Enjoying a Warm Fire

Tonight we made our first fire of the winter season. Of course, it qualifies as the first fall fire, too, since we haven't built a fire since last year. So, we're enjoying the crackling sound and earthy smell of our real wood fire. We had leftover soup tonight with more of the bread and some Cabernet that mom bought us on her last visit down here. We felt like it had a smoky finish (Smoking Loon, perhaps the origin of the name?) but then again we were pretty close to the fire. Praying Charles sleeps better tonight. He's given us two full nights of sleep in the past month. I'm not sure if he needs extra food or extra comfort at this stage, maybe a little bit of both. Either way, we need wisdom in dealing with his frequent night wake-ups that have kept both of us pretty tired during the day. That's about it for now! John is cleaning up the last bit of the kitchen before we head to bed.

John's in the kitchen...

Well, John is in the kitchen prepping for dinner. Tonight, we'll be enjoying soup - Lentil and Broccoli cream soup. We've never tried that but had some homemade chicken broth from when I made chicken curry salad last week and had to find something to do with it! So, soup it is. Perfect on a cold night like this - supposed to dip to 30 degrees. John stopped by Great Harvest Bread Company on his way home and bought some really tasty-looking whole grain bread, so we'll have that with some butter along with our soup tonight and some wine. Only additions needed are a good fire in the fireplace, which we should have soon! John has been handling a lot of the dinner end of things lately, since I'm the baby-feeder of the house, a job which I gladly assume. It's nice to be able to sit together in the evenings and enjoy dinner and a glass of wine, since that is basically our time together. Then, we feed the boys one last time between 9 and 9:30 and they go to bed for...hopefully the rest of the night! Joseph is our good sleeper; Charles is our active little guy and we're working on him a bit more.

Blog Happenings...or Finally an Update

So those of you who have been following "What's Cooking" have probably stopped following since nothing new has been posted since November! Well here is a new post, finally, but which has nothing to do with cooking. I've decided to re-think this entire blog and along with a new design come some new thoughts. Originally this was intended to be a family blog - kind of a compilation of everyone's activities in the kitchen. Since I am the only one who has really been posting (except for a couple by you, mom, kudos!:)) I feel a sense of ownership and desire to change things up a bit. I'm going to be the only one posting from now on - and including posts having nothing to do with culinary activity.
I'm re-thinking the name, too. The URL will stay "home artisans," but the header most likely will change from "What's Cooking" to something a bit less kitchen-specific:) We shall see.

Above you'll see the picture of our new additions...the beautiful reasons I haven't updated in so long! Introducing Charles and Joseph, now almost 5 months old! Full names are Charles Frederick and Joseph Benjamin. Charles is on the left, Joseph is on the right.

More updates to come, as I figure out what I want this blog to become.

Thai Basil Chicken or Gai Pad Gra Pow

This is a family favorite. We like to cook it at least once a month at our house (preferably much more often!). Originally, this recipe came from Thaitable. We modify their recipe slightly.

YOU NEED:

2 TBS Vegetable Oil
4 - 7 Thai chili peppers, minced
1 TBS sugar
1 - 2 packages fresh Thai basil
1/2 lb chicken, minced
1 TBS garlic, minced
1 carrot, thinly sliced
a wok is preferable for cooking this dish
Jasmine rice

For sauce:
juice of 1 lemon
equivalent amount of fish sauce
4 or 5 minced Thai chili peppers


We modify the above in the following way: we usually double everything! While this is not true modification so far, we also typically add a bit more garlic than is called for, more Thai chili peppers (at least 10), and 1 - 2 TBS oyster sauce. Occasionally, we add 1 - 3 sliced Asian eggplants right before we add the chicken. We also add a Thai basil curry paste to the ground chicken and let it marinate a few minutes.

PREP

Make your sauce by mixing sauce ingredients above in a small bowl. Set aside.

Mince the garlic and chili pepper. Put in a small bowl together or separate. Set aside.

Thinly slice your carrot (and eggplant, if using) and place in a large bowl. Set aside.

Clean and pick your basil leaves. Pile onto a plate. Set aside.

Measure your sugar, fish sauce, and oyster sauce if using into a small bowl and set aside.

Mince your chicken.

Ingredients should be assembled. We add eggplant to ours as well (if you do this, add it before the chicken and stir a few minutes.)

COOKING!

Fry garlic and chili pepper in oil over high heat.

When garlic begins to brown, add eggplant (if using) and carrot. Stir-fry eggplant a few minutes until softens (add more oil as needed). If only using carrot, proceed immediately to the next step.

Drop chicken in and stir constantly. Keep stirring until all juice is out of chicken and chicken is cooked.

Add sugar, fish sauce, and oyster sauce. Stir fry for a few seconds.

Add Thai basil. Turn it over in the wok to mix through the dish. It will wilt and smell wonderful.

Plate over jasmine rice. Serve with lemon-fish sauce and enjoy!

PICS of the Cooking Process:

Bi Bim Bap

Yes, it's been since June since the last post! I'll be trying to blog regularly from now on since those first three months of pregnancy are over and the nausea has subsided enough for me to return to the kitchen.

I wanted to post about my favorite Korean dish - Bi Bim Bap. Bi Bim Bap is frequently served in a hot stone bowl, in which case it would be called Dol Sot Bi Bim Bap.

It's an extremely nutritious dish - full of vegetables, with anchovies and egg as protein, served over rice. Most people eat it with a semi-sweet, slightly spicy, red pepper paste.

I'm giving the recipe for our easy home-made version. You will find many variants of this recipe, since Bi Bim Bap can really be made with a variety of vegetables, depending on your preference and what is in your fridge. In that way, it can be economical and a great way to use up raw vegetables while they are still fresh. And since this recipe is so centered around vegetables, they need to be the freshest!

Our basic recipe for two calls for:

3 or 4 carrots, julienned
One package small mushrooms (baby bellas cut into fourths or enoki mushrooms are good choices)
1 package spinach, washed
2 cups jasmine rice
myulchi bokkeum (stir-fried dried anchovies)
Korean red pepper paste
1/2 Cup soy sauce
2 Tbs Sesame oil
2 or 3 Pinches Sesame seeds
One package sliced green onion
2 eggs

For Myulchi Bokkeum (thank you, Maangchi!):
1 cup dried anchovies, 1 tbs olive oi, 1 or 2 tbs sugar, 1/2 tsp minced garlic, 2 tsp water, and 1/2 tbs corn syrup (Optional. We use canola oil instead and it turns out great!). Follow recipe through the link above - it's very easy and delicious.

1. First, put your rice on to steam in your rice cooker or pan.
2. Mix soy sauce, sesame oil, and sesame seeds in a small bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of chopped green onion. Set aside.
3. Make myulchi bokkeum, following Maanchi's recipe above.
4. Blanch your vegetables one at a time: carrots, spinach, and mushrooms. (You can also fry your mushrooms for a few minutes in 1 or 2 tbs sesame oil for stronger flavor).
5. Arrange blanched vegetables on a plate along with the extra sliced green onion.
6. Sprinkle some sesame seeds over your mushrooms. Drizzle vegetables with a small amount of sesame oil if you like.
7. Fry two eggs (we use the same pan used for the mushrooms without washing it first).
8. Fill your bowls with rice. Arrange your bi bim bap as desired - the vegetables go on top of the rice, spoon a little of the soy sauce blend over the veggies, and top each bowl with your fried egg. You can either mix your anchovies into the dish or eat them on the side. Add Korean red pepper paste to taste throughout the meal.
Enjoy!

Garam Masala

Prepping for last post's Korma, John and I made garam masala ourselves. You can purchase garam masala in the store pre-ground, but it usually has nowhere near the pungency you can create by making your own. In fact, when we smelled our finished masala, the difference was so great that we just dumped our store-bought spice.

I think garam masala is very fun to make - it is visually appealing, with all of your spices laid out to roast, and the aromas of the roasting spices are delicious. John ground the roasted spices in the mortar and pestle and then we mixed in a pinch of saffron.

There are different versions of garam masala, but most include the following basic spices. Sometimes recipes call for saffron or rose petals. Our recipe called for saffron.

Here are the ingredients you need:

2 tablespoons cumin seeds
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
2 tablespoons cardamom seeds
2 tablespoons black peppercorns
1 (3-inch) stick cinnamon, broken up
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon saffron (optional)

Now, toast all of the spices except for the nutmeg and saffron. Do this by putting them into a dry, heavy skillet (we used cast iron) set on medium-high heat. Be careful and watch the spices. They should give off a slight smoke as they roast and the aroma will be sweet and spicy. If you burn them at all, you will need to start completely over. The flavors will be full-bodied after about 10 minutes of toasting, with some variance depending on the type of stove you are using.















After the spices are toasted, grind them to a powder along with the nutmeg and saffron in either a spice grinder, or, as we used, a mortar and pestle.















It should keep from 3 - 4 months in a tightly-sealed container away from heat and light.
















The spice on the right is the garam masala; the spice on the left is turmeric.

Posted by Sara.

Chicken Korma with Saffron Rice

If you have been checking this blog for updates, you may have noticed that not much has been cooking lately. This is more a reflection of my laziness with respect to blogging than actual inactivity in the kitchen. We have been cooking more simple meals lately, such as vegetables with vegetables...nothing particularly photogenic.

So, moving on to today's recipe: Chicken Korma. I have still not been able to reproduce exactly the taste of this dish at our favorite Indian restaurant, but this dish was really excellent on its own merit, and did in fact taste like Indian, as opposed to my eggplant catastrophe a few weeks ago. Recap: I spent something like 3 hours in the kitchen making "Indian" eggplant (I substituted eggplant for meat in a recipe, go figure) which tasted afterward like funky Italian. John and I both agreed: it doesn't taste too bad, but if you spend 3 hours in the kitchen, you want it to taste like you spent 3 hours in the kitchen.

Today's recipe comes from Jamie Oliver. There are many recipes for chicken korma online, but this one looked especially terrific to me - promising in part due to its not skipping time-consuming steps like marinating overnight.

Note: I included some pictures below of the saffron rice we made. This is easy: steam rice until slightly underdone (this will depend on the quantity of rice. Look at the package and steam about 5-7 minutes less than the full cooking time.) Remove rice from heat. Sauté onion and spices (cumin, coriander - whatever you like) in ghee or oil until soft. Add soaked saffron water (first picture) and the onion-spice mixture to the rice and let steam until done. Add some raw snap peas and green onion.

Ingredients:

1.kg Chicken breast or mini breast fillets
1 heaped tablespoon of finely grated fresh ginger
3 cloves of garlic, minced
150g thick (plain) yogurt
1 dried red chili
2 finely chopped onions
1 tbsp ghee or veg. oil
1 tbsp ground coriander
Pinch of ground black pepper
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
water
75g creamed coconut
salt, to taste
2 heaped tbsps ground almonds
finely chopped Coriander Leaves, to garnish
juice of 1/2 lemon

Instructions:

1. Cut the chicken breasts into bite sized chunks
2. Mix the chicken with the ginger, garlic and yogurt. Cover and marinade for 12 hours or in the fridge overnight.
3. Liquidise the chopped onion and red chillies, add a little water if you need to. blend til smooth.
4. Heat the ghee/oil in a pan.
5. Add the ground coriander, ground black pepper, turmeric and garam masala and stir fry for about 1-minute over a low heat.
6. Turn up the heat, add the onion and chilli paste and stir fry for 10-minutes.
7. Add the chicken and the marinade and continue to stir fry for another 10-minutes.
8. Add the creamed coconut and enough water to *just* cover the chicken and bring to the boil, stirring until the coconut is dissolved. Stir in the ground almonds.
9. Reduce heat to low, cover the pan and simmer until the chicken is tender (30-40 minutes).
10. Remove from heat, add lemon juice and salt to taste. Mix well.

The one thing that we did in addition to the above was make our own garam masala. This is very easy, and will be its own blog post. John helped a lot in the kitchen...since there was a lot of prep.

Here are the pictures of our saffron rice and Korma:

S