buttercream eggs (a pictorial essay)

 

 

 

 

 

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the perfect pizza dough?

Pizza Dough
adapted from Pizza Dough III, courtesy of allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons white sugar
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, olive oil, salt, sugar, Italian seasoning, and yeast mixture; stir well to combine. Cover and rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Form dough into a ball and push into pizza pan. Cover with sauce and desired toppings and bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes.  

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recipe virginity

It's true.

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but up until last week, I'd never created an original recipe. Sure, I'd tweaked and fiddled and doubled and halved, but never had I concocted something entirely on my own accord. In fact, it wasn't until both the Internet and my overstuffed shelf of cookbooks failed to yield a suitable substitute for my favorite restaurant soup that I (nervously) decided it was time to take the plunge.

I'm partial to the Spicy Red Lentil with Spinach soup at Hale and Hearty, a popular lunch spot here in New York. They offer sandwiches, salads, and a smorgasbord of soups. The choices vary from day to day, but for whatever reason, my pick isn't on the menu nearly as often as I'd like. I wanted a version I could make at home.

As it turns out, starting from scratch isn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be! This soup is rich and spicy and--dare I say it?--better than the original. Plus it makes a lot and freezes really well, so it's perfect to heat up for lunch on a rainy afternoon.

Spicy Lentil and Spinach Soup

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups chopped peeled carrots
2 cups chopped celery
3 cups dry red lentils
8-10 cups vegetable broth (or a combination of vegetable broth and water)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried ground ginger
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1 cup tomato sauce
1 large tomato, chopped
1 10-ounce box frozen spinach, thawed and drained
2 tablespoons honey
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat, and sauté the onion until golden brown. Add the carrots and celery and sauté for another 10 minutes. Stir in garlic powder, cumin, ginger, curry powder, cinnamon, red pepper, basil, and coriander. Add broth and dried lentils; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 40 minutes or until lentils are tender.

2. Add tomato sauce, tomato, spinach, and honey, and simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Ladle soup into bowls and serve.

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no small parts...

I'm one of the least picky eaters you'll ever meet. Aside from Mexican food, chili, and peanut butter (which I do find tasty in combination with chocolate), I'm pretty much game for anything, especially when it comes to fruits and vegetables. 

Sort of.

Truth be told, I don't like celery all that much. It's not that it's bad exactly, just kind of bland and stringy and, well, tasteless. Cream cheese and ranch dressing help a little bit, as would peanut butter, I guess, if I liked it. But slather it in anything you want--celery is never going to be my go-to snack.  

So when I came home on Friday evening bearing the remnants of a project that involved turning 30+ stalks of the green stuff into the garnish for a giant Bloody Mary, I wanted to find a creative way to use it. I tried ingredient searches on sites like All Recipes and Epicurious, but soon realized that I must not be the only culinarian so decidedly ambivalent about these leafy stalks, since their repertoire pretty much peaks with Ants on a Log. There are precious few recipes in which celery is the star.

Eventually I called off my search for the perfect celery recipe and just made soup. Lots and lots and lots of soup. I'll be eating minestrone for a month:

And you know what? In my soup that celery is delicious. Because maybe, at the end of the day, celery is just meant to be a supporting player. 

After all, we can't all be stars.

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impromptu shrimp "scampi"

I got home from work on the early-ish side tonight, so I decided to make something more creative than a salad (my go-to dinner after a long day). I had shrimp in the freezer, a box of whole wheat pasta, and some leftover parsley, so I improvised. I'm pretty sure it's not authentic scampi (I used garlic powder, and the only pasta I had was rotini), but it turned out pretty well. Next time I'd play with the seasonings a little bit, but all in all, not too shabby for Thursday night dinner.

Impromptu Shrimp "Scampi"

Ingredients:

10 oz. whole wheat rotini

1/2 c. butter

1 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 c. white wine

1/2 t. black pepper

1 t. garlic powder

2 T. chopped parsley

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook past according to package directions. Drain.

 2. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in shrimp and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add wine, pepper, and garlic powder and cook for 1 minute more. 

3. Combine pasta and shrimp mixture, stir in parsley, and toss. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

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twenty-two inches (that's what she said)

"I like to cook." 

These four simple words never fail to elicit a look of sheer bewilderment from your typical New York City real estate agent. During my last apartment search, more than one realtor clucked his tongue when I even mentioned wanting a dishwasher; others frowned in dismay as I immediately vetoed anything with a mini-fridge. Over the years I've seen lots of apartments where the "kitchen" consisted of little more than a single cabinet hanging above a sink, and I once looked at a beautiful place on Columbus Avenue that didn't have a kitchen at all. Talk about a dealbreaker.

You see, I grew up in suburbia. In suburbia, kitchens have ample counter space, lots of sunlight, and perhaps even room for a table and chairs. But these days I'm a city girl, and while I wouldn't trade it for the world, I do sometimes find myself suffering from...kitchen envy.

In Manhattan, people just don't seem to care about cooking. Living in a place where you can get pretty much anything delivered at any hour of the day--sushi at eleven-thirty on a Wednesday night, Indian food at two in the morning--effectively eliminates the need to cook. I can count on one hand the number of Manhattanites I know who ever bother to attempt anything more complex than opening a can of soup. That, I'm fairly certain, is why kitchens in New York apartments tend to look like this:

For me, two cabinets and a couple of burners will never a kitchen make. I need to cook. Cooking is my stress relief, my entertainment, my passion. I enjoy hosting dinner parties and wooing co-workers with baked goods. So when I saw the kitchen in my current place, I knew immediately that I was home. My apartment is tiny--it could easily qualify as a large walk-in closet--but by New York standards, the kitchen is actually quite well equipped. I have full-size appliances, new floors and counters, a breakfast bar, a window, and a sink that is actually big enough to wash dishes in, although I don't really need it since I HAVE A DISHWASHER. Who knew all of that could fit into 32 square feet?

I love my teeny tiny kitchen, but it comes with some very specific challenges. For starters, I have a whopping 21.5 inches of usable counter space:

The lack of counter space often means that cooking is often something of a balancing act, especially if I'm using more than, say, two ingredients at a time. I'm forever shuffling bowls between the stove, the sink, and even the end tables in my living room. (I have four cabinets and zero drawers in my kitchen, which means that I'm forced to use the top of the refrigerator for storage, or I'm sure I'd be balancing things there as well.) Beyond that, there isn't room for a toaster oven or microwave, so those appliances live on the other side of my apartment. I've spilled melted chocolate or tomato sauce on my parquet floors more times than I can count.

But you know what? I'm lucky. My space might be tiny, but what it lacks in cabinets and counter space, it definitely makes up for in heart. 

And besides, I'm just glad that I don't have a bathtub in my kitchen:

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my cupcakes are cuter than your kids

A few months ago, I created a Facebook album with the following caption:

"Since I have no children or pets, I've decided to start taking pictures of things that I cook." 

I posted a picture of some particularly delicious-looking cupcakes that I'd whipped up for a party at work, and waited to see if anyone would respond to my satire.

 the cupcakes that started it all

Now, don't get me wrong--I'm all for people having kids if they want them. Sometimes they're even cute. But I live in New York City, land of delayed maturity. Here, most twenty and thirty-somethings are still too busy figuring ourselves out to even contemplate bringing a child into the equation, not to mention that most of us wouldn't have anywhere to put it if we did. We rent closet-sized studio apartments, endure 6th-floor walkups, and spend 80% of our monthly income on 250 square feet of space. We live with roommates long past the age where it should be considered socially acceptable. And we like it that way.

Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with friends and family, particularly those I no longer see on a regular basis. It's fun to hear what people are up to. But along with birthday parties and promotions, I am regularly subjected to pictures of Petey the chihuahua in his Halloween costume, status updates about how many times little Billy used the potty that day, and more sonogram photos than I care to count. Surely I'm not the only one who'd rather just see some delicious cupcakes...right?

Well, apparently I'm not alone. Over the past few months my cooking album--part satire, part food porn--has generated more comments than anything else I've ever posted on Facebook. And it got me thinking--if my friends are looking at pictures of Linzer Tortes and hazelnut gelato, is it possible that strangers would be interested, too? I guess I'm here to find out.

And me? I work in the entertainment industry, but I also really, really love to cook. I am one of seven Manhattanites currently using my oven for something other than storage. Other than middle school home ec class (where my proudest accomplishment was serving over-salted pumpkin muffins on Parents' Day) I have no particular training in anything food-related. I just love to cook, and I love to eat. I'm 97% vegetarian but do enjoy the occasional package of beef-flavored ramen noodles. I don't like peanut butter. I think capers are awesome.

I hope this blog will be a little bit of everything I love about food--tips, reviews, recipes, lots and lots of photos. And while I can't say exactly what you'll find here, I can promise that you will never see a sonogram or a picture of a dog dressed as anything other than a dog. Except maybe a dog dressed as a cupcake, because that would be cute.

Bon appétit.

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