dria.org

I’ve wanted a Le Creuset enameled cast iron dutch oven for a long time, but the $200+ price tag has given me sticker shock every time for the past 10 or so years. Today I was determined to just go get one of the damned things — there are a couple of places in town that sell them, so I figured I’d hit ‘em all, find out which was least expensive (hoping for a sale, naturally), and get it (whatever colour). I make a lot of roasts and soups and stews and whatnot, so what the hell.

I went to Costco first, but they didn’t have any (didn’t really think they would, but it never hurts to check). Also Costco on a Sunday is just ridiculous. There were about eighty million people in there buying…a lot. I wandered around and saw a few things I’d have picked up if the lines weren’t four thousand miles long, but I wasn’t going to stand in line for 30 mins to save $4.00 on 3 litres of olive oil I don’t really need. So I left, confusing the receipt/cart checker person on my way out because I bought precisely nothing.

Next stop brought victory…but with an unexpected twist. Homesense often carries Le Creuset factory seconds. If you’re willing to compromise on colour (I am) and be maybe flexible in terms of exterior finish, you can sometimes find a deal. Today there were 2 yellow 6 qt Le Creuset dutch ovens in stock…both seemed fine, and they were a relative deal at $169.00. “Sold,” I thought to myself, and turned to go get a shopping cart.

And that’s when I noticed something new. Something different. Something not only that I had never seen before, but that I didn’t realize existed: Mario Batali-brand enameled cast iron cookware. There was a deep orange 6 qt dutch oven, a deep red 4 qt dutch oven, and a green 9×13 extra deep lasagna pan (which, oddly, is something I actually need), all in new-looking boxes. Prices: $80, $70, and $50 respectively. I paused. I paused for a long time. I became one of those people in stores who hunker down on the floor and take things out of boxes and examine them carefully and at length. I read the use and care manual. I did a side-by-side comparison between the Batali 6 qt and the Creuset 6 qt.

I bought all three Batali pieces. They may be factory seconds for all I know (I don’t think they are), but they look fantastic (save for the handles on the lids — I will probably replace those), and they come with a 1 yr warranty. So, that’s my little shopping revelation and victory for the day – Mario Batali (who I actually like rather a lot) apparently endorses a line of high-quality enameled cast iron cookware that you can pick up at a discount at Homesense.

I’ll post a review when I’ve actually cooked something with ‘em. Not today — today is a BBQ day.

With autumn (my favourite of favourite seasons*) comes soup and stew season. So far I’ve already made a spicy sausage + bean stew and (my best yet) beef stew. Tonight is leek + potato soup because I’m on my own for the rest of the week and I happened to have all the stuff on hand.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 med onion, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 4 small (or 2 lg) potatoes, rough dice (unpeeled)
• 3 med leeks, white parts only, sliced + washed super well
• 3-4 c low sodium chicken stock
• Fresh ground pepper to taste

Method

1. Melt butter in a med stock pot over medium heat + toss in the celery and onion. Saute for a few minutes. Add sliced up leeks and saute for a few more minutes, stirring well. Add pepper + potatoes, stir.
2. Add chicken stock and bring to a low boil, then turn down to med-low and simmer until the potatoes are cooked through (30 mins or so, it’s not a precise science here…they just need to be soft).
3. Salt to taste if needed and either leave all chunky or blend with a stick blender until it’s at the chunky level you prefer. Yum.
4. Optional: add 1/4-1/2 c of cream or milk if you want, but it’s really not necessary.

That’s it!

* Seasons, in order of perference: autumn, early summer, early winter, spring, late summer, late winter. February is right out.

I’m experimenting with different sorts of grains and just scored a bag of local organic quinoa from the Speerville Mill (local food + local business, woo). Invented this on the fly to go with a roasted chicken last night, and had leftovers for lunch today. It’s pretty tasty. Add more salt and/or vinegar if it seems too tame.

Ingredients

• 1/2 c wild rice (before cooking), cooked and cooled
• 1/2 c quinoa (before cooking), cooked and cooled
• 2 ribs celery, sliced thinly
• 1/3 bulb fennel, sliced thinly
• 3-4 scallions, sliced thinly
• 1 small shallot, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Juice from 1 lemon
• Splash of white wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp honey
• 3-4 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Method
After cooking and letting the wild rice and quinoa cool, mix them together in a bowl. Add celery, fennel, and scallions, and mix.

Now put shallot, garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, honey, oil, salt and pepper in a jar and shake well to make a basic vinaigrette. Pour all of this over the stuff in the bowl, and mix well.

Ideally, you’ll make this a few hours in advance so the flavours can blend, but you can just serve it immediately if necessary. Leftovers keep well and taste even better the next day. x

The original intention was to make a fairly standard black bean soup, but after digging around a few dozen recipes settled on this. It’s really, really tasty.

Ingredients

• 2 19oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3-4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 med onion, diced fine
• 1 med carrot, diced fine
• 1 rib celery, diced fine
• 1 med sweet potato, peeled and diced to 1/2″ or so
• 1/2 tsp salt (and more to taste, later)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp (or so) chile powder
• 3-4 c chicken or vegetable stock
• Juice from 1-2 limes

Method

Put oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. When hot, add onions, carrots, celery, sweet potato, and 1/2 tsp salt. Saute, stirring frequently, for 10-15 mins or so. As the sweet potato gets soft, brown bits will start sticking to the bottom of the pot. That’s fine. By the time I finished this part there was a good thick coating of browned stuff on the bottom.

When sweet potato is mashably soft, turn the heat down to medium-low and use a potato masher to turn it all into a nice chunky puree right there in the pot. Add garlic, cumin, and chili powder and continue cooking for two or three minutes, stirring. Pour a cup or two of the chicken stock in and let that heat for a minute or two to loosen up the brown stuff that’s stuck to the bottom of the pot, then scrape all that up into the soup (brown stuff = flavour, it’s tasty stuff).

Add the beans and enough of the remaining chicken stock to cover, then stir well to combine. There should be enough liquid to make it soupy, but the mashed sweet potato should thicken it slightly. Turn heat up to high, bring soup to a boil, then turn down to low and simmer for 25-30 minutes or so.

After it’s simmered for a while, get the potato masher and mash some of the beans in the pot. I probably mashed just over a third of the beans, stirring frequently to check the consistency. The mashed beans will thicken the soup, so just mash and stir until it’s thick, but still more a soup than bean puree. Continue simmering on low for another 5 or 10 minutes.

When ready to serve, squeeze in the juice from one or two limes. The potato adds a level of sweetness that you’re looking to counteract here a little. I ended up using the juice of 1.5 limes. Just add the juice a half-lime at a time and continue tasting and adjusting until it’s nice and bright without being too powerfully citrusy. Taste again then add salt if needed. I had to add about another 1/3 to 1/2 tsp of salt at this point.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and a few gratings of fresh ground pepper on top, and sharp cheddar cheese and tortilla chips on the side.

Notes

Next time I make this I will probably increase the cumin and chili powder by a full tsp each, maybe using a blend of regular chili powder and chipotle chili powder. The nice smokiness would work well here, I think.

A little while ago I twittered about one of my favourite food blogs, and a number of people sent notes thanking me for the recommendation. I realized then that I may spend more time reading food blogs than many, and thus the inspiration for this post. Here’s a list of the food blogs I currently subscribe to, in not-quite-alphabetical order.

101 Cookbooks – I love this site. Phenomenal, inspiring, healthy, and straightforward food accompanied by great writing and fantastic photography. This is one of the first sites I will hit when searching for inspiration or recipes.

A Full Belly – It’s a little scattered in terms of content and frequency, but I keep it in my feed reader because it serves up bite-sized and interesting bits and pieces along with a smattering of recipes.

Arroz y Frijoles – This is the latest find, recommended by Melissa (who is basically awesome in all the ways someone can be awesome). It’s all about Cuban food, and while I’ve only dug through a smattering of the archives I can already tell it’s a keeper.

breadbasketcase – Marie started this blog on Dec 25th, 2005, in her attempt to bake her way through Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Bread Bible. Upon completing that noble and worthwhile goal (which I have considered doing myself), she continued blogging and baking and making all sorts of lovely food.

Chocolate and Zucchini – This is one of the A-List elite food blogs, and is worthy of the accolades. Clotilde Dusoulier, the author, has gone on to write and publish two books (a growing trend among food bloggers) and her blog continues to inspire.

Coconut & Lime – Every post is a clearly written original recipe with some minimal post-script chatter and usually at least a photo or two. A handy page lists the published recipes by category if you’re just digging around trying to figure out what’s for dinner.

Culinate – This is a multi-author mega-blog that does recipes, interviews, articles, and all sorts of other stuff. Usually good for at least 2-3 good posts per day, and absolutely worth checking out.

David Lebovitz – Cookbook author with a penchant for desserts but who writes about all sorts of food and life in Paris, among other things. From his Amazon.com mini-bio: “David Lebovitz was named one of the top five pastry chefs in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Chronicle and nominated for an IACP/KitchenAid Award for his book Room for Dessert. He has been featured on Today, as well as in Bon Appetit, The New York Times, People, Cooking Light, and Gourmet. David lives in Paris, leads chocolate tours, and teaches cooking around the world.”

Epicurious.com – This site is from the more traditional/corporate side of things, having partnered with Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines, but those partnerships are what makes it worth subscribing to, with its veritable barrage of recipes and interesting articles.

Frugal Cuisine – Cooking inexpensively doesn’t mean cutting quality. I don’t subscribe to this blog because of it’s money-saving tips, however, it’s just full of great, simple recipes, often with an Asian bent.

New York Times Dining and Wine Section – It’s all great and one of my must-have sites (this goes for the NYT site in general, if they ever tell me I have to pay for it, I will (within reason, mind…don’t get crazy)). The star of this particular show, in my opinion, is Mark Bittman, the “Minimalist” who wrote How to Cook Everything, which I turn to constantly for recipes and information. I have the original hard-back yellow-cover version of the book but will probably pick up the newly revised 10th anniversary red-cover version, as well.

Passionate Eater – This blog, as the title suggests, is really more about eating than cooking, but it’s well written and a fun diversion.

Michael Rhulman – Not just a food writer, but one of the great food writers. His best-known book is probably The French Laundry Cookbook (which someone actually cooked through at home, blogging all the while), with the more recent Charcuterie bringing up a close second. His blog is great and anyone interested in food and cooking should read it.

Serious Eats – Another multi-author mega-blog that publishes piles of interesting articles and recipes on a daily basis. Today’s surprise bit of wisdom? Animal Style Fries at In-and-Out Burger. Dear lord.

Smitten Kitchen – Akin to 101 Cookbooks and Chocolate and Zucchini, Smitten Kitchen is a beautiful blog with great writing, great recipes, and gorgeous photography. One of my favourite single-author food blogs. I am so making the Almond-vanilla rice pudding this weekend. Yum. Oh, and the Squash and chickpea Moroccan stew is on the menu as well. This is one of those food blogs you have to be careful about reading idly — it will make you hungry, even if you just ate.

Stone Soup – Posting is infrequent, but still worth subscribing to so you can catch the articles when they do come.

The Bitten Word – A couple of guys with a minor addiction to food magazines. The premise of this blog, in their own words: “We love food magazines and subscribe to Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Cook’s Illustrated, Food & Wine, Everyday Food and Martha Stewart Living. Over the last year, we only rarely put the magazines to use, instead allowing them to form a not so tidy pile in our apartment. Inspired by this post on Serious Eats, we’re resolving to put our food magazines to work this year, cooking at least one recipe from each magazine. We’ll post our results, and show you how it turned out.”

Zaiqa – All about Indian (specifically authentic Hyderabadi) cuisine. I’m trying to learn more about Indian cooking, and this blog is a great introduction that often goes beyond the recipes to talk about life and food in Hyderabad.

So, that’s what I have in my feed reader right now. There are tons and tons and tons of great food blogs out there, I just don’t have the time to follow them all. Do you have some favourites? Leave a note and a URL in the comments!

I recently told a friend of mine that I would put together a list of what I believe are the essential bits of kitchen gear you need to be able to cook at home regularly, reliably, and enjoyably. Sure you can get by with a sharp stick, a pot and a bit of fire, but that’s just going to be frustrating and annoying in the long run.

The list totals out to around $2200 which seems like a lot, but it includes a lot of decent quality gear you’ll only ever have to buy once. Most of it is spent on cookware (pots and pans) because good cookware really does make a huge difference in the end. Oh, and knives. High quality razor sharp knives are your friend. They’re not cheap, but you only need two anyhow. This isn’t everything you will ever need ever, just most of it. Pick up other bits and pieces when you need them.

Ok, here’s the list. Feel free to leave comments if you think I’ve included something silly or forgotten something essential. I will amend the list if need be…

Knives and knife-related items ($185)

• 4″ utility knife ($50)
• 8″ chef’s knife ($91)
• Bread knife ($10)
• Knife sharpener ($34)

Cookware ($935)

• 8″ non-stick fry pan ($70)
• 10″ non-stick fry pan ($110)
• 10″ stainless steel fry pan ($116)
• 4 qt stainless steel straight-sided saute pan ($88)
• Dutch oven – largish ($260)
• 2 qt saucepan ($63)
• 4 qt stainless steel saucepan ($55)
• Stock pot – 8-9 qt ($93)
• Lids for all of these (4 @ ~$20ea = $80)

Bakeware ($203)
Do not get non-stick bakeware except for muffin tins and pizza pans. You will just end up scratching the crap out of it and wasting your money. Never cut pizzas on the pizza pans — slide them off on to a cutting board first.

• 8 x 8 pan ($14)
• 9 x 13 pan ($24)
• Baking pans (2) ($17 ea)
• Cooling rack ($12)
• Glass pie plate ($8)
• Loaf pan ($14)
• Pizza pan (or two, non-stick are preferred) ($5)
• Pizza stone ($40)
• Roasting pan ($33)
• Roasting rack that fits in roasting pan ($19)

Electric gadgets ($157)

• Digital meat thermometer ($19)
• Digital scale ($50)
• Spice grinder ($25)
• Stick blender ($54)

Tools and fiddly bits ($610)

• Box grater ($15)
• Can opener ($20)
• Citrus juicer (just get the orange one, lemons and limes will fit too) ($15)
• Colander ($29, but you can get cheaper)
• Corkscrew ($20)
• Cutting boards – at least 3, plastic, var sizes, colour coded if you like ($12 ea, $36)
• Dish towels (many – get six to start, wash them all the time) ($16)
• Food storage containers, square, many (leftovers + storage)
• Glass liquid measuring cup (large, pyrex) ($32)
• Heat-resistant plastic spoons, spatulas, etc. ($3.50 ea, ~$12)
• Heat-resistant silicon scraper ($18)
• Heavy-duty utility scissors/shears ($32)
• Mason jars, 125 ml ($12/doz), 250 ml ($13/doz), 500ml ($17/doz), 1 litre ($15/doz)
• Measuring cups ($16)
• Measuring spoons ($20)
• Microplane grater ($12)
• Mixing bowls (glass and/or stainless steel – large, med, small) ($30)
• Oven mitts (not silicon) ($11)
• Pastry brush or silicon brush ($8)
• Pepper mill (the best you can afford) ($55+)
• Potato masher ($10)
• Salad spinner ($30)
• Small spray bottle for water ($4)
• Stainless steel ladle ($9)
• Stainless steel serving spoon ($7)
• Tongs (2 pair) ($10 ea, $20)
• Vegetable peeler ($8)
• Vegetable steamer insert ($5)
• Whisk ($14)
• Wire sieve ($20)
• Wooden spoons (at least 3) ($9)

Non-permanent

• Baking paper
• Paper towels
• Plastic wrap
• Tin foil
• Ziploc freezer bags (lg, and md size)

Essential references ($79)

• How to Cook Everything ($20)
• The Bread Bible ($24)
• Cook’s Illustrated website subscription ($35/a)

Things not to get

• Silicon oven mitts – they’re terrible. Get regular cloth mitts.
• Almost anything “single purpose”. For example: garlic press, grapefruit knife, cherry pitter, citrus zester, nutmeg grater, cheese plane, melon baller, corn stripper, etc. Notable exceptions: citrus juicer, pizza wheel.

I stopped buying pre-made salad dressings a long, long time ago because a) they’d get used once then end up rotting in the back of the fridge because they’re not really very good, b) it’s ridiculously easy to make your own from scratch, and c) making your own is about 1000x cheaper than buying pre-made.

I’ve established a base template for vinaigrette dressings which has held up pretty well through on-going tests. It is:

• 1/2 c oil (olive oil, generally)
• 1/3 c vinegar/sour (vinegar(s) + citrus juices, etc.)
• 1 finely minced clove of garlic (not optional, unless you really hate garlic (weirdo))
• 1 finely minced small shallot (not really optional, but you can substitute a couple of tablespoons of red onion if you must)
• 1/2 tsp sweet (sugar, honey, maple syrup, whatever)
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
• Pinch salt to taste

Put it all in a mason jar, make sure the lid is nice and tight, then shake like hell. A lot. Make it about an hour or so before you need it if you can, but that’s optional. Shake it again later. Don’t bother making enough for leftovers — it doesn’t store well and making it fresh is easy and awesome.

Now, I am a crazy vinegar-loving person, so you may want to ratchet the vinegar/sour back a bit. Starting with this basic template (which takes about 10 mins to make once you master the shallot/garlic mincing process) you can add whatever extras you want — fresh chopped herbs, grated cheeses, mustards, chopped capers, minced citrus zest, etc. Whatever.

The most recent was: olive oil, white wine vinegar, and lime zest (quite a lot…it was really tasty). Tonight’s is: olive oil, white wine vinegar, and about 1/3c finely grated parmasean cheese. Yum.

Update: If you’re going to use balsamic vinegar, don’t do the whole 1/3-1/2c with it. Cut that with something else. More than a few tablespoons of balsamic is a) a waste of balsamic, and b) going to be profoundly overpowering. Use the medium-good stuff, not the super-good stuff. Save the good stuff for drizzling over strawberries.

Whipped this up in under an hour (mostly simmering time) using nothing but pantry items. Alternate name would be “Simple Weeknight Chili”.

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 14oz can kidney beans
• 1 28oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 tbsp butter
• Medium white or yellow onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp chili powder (the Penzeys stuff is really good)
• Pinch dried oregano
• Salt + pepper to taste

Method

1. Brown ground beef over medium heat in a medium stockpot, drain and rinse. Drain and rinse beans. Put empty pot back on the heat, add butter, onions, and garlic. Saute for 5-6 mins. Toss in chili powder, oregano, salt + pepper and continue frying for a couple of minutes. Stuff will stick to the bottom a bit, but that’s ok — it will come off later.
2. Add browned meat, beans, and tomatoes (including juices). Stir and heat until simmering. Turn down the heat to low and simmer for 25-35 minutes (or longer if you want — the longer you simmer, the more the tomatoes will break down). Done.

Serve with crusty bread and a beer.

A while ago I decided that I wanted to learn how to make bread. I have a love-hate relationship with bread, you see — I love good, chewy, fresh, crispy bread, but I hate most of the stuff you can buy at the grocery store or market. The market bread was disappointing, honestly — I was expecting great things from that and it was just boring, weak, and flavourless. Boo.

Anyhow, after asking David Humphries for a book recommendation, I picked up Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Bread Bible (Amazon.ca, Amazon.com). It is an excellent book. After pouring over the introductory essays for a few days, I skipped ahead to the “Basic Hearth Bread” recipe, and gave it a shot. It worked beautifully. I made my third loaf of it yesterday, and I took pictures of the process that are over on my flickr account. Check out the set here: making bread.

I’ve always wanted to have my own herb garden, and now that we have a house with a big yard and plenty of sun, it’s time. At the beginning of March I started doing some research and very quickly discovered that buying herb plants, particularly the number and variety I want, was simply untenable. At a minimum of $3 per plant (plus shipping, and shipping plants isn’t cheap) I was looking at a final bill of a couple hundred bucks, the majority of which was for annuals. Since half the idea is to save money by not buying fresh herbs at the grocery store (seriously, $2-3 for a small handful of wilted basil?), a couple of hundred bucks wasn’t in the cards.

Then I spotted the seed prices, which are much more in line with what I had budgeted for this little experiment. While there are a few herbs that can’t really be grown from seed, the vast majority can, and ordering from Richter’s, I got many more herb, tomato, vegetable, and decorative plant seeds that I really need for less than $50. Another $12 got seeding flats and soil, and I was all set.

Last Saturday I spent a couple of hours planting out two flats’ worth of seeds — 144 units in all, with 2-3 seeds in each. These included: Sweet Basil, Thai Basil, Lemon Balm, Chives, Cilantro (two types), Dill, Greek Oregano, Italian Parsley, Rosemary, Garden Sage, French Thyme, Yellow Currant Tomatoes, Roma Tomatoes, Alpine Strawberries, Chinese Lantern, and four types of chiles (Cayenne, Jalapeno, Scotch Bonnet, and Serrano). I planted 144 in total because I’m pessimistically expecting a 75% failure rate, but we’ll see how it goes. There are still some herbs I need to buy as plants, including Bay, a couple of Mints, and French Tarragon. I expect I’ll also need to pick up a few Rosemary plants since those are apparently difficult to grow from seed.

Today, six days after planting the seeds, I was excited to discover the first sproutlings. The Sweet Basil, Thyme, Chives, and Oregano have all germinated, in spite of the less-than-stellar conditions they’ve had to deal with. Of course, I really have no idea what I’m doing beyond what I’ve read on a handful of pages on the internet, so we’ll see how it all turns out in the end.