chefinabox

I’m here to make a confession. Get settled in comfy, y’all. It’s about to get fishy. I was probably 18 the first time that I can remember eating fish voluntarily, and liking it.  It wasn’t even a big deal fish, it was a starter fish like mahi-mahi or tilapia, and I’m fairly sure I dipped [...]

The post Salmon Patties with Avocado and a Spicy Chipotle Avocado Aioli appeared first on A Southern Fairytale.

Ingredients: 3 lbs peeled, cooked beets 3 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds 2 teaspoons dill seed 2 teaspoons fennel seed 2 teaspoons tellicherry peppercorns 6 whole cloves 6 whole star anise 1 teaspoon white coriander seeds 1 teaspoon canning salt 3 bay leaves 1 cup white vinegar 1 cup red wine vinegar 2 cups beet cooking water 1 onion, sliced thinly (about 3/4 cup) Directions: Slice the beets into 1/4 inch slices if large or leave whole. Place all of the ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Prep your jars. Pack the beets into the warm jars and ladle the pickling solution over them. Leave a 1/4 inch headspace. Process in a water bath for 30 minutes. Yield: about 3 pints Note: A great source for canning information is the Blue Book guide to preserving. I highly recommend it for learning how to can. Here is a bunch of other canning books and equipment I find useful.

My thoughts:

Whenever I eat beets I think of Ellen Tebbits pulling that weed in the sidewalk and ending up with a beet. I know it is a somewhat unorthodox choice but Beverly Cleary books are my all time favorite bits of food writing. Who can forget the cracking of the raw egg over Ramona's head at lunch or the eating of tongue disguised as steak when Ramona's dad was out of work? Or Ramona eating just one bite out of all the apples because the first bite was always the best? Ellen Tebbits just wanted to bring that beet to show-and-tell. So many writers forget to include the everydayness of food but Beverly Cleary never did. I don't think I had ever even had a beet when first I read Ellen Tebbits but it made such an impression. I do love beets now so if I dug up a giant beet, I'd be quite pleased and possibly pickle it. I've made savory beet pickles before and they were very, very good. This time I tweaked the flavors a bit and used some red wine vinegar, which I had found in the proper concentration and in large bottles over the winter and stored so I tried that out. I also decided to use the beet cooking water instead of just plain water. I wasn't planning to make pickles this week but I needed some pickled beets for a recipe I was developing and when I went to the store, I saw that fresh beets were only 89 cents a pound! It is a bit early for local beets but there they were. So I thought I'd just pickle them myself versus buying a jar. More work but a bit cheaper and a lot more tasty. They came out wonderfully and now wish I had bought more beets. I know most pickled beets are a sweet and sour affair but I found I really like them when treated as just straight, savory pickles. The beets are sweet enough on their own, I don't think they need extra sugar.

Lemon curd is een van mijn guilty pleasures. Het is een zoete dikke pasta van citroensap en -schil, qua consistentie vergelijkbaar met chocoladepasta. En je kunt het op alles smeren. Op een warme scone, op een pannenkoek, op geroosterd brood en op een brioche. Of je gebruikt het in een taart (lemon curd cheesecake), in een toetje of je maakt er ijs van (staat al een tijdje op mijn wishlist!). En als je helemaal verslaafd bent eraan, mag je het van mij ook zo met een theelepel uit de pot eten. Ik snap dat heel goed.

Geschiedenis van lemon curd

Ik was benieuwd naar het ontstaan van lemon curd en ik kwam een paar leuke historische feitjes tegen. Lemon curd is typisch Engels en het 1e recept van lemon curd is te vinden in een kookboek uit 1844: The Lady’s Own Cookery Book. In de jaren daarna poppen er wat recepten op waarin wordt aangegeven dat de schil van de citroen geraspt moet worden met suiker. Dat lijkt een redelijk complex verhaal, maar valt reuze mee. Zeker als je je realiseert dat er in die tijd nog geen raspen waren en suiker niet fijngemalen was zoals wij ‘m kennen. Toen werd suiker verkocht in grote brokken. Daar kon je een stuk vanaf breken en tegen de citroen aanschuren waardoor je een heel fijn en aromatisch citroen/suikermengsel kreeg. Klinkt best logisch toch? En ik denk stiekem dat dat nog veel lekkerder was ook.

Zelf maken

Natuurlijk kun je lemon curd kant en klaar kopen en die kunnen ook heel lekker zijn. Ik vind bijvoorbeeld de lemon curd van onze Bakkerswinkel in Zoetermeer heerlijk. Maar lemon curd zelf maken blijft helemaal het einde. En het is heel makkelijk. Het kost alleen een beetje tijd. Maar dat is vaker met dingen die goed smaken. Zorg bij je voorbereiding ervoor dat je goede kwaliteit citroenen gebruikt. Bij voorkeur biologisch zodat er geen troep in de schil zit.

Wat je nodig hebt voor een klein potje vol

Ik maak nooit teveel in 1 keer, want het is zonde als je moet weggooien. Deze hoeveelheid is meer dan genoeg voor het maken van een taart of het beleggen van diverse broodjes en scones bij een ontbijt. - 2 citroenen - 200gr fijne suiker - 125gr roomboter, op kamertemperatuur - 2 eieren

Wat je gaat doen

Rasp de 2 citroenen en pers het sap uit. Het sap haal ik altijd even door een fijn zeefje zodat er geen pitjes of dikke vliesjes meer in kunnen zitten.

Zet een pannetje met een laagje water op en zet daarop een wat grotere vuurvaste kom. De onderkant van de kom moet net in de pan kunnen, maar niet het water raken. Laat het water op medium vuur koken. Dit is je au bain-marie basis waarmee de lemon curd wordt gemaakt.

Doe de citroenrasp, suiker en roomboter in de kom en laat de boter smelten terwijl je het door elkaar roert. Zodra het helemaal gesmolten is en een goed vermengt papje is, roer je de citroensap erdoor.

Klop de eieren los in een aparte schaal en schenk die daarna bij het mengsel. Roer wederom goed door. En nu moet je geduld hebben. Door de hitte zal het langzaam een dikke pasta worden. Bijna alsof je custard aan het maken bent. Blijf geregeld roeren en zorg dat het mengsel niet gaat koken. De ene keer gaat het wat sneller bij me als de andere keer, houd rekening met 10 tot 20 minuten. Als het niet snel genoeg gaat dan kun je een beetje smokkelen, zet dan het vuur wat hoger.

Als de lemon curd de voor jou gewenste dikte heeft, haal je de kom (voorzichtig) van de pan af en laat je de curd afkoelen. Bewaar de curd in een afgesloten pot in de koelkast en dan is het zeker 2-3 weken houdbaar. Als je het in een volledig afgesloten en gesteriliseerde weckpot doet, dan is het nog langer houdbaar (2 maanden), maar dat heb ik nooit uitgeprobeerd aangezien de lemon curd na een week meestal al op is bij ons

Bron geschiedenis lemon curd: British food – a history

Een vraag: gaat u zaterdag de straat op? Zo ja, waarom. Zo nee, waarom niet?

From Serious Eats: New York

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Nightingale 9: Rob Newton Does Casual, Creative Vietnamese, to Mixed Results

Crab and fluke salad. [Photographs: Max Falkowitz]

Nightingale 9, Rob Newton's new effort at Vietnamese cooking in Carroll Gardens, is a deceptive place. It appears—and it's been so called—a casual noodle shop, a spot for rice noodles and soup and grilled meat, its low-slung tables and backless stools a very Brooklyn version of Vietnam's streetside quick-service eateries.

But it's not hard to see that Newton has greater ambitions. Though his food veers towards traditional Vietnamese forms, there's something about his cooking that reminds me of Tien Ho's tenure at the then-Vietnamese-esque (and damn good) Ma Peche. It's thoughtful, precise, and pretty original.

Indeed, Nightingale 9 seems poised to bridge all sorts of gaps, such as the false one between traditional Asian cooking versus modern and the more real one between casual eating and studied cuisine.

The restaurant gets close. But while it's a place I'd appreciate having in the neighborhood, there's one gap it doesn't overcome. I don't think terms like "authentic" and "modern" have much weight in today's food landscape, but if a chef seeks to put their own spin on a cuisine, they owe it to that cuisine—and to us eaters—to make their version just as punchy and exciting as their source material. Nightingale 9 doesn't totally fail in this regard, but it doesn't fully succeed either.

Caramel Berkshire pork.

The dinner menu comes in four sections: salads and small "street food" bites, vermicelli bowls (bun), soups (pho and friends), and rice-based sides. All are priced about the same—$8 to $15—and come in similar portions, which is to say small. Expect to order at least two per person for a full meal; gutbusting cheap eats this is not.

You may do best to concentrate on the protein-driven street food and noodles, where Newton's pedigreed meat and seafood shine—though perhaps not as much as their constant menu branding would suggest. Chilled Fluke and Crab ($13) on a puffy rice flour crisp is ridiculously clean and sweet beneath a cap of fluffy, lime-scented coconut. A bite hits you—lime, seafood, coconut—and then it bolts. I could eat it by the handful.

On the other end of the spectrum is Caramel Berkshire Pork, a mere five cubes of pork belly for $15 in fish sauce-spiked savory Vietnamese caramel. Those pork cubes are so rich, so irrepressibly porcine, that one or two might just do it for you. The price for the portion feels almost justified. Almost.

I also appreciate the stage time Newton gives to turmeric in his take on Cha Ca Catfish ($12), though I found the dill shortchanged and the catfish subtle against its seasonings. But my favorite of the night was a more generously-filled bowl of Hudson Valley Duck and chewy wheat noodles ($15). Where the rest of the menu is bright and clean, so slimmed down in its own elegance that dishes almost disappear, this shows outstanding brawn. If you go to Nightingale 9 expecting dressed-up takes on real street food, this dish, with its juicy duck and gleefully fatty brown sauce, delivers.

Cha ca catfish.

Those duck noodles stick with me. And I wish all the others did. But our table shrugged off a bowl of Green Papaya Salad ($12) overwhelmed by its nuggets of sweet dried beef, and shredded Raw Collards ($8) with coconut and fried shallots was dull and uninteresting.

Nightingale 9's Hudson Valley Beef Pho ($12) may be served purposefully subtle so you can dress it with herbs and the prized Red Boat Fish Sauce that adorns every table, but even when seasoned to taste it lacks character. The broth is thin, the beef meek—not bad at all by New York's sadly low pho standards, but not slurpworthy either. A bowl of Grilled Berkshire Pork (bun cha; $12) also falls flat, relying on those tableside condiments more than herbs and pork to deliver its flavor.

Dessert is as minimalist as the bare white walls: popsicles, $5 each, frustrating to share and lightly sweetened, in flavors like Vietnamese coffee, palm sugar, and Thai basil. They work as the light sole dessert, but don't excel. Seek them out if you feel peckish.

Popsicles.

For the eight dishes above and two popsicles to share, our table paid $35 a head before drinks (tip included). That's not highway robbery, but it's hard to swallow for a casual place that only partially delivers on its greater ambitions. Would I come back? For a beer and a nibble perhaps, but not, as it stands, a full meal. After all, despite the flaws, Nightingale 9's take on Vietnamese is still more exciting and interesting than most of New York's meager offerings. But if you take it as a source for creative Vietnamese, it falls short. If you take it as a neighborhood spot, it's an expensive proposition.

It's not that Newton, who's clearly a talented chef, has lost something in bringing a cuisine he loves to a new audience. It's that he doesn't take his good work far enough.

More photos in the slideshow »

About the author: Max Falkowitz is the editor of Serious Eats: New York. You can follow him on Twitter at @maxfalkowitz.

From Chicago

Back before I launched Serious Eats Chicago in 2011 (has it really been that long?), I was the editor of Grub Street Chicago for a year and a half. So I was obviously saddened to hear that all of Grub Street's city sites except New York closed to today. Mostly, I'm just upset that I won't be able to read what current editor, Mike Gebert, has to say about the dining scene. Along with covering the continuous onslaught of openings, he also took the time to tell the stories of neighborhood restaurants far from downtown. His daily commentary will be missed.

Fortunately, Gebert doesn't sound too shaken. On his personal blog, Sky Full of Bacon, he signed off with no regrets, promising that there is "no danger of my disappearing." Of course, he does have that James Beard Award winning-column, "The Key Ingredient," to work on for the Chicago Reader, plus an assortment of projects. Anyway, I wish him the best of luck.

From Drinks

VIEW SLIDESHOW: Bartender's Choice: Tom Lindstedt On What to Drink at Little Bird in Portland, OR

[Photographs: Katie Burnett]

"Little Bird has a classic French bistro theme with a Pacific Northwest flair, and I tend to approach cocktails that support that theme," says Tom Lindstedt, lead bartender at Little Bird Bistro on Portland's SW 6th Avenue. "I like to take something recognizable and give it a French twist, such as using Bordeaux or Benedictine in place of Italian vermouth or tart verjus in place of lemon juice." The French influence can be witnessed in their spirits selection including rhum from the French island, Martinique, and their choice of Scotch, Abelour, which Lindstedt says is the best-selling Scotch brand in France.

Tom Lindstedt.

Lindstedt's cocktails are served in elegant Marie Antoinette coupe glasses and generally lean towards the boozy side. "Drinkers are becoming more adventurous and you need something assertive to stand up to the bold flavors of bone marrow and steak tartare," says Lindstedt. "We want to serve cocktails that are innovative yet comforting, so I often work from a classic cocktail recipe and add minor variations to fit our theme."

We asked Lindstedt how he comes up with the recipes for the rotating cocktail menu. "I read a lot," he answered. "I love working with new ingredients and new flavors, some of which we create ourselves, such as the house-made Picon, and others which are new to the market such as the high quality piscos now available in the US. I also do a lot of personal tasting at home," adds Lindstedt with a smile.

We asked Lindstedt which cocktails we should order the next time we stop by Little Bird. Check out his picks in the slideshow above.

Little Bird Bistro

219 SW 6th Avenue Portland, OR (map) 503-688-5952; littlebirdbistro.com

About the Author: Greg Harned lives in Portland, OR, where he enjoys cocktails, drinking and general mischief-making in candlelit speakeasies, swanky cocktail lounges and dingy dive bars. He manages Portland Craft Cocktails where he writes about his various exploits and also dabbles in the spirits trade. You can follow him on Twitter @craftcocktails.

From Sweets

[Photograph: Jay Friedman]

If you stroll into The Sycamore Kitchen in Los Angeles and stare at the sweets, the Salted Caramel Pecan Babka Roll will likely jump out at you as one of the most unique and enticing treats. And yup, we've already documented it as a winner. But there's a sun shining in the showcase: the Flourless Lemon Custard Cake ($3.00).

That brilliantly yellow sunny center is indeed lemon curd, a dollop of which is dropped into a gluten-free cake made with ground almonds, brown rice flour, sugar, eggs, and brown butter. It's a true butter-fest as the tangy butteriness of the curd complements the sweet butteriness of the cake. And yet the two components offer contrast, with the creamy, custardy curd inside playing well with the chewy, nutty exterior of the cake. The net effect is delicious, decadent richness.

A most miniscule sprig of thyme sits in the center of the cake, perhaps symbolizing, per tradition, courage and happiness. It takes courage to eat cake as others are ordering Sycamore's scintillating salads—but the resulting happiness is as satisfying as, well, a sunny day.

The Sycamore Kitchen

143 S La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036 (map) (323) 939-0151; thesycamorekitchen.com

About the author: Jay Friedman is a Seattle-based freelance food writer who happens to travel extensively as a sex educator. An avid fan of noodles (some call him "The Mein Man"), he sees sensuality in all foods, and blogs about it at his Gastrolust website. You can follow him on Twitter @jayfriedman.

From Slice

When I was in school for architecture back in the late 90's, 3D printers were state of the art, expensive as all get-out, and really, really finicky to work with. We're not quite at consumer-level pricing yet, but we're already close enough that legislation to stop individuals from 3D-printing firearms.

Here's a better idea: don't print guns, print pizza. That's exactly what Systems & Materials Research Corporation recently received a $125,000 NASA grant to do.

Using a series of powders and oils with various nutritive properties, the printer will print out the pizza in stages, reports this story from rt.com.

The printer will first print a layer of dough, which will be cooked while being printed. Tomato powder will then be mixed with water and oil to print a tomato sauce. The topping for the pizza will be a "protein layer" which could come from any source - animals, milk, or plants.

The cartridges are intended to have a lifespan of 30 years, allowing astronauts (or earthlings!) to enjoy freshly printed meals even on long voyages.

I'll have one pizza, please, extra protein layer. And if it's not printed in 30 years or less, you'd better deliver it free.

About the author: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is the Chief Creative Officer of Serious Eats where he likes to explore the science of home cooking in his weekly column The Food Lab. You can follow him at @thefoodlab on Twitter, or at The Food Lab on Facebook.

[Photograph: @sstiavetti]

Flavor is of the utmost importance when it comes to tasting cheese, as are texture and smell. What's the point of a cheese if it doesn't taste good, or doesn't lend a pleasant sensation as it skates across your tongue? Many cheese folks get lost in these traits, forgetting that there's a fourth sense that plays into the overall cheese experience: sight.

We eat with our eyes first. Seeing a food's color, shape, and design play a significant roll in the way we experience everything else about the dish. Cheese is no different. Some cheeses are downright beautiful in their aesthetic, going beyond tantalizing us with what we believe will taste good and sate our senses. They are visual works of art.

Visual drama is what first attracted me to Le Jeune Autize; it reminded me of a marble slab, with its black, cinematic vein of ash creeping through the lily-white flesh. Fashioned similarly to Morbier, only with goat's milk, Le Jeune Autize batted its eyelashes at me from across the room, its kohl eyeliner promising mystery behind those amazing contours.

I asked for a taste, and my first impressions were smooth and silky, with a nicely semi-firm body that gave easily under my bite. Oilier than most goat cheeses, Le Jeune Autize plays across the tongue joyfully without being overly capricious. There's a good taste of salt there, with a lightly funky layer that won't overpower those not into strong cheeses. The followup is decidedly sweet, and the rind has a pleasantly dusty, mushroomy flavor that smacks faintly of grass and fresh tobacco.

If you find this lovely lady in your local cheese shop, I highly recommend taking her for a stroll. And if they don't carry it, put in a request! I guarantee you won't regret a few minutes alone with this little beauty.

About the author: Stephanie Stiavetti is a writer and cookbook author in San Francisco. Her food blog, The Culinary Life, is a repository for all things comfort food related, from savory dinners to transcendental desserts. She also publishes a monthly culinary newsletter full of stories, review, and helpful tips. Stephanie's cookbook, Melt: the Art of Macaroni and Cheese, celebrates America's favorite dish by recreating it with specialty cheeses. Available for preorder now.

From Chicago

Editor's Note: I'm pleased to announce a new addition to the team! Molly has written for a number of other publications in Chicago and started writing for us a few weeks ago. Currently, she's covering the downtown sandwich scene, but that's only the beginning of her food obsessions. I'll let her take it from here.

Name: Molly Durham Location: Chicago Occupation: Deal Qualifier at Groupon Twitter: @featsofeats

Guilty pleasures? Fried chicken. I also have a crippling addiction to Cheez-Its.

Describe your perfect meal. I'd have to just say everything on the menu at Au Cheval, plus the ability to consume it all in one sitting. A dream.

What food won't you eat? I hate beets, which is truly tragic given the fact that they're so often paired with my favorite thing: goat cheese.

Favorite food person? I'm a fan of Julia Child, not only for her food but also for her sassy nature and the fact that she was a fellow tall girl.

When did you first realize you were a serious eater? When I started taking more photos of food than people in college and getting into cooking—that was a sure sign.

What do your family and friends think of your food obsessions? They love that I can give a restaurant recommendation quickly and that I bake so often. They're often on the receiving end of some treats!

Favorite food sites or blogs? Smitten Kitchen and Lottie + Doof are two favorites.

Everyone has a go-to person they call for restaurant recommendations. Who's yours? I need one of these! Mostly I just refer to my massive list of restaurants I'm attempting to truck through, building that from sites like Serious Eats, Chicagoist, Eater and the like.

What is your favorite meal of the day and where do you get it? I love breakfast on weekends when I have the time to really make it. Either I'll make a breakfast sandwich or omelet, or scratch cooking entirely and eat as many donuts from Glazed & Infused as I possibly can. The breakfast sandwiches at Butcher & the Burger and Floriole are also tops.

Do you ever cook? What's the best dish you make? Yes I do, but most of my best dishes are desserts. I make a mean simple cheesecake with a graham cracker crust. As for non-baking, my best is probably my family's Bolognese sauce, which takes two days to make and is a secret recipe.

Dit recept is ingezonden voor een #winactie Met de actie maak je kans op 20 aardbeien planten (Ras: Korona) van Aardbeiplantje.nl. Stuur ook je aardbeien recept! Kijk hier voor de actie. Inge Posthumus stuurde ons het volgende recept: Aardbeien Chocomuffins Deze muffins zijn echt super gemakkelijk te maken en overheerlijk! Ingrediënten: 375 gram bloem [...]

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Dit recept is ingezonden voor een #winactie Met de actie maak je kans op 20 aardbeien planten (Ras: Korona) van Aardbeiplantje.nl. Stuur ook je aardbeien recept! Kijk hier voor de actie. Laura Borsoi stuurde ons het volgende recept: witte chocolade cheesecake met aardbeien Een zeer lekkere cheesecake, die niet goed voor de lijn is. [...]

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From Serious Eats: New York

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Team Rubicon, a group of military veterans with first response training, was one of many civilian organizations that made an immediate and instrumental impact on New York's recovery. Now they're heading to Oklahoma to lend a hand, They're seeking funding, and New York food businesses are doing their part.

Allison Robicelli, the cupcake baker turned relief sergeant who organized food and relief efforts all around Brooklyn and beyond, fed Team Rubicon during their work in New York. "We as New Yorkers are indebted to them and their bravery," she writes on her website, and she's quick to point out on Twitter how immediate and effective their response was over larger organizations like the Red Cross.

Now, through her and others' encouragement, New York food businesses and writers are banding together with crowdfunding sites to finance Team Rubicon. The fundraising site is here, already over $3,500 in to its $15,000 goal (it launched yesterday).

Other members of the fundraising effort include Thirty Acres, Liddabit Sweets, Whimsy & Spice, Roni Sue Chocolates, Spoonable, Door Sixteen, KelSo Beer, Whisk NYC, and friends of Serious Eats Donnie Tsang and Noah Arenstein.

In actie komen. Protesteren. Spandoeken maken. Hard roepend door de straten. Het is niet zo mijn ding, maar ik vrees ...... Lees verder: Oproep: kom in actie bij een Anti-Monsanto manifestatie