A Super (Trifle) Bowl

I will admit it.  I don't watch football.  Just not a fan.  Baseball, yes.  Just about any other team sport.  Except for football.  I just never did get the scoring thing.  I'm sure I could learn but I haven't bothered. And is it ironic that one of my favorite movies ever is  "Rudy "?

But I DO love Super Bowl food.  Every year, our neighbors invite us to their house to watch the game and eat great chili and various other appetizers.  And every year, another neighbor brings her amazing "Death By Chocolate" (aka DBC) , served in a trifle bowl.  Since I love chocolate, and I love all kitchen things retro, I was fascinated by the bowl.  I'd seen trifle bowls in old magazines, but never saw one in use until I saw Sandra's dessert (not the above photo, but very similar)  She simply layered Nabisco Chocolate wafer cookies, homemade whipped cream (Just like the famous Nabisco Icebox Cake - yum...), chocolate pudding and chopped up chocolate candy bars (the mini ones from Hershey's.)  It is so good. .  My younger son and I would live for Super Bowl Sunday just to have DBC from Sandra (and we always got to take home some leftovers, she made a lot!)

This year, Alex made Sandra's DBC twice.  We didn't have the exact recipe, but hey - layer all those ingredients in a trifle bowl and you can't go wrong!  He made his own whipped cream (he calls it "schlag", ala the famous Peter Luger's  restaurant).   We had about 35 people over at our house for one occasion, and we had just about as many desserts.  The most popular one?  Alex's DBC.  By far.

Trifle bowls are amazing.  You build your dessert in them.  I've sliced fresh strawberries and poured a bit of sugar on them and let them sit until the juices drained out a bit.  I've poured the strawberry juice onto toasted pound cake cubes, and then layered the cubes with fresh whipped cream and the sliced strawberries. You can use angel food cake instead of poundcake  to lower the fat content.  You can layer just about any kind of cake with anything creamy. You can use non-fat or sugar free Cool-whip, real whipped cream, brownies, cookies, fruit, mousse or sweetened mascarpone cheese.  The sky's the limit.    I've done simple cut-up  layered fruit in a trifle bowl, following the colors of the rainbow.  Everything looks so pretty  and delicious in a trifle bowl.

You can also layer salad ingredients in a trifle bowl, sort of a deconstructed salad.  And for Super Bowl, a few layers of ingredients for a Mexican  salad will not go unappreciated - try black beans, guacamole, salsa, shredded cheddar cheese or queso fresco, corn, taco chips - you get the picture.

I have two trifle bowls.  I think the first one came from a Mikasa outlet, it looks like the one at the top of this post.

  I also have this one from Pampered Chef
I like it because it's easy to store - the pedestal separates from the bowl- and because it comes with a lid it's easy to put leftovers in the fridge.  You can also get trifle bowls at Bed, Bath and Beyond and Amazon.com.  A few years ago, I had to search everywhere for them.  Now they're all over.

I'm always looking for other ideas for trifle bowls, so let me know if you have any.  For now, I'm going to take mine and fill them with lemons or oranges and put them on my kitchen island.  I need that bit of color right now, it's a bit dreary here!

Anyway, yes , the Super Bowl.  Go ... um... Who's playing again? :-)

Featured Cookbook - Cook This, Not That by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding

There are really basically two kinds of cookbooks.  The kind you cook from.  And the kind you curl up with, much like a good novel.  You pore over the recipes, drool over the photographs.  Maybe you don't cook from the book because it's too complicated, too daunting.  Maybe you don't cook from the book because you don't dare mess it up.  Or maybe you don't cook from the book because it's enough to read to the stories behind the recipes, the little anecdotes that have been thrown in, or just simply the recipes.

I have both kinds of books.   And I love both kinds.  I've had "Baking with Julia" since 1998, but have never really opened it because it's signed, and that's good enough for me.  I didn't get to meet Julia Child, but I had the bookstore (the now closed Bookmark Cafe in Oyster Bay, Long Island) have her sign it for me, and I picked it up a day later.  Other books, like Molly O'Neill's "New York Cookbook" have never been cooked from, either.  It's been enough to just open that book and read stories about old New York and everyone's Nana and Tia and Baba  and to look at the great photos of people and neighborhoods and food.  And I'm sure it's a great cookbook.  I will definitely try some of the recipes.   I just love to read it.

But I've used "Cook This, Not That" a lot.   If it sounds familiar, it's part of the "Eat This, Not That" series by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding.  They originally had a column in "Men's Health" magazine (which, by the way, I find much more interesting than "Women's Health" magazine.)  The column compares unhealthful foods and and their healthier substitutes, and is always an eye-opener.

"Cook This, Not That" takes favorite meals from favorite chain restaurants (and I admit to having a weird soft spot for chain restaurants) and remakes them into a healthier versions.
Their Turkey Chili has become a staple at my house.  They use chipotle chili and cocoa powder (or dark chocolate). Oh, and beer. And it's delicious.  I always add less turkey and a few cans of white beans. And have sometimes skipped the beer.   You can play with the recipe and not go wrong.  I also have made their chicken mole enchiladas, chicken fingers with chipotle-honey (yes, I like chipotle!) and their Miso Cod is not that far off of Nobu's!  (one of the most amazing restaurants anywhere).  I thought the cucumbers were a bit too salty, I would adjust those.  And I sprinkled Panko crumbs on  the cod, and wrapped them in lettuce leaves just like Nobu does.  So, so good!  Most of their recipes do not have a lot of ingredients, and are easy to make.  And if you don't follow them exactly, they're still good.  There are even chapters on how to stock the perfect pantry, and what pans and knives to have in your kitchen.  And there are photos, lots of photos.

I'm addicted to Zinczenko and Goulding's books, and I think I may  have all of them.  But now that I'm cooking at home more often, this has definitely become my favorite of their books, and is currently one of my most used - and most fun - cookbooks.

The Cutest Ice Cream Machine

I never buy a gadget on a whim.  I will research the smallest knife or peeler forever before I buy it.  Lately I've been craving an ice cream machine (or ice cream maker).  Even though I'm not a huge ice cream fan.  I already have two in the house.
The Ice Cream Ball (Play and Freeze Ice Cream Maker - also available at LL Bean)
was fun when the kids were young.  You put the ingredients in the center, filled the outer portion with rock salt and then kicked it around for a while.  Literally.  We used it once.  I still think it's cool, but you don't get much ice cream out of it, and it's better for young kids.

My second ice cream maker was the one by Euro Pro (or Bravetti.)
 I bought it about three years ago from  a TV shopping channel, thinking it would be great to be able to make three different flavors of ice cream at a time to serve to guests. I still haven't used it.  Too confusing to figure out just which three flavors I should make.
When my friend told me about the ice cream maker that she got last Christmas, an attachment for her Kitchenaid mixer, I started having ice cream fantasies again, ans was almost ready to buy it but...
 I found myself in Target two days ago, staring at the
Hamilton Beach Half Pint Soft Serve, It  was so cute!  I really wanted it, but I knew nothing about it.  But I remembered I had my iPhone and looked up the Amazon reviews.  Surprise!  There were a lot of fans.  I tossed it in the cart, and home it went.  Target's Half Pint only came in blue in Target, but they also come in pink on line, as well as the pistachio color you see here.
     There are so many things I love about this ice cream maker.
* First of all - ice cream makers in general.  You use your own, fresh ingredients.  You can make completely organic ice cream.  You can lower the sugar or fat content according to your preference.  Sometimes you can actually taste the chemicals in commercial or storefront ice cream - you don't have to worry about that when you make your own.
I made chocolate ice cream yesterday with 4 ingredients - Pure cocoa powder, half and half, sugar and pure vanilla.
I like knowing exactly what I'm eating.
     *It's quick.  I churned  a serving size of ice cream in about 12  minutes.  You do have to store and chill the ice cream bowls in the freezer - no rock salt is needed.  Mixing the ingredients took just a few minutes.  The ice cream maker is electric, it churned while I was on the phone.  
*  Portion size (this is what really got me)  The recipe I used (included with the machine) made 6 ounces of ice cream (one serving of ice cream is 4 ounces.)  I shared with my son.  So you can make a small amount of ice cream and not have a huge amount of leftover ice cream to tempt you.  Or, make up to 24 ounces with the two bowls if you have more mouths to feed.
The machine says it makes "soft serve" ice cream.  I found the texture to be great - not too firm, not too soft.  You can put it into the freezer to firm up more if you want.  If you want to add mix-ins (and I always do, I love "stuff" in my ice cream), you add it about half-way through.  Nothing like making your own fantasy ice cream!
I promised my older son vanilla ice cream today, and I'll add some Oreo pieces to it.  Tomorrow, I'll take the chocolate ice cream recipe, add some instant coffee to it, mix in some almonds and maybe pour on a touch of fudge to see how close I can get to my favorite - Baskin Robbin's Jamoca Almond Fudge.
No, I won't start gorging on ice cream.  But I will experiment once in a while.  I'll try frozen yogurt, and the recipes for sorbet look really good.  I watch a lot of Top Chef, and someone's always creating a delicious, exotic ice cream - basil, lemon, green tea, Kahlua...  Or pomegranate sorbet...
The Half Pint ice cream maker comes in a cute package - it looks like a cylindrical container of ice cream.  It would make a birthday gift,  put into a basket with some ice cream bowls and spoons, and containers of sprinkles and crunchies and caramel or fudge sauce.  Can't wait to make my next batch.


 

Rice Cookers (even if you don't like rice)

My most often used gadget (not including simple tools like spoons or pans) is my rice cooker.  Which is ironic, since I'm not really a fan of rice.  And I very rarely cook it.  If I could, I'd change the name to "grain cooker", but then I'd confuse everyone, because that doesn't really exist.
I bought my first rice cooker (a Wolfgang Puck, non-electronic model) after watching Wolfgang's sales pitch on one of the home shopping networks. I don't remember him making rice, I do remember macaroni and cheese and pasta and meat sauce.

But I haven't made those.  I cook grains in my rice cooker.  About three times a week, I make steel cut oats. 
Rice cookers don't necessarily cook grains faster (sometimes it actually takes longer) but the beauty is that you don't have to stand over a pot and stir, you don't under or over-cook your grain, and you can't burn it.
The machines automatically shut off when the grains are cooked - perfectly - and many machines will keep the grain (or other food) warm until you're ready to serve it.  Steel cut oats have a wonderful, chewy, nutty texture.  I've been using Trader Joe's quick cooking steel cut oats lately, with a 1:3 oats to water ratio.  I can put the oats into the cooker, add water, a bit of salt, give a quick stir, then go and shower or work out. When I come back, they're done, and are kept warm.   I'm still not sure how long they take but I'm thinking 30 - 35 minutes, depending on the brand.  I'll usually eat them with a bit of brown sugar, sliced bananas, and maybe some walnuts for some extra Omega 3s. 
I also love the cooker for quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wa).  I make a pot at the beginning of the week, and then put salad fixings on it,  like greek salad dressing, feta cheese, olives and dill, or grilled chicken pieces and avocado and some kind of dressing.  Or I'll top it with Italian turkey sausage and peppers.  I'll cook quinoa with orange juice, and add nuts and dried fruits.  I've also cooked it with College Inn Thai Coconut Curry broth, and added chopped nuts and chicken.    There are so many recipes out there (check the internet.)  Quinoa is the only non-animal food product that is a complete protein, so it's a great, healthy choice. 
Barley is another grain I love to make.  It has beta glucan in it - a soluble fiber reported to lower blood sugar levels and lower cholesterol levels.  I've been using that in my chicken soup instead of noodles or matzoh balls.  
I use a lot of cooked grains the way I would use pasta, but I'm getting a lot of fiber and protein and other great stuff.  
I have an electronic Sanyo rice cooker, but there are so many wonderful models - starting with basic, non electronic ones, from 25 dollars on up.  Aroma is a brand that I've seen in restaurant kitchens, and they sell small Aroma cookers in Target and on Amazon.com.  


If I used my "rice" cooker for oatmeal alone, it would be worth the price.  But at a time when I'm trying to get more whole grains into my families  diet, the little machine gets quite a workout.

Top Chef and a Few Degrees

I have been a fan of Top Chef since its second season and have watched it in  all its forms (I'm currently loving Top Chef Just Desserts) !Of course I love to see what gadgets they chefs are using - if they use something, I know it's legitimate and it's fair game for me.   I can't tell you how excited I was the day I saw one of the chefs using a chopper that looked something  like this one.  I've used  a food chopper  for the last 10 years.                                        

On the Top Chef-Chicago season, a  cheftestant  from Staten Island wielded a mean pasta machine, and the judges raved.

Intrigued and eager for fresh pasta (and having been otherwise impressed by the cheftestant), I got a pasta attachment for my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer, and started cranking out fettucini.   I used  it twice.  I didn't quite get the hang of it, but I'll try again soon.

Not long after that,  I was contacted by someone I used to work with as a counselor at a camp in upstate New York - Camp Mikan-Recro,  and was invited  to join the camp's  Facebook group.  I immediately found a former  camper, Jennifer,  who was eight years old when she was in my bunk.  I then saw a photo of another one of my campers from the same bunk , a dark haired girl named Nikki who I remembered as being quiet and very cute.  On her Facebook page, she wore a beautiful grey satin gown, and she looked stunning.  I asked Jennifer what Nikki was up to, looking all glamorous, and Jennifer told me that Nikki  had just been a contestant on Top Chef.  She was my culinary  inspiration !  I was so happy that I had rooted for her during the show,  not even knowing who she was.  And in an odd way, I was proud - as if I had anything to do with her success.  

Of course I immediately friended her, and thanked her for motivating me to try pasta-making.  And no, she didn't remember me.  But that was okay.

I visited Nikki Cascone at her restaurant 24 Prince in New York City,  which has since closed (but not to worry - she's got a new venture about to open - more in a bit!)  I had the best chicken salad I've ever tasted (she used  truffle oil. ) And the most amazing macaroni and cheese.  And we chatted about camp and cooking and she told me about her favorite cooking utensils.  No, not the pasta machine.  But she loves her tongs and fish spatula and vegetable peeler (for more than peeling vegetables.)  

I went back to 24 Prince last December.  I had promised my friend Scott - another  former camp counselor  and Major in the U.S. Army, that I would bring him to 24 Prince as soon as his tour of duty in Afghanistan was over.   We  had a great time at Nikki's, enjoying her food and hospitality.  And she gave him her Top Chef jacket.  I'll never forget that lunch.

Scott, if you're reading this, the next time you're in New York City, we'll be headed to Nikki Cascone's new restaurant Octavia's Porch for global Jewish cuisine.

http://www.opentable.com/octavias-porch

That's just one of her productions due this month, the other is a new baby.  Congratulations on both, Nikki!

If any of you are in the NYC area, check out Octavia's Porch.  Nikki Cascone is an amazing chef.  I can't wait to  try another one of her creative meals.  I'll post with an opening date .

Sorry for the long post, next time I get down to gadget and cookbook business.

Gadgets and Books and Julia

And so it begins.

I've started this blog because of my love for all things cooking -  my love for  kitchen toys and utensils and tools and gadgets, and my  love for cookbooks and books about food.  One day I'll count all the cookbooks I have, I'm sure I have over one hundred.  And I've never even cooked from many of them.  A long time ago, my husband said that the number of cookbooks I owned was greater than the number of meals I'd cooked.  I don't think that's true anymore. I hope.  But cookbooks are more than just books to cook from.  More about that soon.  And not all books about food are cookbooks.  Again, more later.    As for the gadgets, I suppose I have as many gadgets as I do cookbooks.  But of course there's always room for one more.  And since cookbooks and kitchen tools mean cleanup, there will be reviews on cleaning gadgets as well - I love them, too.

Julia Child's Kitchen at the Smithsonian

The above link goes to site about  Julia Child's kitchen (the above photo is my own.)     Julia  was my gadget idol.  I visited her kitchen twice in the last two months because I had things to take care of in Washington, D.C. - and Julia was going to be a priority.  Towards the back left of my photo, you can see her Kitchen Aid stand mixer, in cobalt blue.  I know it's "cobalt blue" because  it's same one I have.  Seeing her kitchen, and seeing that mixer - such a familiar object - is what motivated me to follow up on this blog.

I'm really new to this, so I apologize for any blogging faux pas (faux pies?) and will try to clean up as I go along.

Here's to Julia.
Thank you
Bon Appetit.