I recently watched the film Julie and Julia for the first time. When I finally decided to watch the film, I expected a good story and was pleasantly surprised to pick up a few cooking tips as well.
During one of the early scenes in the character Julie's experiment to "cook her way through Julia Child's cookbook", she comments that she had been cooking mushroom incorrectly her entire life. "Don't crowd the mushrooms," she read from Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
The camera shot changes to one above the pan in which she is spreading out sliced mushrooms soon to be browned to perfection.
Like Julie, I am also guilty of crowding mushrooms. I always thought the most important part of cooking mushrooms was making sure to put in the appropriate amount of liquid. Too little they would burn, too much they would become mushy (also keeping in mind the fact that they release water as they cook down).
Yesterday morning, I returned home from my run with a craving for a good breakfast sandwich. Scanning through the contents of my fridge, I decided on scrambled egg whites with mushrooms and a little shredded cheese on a toasted bagel thin. Delicious!
My first task was to brown the mushrooms. I decided to give Julie and Julia's tip a try and spread the sliced pieces out. Wouldn't you know, it worked! They were very possibly the best mushrooms I have ever cooked. Furthermore, it made for a positively mouthwatering breakfast sandwich.
Friends, there are two morals to this story. One, watching films for pleasure can turn out to be educational; and two, don't crowd the mushrooms.
If you have yet to see this foodie dream masterpiece of a film. Watch the trailer here.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Just Plum Peachy Nectarine Pie
If all of you are like me, you have trouble resisting the great deals on summer fruits. It always seems like during summer you can never buy just a few; despite the fact that you know they will go bad before you can finish all of them.
So what do you do when a once tempting bowl of summer fruits begins to look like this?
You turn it into this:
Here is how:
There are two parts to making this pie. First, turning the fruit into a filling. Second, creating a great pie crust.
*** For this pie I used the plums, peaches and nectarines I had that were going bad, but you can adapt it for pretty much whatever fruit you want to use.
Fruit filling
1. Wash all of your fruit and cut off all of the good parts. If it is a little juicy or starting to bruise inside it is probably still good. Just make sure it is not rotten.
2. Place all of the good cutting (discard the rest) in a medium sized pot with a small amount of water in the bottom. ***Note this picture does not display the appropriate amount of fruit needed.
3. Add sugar (I used brown, but you can use whatever you wish). I sprinkled probably around 3/4 cup - 1 cup.
4. Let fruit simmer on a low setting (around 3 depending on your stove) for about a half hour or so, then add desired spices. I added some cinnamon, nutmeg and a cinnamon stick.
5. Cover the pot and allow to simmer again on low for 45 minutes - 1 hour.
Pie Crust:
I tried this recipe for the pie crust from Simply Recipes. It was fast and easy and the crust came out perfectly flaky and buttery.
Put it all together:
Okay, so now you have the dough and the filling. All that is left is to create the actual pie.
1. Roll out the dough on the floured surface. I found this dough very easy to roll.
2. Put dough into pre-greased pie tins.
3. Add the fruit filling. Depending on how much water was released from the fruit while cooking, you may need a slotted spoon to spoon the fruit into the pie crust without getting too much of the liquid. You can also add a dash of flour of cornstarch to the liquid to thicken it and add the whole thing to the pic crust. For this one, I simply added the fruit.
4. If you like the lattice effect I created on top, roll out more of the dough and cut long half in strips that you can lay across. In a true lattice pie crust the strips are woven together. On mine I went a little less fancy and simply laid them across in two layers.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
I could not wait to eat these so I pretty much took a bite right after it came out of the oven. You can serve them warm or chill them in the refrigerator for later. Either way, the fruit of your labor will be sweet.
Share your thoughts! Let me know what you think of this recipe.
So what do you do when a once tempting bowl of summer fruits begins to look like this?
You turn it into this:
Here is how:
There are two parts to making this pie. First, turning the fruit into a filling. Second, creating a great pie crust.
*** For this pie I used the plums, peaches and nectarines I had that were going bad, but you can adapt it for pretty much whatever fruit you want to use.
Fruit filling
1. Wash all of your fruit and cut off all of the good parts. If it is a little juicy or starting to bruise inside it is probably still good. Just make sure it is not rotten.
2. Place all of the good cutting (discard the rest) in a medium sized pot with a small amount of water in the bottom. ***Note this picture does not display the appropriate amount of fruit needed.
3. Add sugar (I used brown, but you can use whatever you wish). I sprinkled probably around 3/4 cup - 1 cup.
4. Let fruit simmer on a low setting (around 3 depending on your stove) for about a half hour or so, then add desired spices. I added some cinnamon, nutmeg and a cinnamon stick.
5. Cover the pot and allow to simmer again on low for 45 minutes - 1 hour.
Pie Crust:
I tried this recipe for the pie crust from Simply Recipes. It was fast and easy and the crust came out perfectly flaky and buttery.
Put it all together:
Okay, so now you have the dough and the filling. All that is left is to create the actual pie.
1. Roll out the dough on the floured surface. I found this dough very easy to roll.
2. Put dough into pre-greased pie tins.
3. Add the fruit filling. Depending on how much water was released from the fruit while cooking, you may need a slotted spoon to spoon the fruit into the pie crust without getting too much of the liquid. You can also add a dash of flour of cornstarch to the liquid to thicken it and add the whole thing to the pic crust. For this one, I simply added the fruit.
4. If you like the lattice effect I created on top, roll out more of the dough and cut long half in strips that you can lay across. In a true lattice pie crust the strips are woven together. On mine I went a little less fancy and simply laid them across in two layers.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
I could not wait to eat these so I pretty much took a bite right after it came out of the oven. You can serve them warm or chill them in the refrigerator for later. Either way, the fruit of your labor will be sweet.
Share your thoughts! Let me know what you think of this recipe.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Culinary Adventure
Let the record state: Today, July 19, 2012, the adventure begins.
Some of my earliest memories are of watching my mom in the kitchen. Often to the dismay of my brother and I, she insisted we ate only healthy home-cooked meals. Growing up I was often jealous of my friends' lunches of processed snacks and dinners of McDonald's Happy Meals. I could not explain to my mother enough how unappealing bland brown rice, raw grated beets or cabbage soup is to a child. Sadly, my complaints fell on what I had considered to be deaf ears.
My mother started getting us involved in cooking at a young age. I cooked my first scrambled eggs when I was four... and nearly burned the house down. I was a very ambitious child.
When I got a little older, I took mostly to baking (as I was not the most coordinated with knives and was thoroughly disgusted with the idea of touching raw meat). Even then, I could not quite get into the idea of measuring and mixing all of the ingredients. Therefore, cookie-cakes made of a boxed cookie mix became my specialty. I'll tell you, I was determined to be the best cookie-cake baker the world ever saw. I'll have to post a picture of my particular favorite I made in the shape of the state of California.
It was not until I hit high school age that I finally began to see the many values of cooking. For one, I finally started reading labels with the capacity to understand that chemicals is not real food. Furthermore, that through my mom cooking every night she was expressing her love through food... except perhaps for that cabbage soup.
I began to realize how important cooking is to my family. Some of the only things we have left of our family a few generations back are recipes. The food we cook as a family is a part of who we are. After that light bulb moment, it did not take long for cooking to become a huge part of my life.
Another thing my mother taught me is improvising with what you have. There were times when we did not have a whole lot, but she always knew how to create a meal out of whatever we did have. This skill she has passed on to me. I once had nothing but peanut butter, a chocolate bar, butter and some wafer cookies in my place and had to make a dessert. The result was something I dubbed Tree Bark (because of how it looked, not how it tasted).
Through this blog I seek to pass my love for cooking and the improvision skill on to all of you, my readers. I only have a few rules before spilling my secrets.
1. EVERYONE CAN COOK! You might not become a master chef, but everyone can learn the basics.
2. Don't be afraid to get messy. You won't know if a recipe will work until you try it.
3. Find ideas and make them your own. I find a lot of recipes on blog and usually give them a twist to make them my own; or, combine elements from similar recipes to create a new one.
4. Add some flavor to your life. I love to travel, but don't have lots of money to do so. I comb blogs for authentic recipes from various countries and cultures when I get that itch to try something new.
5. Add some music and dance around your kitchen while you cook. My family always knows they are going to have something good to eat in a few hours whenever they hear some good tunes coming from the kitchen. On the bad days, nothing releases stress better for me than putting on some good music, dancing around the kitchen and cooking a great meal or dessert.
Well, there you have it. Hope you enjoy this blog as much as I do. Feel free to comment and let me know what you add to recipes to change things up. Looking forward to this taking culinary journey with you all.
Preview of recipes to come:
Dark Chocolate Heart Shapes Brownies with Chocolate Cherry Dove Candy Hearts
Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Kiwi Filling and Kiwi Cream Cheese Icing
My own take on Israeli Krembo
Some of my earliest memories are of watching my mom in the kitchen. Often to the dismay of my brother and I, she insisted we ate only healthy home-cooked meals. Growing up I was often jealous of my friends' lunches of processed snacks and dinners of McDonald's Happy Meals. I could not explain to my mother enough how unappealing bland brown rice, raw grated beets or cabbage soup is to a child. Sadly, my complaints fell on what I had considered to be deaf ears.
My mother started getting us involved in cooking at a young age. I cooked my first scrambled eggs when I was four... and nearly burned the house down. I was a very ambitious child.
When I got a little older, I took mostly to baking (as I was not the most coordinated with knives and was thoroughly disgusted with the idea of touching raw meat). Even then, I could not quite get into the idea of measuring and mixing all of the ingredients. Therefore, cookie-cakes made of a boxed cookie mix became my specialty. I'll tell you, I was determined to be the best cookie-cake baker the world ever saw. I'll have to post a picture of my particular favorite I made in the shape of the state of California.
It was not until I hit high school age that I finally began to see the many values of cooking. For one, I finally started reading labels with the capacity to understand that chemicals is not real food. Furthermore, that through my mom cooking every night she was expressing her love through food... except perhaps for that cabbage soup.
I began to realize how important cooking is to my family. Some of the only things we have left of our family a few generations back are recipes. The food we cook as a family is a part of who we are. After that light bulb moment, it did not take long for cooking to become a huge part of my life.
Another thing my mother taught me is improvising with what you have. There were times when we did not have a whole lot, but she always knew how to create a meal out of whatever we did have. This skill she has passed on to me. I once had nothing but peanut butter, a chocolate bar, butter and some wafer cookies in my place and had to make a dessert. The result was something I dubbed Tree Bark (because of how it looked, not how it tasted).
Through this blog I seek to pass my love for cooking and the improvision skill on to all of you, my readers. I only have a few rules before spilling my secrets.
1. EVERYONE CAN COOK! You might not become a master chef, but everyone can learn the basics.
2. Don't be afraid to get messy. You won't know if a recipe will work until you try it.
3. Find ideas and make them your own. I find a lot of recipes on blog and usually give them a twist to make them my own; or, combine elements from similar recipes to create a new one.
4. Add some flavor to your life. I love to travel, but don't have lots of money to do so. I comb blogs for authentic recipes from various countries and cultures when I get that itch to try something new.
5. Add some music and dance around your kitchen while you cook. My family always knows they are going to have something good to eat in a few hours whenever they hear some good tunes coming from the kitchen. On the bad days, nothing releases stress better for me than putting on some good music, dancing around the kitchen and cooking a great meal or dessert.
Well, there you have it. Hope you enjoy this blog as much as I do. Feel free to comment and let me know what you add to recipes to change things up. Looking forward to this taking culinary journey with you all.
Preview of recipes to come:
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