Author: Deborah M

Shakespearean Noshes, A Literary Nibble

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It is April 23 – National Cherry Cheesecake Day. Do we really need to expound on the glories of cheesecake? Don’t we all know it already. Instead, let us turn our culinary attention to Shakespeare. Yes, you heard me right. Shakespeare.

Today is the day of Shakespeare birth in 1564 (at best estimate) and his death in 1616. And on both those occasions, I bet food was prepared, served, eaten and shared. But which foods? Continue reading “Shakespearean Noshes, A Literary Nibble” →

August is Coffee Month

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If any drink deserved or required an entire month to do it justice, surely coffee is that drink. It starts the day, finishes up a meal, can wake you up or calm you down. It can be served hot or cold, plain or “enhanced” and while tea has it’s rituals, coffee has a culture.

But at heart is the drink itself and after many years of close study and enjoyment, I’ve reached a few conclusions and found the following things to be helpful:

Water. Use with COLD water. I don’t care whether it’s bottled or tap but it should be cold. It makes the resulting coffee much less bitter.

Keep It Clean. Any coffee maker, regardless of type or brand will work better and produce a better product if it is clean. So clean it.

Bothered by bitterness? Using the cold water to start will help a bit but try adding a pinch of salt to the coffee in the filter. A pinch, people. Not a lot. I know it sounds bizarre but it does work. I did it before stumbling across my current coffee which doesn’t need any such additive and believe me, no one is going to notice or get freaked out.

I know it looks hearty and hale but coffee does have a shelf life. To ensure a decent level of freshness, try getting it from a coffee purveyor and not a grocery store (who knows how old that grocery store stuff is?) and don’t keep more than a 2 months’ worth on hand. It will go stale at some point and you don’t want that point to be on the day you REALLY need a good, solid, happy cup to start your day.

Keep the coffee in an air-tight container and out of the sun. I know some people keep it in the freezer. I happen to keep mine in an opaque container in a cabinet. Either way, it’s out of the sun and that is the key. If I have any issue with the freezer/fridge thing – it is simply that the daily taking out and putting back in messes with the moisture content of the coffee and that can mess with the taste. But then, my father keeps his coffee in the freezer and still produces a very good cup-o-joe every day. So maybe I’m over thinking. I admit to sometimes doing that.

Getting the Right Grind. Listen, I know it sound even more obvious than using decent water but a lot of people get this wrong. Not all coffee makers and coffee making processes need the same grind level. Broadly speaking, if you are using a percolator then you want a coarse grind. Do you have an electric drip/manual drip or do you use a French press? You want a medium grind. Are you using an espresso machine? Get extra fine grind.

The Art of Cooking. Now With Extra Art

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The other day, my friend Alexia (who ought to be writing her own food blog the way she rocks all things cooking and growing of her own produce) sent me a link to some beautiful illustrated recipes. Not illustrated with photos – we’ve all seen that. That’s the most expected thing in the world. No, these recipes were produced by an illustrator – Lucy Eldridge – working in watercolor.

Ms Eldridge not only produced some yummy recipes but some equally scrumptious illustrations to really tempt you into trying them. Well, OK – I don’t know if that’s why she did it. Maybe she just felt like illustrating them. But the artwork makes the whole thing even more tempting to me. I think I’ll try the carrot cake first.

That recipe and others can be seen in larger format on her site. While you’re there, take a look at her other work. Wonderful stuff.

Naturally, I went looking for other illustrators who might have done the same. Boy oh boy – am I happy I did.

I read about Felicita Sala in a post on Design Sponge (one of my favorite design and lifestyle sites). The recipe there was stuffed calamari and while I am a huge fan of calamari, I somehow have never had it stuffed. This situation must be remedied and I think this is the way to do it.

I can’t wait to try the risotto al radicchio as well. Check that one out as well as the others at Ms Sala’s own site  . I’ll tell you something else – the fact that you can purchase prints of these recipes has me rethinking the walls of my own kitchen.

There are even whole sites, dedicated to displaying and sharing the illustrated recipes of illustrators – sites like They Draw & Cook and Recipe Look. I’ve spent ages looking through them and I find it all really inspiring, both culinarily and artistically. I’ll definitely be trying some of these dishes.

What? Oh no – not drawing. The only thing I can draw is a bath. Seriously – I’m not being modest. I really suck eggs at that sort of thing. But these people rock not only the art of cooking but art itself as well. Cheers to them all.

Chocolate Covered Anything Day

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I am all for chocolate, don’t get me wrong. But you can’t just go throwing chocolate on things willy-nilly. Why diminish or demean chocolate covered raisins by lumping them in with chocolate covered – oh, I don’t know – frogs’ legs.

Why further alienate the people who love chocolate covered pretzels by making it just one of many things and not letting have the chance to shine on it’s own (I’ve only recently come around to chocolate covered pretzels myself and I feel certain that given time and a bit more attention, they’d catch on with more people.

So yes – celebrate the covering of food stuffs in chocolate. But in slightly a slightly more focused way.

By the way, my favorite item in this field is the frozen chocolate covered banana. Long ago, you see – I worked at the Renaissance Festival and . . .  Um, you know. That’s another story for another time.

Recipe Request: Couscous for a Crowd

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I can’t believe I never posted this here but apparently I never have. As someone has just asked for it, I take this opportunity to rectify the situation.

Couscous for a Crowd (Serves 6-8)

Ingredients

  • 2 c giant couscous
  • 1.5 c fresh mint, roughly shredded or chopped
  • 1 c sliced almonds, toasted (1)
  • 1 c dried cranberries (2)
  • zest of 1 orange
  • juice of 1 orange
  • dash of lemon juice (3)
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Directions

Cook the couscous according to package instructions.  Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat thoroughly. Then scatter some mint across the top and cover with a tea towel until couscous has cooled to room temp. Once the couscous has cooled, remove the tea towel and take larger pieces of wilted mint off top, then combine couscous, mint, almonds, cranberries, orange zest, and orange juice in a bowl.  Drizzle with additional olive oil (enough so that the couscous isn’t sticky) and season with salt and pepper. Toss to combine. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

This is one of those infinitely flexible things where you can add pretty much anything or mess with proportions to your hearts content and you’ll still end up with something yummy. And make extra ’cause it lasts in the fridge for a week and you’ll be snacking on it for days. Make a meal out of it and use up leftovers by adding some shredded cooked chicken.

(1) I leave these out sometimes – depends on who’s coming over and/or my mood. They do add a nice crunch in an otherwise not so crunch dish but I wouldn’t recommend other nuts. For some reason almonds work far better than others

(2) I sometimes add dried apricots as well. Whatever dried fruit you like, add.

(3) Depends on how much juice you get out of the orange and how sweet it is. If it’s too sweet for you after a good mix, add a dash of lemon juice to balance it. Or lime. Lime works the same magic.