, just increase your ingredients accordingly.

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Pumpkin Pancakes

October 10, 2011 by

Friends, I hope you had a glorious weekend!  My family was in town and we had the best time exploring my new neighborhood, visiting with old friends, and cooking meals together.  On Sunday morning I made everyone pumpkin pancakes (following this recipe).  The recipe calls for a full cup of pumpkin, but very little sugar, making these barely sweetened cakes incredibly moist and ideal for dousing in warm maple syrup.  They were delicious, I urge you to add them to your pancake repertoire.

Hope your week is off to a fabulous start!


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A Homemade Halloween

October 7, 2011 by

People- I am a candy addict. I love it. All kinds. I don’t discriminate.  I have an unhealthy weakness for those bin style candy stores, where I can scoop up as much candy as my heart desires. And despite the fact that every time I’m in one of these stores I promise myself I’ll savor the candy, only eat a few bites, the whole bag is gone in mere minutes and I’m left with a wretched (self-induced) stomach ache.

So given my track record, why make candy at home?  Halloween, of course! And I’d like to think making my own candy, from scratch, justifies my eating it. Right? Yes? Great, thanks.

If you’ve never made homemade candy before, these peanut butter cups are a great way to start.  They’re not too tricky and don’t involve screaming hot sugar.  I happened to have these festive cupcake wrappers, making these little guys perfect to ring in the October holiday.  And of course, because I just can’t make a dessert these days without topping it with sea salt- I sprinkled some on for a finishing touch.  Enjoy!

PS: Other candy to make at home- I’ve made these Twix Bars, and wouldn’t these Almond Joys be fun?

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups slightly adapted from the Brown Eyed Baker

Makes 18

1/2 c creamy peanut butter

2 T unsalted butter

2 T brown sugar

one 11.5 oz bag milk chocolate chips

1/2 c plus 1 T powdered sugar

2 T shortening (or peanut butter)*

sea salt

Fill a miniature muffin tin with wrappers, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper- set aside.

In a saucepan, melt the peanut butter, butter, brown sugar, and a pinch of salt, over low heat until combined.  Take off the heat and add in the powder sugared, a 1/4 cup at a time.  Stir well, and make sure the sugar is completely incorporated before adding more. Set aside to cool.

Place the chocolate chips, shortening, and a pinch of salt in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave at 50 percent power for 30 second intervals, stirring well after each set.  Continue until chocolate is fully melted.  Once melted, using a teaspoon, scoop the melted chocolate into the bottom of each cupcake wrapper.  I found it helpful to cradle the wrapper in my hand, and then pour it in, to help disperse the chocolate.  Once all cups are filled, set aside.

Take your peanut butter mixture, and using a teaspoon again, scoops out spoonfuls of peanut butter.  Roll them into a ball and then flatten them slightly.  You want to make sure the peanut butter disc is not too wide- it should be smaller than the ring of chocolate in the bottom of the cups, or else the chocolate won’t be able to encase the peanut butter fully. Place each disc on the lined baking sheet sit and let chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.  Once chilled, place each disc inside a chocolate cup.

Lastly, take your remaining chocolate and melt again since it will likely have hardened.  With the teaspoon, scoop chocolate over the peanut butter discs, using the back of the spoon to gently smooth out the chocolate and make sure it gets in all the crevices. As a finishing touch (if you like), sprinkle with a bit of sea salt.  Set back in fridge for 30 minutes so the candy can completely harden.  Store in the refrigerator or freezer.

*I read some other recipes that mixed peanut butter instead of shortening into the chocolate.  I didn’t test it out, but if you don’t have shortening on hand, you could certainly try this.

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10 Must Have Kitchen Staples

October 5, 2011 by

I often hear people say they don’t like to cook at home because shopping for one meal requires too.many.ingredients. And when they do buy all the ingredients and actually make a home cooked meal, they’re left with a ton of unused items that they don’t know what to do with.

I totally understand that frustration- I hate spending money on ingredients I can’t easily use again.  I find, though, when I keep the following staples on hand, it not only means that cooking a new recipe doesn’t require a huge grocery trip, but it makes it much easier to use all up those leftovers and pull together new creations any night of the week.

1. Good Olive Oil Pretty much goes in any entree you’re making, and often works as a healthier substitute for butter.  You don’t need to spend a ton to get good quality- Trader Joe’s sells a several good bottles for under $10.

2. Fresh Garlic First and foremost, that pre-chopped stuff you see in those little jars in the grocery store is not a substitute for fresh garlic.  Buy the real stuff.  It’s inexpensive, lasts for a few weeks (store the heads in the fridge), and literally can be added to almost any entree.

3. Vinegar You can make salad dressing in seconds with just olive oil, salt, pepper, and vinegar.  Red wine, white wine, balsamic- doesn’t matter. Buy whatever suits your fancy.

4. Chicken or Vegetable Stock I can’t begin to explain how convenient it is to have a couple quarts of stock on hand. They making throwing together soups and sauces, or upping the flavor on risotto or rice a cinch.

5. Lemons Fresh lemon juice is such a common ingredient when I’m cooking meat, vegetable, or pasta dishes, that I always like to have one in the fridge.  Not to mention, they’re great for impromptu cocktails!

6. Diced Tomatoes You’d be surprised what you can create with diced tomatoes.  Though I prefer fresh over canned vegetables, having diced tomatoes on hand make week night cooking (think 10 minute pasta sauce) a breeze.   You can get very reasonable organic cans at most grocery stores.

7.Wine In short, you should be cooking with it.  Wine can be used as a marinade for any meat, for the base of a pasta dish, and for an innumerable number of sauces.  The great thing? Most often you don’t need a specific type, just a red or white you like to drink.

8. French Mustard Another quick source of flavor- put it in salad dressing, roast potatoes in it, or use it as a glaze for salmon.  Think outside the box, this ingredient goes well beyond a topping for hot dogs!

9. Eggs They’re required in any baking good and provide an easy (and filling) weeknight meal when you only have energy to make an omelette (or let’s face it, scrambled eggs).

10. Dried Herbs I’ll go into the specifics on which ones I buy and why in a dedicated post, but for now, I always like to keep curry, cinnamon, red pepper flakes, and dried oregano on hand.

I’m so curious, what do you guys keep in your pantry? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Ps:  It goes without saying, you should also always have salt and pepper on hand- but I thought that was a bit of a no brainer!

Photo Credit

18 Comments

Constructing Your Kitchen- A New Weekly Series

October 5, 2011 by

Last Friday when I attended a talk by Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen, I fully expected to be in the company of intense foodies- master food bloggers with ridiculous photography skills and homemade recipes to boot. I was so sure this would be the case, I prepared my questions ahead of time (really!). So you can imagine my surprise when the first question posed came from a 20 something girl sitting in front of me, who candidly asked, “As someone who’s starting their first kitchen, can you give me any tips?” Whaaaaat?

I hold nothing against this girl (it’s a perfectly acceptable question), I was just surprised.  First by the fact that I had been so wrong, and second because my first thought after she asked it was- oh I can tell you what to do! I’d love to help! And so I decided to. Across the next few weeks I’ll be conducting a little series each Wednesday focused around constructing a fabulous and well functioning kitchen- everything from which appliances to invest in and not invest in, to why to stay away from butcher blocks, the dried herbs you’ll actually use, and which kitchen tools aren’t worth your time.  If there’s an area you’d like me to cover, please let me know! And of course I’d love to hear your tips and tricks as well, so please do share.

I’ll kick things off a little later today with a list of my top ten pantry must haves. Stayed tuned!

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Weeknight Simplicity: Lentils and Potatoes with Curry

October 4, 2011 by

From time to time I’m left with a lone ingredient in my cupboard that has been staring back at me, begging to be put to good use for months. A can of sweetened condensed milk. Some sort of nut or grain. And most recently- lentils. I’ve been toting around 2 cups of dried lentils for months.  When we moved into our apartment, and I was once again faced with these lentils, I knew I really needed to get rid of them.  I mean honestly, they traveled to a new city! A moving company moved my lentils! Ok, enough.

In these situations, I turn to Mark Bittman. Out of all the cookbooks I own, the one that always saves me when I’m dealing with a stray ingredient is Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything.” Perplexed with what to do with my lentils, I turned to the index of this book.  After scrolling through a dozen or so lentil recipes, I settled on one that sounded incredibly simple.  Ridiculously simple is more like it. Lentils, potatoes, curry, and coconut milk come together in this heart warming stew that tastes like it’s been sitting on the stove all day, when in reality, you can bang it out in under an hour on any week night.  Oh and it’s super healthy, which was something I felt like my body really needed this week. It’s providing the perfect balance to my after dinner ice cream intake.

Lentils and Potatoes with Curry slightly adapted from Mark Bittman

Serves 3-4

Though I doubled the recipe, I’m sharing Mark’s original proportions below. That said, this dish freezes very well, so it can’t hurt to make a big batch!

1 cup dried lentils, rinsed

1 15 oz can coconut milk

2 1/2 cups chicken broth (or veg broth)

1 T curry

2 medium starchy potatoes peeled and cut into large chunks

2 T butter

s+p

greek yogurt and chopped cilantro for serving

Place lentils in a large bowl.  Bring several cups of water to boil, and pour over lentils.  Let rest for 15 minutes while you prep other ingredients.

Set a heavy bottomed pot to medium high heat.  Add in lentils, coconut milk, broth, and curry.  Bring to a boil, and then let simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in butter.  Once butter is incorporated, add in potatoes, cover pan, and let cook covered and undisturbed for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes season with salt and pepper. Cover and continue to cook for 15 minutes until lentils are quite soft. The mixture should be moist but not soupy.  Serve garnished with a dollop of yogurt and cilantro.  Can be stored up to 4 days in fridge, or frozen for up to two months.

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Sunday in Food

October 3, 2011 by

Is it cold where you are? It literally just got cold yesterday.  Friday I was sweating and Sunday I found myself in a sweater and wool blazer.  Just like that, summer is really over.

Yesterday morning I awoke to the sun literally pouring into our bedroom.  While I was a bit bitter at first since we don’t have curtains yet (unless you count pinned up throw blankets), it made it nearly impossible not to dash outside, putting off all other errands for the day. As I had hoped, we headed to the Brooklyn Flea to enjoy brunch by the water. On the menu: grilled ham and cheese (Milk Truck), a chorizo and spinach pupusa (Solber Pupusas), and for the big finish- donut holes from Dough.

Fueled from brunch, I spent the afternoon at the Fairway grocery store in Red Hook.  This location overlooks the Statue of Liberty; it’s stunning- the perfect spot for lunch or an afternoon snack.  Unfortunately I was forced to spend the majority of my time inside the store, conducting a serious grocery run.  Thankfully though, I’m all geared up for a week filled with lots of time in the kitchen.  I’ve got a laundry list of new recipes to share with, so get ready for it!

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