Soup that is a Piece of Cake

Where did the expression "piece of cake" come from? For someone who doesn't really enjoy baking (myself), this doesn't necessarily imply "easy." I guess boxed cake is easy, but that's cheating...

Now soup, however...that's easy. Especially the one I made over the weekend! It's a delicious, hearty winter stew that takes the edge off the cold weather. It's ridiculously simple to make, pretty healthy, and rather cheap as well. I've had a bag of gorgeous Rancho Gordo "pebbles" sitting around, and I've been dying to make something delicious with them. You basically just throw a bunch of ingredients into a pot and cook away!

So pardon the Arrested Development reference, but here's the recipe for Hot Ham Water.

Hot Ham Water (aka Smoked Ham, Bean and Greens Soup)

Serves 6

• 1 lb bag of high-quality dried beans, picked over, soaked for 4-6 hours and drained. I used a bag of mixed heirloom beans, but use whatever you like to eat.
• 1 ham shank or (ham hock)
• 1 carrot, cut into 3 pieces
• 1 onion, cut in half
• 1 celery stalk, cut into 3 pieces
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 4 c chicken stock
  2 c water
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 stalk fresh rosemary
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 5 peppercorns
• 1 T herbes de provence
• 1 1/2 bunches of swiss chard or kale, washed well (I like to use swiss chard with red stems, it adds color)
• salt and pepper

1. Make a bouquet garni by using kitchen twine to tie the bay leaf, rosemary, thyme, peppercorns and herbes de provence in a piece of cheesecloth.
2. Add the bouquet garni, beans, ham shank, carrot, onion, celery, garlic, chicken stock and water to a large pot or dutch oven. Make sure there is enough liquid to cover all the ingredients and add more water as needed. You can make the soup to your desired consistency. (You can add a splash of red wine or worchestershire sauce here to add extra depth).
3. Bring to a boil, then cover and cook over low heat for two to three hours or until the beans are cooked through.
4. Pull out the ham shank and shred any meat that is attached. Return the meat to the pot.
5. Remove the onion, carrot, and celery. If any of the garlic cloves are still intact, remove them as well.
4. Prepare the chard by cutting the leafy part away from the stem (the stems take longer to cook). Cut the leaves into 1/2 in wide strips. If you want to include the stems, remove the tough outer layer with a vegetable peeler and cut into one inch wide pieces. Add the stems to the pot, then bring the liquid up to a slow simmer. 5 minutes later, add the leaves and cook until tender.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste. Important - do not add salt until this step! Salt will make the beans cook slower if you add it before they're done. Chard has a bit of a salty flavor, too, and that will impact the flavor of the soup.

Serve with warm crusty bread and butter. Enjoy!

The Cruelty of Television

I've been cooped up in my bedroom for the last 4 days with bronchitis but am feeling much better now, thanks to those crazy mega-dose antibiotics. The worst part was probably the sore throat, which meant that I was confined to a diet of soup and tea for what seemed like an eternity. Of course, it didn't help that I was spending about 8 hours of the day watching the Food Network or PBS cooking shows (some of my favorite cooking shows are on PBS - America's Test Kitchen, Lidia Bastianicch, Hubert Keller). Alton made chocolate chip cookies and I wanted to cry. Paula made sauerkraut and ribs and I started to salivate.

While the content of the shows was definitely the worst part, the commercials certainly didn't help. Even when I would attempt to escape the torment by watching TLC (I'm also a sucker for John & Kate Plus Eight and What Not To Wear), the commercials served as a constant reminder of my inability to consume solid foods. I have a strong aversion to TGI Friday's but I would have probably given my right arm for some of those deep fried green beans in their commercials.

I'm apparently a glutton for punishment, because I spent the other 2 waking hours of the days reading cookbooks or food magazines. James Peterson's Cooking was especially painful because he includes such beautiful photographs, but I did learn quite a bit about different cooking techniques and got some great ideas for recipes to try.

I think some good will come from being sick; I foresee a cooking binge in the next few weeks! I think all the delicous recipes I observed and the reading I did have inspired me to make some things I've been meaning to try. Right now I've got some amazing Rancho Gordo beans soaking at home and I picked up some gorgeous greens from the Farmer's Market this morning (Dinosaur Kale, Curly Kale and red-stemmed Swiss Chard), so I'm concocting a bean, greens and ham soup for dinner tonight. I'm determined to try a pate or terrine next weekend, which ought to be really interesting! Until then, however, here's a recipe from my favorite FN cooking show, Good Eats. The Macaroni and Cheese episode was on while I was sick, and I love Alton's recipe. NOTE: I can't stress the importance of tempering the egg with the milk mixture so you're not left with scrambled eggs in your mac 'n cheese!

Alton's Baked Macaroni and Cheese

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon powdered mustard
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 large egg
• 12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper

Topping optional but highly recommended!

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.
Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.
Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Asian Fusion Meal

I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting a good friend's mother last week. They came over for dinner, and we ate a healthy Asian fusion meal over great conversation. For example, I learned that my friend was part of a plot (involving the destruction of school property) to eliminate the line-dancing portion of her grade-school gym class. Tsk, tsk, and I always assumed she had been such a good girl.

The food was very easy to prepare, and the menu included:
Gingered Shiitake and Watercress Soup
Garlic and Chili-Roasted Edamame
Sesame-Crusted Seared Tuna with a sesame/soy dipping sauce
Seaweed Salad (store-bought)
Gelato from Naia for dessert

If anyone is interested in the recipes, let me know. For now, I'll include the edamame recipe because it's one of my favorites! This recipe was inspired by Betelnut's green bean appetizer and is a great snack or addition to an Asian-inspired meal or delivery sushi.

Garlic and Chili-Roasted Edamame

• 1 package of frozen whole edamame (still in the pod, not shelled. I usually find it at Trader Joe's)
• 3 T soy sauce
• 1 T toasted sesame oil, can subistute with vegetable oil but the sesame oil adds great flavor
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
• 1 T dried basil
• dried red chili flakes to taste (more chili = spicier)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
1. Combine all the ingredients in an oven-safe dish, such as a pyrex dish or a roasting pan. Toss to coat all the edamame with oil or soy sauce. They will burn if there's not enough liquid on them. 2. Cook them in the oven for about 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes and adding more oil or soy sauce if the pan is getting too dry. Test them after 10 minutes to see if they're cooked to your liking and add time accordingly.
3. There should be almost a glaze of soy sauce and oil over the pods. The beans should be slightly toothy, but not crunchy. Make sure they don't overcook, or they will get mushy.

A Venezuelan man, and Asian man and two Caucasian girls walk into a bar...

The Beau and I had an impromptu dinner last night with one of his old college friends and his girlfriend. Having just seen Slumdog Millionaire (amazing film! now one of my absolute favorites), we were both craving Indian food. Our never-fail quick Indian restaurant in the city is Kennedy's, which is an Indian restaurant inside an Irish pub (as the Beau puts it, "what happens when an Irish pub and an Indian restaurant mate"). The result is a strange combination of pool-hall noise, a dive bar crowd, and the mouth-watering smell of curry in the air. It's probably one of the few dive bars that doesn' t actually smell like a dive bar!

We don't go there for the crowd or the pool tables though. We go there for the food. I usually get their lamb masala dosa, which is a crispy crepe-like shell about 15 inches wide wrapped around spiced lamb, potatoes and veggies. Last night we went family-style though and ordered a few different dishes to share, along with pitchers of beer (Dos Equis, to add another layer of complexity into our already ethnically diverse dinner!), naan (plain, garlic, and paneer, which is a type of Indian cheese) as well as some rice. We all shared:

• Onion bajhi, which is like onion rings (but better) with Indian spices
• Chicken do-piazza, covered in tasty onions and peppers
• Bhindi masala, which is ochre with spicy onions and tomatoes
• Lamb vindaloo, a spicy stewed lamb and potato dish
• Lamb korma, stewed lamb in a creamy sauce

Everything was delicious, but the highlights were the chicken and the lamb korma. We (obviously!) ordered way too much food, and there was enough leftover for probably four more meals. The total for four people plus two pitchers of beer was $84. Not too bad for amazing food and great company!

P.S. Another great thing about Kennedy's is that they deliver to Telegraph Hill, North Beach, Russian Hill and the Marina until 3 am on weekends. Just in case you're craving some late night Indian (and the inevitable heartburn that will follow)!

Happy New Year!

It's the beginning of January and everyone keeps asking me, "What's your New Year's resolution?" It seems strange, but I've never made one before. I find them pretty pointless; come June, who can even remember what their resolution was?

This year I'll jump on board though. I resolve to chronicle my culinary adventures in this amazing city - and hopefully I'll hit a few other cities as well! With my job, I could certainly use a creative outlet. Math (even if it is just retail math) can get awfully tedious, especially for someone who has never considered herself a "numbers person." I've been using cooking as that outlet, but I've really missed writing lately. That's something college-age Miss Lyss never would have believed, considering how many painful all-nighters I used to pull in order to crank out papers!

I'm shooting for at least one post a week, even if it's just to tell you about the easy, delicious sandwich that I made for lunch yesterday. Speaking of which...

Ham and Apple Sandwich

• 2 slices of whole grain bread
• About 6 slices of deli honey ham (how hungry are you?)
• 1 slice of cheddar cheese
• A few very thin slices of apple (I used honeycrisp but pretty much anything except a super tart one would work)
• A small handful of fresh baby spinach
• Whole-grain Dijon mustard

Place the ham on one slice of bread, then layer the cheese, apple and spinach. Spread the other piece of bread with a little bit of the mustard (not too much, or that's all you'll be able to taste). I think you know what to do from here.

I ate it at room temperature, but it would probably be really good in a panini press as well. Enjoy!