The Birthday Box

It is my son’s 32^nd birthday today. Since he lives in California we won’t be celebrating the occasion together. But this doesn’t deter me from sending what is now known as The Goodie Box. This is a well thought out box of surprises that takes in consideration my son’s lactose intolerance and his girlfriend’s gluten intolerance.

My daughter and I look all year for different things to send that are fun and tasty. The initial box was sent the first birthday my son was in California over five years ago. Now we send three boxes a year, one for each of their birthdays and Christmas. We have sent many things such as Star Wars cut out cookies, peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, and the most popular to date homemade chocolate and caramel pretzel bark.

I have to tell you that my son’s favorite nut is a cashew. So every time we send a box there is a cashew somewhere. Sometimes it is fancy flavored cashews in a bag or cashews on the caramel chocolate pretzels.  This birthday we sent him cashew caramels from a vendor at our local farmers’ market.

We sent an assortment of gluten free chip dips also from a farmers’ market vendor. You see my son has one of those televisions that is just about as wide as I am tall. I’m 5’4”. His house has become football central so I thought well at least everyone can eat the dip.

I have been noticing in all the commercials and cooking shows that brownies have made a come back. You can get diet ones in a box ready to eat. I’ll leave that to someone else to try. With that thought in mind, and a gluten free baking class at Williams-Sonoma, I made brownies to put in the box. I just took my old family recipe, which has only ingredients and no instructions how to make them, and substituted the usual flour for gluten free. They turned out well. I haven’t heard the final verdict from the birthday boy yet.

I did learn a tip in the baking class as to how to measure the flour. I am a classically trained baker and weigh all my dry ingredients to make a consistent product no matter what time of year. They told me that gluten free flour is best done with the scoop method. This means dip into the flour with the appropriate measure and after bringing it out of the flour level it off with a knife. I tried it and it did work better than my other attempts at family favorites when I weighed the flour. This has been a learning experience trying to make things taste like they are the same as baking done with regular flour.

Happy Birthday, Matushka

Shopping Tip #1

Gluten Free Nut Chips by Blue Diamond. If you like the nut crackers made by Blue Diamond you’ll really like their nut chips. The come in three flavors, Sour Cream and Chive, Sea Salt and Nacho. I have tried the Sour Cream and Chive and the Nacho and found them delicious. Here is something new to take care of that chips and salsa craving.

Spring Time

This is the time of the year when those tender smaller sized vegetables become available. Some to look for are slim stalks of asparagus, spring greens for your salad (maybe even from your cold frame), and the small potatoes. I love it when the new potatoes show up in the store. All the different colors that you can combine make a very attractive but simple dish. One of my favorite ways to prepare the potatoes is by roasting them with olive oil and fresh herbs. First preheat your oven to 450°. Then blend together ¼ c. of olive oil and 1 tbsp of freshly chopped herbs in a large bowl. The herbs you use are your personal choice. I like the combination of rosemary and sage. Then cut about 3 lbs of potatoes to roughly the same size. If using the little potatoes you will only need to cut them in half or quarters. Toss together with the olive oil and herbs. Place on a shallow sided baking sheet in a single layer. Put in the oven for about 20 minutes. After this I stir and flip them so more of the cut sides get brown and crispy.  Reduce the heat to 375°.  After 20 minutes flip and stir the potatoes again.  Then bake for another 20 minutes.  They are ready when fork tender. 

This is a dish that can go with any meat or fish. Sometimes I just eat the potatoes and forget all the other stuff. Here is a recipe I can serve to my family without worrying about the allergies they have. Yes, no dairy, no gluten and only the right fat. One more tip I have for these potatoes. If you do not have to watch the dairy products; sprinkle crumbled feta style cheese on top just before you serve it. I like the contrast of the warm herb potatoes and the cool salty feta.

Food Collection May 14, 2011

Please remember to contribute to the US Postal Service food drive held on May 14, 2011.

Onions

You know that vegetable everyone cries from or about?  The smelly leftover in your refrigerator that can make other foods taste weird?  Well let’s look at them in a different light. I love onions but, here comes the food snob, I’m very particular about my onions. I don’t just grab the small mesh bag and take them home. Oh, no!

The first criteria; where are the onions grown? I have a mental calendar for fresh onions as they are available to me. It used to be that OSOs from Chile were the onions I started looking for around the December holidays as well as Maya Sweets from Mexico. Now the Mayas are available in November or late October. Another group of sweet onions come from Peru around the first of the year into February, if I am lucky. Then there can be a little gap where only stored onions are available. April brings the 10-15 onions and the beginning of the Vidalia’s. This last week I was ecstatic to find both onions in my stores.  I bought five pounds of each.  What I did with 10 pounds of onions will come later. Vidalia’s can be around for several months but they are best in the early spring. In early summer the Walla Wallas from Washington show up. Then sweet onions from other places in the US take me back to October and the Mayans. Now mind you, this schedule is very dependent on what the stores are able to get from their suppliers.

The second criterion is how I pick an onion. I have to smell them. What do I smell?  I smell to see if they smell like an onion. What does that mean to me? Well the best one’s have no smell at all. The next would be does it smell sweet?  If it has an edge to the smell or even a little moldy I put it back. One day I was picking out onions in our local grocery store and a man across from me was watching as I smelled onions. He eventually came on my side of the produce aisle and told me I was very fussy about my onions and would I ever find one I liked. I told him that it had to smell right. He just shook his head, grabbed an onion and walked away.

The onion has to be right or it can spoil a whole dish. One of my favorite ways to use onions is to sauté them until they caramelize. I take out a big cast iron enamel frying pan and put in 4 to 5 pounds of slivered onions with a little oil and butter. Then I let them cook slowly for about 30 to 45 minutes depending on how many onions are in the pan. Be careful that they don’t burn from the natural sugar in the onions.

My favorite use of caramelized onions is pizza. Just a simple pizza of crust, onions, and olives.  Sometimes I add thinly sliced tomatoes.  Bake for 10 to 15 minutes @ 450° and Voila!  Your answer to Provence at home. Now you know what happened to the ten pounds of onions.

Here is the pizza dough recipe I use (gluten free pizza crusts can be purchased ready made or as a mix).

4 cups flour

1 package yeast

1 tablespoon olive oil (flavored olive oil can be used)

1-1/2 cups tepid water

1. Dissolve the package of yeast in the tepid water.  Let it bloom.  When the yeast is bloomed, the water looks foggy and bubbly.  This can take 5-6 minutes.
2. Add the oil and blend.
3. Slowly add the four cups of flour.  You may not need all of it.  Add until you have a non-sticky dough.
4. Knead for ten minutes.
5. Place dough in an oiled bowl and let rise until double in size.
6. Put on floured board and knead for another 2-3 minutes.
7. Leave on the board and let it rest for 10 minutes.
8. Roll or press out onto baking sheet the desired size.

 Remember to smell the onions!

Cub Scout

           Recently we had the Cub Scout food drive.  My daughter and I went out and bought an assortment of easy fix meals, pasta, and vegetables.  The morning of pick up we had four bags.  One I labeled Glass, Be Careful because of the pasta sauce jars.  I was sitting in my living room when I heard some feet run up the front porch stairs.  The the feet suddenly stopped when they reached the top.  I heard an excited shout of, “They have four bags!”  A few more steps and there was another shout, “One is glass!”  Moments later I heard another set of footsteps, much larger.  The excitement in the Cub Scouts voice when he found our contribution made me smile. 

Food is essential.  It is the one thing that cannot be downsized or right-sized.   Don’t forget the people who do not have food.

Taste Buds

            Food has predominantly four types of taste: sweet, salty, bitter, and sour.  These tastes influence what we are willing to eat.  I do not like bitter but sour, bring it on.  Then there is also contrast in flavors, which is the way I like to cook. 

            The difference in taste preference brings me to the subject of taste buds.  Conversations about taste buds are ongoing in my family.  It usually starts when someone suddenly decides they will not eat something that they ate when they were younger.  Then it is about how taste buds change as you grow older.  Much of my experimenting has been met with mixed results due to the taste buds of the eater.

            Despite the taste changes, there always seems to be one dislike that stays with you from childhood.  No matter how old you get, you still do not want to eat it.  Mine is asparagus.  It has been suggested to me that I have simply not had asparagus fresh enough to appreciate it.  I know this is not true as Daddy grew it in his garden.  His routine was to start the steamer on the stove, run to the garden, cut the asparagus, and immediately put it in the steamer upon returning to the kitchen.  I do not know how much fresher the asparagus could get.  He was also very particular about the doneness.  It had to be just right.

            Take the time to truly taste your food.  Trust your taste buds, and figure out what you like.