I love ribs.  Part of me thinks they should be a food group to themselves.  But alas that won’t happen.  I make ribs a few different ways and am always on the lookout for new ways to make them.  Having always lived in an apartment I’ve never been able to do [...]]]>

I love ribs.  Part of me thinks they should be a food group to themselves.  But alas that won’t happen.  I make ribs a few different ways and am always on the lookout for new ways to make them.  Having always lived in an apartment I’ve never been able to do the whole backyard grilling thing and have always relied on my oven to make the rib magic happen.  A few months ago Mark Bittman wrote about this method for oven-smoking ribs. I was intrigued.

The recipe seemed super easy.  Like no-brainer easy.  The rub used things already in my pantry and aside from the ribs I just had to go out and buy wood chips and a disposable roasting pan.  I thought wood chips would have been hard to find.  Nope! I went to Canadian Tire and they had hickory, mesquite, apple, maple and maybe another kind of wood.  I opted for hickory although I pondered the merits of mesquite.

The only part that I thought could potentially be scary was the whole foil tent bit.  Oh so not EVEN scary!  Bittman talks about using 20 feet of foil.  I used maybe 6 feet and was totally fine.  The whole contraption came together very easily and stayed put which I really didn’t think it would.  As for cooking I decided to err on the side of caution and cook the ribs for the full 3 hours instead of 2.5.  I would have been annoyed if after all that time I had a rack of undercooked ribs.

The results were great.  Obviously not as good as some of my fave BBQ spots, but for a homemade smoking solution they were pretty good.  The ribs weren’t intensely smoky but there was a nice hint of natural smoke.  It was subtle but a welcome addition to my rib repertoire.  I was so happy with the flavour between the dry rub and the smoke that I didn’t even bother with any sauce.

Oven-Smoked Ribs

1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablespoons paprika
1 rack spareribs, 2 to 3 pounds.

1. Heat oven to 225 degrees. While oven heats, mix together dry ingredients and rub them all over pork.

2. Layer bottom of roasting pan with hickory or oak chips and add enough water to create a shallow pool coating bottom of pan and moistening chips; do not drown them.

3. Put a rack over chips and put rubbed meat on rack. Cover entire roasting pan tightly with foil, making a tent at top so smoke-flavored steam can circulate around meat. Bake for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until meat is cooked and tender.

4. Carefully remove foil from pan and run ribs under broiler, watching carefully, until nicely crisp and browned, about 5 minutes.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

Click on the link below to read:
No-Knead Bread: Not Making Itself Yet, but a Lot Quicker .

The article takes a look at how to [...]]]> Clearly I have not been so up on my New York Times reading recently since I missed Mark Bittman’s most recent article on No Knead Bread.

Click on the link below to read:
No-Knead Bread: Not Making Itself Yet, but a Lot Quicker .

The article takes a look at how to shorten the time needed to make the already easy no-knead bread.  He also has a recipe for whole wheat bread which has been stumping bloggers left at and right (myself included).

For a little history on the no-knead bread phenomenon check out the first article that appeared in the NY Times:
The Secret of Great Bread: Let Time Do the Work .
Also check out the great follow up article: No Kneading, but Some Fine-Tuning.

I’ve made the no-knead bread a bunch of times and have blogged about it here , here , here , here , and finally, HERE all with varying degrees of success.

Enjoy!

At last! After months and months of experimenting I’ve finally nailed the 100% Whole Wheat Bread baking.

If you’ve browsed through the archives you may have noticed my obsession with bread making. And not just any bread making but the no-knead technique brought to the attention of the masses (I’m totally the [...]]]>

At last! After months and months of experimenting I’ve finally nailed the 100% Whole Wheat Bread baking.

If you’ve browsed through the archives you may have noticed my obsession with bread making. And not just any bread making but the no-knead technique brought to the attention of the masses (I’m totally the masses and love it!) by the New York Times back in November 2006.  I’ve baked many many loves.  For the most part they have all been delicious but have varied in success based on my flour ratios, add-ins, moisture etc.  The goal has always been to make a fabulous all whole wheat loaf.

After A LOT of research I came across a site (mentioned in my last post about the bread) that suggested using Gluten Flour.  At the time I hadn’t even heard of gluten flour but I went over to my local Bulk Barn and picked some up and got to baking.  I tried it first on a loaf with a white/whole wheat mix.  The loaf was great and rose very well.  I knew that 100% would be next.

For my maiden voyage into the 100% whole wheat effort I used of course 3 cups of whole wheat flour, about 3tbsp of gluten flour, just shy of 2 cups of water and the usual recommendations for salt and yeast.  I have to say the results were great.  The loaf wasn’t too dense but it had the great nutty whole wheat flavour.  The loaf rose well, not as great as my last mixed loaf but pretty impressive for the whole wheat.  Part of me thinks that I left it to rise for too long.  I didn’t time things out properly so the first rise was about 20hrs.  Next time I’d monitor it more closely so that I wouldn’t lose any height in the first rise.

Definitely delicious and a great alternative to buy airy supermarket loaves with HFCS.  Also a great alternative to buying $6 loaves at the bakery or gourmet shop.  Now that I think of it… I kind of want to put another loaf together…

And the quest for the perfect “no-knead” loaf continues. If you’ve stumbled upon this site before then you may have noticed that I’m obsessed with making the no-knead bread recipe that was featured in the NY Times about a year and a half ago. If you click on the “Other Yummy [...]]]>

And the quest for the perfect “no-knead” loaf continues. If you’ve stumbled upon this site before then you may have noticed that I’m obsessed with making the no-knead bread recipe that was featured in the NY Times about a year and a half ago. If you click on the “Other Yummy Things” category or do a search for Bittman or Lahey you will be able to take a look at some of my other attempts.

For the original article from the Times Click Here .

This post is a two-fer.

I was craving bread as usual and decided to go back to my regular loaf (2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup white flour).  It turned out just fine as usual.  But I knew that it could be better.  I wanted a full loaf with a good rise to it.  No more flat-ish loaves.  I wanted something that I could make a decent sized sandwich on.  So I obsessively scoured the multitude of posts about this bread on the internet.  And I found my answer…

GLUTEN FLOUR!

Gluten flour comes from high-protein whole durum wheat that is washed to remove starch.  Then is is dried and ground.  You use it with whole wheat flour or with low gluten flours.

Of course I went out and bought some…

The results were great!  The dough rose a bunch AND the bread turned out fairly full.  For this loaf I used 2 cups Whole Wheat flour, 1 cup White flour, 3 tbsp gluten flour and 2 cups of water.  The more whole wheat flour you use the more water you should add.  The dough was fairly easy to work with and not too wet.

The only problem that I had was that the bread stuck to the bottom of the pot.  That had NEVER happened before.  I waited for everything to cool down and used various knives, forks and spoons to pry the bread loose without damaging it.

Next time… 100% whole wheat!

Falafel! gets an exclamation point every time because it’s one of my all-time fave foods. Seriously, I LOVE LOVE LOVE a falafel! My fave falafel! is from L’As de Falafel! in Paris. It’s the gold standard and absolutely delicious. But alas I don’t live in Paris and my quest for the perfect [...]]]>

Falafel! gets an exclamation point every time because it’s one of my all-time fave foods. Seriously, I LOVE LOVE LOVE a falafel! My fave falafel! is from L’As de Falafel! in Paris. It’s the gold standard and absolutely delicious. But alas I don’t live in Paris and my quest for the perfect falafel! in Toronto is ongoing. I try to hit one or two falafel! places a month. I’ve had some good and some passable but nothing AMAZING.

(from here on in i’m dropping the ! after falafel… it’s hurting my brain trying to remember to type it).

So as I always I’ve decided to take matter into my own hands. Over the years I’ve. experimented with packaged falafel mix. Some are OK but generally they are too salty and the texture is off. I’ve tried a few make-them-yourself recipes using canned chickpeas and they were OK but again, not great.

About a year ago I stumbled upon this recipe from Mark Bittman from the NY Times. I could tell that I could make it work. I like that it started with dried chickpeas. I also like that he gives the option of using either parsley or cilantro. And generally I enjoy Mark Bittman. I love his little videos. I kind of want to be his friend. He also seems like the type of guy who knows his way around a falafel… so I gave the recipe a try.

GREAT results. I use the recipe as a starting point and then adjust the seasonings to my liking which means pumping up the cumin and coriander count. I also used a mix of parsley and cilantro for extra fun. I don’t remember but knowing me I likely ignored the “Scant teaspoon cayenne” recommendation and kicked it up even further. The heat is in my blood.

The biggest change that I made to the recipe was not frying the falafel balls. I’m not a fan of deep frying. Not because it’s unhealthy (deep fried is my fave food group) but because a.) it uses a lot of oil and b.) i’m afraid of getting grease burns! Instead I pan fried them a bit to get them crispy on the outside and then finished them in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. I ended up with crispy falafel balls without any grease burns (or you know… extra fat/calories etc).

I turned the falafel balls into a sandwich by stuffing them in a whole wheat pita with lettuce, tomato, parsley, roasted eggplant and homemade tahini. Delicious. I kind of want to make falafel again this week… I’m not kidding, they make me THAT happy.

Enjoy!

Recipe: Falafel

1 3/4 cup dried chickpeas
2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
1 small onion, quartered
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
Scant teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
1 cup chopped parsley or cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn, for frying.

1. Put beans in a large bowl and cover with water by 3 or 4 inches; they will triple in volume. Soak for 24 hours, adding water if needed to keep beans submerged.

2. Drain beans well (reserve soaking water) and transfer to a food processor. Add remaining ingredients except oil; pulse until minced but not puréed, scraping sides of bowl down; add soaking water if necessary to allow machine to do its work, but no more than 1 or 2 tablespoons. Keep pulsing until mixture comes together. Taste, adding salt, pepper, cayenne or lemon juice to taste.

3. Put oil in a large, deep saucepan to a depth of at least 2 inches; more is better. The narrower the saucepan the less oil you need, but the more oil you use the more patties you can cook at a time. Turn heat to medium-high and heat oil to about 350 degrees (a pinch of batter will sizzle immediately).

4. Scoop heaping tablespoons of batter and shape into balls or small patties. Fry in batches, without crowding, until nicely browned, turning as necessary; total cooking time will be less than 5 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.

(From the New York Times)

I’ve made no secret that I’m obsessed with this bread. It has literally changed my life. I don’t buy bread anymore because homemade is so much better.

If you do a quick search on this site with the term “lahey” you’ll come across my previous attempts with the bread. My goal [...]]]>

I’ve made no secret that I’m obsessed with this bread. It has literally changed my life. I don’t buy bread anymore because homemade is so much better.

If you do a quick search on this site with the term “lahey” you’ll come across my previous attempts with the bread. My goal is to find the right balance between whole wheat and white flour. The more whole wheat I use the less the bread rises and the flatter the loaf (and it ends up being super dense). I’ve made it with varying amounts of whole wheat flour, tried using whole wheat soft flour to varying degrees of success. So the other day I decided to start from the beginning and make the bread in its purest form — 100% white all-purpose flour.

The results were great and so different from the whole wheat. The bread rose so much both times which meant I got a nice high loaf… perfect for sandwiches. As you can see there was also a great crumb.

The one thing that I forgot to do was sprinkle the top with something. I usually play around and do either flour, wheat germ, cornmeal or oatmeal… but I totally forgot this time around. Didn’t make a difference but I enjoy an extra something something.

I also get super nervous about my loaf burning and I’m also awful at knowing when to take it out… so I always think my loaves are a tad under-cooked. But maybe that’s just my paranoia setting in.

Once I find my whole wheat sweet spot then I’ll start experimenting with additions… olives, cranberries, pecans, rosemary… the possibilities are endless!

For the uninitiated here is the follow-up article about the bread. Follow the links along the side to see the video and get the full recipe.

Mark Bittman wrote a great [...]]]> So I had a special request to do a post about kitchen essentials. I interpreted this as being about tools that I absolutely need (or totally enjoy having) in my kitchen. They range from things that you can use everyday to things you may use once every year.

Mark Bittman wrote a great article for the NY Times about this. His spin was outfitting a kitchen on the cheap. Definitely worth checking out. Next time I move there are a few things on the list that I need to buy.

Now for my picks…

Wooden Spoon — this is probably the most important kitchen tool. I use my wooden spoons for just about everything. I actually have two, one for sweet and one for savory. That way when I”m making cupcakes they don’t taste like shrimp.

Dutch Oven — I’m OBSESSED with dutch ovens. For the longest time I was coveting Le Creusets but couldn’t bring myself to buy one. Then I did some sleuthing and discovered that Target makes a dutch oven by Chefmate that Cooks Illustrated ranked as being as good as Le Creuset. Only difference, price. The Target oven was about $40 whereas Le Creuset is about $160. I bought the Target version and it has changed my life. It’s about 4.5-5 qt which is a great size for making soups or braising meat or making sauces. A few weeks ago I caved and bought the 3.5 qt Le Creuset from Williams Sonoma. This is the perfect size for making the No-Knead bread.

Tongs — Until fairly recently I doubted the power of the tongs. I always thought they were pretty useless. Until I started using them. They are an AMAZING thing to have around. Now you’re probably wondering what the heck do I need tongs for? Well… for flipping meat, for grabbing pasta, for grabbing things out of hot water in general etc. Seriously, by tongs and you’ll find about 50 things to use them for.

Candy Thermometer — Ok, this one isn’t such a staple if you don’t get too creative with your food. BUT if you ever have aspirations of making jam, ice cream, candy or deep frying it is SO essential. It takes the guesswork out of cooking and makes life a lot easier. Once I started using a thermometer to make jam it turned out SO much better. The bonus, candy thermometers can USUALLY be used as a deep frying thermometer.

Microplane — I love this tool. I bought it not too long ago. I had some left over cash on a William Sonoma gift card to spend. I didn’t want to get too involved and make a big purchase so it came down to a microplane OR a fancy pepper grinder. I clearly went for the microplane. I no longer by the preshredded Parmesan. I could spend hours grating citrus rind because it’s so easy. Don’t even get me started on the ease of grating ginger.

Whisk — Simple, I know. But it’s hard to recreate the magic of the whisk without a whisk. Scrambled eggs come out better. You need one when you’re making a sauce. Sure, sometimes you can use a hand mixer, sometimes you can use a fork but it doesn’t always work that way.

Can Opener — For some reason, growing up we didn’t have a can opener. How did we open cans you might be wondering? Well, my mom would get a large knife and cut the can open. This went on for YEARS for absolutely no reason. I don’t remember any slips or injuries with the big knife, but there could’ve been. Please, just buy the can opener.

Cuisinart Blender/ Food Processor — I bought this from a couple on Craigslist who were moving from NYC back to France. Pretty much brand new for MAYBE $25. A steal I tell you, a steal! I love that it does double duty. I love that it doesn’t take up that much space. I love that you can buy any parts that you may break on the website. I love that I can grate cheese in seconds and without taking off a knuckle.

Baking Dish — My 8 x 8 glass baking dish is my best friend. I can use it to make brownies. I can make a casserole. I can roast a piece of meat in it if it comes down to it. It’s a beautiful thing really. Just be careful about going from the fridge directly to the oven. Glass dishes have been known to explode. NOT GOOD.

Mixing Bowls — a few years ago I got a set of about 8 mixing bowls in varying sizes. One of the best gifts ever. I use my bowls for mixing (duh) but also for doing prep work or storing food for later or putting dough aside to rise. I had to give up my bowls when I moved back to Toronto but I definitely need to invest in another set.

The Best Of The Rest….

Measuring cups/spoons – I like recipes. I don’t always follow them, but I like them. Especially with baking, measuring is essential.

Spatula — totally necessary. Haven’t you ever had to flip something?

Knives — all you need are a chef’s knife and a paring knife. Maybe a bread knife if you buy or make whole loves.

Pots/ Pans — I have this set from Calphalon and it does an excellent job.

Cookie Sheet – not just for baking cookies!

Strainer — for washing veggies, draining pasta etc.