A cocktail for Spring

I've seen the Pimm's cup lauded in the food blog world. I've never actually had one though. So, when the newest Bon Appetit came in the mail it looked so refreshing I had to try one. I believe the original Pimm's cup is pretty simple: Pimm's over ice with ginger ale or club soda. Pimm's No. 1 is a gin-based infusion of aromatics. Over the years there were other Pimm's Nos. 2-6, based on other alcohols (rye, whiskey, vodka), but these have since largely been discontinued.

The following is a souped up Pimm's cup (for 2). I really like how the cucumber flavor comes through. It truly is refreshing and not too strong.

Pimm's Cup

Ingredients

1 3-inch piece of English cucumber, cut into 1/2 inch slices

3/4 c. Pimm's No. 1

3 T. lemon juice

1 tsp. sugar

2 sliced strawberries

2 thyme sprigs

2 mint sprigs

2 rosemary sprigs (I left these out)

2 lemon slices (I also left these out)

ginger ale

ice

In a cocktail shaker muddle the cucumber until it looks well pulverized.

Add Pimm's No. 1, lemon juice, and sugar, and ice cubes.

Give the mixture a really good shake.

Strain the mixture into ice-filled pilsner or pint glasses.

Poke the strawberries, (lemon slices), mint, (rosemary) and thyme sprigs into the glasses.

Top with ginger ale.

Enjoy!

Move over Egg McMuffin

I'm not sure if it's because it's nearing Easter, but it seems like every food site, food magazine, food show is showing something topped with a runny egg. I love runny eggs, so when I got up to prepare our lazy Saturday morning breakfast, a runny egg was priority.

I decided to give another shot at poaching eggs. I'm no expert at this, but I seem to be getting better at it the more I practice. If poached eggs aren't your thing, then this would also be great with a sunny side up, or an over easy egg.

For the cheese sauce I used gruyere, but a sharp cheddar would also be fantastic. Full confession: the picture that's here has no egg, this was round 2 just a toasted muffin with the excess cheese sauce--the first round got immediately gobbled up before I realized that I probably should have taken a picture.

This dish looks a little fancy, but it only took about 10 minutes to pull together.

Emily's Egg Mc Muffin (for 2)

Ingredients

2 English muffins, split

2 eggs

1 T white vinegar, or juice of one lemon

1 T butter

1T flour

1 c milk

1 c. grated cheese (I used gruyere because that's what was in the fridge)

salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Fill a deep skillet with about an inch and half of water and bring to a simmer.

2. In a separate skillet, melt butter over medium heat.

3. Meanwhile, start toasting the muffins.

4. Once the water has come to a simmer (not a boil) pour in vinegar and a pinch of salt. Stir. Carefully crack eggs into the water.

5. Once the butter has melted, add the flour and whisk. Cook for about 1-2 minutes until the flour looks a light-tan color.

6. Whisk the milk into the flour-butter mixture and bring to a slow bubble.

7. Turn off the heat for the milk mixture and slowly add the cheese, whisking as you go. You've got cheese sauce.

8. Once the eggs have been cooking about 5 minutes--this is going to depend on how runny you like your eggs--lift them out of the water carefully with a slotted spoon.

9. Assemble by placing eggs on the toasted English muffins and top with cheese sauce.

Food WTF: Gjetost

Clockwise from left: Saga blue (Denmark), dill havarti (Denmark), and Ski Queen gjetost (Norway)

Oddly appealing and totally addictive, this cheese is both sweet and salty. My husband said it reminded him of peanut butter, both in color in flavor. (I thought it was sweeter than peanut butter.) The texture is somewhere between cheese and fudge.

From http://www.norwegiancheeses.co.uk/ski_queen.htm

Gjetost (pronounced ‘yet-oast’) is a unique brown cheese from Norway with a fudge-like texture and a sweet caramel flavour.

It is made from a combination of milk, cream and whey which is slowly cooked until the naturally occurring sugars are caramelised, giving its distinctive colour and taste. The cheese is then cooled and set into blocks.

Gjetost was first made in the Gudbrandsdalen valley in Norway more than 130 years ago. Anne Hov, a farmer’s wife, was the first person to think of pouring cream into the kettle of whey. Her brown cheese got a higher price than her ordinary cheese and butter, and is reputed to have saved the valley from financial ruin in the 1880s.

Gjetost is best served in wafer thin slices and eaten on toast or Norwegian flatbread (very thin crackers). It is also makes a great addition to a cheese board or melted into a variety of food dishes.

Knäckebröd (Swedish crisp bread)

Knäckebröd is a staple at the table for every meal. We encountered it everywhere in Sweden, along with another kind of flatbread called tunnbröd. There are many different recipes for knäckebröd, though it is essentially a rye hardtack. Ever seen Wasa crackers at the supermarket? That's the mass produced stuff. Homemade knäckebröd has a slight but not unpleasant chewiness that makes it more bread-like than cracker-like.

The knäckebröd we had was almost always served with butter and some kind of jam, usually lingonberry, though it is also eaten with sandwich toppings like sliced cheese and pickles.

From The Swedish Table by Helene Henderson

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 cups warm water, divided
• 2 packages dry yeast (1/4 oz. each or 4-1/2 teaspoons total)
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3-1/2 cups rye flour
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• olive oil spray

Directions:

• In the bowl of an electric mixer add sugar, 1/4 cup warm water, and yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes or until yeast begins to bubble and foam.
• Stir in remaining water, salt, rye flour, and all-purpose flour. Beat with dough hook until well combined, about 5 minutes.
  
• Transfer dough to a lightly oiled (or buttered) bowl, sprinkle with flour, and cover with plastic food wrap. Let rise in refrigerator overnight.

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Divide dough into 16 pieces.
• On a floured surface, roll each piece into a thin, 8-inch round. Poke out a small, 1/4-inch center hold and poke the round all over with a fork.
• Brush off excess flour, spray with olive oil on both sides, and transfer to a baking sheet covered with a Silpat liner or parchment paper.
• Bake 10-15 minutes. Let cool before serving.

Makes 16 knäckebröd.

I have a new toy

My little mini food processor has served me so well for the past 4 years. I've rejoiced when it's turned out the perfect salsa, or the savory dip; I've also cursed its size when I've wanted to make pate or duxelles and have had to do 6 batches of the same thing. Of late my little guy had started to show its wear and the blade started to separate from the housing. I knew it was time to start shopping for a replacement.

Enter the replacement. It's a wee bit bigger than the previous model (okay, so it doesn't exactly "fit under the cabinet"), and has many more features. I'll always have a special place in my heart for the mini chopper, but now that I have the big guy, it'll be hard to go back.

Below is the premiere recipe for the new food processor. I used the slicing attachment to work through 8 cups of thinly sliced onions in about 3 minutes. I also pulsed the tart dough in this baby. The recipes not in this post that I also created the same day were: homemade bread and an artichoke & bean puree.

The following recipe comes from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics. The recipe is intended for a 10-inch pie plate. Believe it or not, I don't actually own a pie plate, so I used a 10-inch tart pan. I used a little less of the egg mixture, since the pan is a little more shallow than a pie plate.

I served this up with a green salad and roasted asparagus.

Caramelized Onion Tart

Crust Ingredients

1 1/2 c. unbleached AP flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c chilled butter

3-4 Tbsp. ice water

Filling Ingredients

1 Tbsp. olive oil or canola oil... whatever's your fancy

8 c. thinly sliced onions

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp dried thyme (I used herbes de Provence, due to lack of dried thyme)

6 large eggs

1/4 c. unbleached AP flour

1 T. Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp. salt

2 c. milk

1 c. grated Gruyere cheese ( let's be honest, I probably used way more than this)

Method:

*OK, you don't HAVE to use a food processor (FP), but it really makes life easier. I'm putting instructions for both.

Crust FP method:

Dump the flour, salt, and butter into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse about 10 times, or until the mixture looks like peas, or a coarse meal. Turn the FP on and slowly pour in the ice water. You want the mixture to form a ball. If it is still dry, add more water 1 T at a time. If it looks wet, then add 1 T. of flour.

Crust by hand method:

Combine flour, salt and butter into a large bowl. Either with a pastry cutter, a couple of knives, or your fingers (the easiest) cut the butter into the flour until your mixture looks like peas, or a coarse meal. While stirring, add in the ice water. You want the mixture to form a ball. If it is still dry, add more water 1 T at a time. If it looks wet, then add 1 T. of flour.

Once the crust has been made you can either (1) chill it down and roll it out and place it over your pie/tart pan or (2) directly press it into the pan and chill the whole pan down for 30 minutes.

Filling method:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. (Make sure you do this when your dough is in the fridge, otherwise the butter solids will start to melt before you want them to.)

2. Warm the oil in a deep, heavy skillet over medium heat and add the onions and salt.

3. Cook, uncovered, for about 15 minutes, stirring often.

4. Add in the thyme and continue to cook for another 5-10 minutes. You're looking for a deep, golden brown color.

5. Remove from heat and set aside.

6. Whisk together the eggs, milk, flour, salt, and mustard, until smooth.

7. Spread the onions into the bottom of the pie shell.

8. Cover with the grated cheese.

9. Pour the custard mixture over the top.

10. Top with more grated cheese.

11. Bake until the filling is set and the crust is golden brown (50-60 minutes)*

*NOTE: I put my tart pan on a parchment-lined cookie sheet just in case of overflows.

Serve immediately or at room temp.

Lemongrass and lime cucumber salad

A simple cucumber salad dressed in vinegar is a common side dish in Sweden. This recipe gives the dish a southeast Asian twist with the addition of lemongrass, lime, and cilantro.

It's a great workout for your mandoline, as the salad is best when the cucumbers are sliced paper thin. If you don't own a mandoline, I strongly suggest investing in one. It doesn't have to be a fancy one that also does crinkle-cuts and juliennes, but it should have an adjustable blade so you can control the thickness of your cuts. It will make your prep work so much easier and give your dishes a professional look. Definitely money well spent!

From The Swedish Table by Helene Henderson

Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber, preferably European seedless, sliced very thin
• 1/4 cup red onion, peeled and sliced thin
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 lime, sliced very thin
• 1 stalk lemongrass, light green center only, sliced thin
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon red hot peppers

Directions:

• Place cucumber, onion, cilantro, and lime in a medium-size bowl.
  
• Combine lemongrass in a medium-heavy saucepan with vinegar, sugar, and salt. Cook over low heat for 3 minutes. Let cool, stir in red hot peppers, and pour over cucumbers.
• Marinate for a minimum of 1 hour before serving

Serves 4-6

Note: I didn't have white-wine vinegar, so I used white balsamic vinegar and cut back a little on the sugar. That seemed to work just fine.

Dandelion greens with Bosc pears and shallots

Dandelion greens aren't the easiest thing to come by year round, so arugula (which is what I used) works in a pinch. The bite of the greens and the sweetness of the pears and shallots make for a great combination in this easy, anytime side dish. Wilting the greens mellows their bitterness.

From The Swedish Table, by Helene Henderson.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 large Bosc pears, peeled, cored and chopped
• 1 small shallot, peeled and minced
• 4 cups dandelion greens (or other tangy greens), chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Directions:

• In a medium skillet, melt butter with olive oil. Add pears and cook until soft, about 2-3 minutes.
• Add shallots and cook 1 minute more.
  
• Stir in dandelion greens and cook 2 minutes more.
• Season lightly with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with vinegar

Serves 4-6