Celebrate Spring! 

 Smoking food indoors, fish & parfaits and natural egg dyes

 

In the D.C. area, it has been pretty mild but not necessarily grilling weather. Here's a way to enjoy some smoked foods.

Smoke & Mirrors

Can't get outside but want to enjoy smoky-flavored foods?
Wish-list gadget: Cameron Stovetop smoker

Product I have tried:
Oven smoker bags. Food is smoky, moist and delicious! Process is easy and mess-free.

Fishing for new recipes?

For those who eat fish on Fridays for Lent or just want new ideas, the smoked bags are great for fish.
Here are some fish recipes for those who need some inspiration:

 

This is a variation of the green curry fish I made for Valentine's Day. I used cod and Thai green curry paste (just a dash, since it is hot! with a dash of soy sauce. I served it with coconut-lemongrass rice made in the rice cooker. Instead of cilantro in the recipe I used kaffir lime leaves (or lime zest) and lemongrass.
 

France's celebrated salade niçoise-from Nice (pronounced "niece").

And a Buffalo Shrimp recipe for good measure.

Parfaits? Parfait!
With Spring around the corner but some great fresh seasonal fruit like berries a long way away, consider the parfaits, fools, and panna cottas to bring fruit flavor without being the star of the show.

Serve make-ahead desserts in beautiful glass bowls. Layer with dried fruit, crumbled cookies, cubed cake, or nuts. This "fool-proof" recipe includes many inspiring variations.


Banana Pudding is a great dessert after the great citrus but before the summer bounty. Make sure you toast the vanilla wafers with butter, sugar and cinnamon. Amazing!

 Maria Helm Sinskey, who blogs on Williams-Sonoma.com, has helped create something a little extra special: naturally dyed Easter eggs.  Enjoy her blog entry below!

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These jewel-colored eggs are so beautiful we often have egg dying get-togethers with our friends and their kids to make them. And you don’t have to rely on commercial products to create them, either. Your refrigerator and pantry hold a cornucopia of fruits, vegetables, and spices that can be turned into a rainbow of distinctive dyes.

You will need patience to produce intensely colored eggs with natural dyes, however. They act more slowly than commercial products, so you need to drop the eggs into the dye and then find an activity to keep everyone busy while the egg shells absorb the color. The first time we made these, my daughters couldn’t resist hanging over the bowls of dye and rolling the eggs around, so their hands ended up as dyed as the eggs.

Creating Natural Dyes:

Robin’s Egg Blue

• 2 cups (6 oz./185 g.) coarsely chopped red cabbage
• 2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

Vivid Pink

• 2 large beets, peeled and shredded
• 2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

Tropical Orange

• 2 cups (1 oz./30 g.) loosely packed yellow onion skins
• 2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

Spicy Yellow

• 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
• a big pinch of saffron threads
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar

For blue, pink, orange, or yellow, combine the ingredients along with 4 cups (32 fl. oz.) water in a pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes to extract the color and reduce the liquid. Let cool and strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Add cold water to bring the total to 3 cups (24 fl. oz./ 750 ml.), if necessary.

Deep Purple

• 1 cup (8 fl. oz./250 ml.) thawed frozen Concord grape juice concentrate
• 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
• 3 cups (24 fl. oz./750 ml.) water

For purple, simply stir the ingredients together in a bowl.

The Equipment You’ll Need:

• 2 dozen large, white, organic eggs
• a large pot
• 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
• natural dyes
• as many bowls as you have different dyes
• newspapers
• old clothes to wear
• 2 empty egg cartons
• slotted spoons
• white wax birthday candles and/or crayons

 DYEING EASTER EGGS

Step 1: Boil the Eggs Place the eggs in the pot with 4 quarts cold water and add the vinegar. Set a timer for 16 minutes. Bring the eggs to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer until the timer goes off. Remove from the heat, let rest 5 minutes, drain, let the eggs sit in cold water 10 minutes, then drain.

Step 2: Get Ready! Make the dyes as directed above, then pour each dye into its own bowl. Protect the work surface with newspapers, and make sure everyone wears old clothes—natural dyes stain, too. Line up the bowls on the work surface, and place the empty egg cartons nearby.

Step 3: Draw on Your Eggs Use a white wax birthday candle to mark the egg anywhere you don’t want the dye to stick. Write a name or draw a zigzag and it will remain white when you dye the egg. Use crayons if you want a color other than white.

Step 4: Dye Your Eggs
Place the eggs in the dyes until they are a hue you like, usually 20–30 minutes. Using the slotted spoons, lift the eggs out of the dye and place them in the egg cartons. Allow the eggs to sit until dry, about 1 hour, before handling.

Gift ideas for coquettish gourmands (like me!)

Know anyone like me? Here are some gifts I KNOW will be well-received!

Williams-Sonoma is having a pretty good sale through this coming Monday, December 12: between 10% and 30% off, with free shipping. If you spend $200, you would save at least $50. While not the best sale ever, W-S rarely has this kind of discount.

Donations to Ecova-Mali, which helps Malian farmers gain access to small loans, grants and other opportunities. The farmers have a  100% payback rate so far!

Peace Corps memoir-with recipes!!-from the comfort of your own home (not the discomfort of Gabon). I am lucky to count Bonnie, a fellow returned Peace Corps volunteer and fellow Taurean "foodonista," as a friend. Her memoir, How to Cook a Crocodile is so engrossing and well-written, I keep trying to read it in every spare moment. I will post a review on the blog when I'm done.

Carol's Daughter is on hsn.com and has a Limited Edition Vanilla Truffle and other gift sets that differ from Carol's Daughter's site. My staples are hair milk, mimosa hair honey and black vanilla leave-in conditioner. Balkissa now wants her hair washed so she can use Lisa's Princess and the Frog shampoo.

Fair-Trade handicrafts from around the world from National Geographic's Novica website. Thailand jewelry, especially earrings from Busarin, are so lovely.

A lip stain pen from Ulta. I love the deep colors that go beyond bright pink and purple. The deep, muted colors look really good on darker skin. Unlike Lorac's roller ball liquid, these pens are much neater and look natural on cheeks. Doe-eyed eye liner from Sephora is a great way to get precise, stay-put color. Great for oily skin! Black and green are the best, I think.

A wine aerator that attaches to the bottle spout. This gadget, along with the pricier pour-through aerator, enhance the flavors of wine. Also, try the Splendid Table's store (my favorite radio show) for ideas.

A gift for your little princess (or prince!) from Twinkling Tees, which features custom names "crystallized" or decal-ed onto a shirt. Alert: you may not want your little one around when your peruse this site for the first time. Dangerously cute!

Lane Bryant's Cacique brand often has great sales on their lingerie for curvy ladies.

Beautiful, relaxing, yet uplifting music--Anouar Brahem (Tunisian oud master) and Seraphic Fire (Claudio Monteverdi's vespers) can be found on iTunes. Reginald Cyntje's Freedom's Children is on CD Baby. Reginald combines jazz master artistry with sparkling rhythms from his island heritage.

Happy Holidays!

Remembrance of Things Past

I just made some African Rum Buns last weekend. This is a core recipe from my childhood, the exception to the "Africans don't eat desserts" rule.

I don't remember when I got the recent idea to make African Rum Buns. I have not made them in over a decade, maybe close to twenty years. I had an experience that subconsciously turned me away from wanting to make them. Growing up, whenever some Girl Scout "girls around the world" event happened, Mom and I would make these rum buns. And for some reason, I was thinking about Girl Scouts one night while drifting to sleep. Girl Scouts was where I clashed, er, I mean, learned with troop leaders and other girls weekly for eight years. Girl Scouts, along with watching the women around me, helped "domesticate" me.

I remember one clash: we made these rum buns at a troop meeting with our hands instead of with a wooden spoon like at home. The troop leader said it was for "culture", just like how the Africans do it, was implied. I seethed, thinking about how my parents put education above all else and at the spoons in supply and in use at my relatives' homes. I said nothing then, because I somehow felt this battle would be a futile arrow directed at the tank of her imperialism. I also felt like it would make my mom's heart sink, since I know my attempt to set the record straight would sound different when my mom heard it from my troop leader on our yellow phone. I think I didn't want to learn about what this troop leader said, either. My mom, of course, confirmed that she thought handling the dough would be more fun for us kids, not because we'd never seen a spoon.

Over time, parental discretion would decrease the amount of rum or change the coconut to peanuts for kids' tastes. As for me, I have always loved the original coconut, rum and nutmeg flavors, which I now realize is a classic scone base ratio. And I'll always remember my two favorite parts of baking these scones. When I would open the oven to check doneness, this gaseous cloud of rum and nutmeg that would almost knock me over. I would, when I was old enough to know, associate that intoxicating cloud with Sylvia Plath. Rather glibly, I would hope that maybe if she were baking rum buns she would want to stay alive for the second great part: sinking one's teeth into a hot rum bun, like a scone-macaroon-rum ball amalgam, followed by a sip of milk tea.

This time I made a big bowl of dough that I mixed with my hands. I thought of our culture, our real culture, and all the trade winds that made a scone recipe with tropical ingredients like this happen. I gauged the temperature of the dough--cool. I'm glad I kept cool at the scout meeting, hard as that was for my then thirteen-year-old tongue. And I hope others will enjoy and appreciate a delicious, unique recipe, even though it may not be a Proustian experience like it is for me.

African Rum Buns

Ingredients:
2 sticks very cold butter (I would add 1/2 C. more butter for a total of 2.5 sticks) 
1 1/4 pounds flour (use 3.5 cups)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
8 oz. sweetened coconut flakes
2 oz. rum or one tablespoon rum extract
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1.5 tsp. baking powder (I added .5 tsp. to original recipe)
1/4 cup (or less) heavy cream or evaporated milk

Directions:
Mix flour and all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add butter, cut in uniform chunks (like "pats" of butter, sixteen "pats per stick. Mix until butter and dry ingredients look like sand with little pebbles in them. Grease baking sheets (or use ungreased silicone pads) drop by tablespoons onto cookie sheets. Mix wet ingredients (except cream) then add to dry mixture. Add cream until dough holds together by itself but does not stick to fingers (like play dough consistency). Bake at 425• for 20 minutes. Make sure to switch cookie sheets, top sheet to bottom rack and bottom sheet to top rack, halfway through to ensure even baking. Buns are done when they are the color of manila folders on the bottom and parts of the top and the color of butter in other places.  Cool fifteen minutes.

Emergency, Foolproof AND FREE! Online Recipes for Thanksgiving

Every time around this year, I think of how cooking can be such a joy--or a royal pain. Trials and tribulation are usually centered around making something new, working in someone else's space or donning an apron after takeout and nuking Lean Cuisine almost every day.

Of course, I have advice (search "Thanksgiving" on this blog for general pointers.) But there is another way: using CooksIllustrated.com for their online recipes. You can do their free 14-day trial by clicking on the title link or here. A key theory of mine is that many people use inaccurate, untested recipes. I can assure you that these recipes are tested and delicious! Plus, unlike another favorite site of mine you can get excellent recipes without crazy, expensive ingredients or complicated steps. For those who want more nuanced and unique food combinations, here is Epicurious' (Gourmet and Bon Appétit's online recipe site) primer for Thanksgiving.

Below are some of my favorite recipes for Thanksgiving; hope you find this helpful. My recipe box on Epicurious.com is public. Here is a direct link to some favorite autumnal recipes that work well at Thanksgiving. I like to prepare things like the ricotta scrambled eggs or apple biscuit upside-down cake in the morning for any guests.


No sense in getting heartburn BEFORE Thanksgiving! Happy cooking--and feasting!!

Cooking and man-catching! Q & A and recipes

Listen to internet radio with Sister Girl News on Blog Talk Radio

What made you want to start your blog?
I realized that I don’t cook with recipes. I use recipes to try things out then go on a different path. So when people ask me the recipe, I often can’t tell them. Instead, I explain how I make something, which is more steps, size comparison or guessing, the ratio of flour to sugar to butter. So it’s leaving a legacy and helping others. It’s important for me to share this information and show people how to combine foods, look, listen, smell while preparing. I also used to feature a lot of natural body care and wanted to share by beauty tips. The cooking part took off, so I concentrated on that.

What are the biggest fears women have about cooking?
Well, I’m not sure what fears women have universally. I’m trying to learn because I try to cook fearlessly myself. I think it’s a combination of knowing how to make certain things but maybe not the many techniques involved in cooking. Some people combine foods without understanding how heating food or other preparations add or take away flavor. Oh, also we eat out so much, so we don’t see the technique, the combination of smells. We just see food on the table without looking over someone’s shoulder or helping. So, one can feel lost. Think about what happened before GPS and MapQuest when we were driving back in the day. If you made a wrong turn, you could just get lost. It’ can be really uncomfortable, even scary. I think people can get lost when following a recipe. You don’t see “well, if your onions get soggy, throw it out and start over.” Or “please don’t even think you can use baking soda instead of baking powder. This cake will not rise” You don’t get a recalculated route, or RECIPE. Recipes are not made to teach people how to cook. But that’s what people need.

Can being a good cook make you seem too domestic?
Yes. Anything can make you too domestic. Especially if you don’t want to get perceived that way. Yes, women often do more in the house than men. But why should that stop me from saving time and money when I get it right, knowing what’s going in my body and enjoying myself? There needs to be some passion behind it. Also, we are taught in this society to major, to specialize. Before women had to do it all. I, for one, love to cook. But cleaning? You can have it. I pay someone to clean sometimes because that’s not what I want to do with my time, not all the time. I don’t fault anyone for paying for something you don’t want to do, if your lifestyle can make that happen. But it can contribute to weight gain because there isn’t always accountability with ingredients in the food industry, especially restaurants. The last thing--I think women could be kinder to each other and to themselves. Some people call me Martha Stewart. But she’s not my model. Her stuff can be really hard and “perfectionist.” It takes hours and hours. I don’t have time like that. Even if I did, I wouldn’t take 30 steps to set a table. No way.

How can someone gain confidence in the kitchen?
Practice what you love to eat until it’s effortless joy. I think of when I used to take dance classes. A dance professor said to us that you really have to put in time and work on your skills to make it effortless. I found out that it’s true for a lot of things. I practice making caramel or eggless mayonnaise several times until it becomes like a dance. Like dancing or riding a bike your mind and body remember and then it’s a part of you.

How do you pick your blog topics?
Usually, I’ve brought something to work or church and someone will find out I made a dish. Or say “what did you make?” and then just eat it. Then people ask for the recipe or how I made it. Or I’ll taste someone’s cooking and ask to put it on my blog. Or I’ll read something, buy a food or an implement or start thinking about something that I’ll want to share.

Is food a good way to get the man or is it just the icing on the cake?
Well, I think it definitely helped me, without realizing it at the time. I would say it can help keep a man, too. It’s not the only way. In a nutshell, here’s how to get a man, foodwise: Know his favorite food from a restaurant and figure out how to recreate that. I wouldn’t advise perfecting the dish his mama makes. That could make it seem like you are trying to hijack that relationship. Start with something that’s between you two. Next, figure out the foods he loves, like salmon and blackened chicken and salad and make a new dish he would love, like blackened salmon salad. The recipe: caring, time, paying attention and common sense.

What can a woman do to improve her cooking abilities?
A couple things will make a person (not just a woman!!) a better cook. I think one way some people set themselves up is to use a bad recipe. That’s what I call a recipe that’s not tested. Read and use tested recipes. Make sure you look at the ingredients and steps and they make sense. I love America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Illustrated (click on title link above) because they are maniacs for food testing and process. Sometimes I think they go overboard, but it’s effective. Like Consumer Reports for food and recipes. They won't steer you wrong and they are full of advice. For frou frou cooking, more of what you find in restaurants that serve courses, I like epicurious.com. I especially like the recipes from Gourmet magazine. Look for the highest-rated recipes AND read the reviews, since they often contain really good tips. If you like Food Network, I think Ina Garten’s recipes are really good, well done and accurate. Betty Crocker is not my favorite because it’s based on manufactured products bettycrocker.com. But it is how some people prefer to cook. And there are some good finds, like their Apricot-Rosemary leg of lamb, which I make almost every Easter. Anyway, they test and retest their recipes. My favorite food radio show is splendidtable.org on American Public Media. It airs on WAMU at 3 PM on Saturdays. You can also download the podcast or listen on the Splendid Table Website. I also like Jacques Pépin "Fast Food My Way" shows. Only some of his recipes are to my taste, but his technique and his shortcuts are excellent.

There are some delightful recipes on your blog, are you going to put together a recipe book of your own?
Oh, thanks. I think it could happen. I practice cooking, but I don’t really test by measuring and timing on my blog. I would want to do it right in a cookbook. Who cares? Well. Cooking is emotional. I think of someone cooking, spending all that money and time. I’ve seen people cry when a recipe goes wrong. No more time, company about to come over, lasagna still raw in the middle but burnt outside. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone! So, I would love to do that but only if I could do it right. Happy to give tips and point to recipes I think are really good for now.

What is a tasteful dish that a working woman-on-the-go can put together?
I have two. The other recipe, for fast creamy mac'n'cheese, is on my previous blog post. This one is the African side of me, for peanut chicken. For 4-6 people. You'll need a Pyrex pan 9x13, the one that’s as long as a computer keyboard and twice as wide. Sometimes called a lasagna pan. For best results, start this the night before to let the flavors marinate.
Use 2 pounds of boneless chicken thighs. Or about 3 ½ pounds bone-in. OK, get some Goya brand Mojo Criollo marinade from Goya. It’s lemon juice, orange juice, salt cumin and black pepper. I get it at Shoppers. Or, use ½ all-natural Italian dressing ½ water. Use a ½ cup of the marinade (Use close to a cup more if bone-in. The sauce will get thicker). Put it in the pan.
Then take ¼ cup peanut butter, the same size as a stick of butter. Mix the two together in the glass container. It should be creamy, a little wetter than yogurt. Then use the freshest refrigerated salsa you can find. 1 ½ cups. Mix one cup salsa with the peanut mix.
Add the chicken in the pan. Put ½ cup salsa on top of chicken. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.
The next morning, as soon as you get up, put the chicken in the cold oven, heated to 375. Bake the chicken for 45 minutes for boneless; 1 hour 20 minutes for bone-in. Note that these are temperatures for chilled chicken. Let it cool, then put in the fridge before work.
Or, if you have enough time after you get home, let it sit 10 minutes then serve. I haven’t tried this, but I think you could use tilapia cooked at 400 for 25 minutes. st.

I would also make a plug for people to buy a food processor (at least 7-Cup size) a toaster oven, a good knife, a cast iron skillet and a stick blender. That way, you can get results and homemade food closer to what you'd get in a restaurant while adding convenience or less time.

Earlier we discussed our weird eating combination, do you have a weird food combination?
I love homemade hot chocolate with dark cocoa, milk, organic cane sugar, vanilla a dash of sea salt, cinnamon and cayenne pepper. In the winter time, it warms me from head to toe.

I love cantaloupe, cracked black pepper and black forest prosciutto. Can’t find that smoked prosciutto anymore. Driving me crazy! Also love homemade ricotta, homemade blueberry goodness (do a search of this blog) with lemon for breakfast in the summer.

Happy cooking!



Photo: Jonelle Weaver

Join me on Sister Girl News show Saturday, April 16, 10-11 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Join me on Sister Girl News Show April 16, 2011. Click on the title link to take you to the Internet radio site.

Listen to internet radio with Sister Girl News on Blog Talk Radio

From Aprons to "I DOs": How to Cook to Get, Keep and Maintain Your Man

Answers to questions posted on April 16 blog entry! Here's another recipe for fast, delicious food...

Homemade and all natural creamy mac'n'cheese! My daughter loves it. When I have pasta already cooked, it only takes 5 minutes. So, I love it too!

This feeds 4-6 hungry people. Divide accordingly for smaller portions. Cook a pound of elbow macaroni. My favorite brand is Barilla. I like to do this in the morning or the night before then drain pasta and refrigerate for later.
Next, add 1 eight-ounce block cream cheese cut up in 8 pieces. Put in a glass or ceramic dish, then microwave about 1 to two minutes. The pasta should be hot and the cheese melted but not sputtering and bubbling. Watch the microwave and stir during this step.
Add maybe 1/4 cup milk (like two sips of milk). Then mix in a small squirt of mustard, two shakes of Tabasco and dried onion or onion powder if you have it. Then add 1 cup (8 oz package) cheddar cheese for regular mac’n’cheese. Or try 8 oz. shredded Parmesan or 4-cheese Italian shredded blend with some chopped fresh parsley. Heat again for 30 seconds and mix vigorously until cheese melts into sauce.

Photo: Taste of Home

Word of mouth: Chocolate chip cookies!

Our Admin. Assistant spoiled us with candies and sweet treats. We already miss her, and there is a sharp drop in people getting (sugar) high. I wasn't in the office for this, but several people kept going on and on and on about these perfectly chewy crispy cookies. She was kind enough to give us this recipe. THANK YOU!!! Too bad we don't have church coffee hour. They were usually my test group for recipes (now you know!) I realize now that's the primary reason I do a lot less baking!

Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies aka "Those chewy-crispy chocolate chip cookies Leslie made"
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for baking sheets
3 cups packed light-brown sugar - You MUST use LIGHT BROWN sugar. Dark brown won't work!
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup best-quality chocolate chips
1 cup Heath Bar pieces
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpat baking mats or parchment; set aside. Cream butter until smooth; add sugars, and beat until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Into a large bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Slowly beat dry ingredients into wet mixture. Fold in chocolate chips and Heath Bar chips.
Drop 2 to 3 tablespoons dough per cookie onto prepared baking sheets; space dough at least 2 inches apart to allow for spreading. Bake until golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove cookies from baking sheets, and allow to cool on baking racks.

Photo: Romulo Yanes