My Month of Gourmet In Review- 2/28/09

When I began the project of making all the recipes in the February 2009 Gourmet magazine, I knew what I wanted to do. Now at the end of the month and with the project successfully completed, I can better answer why I did it and what I learned.
First, I love being a stay at home mom. I get to spend every moment with my daughter, watch all her steps, hear all her words, and savor the all the messes she makes (See right). But I do miss the daily purpose that teaching gave to my life. I had a goal each day, a lesson to teach, a concept to help children understand. Being a parent has some of those same ideas but they are often less concrete and rarely accomplished in a day, a month, or a year. I missed the sense of daily accomplishment that starting and finishing a task provided. This month of Gourmet project allowed me to see daily purpose and accomplishment. I had a goal, a goal that matched well with, and did not take time from, my job as a mom. I could spend time each day reaching the goal of the recipes for that day and all the days working toward my goal of completing the recipes in the month. I need purpose and this project gave me that.
Some may ask me if I do not find enough purpose in raising my child. Please don't misunderstand me, that holds the ultimate purpose in my mind. But it is difficult and often flawed to find one's purpose solely in that of another human being. What I may want from my daughter will soon enough clash with what she wants for herself and if I only find purpose in her, I will be vastly disappointed when she chooses another way. Even a goal as simple as making all the recipes in a cooking magazine allows me to do to something completely independent of my role as a parent.
I also enjoy writing. Like most people, I did more writing in college than I have done at any other point in my life. My grades showed that I was not a particularly good writer but my childhood diaries show that writing has always been an effective outlet for my creativity. Playing with Eyrleigh is at a pretty rudimentary level of creativity and writing about my cooking allows me to be creative at an adult level. I have noticed in reading my posts from the beginning that in the course of just a month, I am writing more comfortably and with more creativity each time I blog. I know I will never be too old to learn and writing helps me do that.

That I enjoy cooking is perhaps an obvious statement at this point, but it is true. I like to see what happens when you put ingredients together. My favorite recipe of this entire month was the Gumbo Ya-Ya on page 32. This recipe epitomized what I love about cooking. First, I love the chemistry of how simple butter and flour can be stirred and heated to make a wonderfully dark, rich roux that makes a soup define a culture. I love the way that the word "gumbo" evokes a picture of a place and the fact that the flavor of gumbo can do the same thing, no matter where in the world you are. I love the fact that having a particular food on a particular day, like gumbo on Fat Tuesday, ties me in my little quiet house in Lawrenceville, Georgia, U.S.A., to celebrations in cities across the globe.
So, if I found purpose, was creative, and did something I loved this month, what did I learn? I learned a lot. I learned that yeast continues to intimidate me but I will keep trying to get it right. I learned that though I like soup, I am very particular. And I learned that success and failure need not be mutually exclusive. I succeeded in making all the recipes in the Gourmet magazine this month but I failed at always making something I will enjoy. My least favorite recipe of the month demonstrates what I mean. One look at my picture of the Borscht Horseradish Terrine on page 74 shows that something failed in the making of this recipe. My gelatin collapsed immediately when I removed the terrine from its container. In my picture, you can see the terrine looks nothing like the magazine photo on page 75. But the failure of the recipe was not just in the gelatin. I could not change the expectation of my senses that the flavor of the terrine would be sweet, not savory. The texture I felt in my mouth could not reckon with the flavor I tasted. It would take a long time, maybe a lifetime, to succeed at changing that. Did I fail then in making the recipe? No, the failure was in execution and expectation, not in the making of the recipe, for make it I did. That one and 51 others! What fun!

The Last Recipe of February- 2/28/09

I did it! I made every recipe in the February 2009 issue of Gourmet magazine during the month of February. I had only one recipe left for today, the Hush Puppies on page 15. This recipe didn't fit well with any other in the magazine. It was published in response to a letter to the editor requesting a hush puppy recipe to go with a pulled pork recipe from the June 2008 issue. I debated getting out my June '08 issue and making the pulled pork recipe that inspired these hush puppies. But Richard had a trail race this morning and we live in Georgia. I could get authentic pulled pork at the drive-thru of The Little Barn, a restaurant just 4 miles from our house.

Let me begin reviewing the recipe by saying I did not grow up in the south. I like pork barbeque but the whole hush puppy thing I've never quite gotten, the same for white gravy. I find them dry and crunchy and well, fatty. Thankfully, Richard also ate the hush puppies I made today. He thought they were good but I fried them too long. I thought they tasted like hush puppies so I am not the best person to review them positively. I will say the recipe was super easy. I simply plopped the batter in the fryer and they looked great, all be it a little brown. All 52 recipes in the bag and written about on this blog!

Blenders are the Enemy- 2/27/09

I have shared in earlier posts that I am not a fan of blenders. My earlier ire was directed at my particular blender but my frustration lies with the appliance of blenders in general. If you do not have enough liquid in the blender, the food simply pushes out to the blender walls and the blades spin uselessly. If you have too much liquid, the sheer force of the spinning liquid pushes off the flimsy top and sprays the contents at high force all over walls, cupboards, and anything else within a 20 foot radius. If the liquid is hot, such as soup, the contents need not be even close to the top of the blender and the top still flies off and spatters the contents all over the walls. Yep, tonight I did that. Not once, but twice. The Red-Bean Soup with Gremolata on page 70 on this month's Gourmet called for you to simmer the soup for 2 hours then blend before serving. I was trying to make 3 recipes simultaneously so I was a bit behind getting the soup simmering. After 2 hours of simmering, at close to 6:00, I didn't wait long before I tried to blend the hot soup because Eyrleigh was getting hungry. I only filled the blender half full because the soup was still pretty hot. It shot everywhere. I pushed the top down firmly and tried again. Again, EVERWHERE! Thankfully, enough had blended so I just quit while I was ahead and served what was left in the blender. The rest is still cooling downstairs, long after we have eaten dinner. As to the flavor of the soup, it needed a lot on salt and pepper and the gremolata did not add the "brightness" it promised, just gritty parsley. I wonder if the addition of the aji dulce chiles would have made the soup pop a little more. The Cubanelle peppers are a pretty tame pepper and some spice would have helped.


The Butternut Squash Galette on page 15, however, was a wonderful vegetarian addition to my recipe list. It wasn't hard to make and the crust was delicious. I used dried rubbed sage instead of chopped sage leaves and the sage flavor was a delightful addition to this savory dish. The goat cheese had a tang that brought out the vegetables and the pickest eater of the bunch couldn't have been happier. The butternut squash was soft from the oven roasting. The leeks were mild enough for Eyrleigh to eat them, something she does not do with onions.



For the final dessert of the month, I made the Orange Polenta Cake on page 42. The polenta made the cake taste like a glorified corn bread with glazed oranges on top. Obviously, I wasn't that impressed. I will say that I never found orange flower water at any of the stores I shopped at this month and Richard put the kibosh on ordering it online. It wasn't the cost of the orange flower water that was the issue, it was the $8 shipping that was tagged on at the end. I substituted Triple Sec for the orange flower water like suggested on a cook's website. I also wondered how much zest I should have had from the 2 oranges. The recipe never said how much zest I should use in the cake so I used all that I zested from the 2 oranges I used on the carmelized top.

I Rolled With It - 2/25/09

One of the articles in the February 2009 issue of Gourmet contained 6 recipes for yeast rolls. For better or worse, tonight I finished making every one of those recipes. I remain adamant in my belief that one of the hardest things to make well are yeast breads. Yeast breads seem simple, just yeast, flour and a liquid of water or milk make up the base for all of these breads. But in my mind, nothing could be more difficult to truly get right. Did you let the yeast foam enough? Did you knead too little or too much? Did you let the bread dough rise the correct amount? As I read back over the 5 other posts from this article, I see that each time something was not quite right. I really enjoyed making each roll recipe but I still need to perfect the art of bread making. Tonight, I made the Rye Walnut Rolls on page 87. One of the first lessons I should have learned was to not mess with the recipe. I ran out of white flour today and had only 2 cups left for a recipe that called for 5 1/2 cups of white flour. Instead of running to the store mid-recipe, I used a 50/50 wheat blend to make up the difference. I gather wheat flour absorbs more liquid than white because the dough was extremely dry when I went to knead it. I added some milk and this helped the dough hold together. The rolls rose well and looked fine but either because of the dry dough or the additional wheat flour, they were a little heavy. Good, but very dense.
The rolls were a good accompaniment to the Tunisian Soup with Chard and Egg Noodles on page 71. The rolls may have been dense but they made great soup soakers and this was a good soup. I was pleased with how easy and flavorful the soup was. I suppose now is a good time to tell my secret to chicken stock when I haven't had time to simmer chicken parts for hours. I use that chicken bullion powder and have used that in place of chicken stock in all but 2 of the recipes that called for chicken stock. I think it works great and at around $2.50 for 30 cups of chicken stock, the price can't be beat. This was the one soup I thought I might regret using the "fake" stuff, but I was very pleased with the flavor. I think the harissa sauce was a strong enough flavor to hide any difference between actual stock and my easy substitute. Another surprise was how much I enjoyed the chickpeas in the soup. I've mentioned before that my mom made hummus as a kid and I hated it. Ever since then, I've had no luck with chickpeas myself. I now enjoy store bought hummus that is smooth and highly seasoned but I always felt that anything I made with chickpeas had that gritty bland taste I hated as a kid. Maybe canned chickpeas have just gotten better but I loved the chickpeas in this soup and so did Eyrleigh. They were the only part of the soup she would eat. I think the seasoning had absorbed into the noodles too much for her liking.

Mardi Gras at My House - 2/24/09

Tonight was Mardi Gras or Carnival, celebrated on Fat Tuesday throughout the world. In honor of this, I made the Gumbo Ya-Ya recipe on page 32 of this month's Gourmet. This recipe was from the book, New Orleans Classic Gumbos and Soups, by Kit Wohl. I was hoping for something really good and this recipe did not disappoint. I would invite my friends from New Orleans, Matt and Arlene, over to eat this one. Wow! Just making the roux was an experience. I had read the recipe quickly earlier in the month and thought I had to stir the butter and flour mixture for an hour and 45 minutes. Thankfully, when I read it today, I realized it was only 45 minutes to an hour which is still a long time to stir but did fall in the Eyrleigh's nap time range (she usually sleeps about an hour). I was fascinated by the way the simple flour and butter mixture turned from basically a pasty dough to a rich dark brown gravy just from heat and stirring. The recipe said stir constantly but I did cheat and take 30 second breaks to cut up the vegetables and make the last pudding of the month. The little breaks didn't prevent the roux from turning out beautifully and making a wonderful base for the gumbo. I did halve the recipe but if I made it again, I would put in the meats, the sausage and chicken, for the full recipe. I ended up going back and putting the rest of the sausage link and the roasted chicken in so the leftovers would have some meat in them. I hadn't planned on making the Creole Seasoning recipe on page 102 but I realized I had Cajun seasoning instead of Creole. I wanted the recipe to be authentic so I mixed the spices for the Creole recipe. It was great! If you like very hot, you would need to add more red pepper flakes. However, I thought the richness of spice was perfect and allowed you to taste the other flavors of the gumbo without overpowering heat.
As we quickly draw near the end of the short month of February, I wanted to make another of the yeast roll recipes even though the gumbo was on the rice. It ended up being somewhat moot as something went wrong with the Crusty Cornstalk Rolls recipe on page 86. The dough looked great at the end of the first rise but after the second rise, the "ears" had stuck together. When I tried to separate them before baking, the dough appeared to flatten considerably and stay flat while baking. What resulted was very flat, extremely chewy on the outside and doughy on the inside. My uncle had come to dinner to see my brother who is still at our house and I didn't want to subject him to bad rolls, so I reheated the Cracked-Wheat Topknots from last night and we enjoyed those. I'm not sure what I did wrong, looking back I shouldn't have messed with them after the second rise and I should have kneaded them longer. I was rushing out the door for Eyrleigh's 15-month doctor appointment and I doubt I kneaded much more than 3 or 4 minutes. Kneading creates those gluten chains that help bread rise well and skimping on the kneading is not a good idea, as I discovered today.
I purchased a King Cake at our local grocery store, the typical tri-colored Mardi Gras cake, but I wanted to add a homemade dessert so I made the Brandied Fig Vanilla Pudding on page 110. I never did find fig preserves but the recipe said any preserves were fine so I used apricot preserves that I had in the fridge. The pudding was basic vanilla pudding with preserves mixed with brandy on top. I wasn't that impressed. It tasted good but not spectacular and nothing I would make for any special occasion. The King Cake from the store was insanely sweet but more in the spirit of the holiday. The super sweet cake reminded you that Lent was coming and something glutenous should be given up. For Lent, I think I'll give up... super-sweet tri-colored cakes.

The Thing You Have To Do - 2/23/09

I'm sure everyone has had this happen. The thing you want to do becomes the thing you have to do and suddenly, the thing is not as fun anymore. Can anyone relate? Well, today that was true of this project. The truth is I don't have to make every recipe in the February 2009 Gourmet issue, no one is paying me a cent to do this, but I'm only 9 recipes from the end and it would be a shame to quit now. So I made 3 very good recipes that made me glad I'd cooked today. When I wrote out the schedule that allowed me to make all the recipes before the end of February, I actually planned to skip cooking today because I had two meetings this afternoon. Our trip to South Georgia, however, threw off the schedule so I worked around my meetings and made dinner.

There are six yeast roll recipes in this month's Gourmet and I still had three left so I made the Cracked-Wheat Topknots on page 87. This recipe took both bulgar and whole wheat flour so I was concerned it would be too dense. I was happily wrong. This was my most successful roll recipe yet. It rose beautifully and baked up into a light, chewy roll.
The Beer-Braised Beef and Onions on page 108 was basically a pot roast. It was good but pretty traditional. It was easy to make but I did wonder how practical it was for a working person. It didn't braise long enough to be left on during a day at work but braised too long to be started and finished after work. I was curious if this recipe would work well in a slow cooker, making it a bit more practical for people that aren't stay-at-home moms.
The best recipe of the day, though, was the Farmhouse Butternut Squash Soup on page 57, and I even forgot the bacon (I just realized that as I was writing this!). Other than chopping butternut which always scares me, (finger lose is a real fear!) the recipe simply simmered and then went into the blender. It was smooth and delicious. The different tastes of butternut, carrot, and apple worked well and there was a nice spice note that did not overpower the vegetables. Eyrleigh loved it and other than being really messy, the whole baby/soup thing, I will make this for her and us again. I am glad I cooked today!

Fast is Good- 2/22/09

A newspaper that only reports old news will not be purchased. A social magazine that covers only stars that are no longer popular will not sell. Cooking magazines are like every other publication in that they must stay current to capture their audience. A magazine like Gourmet must include some recipes that can be made quickly and easily after a day of work or between ball practice and dance lessons. The Pork, Mushroom, and Snow-Pea Stir-Fry on page 59 is one of those recipes and I sure did need it tonight. We drove down to South Georgia to hike at Providence Canyon State Park and visit some friends and got back at 6:00 tonight. We debated stopping on the way home but Eyrleigh hung in there and we were tired of eating out. We needed fast and this stir-fry fit the bill. I had rice boiling in just a few minutes and was cooking the pork as soon as the oil was hot. Within 20 minutes, dinner was on the table. This dish was simple and quick. I just used a generic teriyaki marinade but it worked fine. We all need quick sometimes, even quick gourmet.

My Edible Waltz- 2/20/09

I love to travel. I hope that one day I will visit every place in the world but for now, I'll settle for simply pretending. Tonight I used food to take myself to Hungary. This month's Gourmet had a menu of Hungarian inspired recipes and I made all 7. I started this morning by making the Borscht Horseradish Terrine on page 74, the Paprika Veal Shanks on page 78, and the Apricot Almond Linzertorte on page 77. These 3 recipes needed some advance prep and as I knew I'd be out for some of the afternoon, I wanted to get these 3 finished ahead of time.


The Borscht Horseradish Terrine was about as labor intensive as any recipe I have ever made. It wasn't cooking or stirring but the number of bowls and the in and out of chilling the terrine. I really thought the one in the magazine looked so pretty with the contrasting layers of gelatin. One look at my picture shows that I was not so successful. I gave the gelatin more than enough time to set. I had finished making it by 10:00 and we didn't eat until 5:00, much longer than the 4 hours recommended. I really can't tell you what happened there. The flavor, however, I can explain. All three of us, Richard, Ben (my brother who is visiting), and I could barely stand to eat a bite. I think it's more a cultural difference than an actual aversion to the flavor of the terrine. Things made of gelatin in my experience are sweet (ie, Jello). I just can't seem to synthesize savory with the texture of gelatin. I think the bright red Borscht made it even harder. I could almost feel my mouth rebel as soon as I at it, screaming this isn't right. Now if I had grown up with savory gelatins as a common part of my diet, I may have been able to enjoy the flavor for what it was, Borscht, beef broth, ham, and sour cream, all things I can eat easily in other settings.
The Paprika Veal Shanks were easy to make with a few quick chops and a long braise. I unfortunately braised too long and though the meat still tasted excellent, it was not very visually appealing as it fell apart. Veal shanks are an expensive cut and I would have liked to have that wow factor at about $11 a shank. Oh, well.
The Apricot Almond Linzertorte is a classic European dessert. The crust drew heavily on the almonds for flavor and was only lightly sweetened. I did not grind my almonds finely enough, perhaps I should have used my coffee grinder. That made my crust very textured and made it hard to use for lattice. It made a thicker crust than I wanted but it still worked and Ben had two pieces. The apricot puree was delicious and added a wonderful tart sweet center.

When I got back home in the afternoon, after Gymboree and a play date, I began the other 4 recipes. The Mushroom Strudel on page 74 smelled wonderful as the mushroom filling cooked. The addition of the porcini mushrooms added a very rich earthy flavor that white mushrooms lack. My only frustration was that only 2 layers of phyllo did not give the pretty exterior like the picture on page 75. The brown of the mushroom filling showed through and though it did not affect the taste, it was not as attractive. Eyrleigh wouldn't even try one and I think it was just that the black color of the filling was off-putting.
The Tiny Dumplings with Dill on page 78 were yummy, buttery little spaetzle dumplings but I do not have a spaetzle maker. About 20 or 30 little dumplings came out of the colander nicely and then the hot steam rising from the pot started causing the dough to stick to the colander. I then got huge glops of dough. I tried my potato ricer and found that the holes were too close together and again produced huge glops of dough. Eyrleigh ended up getting most of the good little dumplings while the adults ate the rather large unruly lumps of dough.

The Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Caraway Seeds and the Endive with Walnut Vinaigrette, both on page 79, were easy and good. I'm still not sold on brussel sprouts, they are a bit bitter to me, but the roasting made them soft and cut some of the bitterness. The endive was excellent. I have not used endives much and I used very small endives for this recipe so they were not bitter at all. The dressing was basic Dijon dressing but still very good.
The final question is did this meal transport us to Hungary in our minds. When I made international meals as a child, I often played music from that country while we ate, tried to dress in something resembling the traditional dress of that country, and made place settings with important facts about the country or culture that the food was from. I didn't do that tonight because Eyrleigh is not very patient with my research and prepartions. I was doing well to get the meal on the table and yes, there were a few meltdowns along the way, most for not picking her up. I am very excited for the day that she can enjoy the music, the clothes, and the facts as well as the food. I hope she gets just as excited about cooking and traveling as I do.

The Margarita Effect- 2/19/09

Many cooking magazines, Gourmet included, draw a strong connection between the enjoyment of food and the enjoyment of drink. Tonight, I was able to use the Gourmet magazine from February to enjoy both. I made the Tortilla Soup with Chiles and Tomatoes on page 71 and the Agave Margarita on page 34. There was only one drink recipe in this month's Gourmet so I wanted to make sure it fit in well with the menu. I am more of a novice at bartending/mixology than I am at cooking. It's not that I don't like to drink. Like many 30-something moms, alcohol is something I have restricted as I've gotten older. I was trying to get pregnant (limited alcohol), got pregnant (no alcohol), and then was breast feeding (limited and well-timed alcohol) and now I am trying to get pregnant again (limited alcohol). Let's just say that tonight, though, I had a practice Margarita and then enjoyed one with dinner so I certainly did my part in sampling the recipe. I really enjoyed the drink and not just because it was alcohol, because it was good. The quality of the tequila I had was somewhat in question but it turned out just fine. It was a gift from a student when I taught English to adults at night, not the Blue Agave Blanco that the recipe called for. The agave nectar gave a sweet but not cloying taste and really made the drink stand out without puckering your mouth like sugar syrup can do.

The Tortilla Soup was the easiest soup I have made yet. With minimum of chopping, everything went in the blender and made a wonderful puree that was the base of the soup. I had homemade chicken stock left over from another recipe and only had to add 3 cups of water and 3 chicken bullion cubes to the liquid. I did not fry my own tortilla chips but instead, as the recipe suggested, purchased unsalted store chips. It saved a lot of time and I doubt it detracted any from the flavor. This recipe will make the regular menu list for both ease of preparation and quality of flavor. The soup itself was not very hot but that could be adapted with a little Mexican hot sauce if spicy is your thing. But then again, it could just be the Margarita talking!

Why Cook Everything? - 2/18/09

When I decided to do my month of Gourmet experiment, I knew that I needed to make every recipe in the magazine for me to truly learn something from the experience. Tonight was a night where I made something I never would have made without the commitment to make every recipe in the magazine in one month. There are several reasons that the recipe for Cheesy Polenta Lasagna with Mushrooms and Seitan on page 60 was at the top of my least likely recipes list. I don't like white sauces like bechamel, and I particularly don't like them as replacements in good traditional foods like lasagna. I live in Georgia and just the thought of white gravy makes me shudder. I have eaten seitan before and find it has a striking resemblance to cat food. That being said, it may surprise you that I really was pretty impressed with tonight's dish. I don't think I'll be making it on a regular basis but if I had a friend who was a die-hard vegetarian coming for dinner, this would be a good dish to serve. The description in the magazine was that the flavors were earthy. That's accurate but it was also smooth. The flavors worked well together and the cheeses brought out the mushrooms taste without being overpowering. The polenta worked well as a noodle, it soaked the sauce and added depth. This was probably the strongest vegetarian dish yet from this month's Gourmet... and Richard asked if he could take the leftovers to work!

I also made the Parmesan Pull-Aparts on page 86. I had really high hopes for these rolls as they looked beautiful in the photographs. Mine were not so beautiful. We gave blood this afternoon and were a bit late getting home so they rose for almost 3 hours instead of an hour and a half. You can probably see in the picture my roll looks a bit like a puzzle piece instead of a nice rounded roll. They rose until they became one mass and though they still pulled apart in sections, they did not have round tops. They were good rolls, the lightest of the bunch, but the cheese in them was a little strong. They tasted so much like Parmesan that I really couldn't eat more than one without feeling like I was sucking on cheese rind.

The First BIG Failure- 2/17/09

Anyone who has cooked has had them. Those big failures, flops, disasters! Something that in no way resembled edible food, or at least food that the average person would want to eat. Well, tonight was not the first failure ever, I can't even tell you how many of those I've had, but it was the first one that has happened during my month of Gourmet experiment. I may actually be more prone to these disasters than the average person as I have a tendency to read quickly and not always, completely. That's what I did in this case. I read that I needed tapioca for the Tapioca Pearl Pudding with Lychees and Mango on page 110 but I was so intent on finding canned lychees that I neglected to get the right kind of tapioca. Yes, yes, I know now it says "not quick cooking". Well, here's what happens if you use quick cooking tapioca. You will have a large pot of something that can only be described as clear lumpy slime. Without sugar, it actually tastes like nothing. (I tasted it!) With sugar and the fruit, it tastes like sweet, fruity slime. Not exactly appetizing to anyone but ... the girl who refuses to eat perfectly good fish (see previous post). Eyrleigh loved the fruity slime and I drained most of the slime off so she can finish it for breakfast tomorrow. No point in wasting good mango and lychee, right?
I don't usually write about the dessert first but for obvious reasons, I reversed the order just for this post. As the meal, I made the Southeast Asian Beef and Rice-Noodle Soup on page 71. Let me begin by saying I often order pho at local Vietnamese restaurants so I have an expectation of what pho should taste like. I know that pho is often quite bland on its own and the accompaniments liven it up considerably. This pho was particularly bland in my opinion. It had some heat from the chilies but no complexity like the Thai-Style Chicken Soup with Basil that I made last week. The Sriracha and hoisin helped some but I would have liked a soup that had the ability to stand alone, not one that needed intense doctoring to be enjoyable. I actually thought the meat was a bit too fatty for the soup, there was a gloss to the soup that did not add to the flavor at all and made it feel heavy. All in all, not the best night of the month but sometimes the flops are part of the fun.

Eyrleigh Doesn't "Do" Fish -2/16/09

Before I had a child, I told myself I would encourage my child to be an adventurous eater, not allowing her to subsist on traditional kid's fare like macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets. Well, I'm encouraging her alright but she's not taking the bait. There is nothing I can do to get this kid interested in eating fish. She turns up her little 15-month-old nose at any fish, even if it's the only thing on her plate and she has shown she is very hungry. Even decorating it with a little coconut did not entice her to try even a bite. Ok, she did have one bite that I put in her mouth and she promptly spit back out. What is it with kids and fish? I was fed a lot of strange stuff as a child, namely anything and everything that was a byproduct of tofu, and I was less excited about fish than any of the aforementioned tofu products. Is it the strong flavor? The smell? I'm sure children in fishing regions do not have this aversion but perhaps that's because they eat fish at most or all of their meals. I will admit that there are only 2 fish recipes in the February 2009 Gourmet and that will be the only 2 times this month we will eat fish. That infrequency does make a difference.

Tonight I made the Coconut-Crusted Mahimahi with Pan-Roasted Garlic, Rosemary, and Tomato Sauce on page 102. You may notice in the picture that I bought skin-on Mahimahi instead of the skinless that the recipe called for. This did change the flavor as my coconut crust flavored the skin, not the fish itself. I actually liked the skin with the coconut crust and I don't usually eat fish skin. Richard does not eat fish skin and so did not eat a majority of his coconut crust. The fish was very moist and flavorful without being overpowering. I did have to cook it longer than recommended because my fish steaks were quite thick. I actually cooked it the time called for, took my picture, and put it back in to finish cooking. I was afraid the coconut might get too brown and look burnt in the picture. This little experiment has turned me into quite the food stylist.

The tomato sauce was good and there is enough left over for me to put it on a salad tomorrow. Balsamic vinegar would have been good in the tomato sauce too but I think then it would have been too strong a flavor for the fish. I liked how quick and easy it was to prepare and of course, we had over 3/4 of a Dense Chocolate Torte to finish for dessert. That torte may be dessert every night for the rest of the month. That's a serious amount of chocolate.

My Husband Is Wonderful! -2/15/09

I'm a day late to write a Valentine's Day post but I wanted to write about how much I appreciate Richard's willingness to go along with this "Month of Gourmet" project. He's never complained about having to eat different foods night after night and having no choice in the matter. Tonight was the first time that Richard questioned the sanity of the idea of cooking every recipe in an entire cooking magazine in one month. I play on a tennis team and we didn't get back home until 5:30 and dinner still had to be made. Thankfully, I had made the dessert, the Dense Chocolate Torte on page 15, this morning before we left. But, I had planned to make the Smoky Radicchio Risotto on page 14 and the Duck Breast with Frisee Salad and Port Vinaigrette on page 61 and still needed almost a hour before those would be ready. Richard put Eyrleigh in her seat and got her some crackers to tide her over until dinner was done. I can work fast when I have to and quickly got the onions and raisins softening for the risotto and preheated the oven for the duck. Dinner was ready in 40 minutes!
I love risotto. I only began making it regularly in the last year but it is one of my favorite foods. Eyrleigh loves it too. She has gotten much pickier about what she puts in her mouth in just the last month but she eats risotto even after she refuses to eat anything else. The Smoky Radicchio Risotto was as good as any risotto I've made and the smoky Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses were great additions. The radicchio gave a purple tint but I really didn't taste a flavor difference. I don't think it was really necessary, unless you wanted the color.
The Duck Breast with Frisee Salad and Port Vinaigrette was not as spectacular. Duck breast has a very mild flavor and is not that distinctly different from other poultry. It is not as readily available so I don't use it as often. This recipe did not change that for me. I enjoyed it but would not go out of my way to shop for duck over chicken. The salad was good. I couldn't buy frisee by itself but instead bought a mix of greens that contained frisee. The dressing was good but there was not enough of it. We had purchased Ferreira Dona Antonia Port when crossing the border from Canada several years ago and it was so good, we enjoyed a glass with our dinner.
The glass of port also helped cut the richness of our dessert, the Dense Chocolate Torte. This dessert was sentimental to me as my grandmother was an interior decorator and had worked for the Deerfield Inn, the inn where this recipe was created. The Torte was very rich. Only a small piece was enough to satisfy any chocolate craving. A large piece would be too much very quickly. It was surprisingly easy to make, but every time I use a springform pan in a water bath, I'm amazed the Reynolds or some other foil manufacturer has not created a pan cover so that water doesn't leak into the pan.

Thoughts of Vegetarianism -2/14/09

I have never have been a vegetarian but like most people, I've considered a meat-free diet. I'm not comfortable with the killing of animals. I've seen chickens killed and I could see that the animals experienced pain and fear prior to being killed. I will do anything I can to avoid following a truck hauling animals in crowded cages and pens. But obviously I still eat chicken and in fact, all other types of meat. Why? Because, like most people, I separate myself from that process when I cook with or eat meat. I don't boil live lobsters or roast whole pigs. All the meat I cook with or eat is in non-animal form. I don't think about the connection between the meat and live animals. I have had pets and feel that animals don't have the same emotional complexity that humans do. Animals don't think about the past and future in the same way that humans do. They don't compare their lives to other animals. But I do know they can experience fear, stress, and pain and I hope that soon all farms will be required to humanely house and slaughter their animals.
Tonight I made a vegetarian meal and yes, it was missing something. I made the Curried-Squash and Red-Lentil Soup on page 70. I tried the soup as it finished cooking and thought "Yikes, this isn't good". I then took it off the stove and went upstairs to take a shower. By the time we ate the soup, it had cooled considerably and it tasted much better. I don't really understand why that happened, perhaps the curry mellowed as it cooled. I really enjoyed the flavor the cilantro oil added. The soup needed the richer taste of the fat from the oil. I wish there was some way to smooth out the grittiness of lentils however. Eyrleigh was not a fan, maybe the onion were too much for her. She usually loves butternut squash.
The curry in the soup called for a Indian-inspired dessert. The recipe for Quick Gajar Halva on page 58 was a great match. I had eaten this desert while in India and at Indian restaurants. It was a very simple recipe and had a really interesting flavor. It was quite sweet and the golden raisins added a nice tang.

Too Hot! - 2/13/09

I never question the oven temperature and cooking times on recipes. There are too many other variables to worry about and temps and times are right... most of the time. Two of the recipes that I made tonight, Paprika Roast Chicken with Sweet Onion and Roasted Green Beans and Cashews, both on page 55 called for a 500 degree oven. The chicken had a cook time of only 30 minutes so a hot oven was necessary. The bean recipe called for a equally hot oven for almost the same time, that was too hot. Half the beans had roasted beyond recognition and were not palatable. The rest were salvageable but still quite overcooked. I like my vegetables very crispy and without a lot of fat from butter or oil. The beans were pretty much the opposite of that. Oh, well.
The Paprika Chicken was very simple and lightly flavored. Again,, the 500 degree oven was too hot for some of the onions but perfect for the chicken. The chicken was moist, I only wish the skin had been more crispy.
For desert, I made the Spanish Rice Pudding on page 110. I must admit that I thought there was no way that only a half cup of rice would absorb 5 cups of liquid. It did! It took longer that the recommended time but I think that was because I did not bring the milk mixture to a boil before turning it down to simmer. It took too long to get to a simmer and I think that's what made it take longer to thicken. The pudding was a lot like a tapioca pudding but not as sweet. Richard and I enjoyed it and tomorrow, we'll see what Eyrleigh thinks. She was too tired for desert tonight.

Work with What You Got -2/12/09

Anyone who has cooked for awhile has used creative license. Today, when I made the Braised Chile-Spiced Short Ribs with Black Beans on page 30, I used that license. When I was at the Super H Mart, I picked up sliced beef short ribs instead of well... unsliced. I was pretty sure that wouldn't make a huge difference in flavor, only shorten the braising time. I was right. I also didn't find dried ancho chilis at the store. I actually thought I had the powdered ancho chili powder at home but when I got home, I only had chipotle chili powder. Since the recipe already called for canned chipotles, I thought more chipotle powder was unnecessary so I just skipped the ancho chilis altogether. I enjoyed the flavor of the chili braise but it was quite fatty. The high fat content in the ribs sat in my stomach for several hours after eating. I also missed the carmelizing affect that is created when you throw ribs on the grill in the summer. Ribs are a summer grill food!
The short rib recipe called for a side of black beans. That's exactly what they were, black beans. No spices, no added fat like butter or oil, just very pedestrian black beans. I do think I'll combine the leftovers with some mayonaise and salsa and make a yummy bean dip for tortilla chips. Mmmm, now that's a winter food!

A Pleasant Side Effect -2/11/09

As we walked into the house tonight after dinner, Richard commented that ever since I've started this "Gourmet" thing, our house smells good all the time. That's a wonderful, if unexpected, result from my still short-lived experiment making the recipes from the February 2009 Gourmet magazine. The smells from yesterday's Thai soup have melded into those of tonight's Fennel-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Fennel Wedges on page 56 and the Broccoli-Parmesan Gratin on page 57.

I thought I was a pretty creative cook and it's taken less than a week to disprove that. Yesterday I worked with lemongrass for the first time. Tonight, I used fennel bulbs and though I have eaten fennel bulbs before, I'd never cooked with them. The bulbs had the feel and look of celery without the bitter taste that cooked celery can impart. The Fennel-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Fennel Wedges was very good and quite simple. It was nice to use one pot from stove to oven. I have found that many recipes for pork tenderloin are very salty and this recipe was not salty at all. The flavor of the fennel was mild but after the Thai soup, it was nice to have a lightly flavored main dish.

The Broccoli-Parmesan Gratin was a weeknight keeper. It was simple to make, used very basic ingredients, and Eyrleigh loved it! We have a local company that sells flash-frozen vegetables in large amounts. I simply cooked the frozen pre-cut broccoli and used my Buttermilk Fantail rolls from earlier in the week for fresh bread crumbs. My only complaint was that the two recipes I chose for tonight were almost identical in color so the plate looked a little monochromatic. That was my error though, not the recipes.

Our Super H Mart Trip - 2/10/09

Before I could get too far into the list of February's recipes in Gourmet, I needed to visit the local Asian market, Super H Mart. Let me first say that if Super H Mart were the closest grocery store to my house, I would go there for all my groceries, not just specialty items that the standard grocery stores do not hold. Like most Asian markets in our area, Super H carries a large number of standard items, breakfast cereal, pasta sauce, etc. but the reason I went there today was to pick up ingredients for the variety of soups listed in the "Bowled Over" article that starts on page 62. Tonight I made the Thai-style Chicken Soup with Basil on page 70. I even made the extra effort to make the Rich and Flavorful Chicken Stock on page 106 to use as a base for this soup.
As mentioned, the stock was a cinch. The time needed for it to simmer was the only thing that would prevent me from making this stock for all of the soups that call for it. I used dried thyme and parsley and I doubt that the flavor was vastly different from a stock made with the fresh herbs. I actually have enough stock left over to save for at least one other soup recipe.

The Thai-style soup was excellent. I must admit I have shied away from recipes with lemongrass, one of the ingredients that necessitated a trip to Super H Mart. It was nice to see that lemongrass is really pretty easy to work with, though a little fibrous when I was dicing it. My dice is never that small so it was not a huge issue. When I mentioned in an earlier post I am a home cook, I should have amended it to untrained home cook. Ah, someday a knife class will be on my Christmas list. I also had to make a few changes because a few ingredients were not even at Super H Mart. I asked someone at the store if they carried these items so please don't think I didn't try. I replaced the 2 oz. of tamarind pulp with about 6 oz. of tamarind juice and had no luck with lime leaves so I added lime zest. I loved the suggestion to freeze the chicken briefly to make it easier to slice, worked like a charm. The only complaint that I had was the amount of straining needed for both the stock and the soup. I felt like I kept dumping things from one pot to the next. Probably didn't help that Eyrleigh had taken all of the plastic storage items out of their cupboard and strewn them under my feet so I was dodging those from sink to stove and back again.

For reasons beyond my understanding, I decided to also make the Orange Pumpkin Cloverleafs on page 105. I guess I didn't look at the soup recipe closely and see the accompaniment of rice so I thought I'd make a starch. Thankfully, I made the rice to go with the soup because the Cloverleafs were a strange partner to Thai soup. That said, I enjoyed making the Cloverleafs very much. Kneading dough is one of the most therapeutic things I can think of. It's a form of meditation for cooks. I have a tendency while making breads to not let the yeast sit long enough so I timed it this time to force myself to wait the recommended 5 minutes. I also made sure I did not add too much flour in the kneading process and allowed the bread to remain tacky, but not sticky. I think it helped but the rolls still seemed a little heavy. I liked making these rolls but didn't taste enough of a flavor punch to warrant making them again. They were a pretty orange color but there was no noticeable pumpkin or orange flavor. They tasted like ....rolls.
I have actually made another Gourmet recipe since I posted last but I will admit that was last night since the combination of Thai soup, Cloverleaf rolls, and Butterscotch pudding tonight would have made me and anyone reading this post feel a bit ill. I did not make a main dish from Gourmet because I had to use some ground beef and not a singe recipe from the February issue called for it. I made a Shepard's Pie that was perhaps inspired at one point by the recipe in some cooking magazine but has long since morphed into my own thing. I did make the Butterscotch pudding on page 4 as our desert. I don't make pudding much so two puddings in one week really threw Richard for a loop. I did tell him there were 6 pudding recipes in this issue of Gourmet so he could expect another one soon. The pudding was good. I like butterscotch pudding but I would never list it as my favorite dessert. Eyrleigh couldn't get enough though. She kept turning from Richard to me to get spoonfuls and was grabbing for the bowls long after it was gone. I don't think I stirred it enough as it was heating as there were tapioca-like lumps but they sure didn't affect the taste. I'd make it again for Eyrleigh and yes, Richard and I might get a few bites in too.

Should I blow dry the beans? -2/8/09

Finding a good veggie burger is tough, finding a good one that a home cook can make quickly is even tougher, obviously. The recipe for Black-Bean Burgers on page 59 looked easy and I had tennis today so I didn't have a lot of time to cook. It was easy, it was good, but it was mush! The burgers did not hold together at all! I know I must have done something different than they did in the Gourmet test kitchen. Here are some possiblities. I used fresh bread crumbs, but does dry bread crumbs mean I should have dried them out in the oven? Also, I rinsed and drained the beans but was the water remaining on the beans after a quick drain enough to make them too wet to hold together? That's the tough thing about translating cooking mag recipes, little things like that can make a real difference in the way a recipe turns out.

The Baby loves Jicama! -2/7/09

Jicama is one of those foods I wished I ate more. Tonight I made three recipes from this month's Gourmet. Since I love thematic meals, I picked three recipes with a Mexican flavor. The magazine often puts recipes together and in fact suggested that you make the Cilantro-Chipotle Tilapia on page 57 with the Mexican Pineapple Salad on page 58. I took it one step further and finished the meal with the Mexican Chocolate Pudding on page 110.
The Cilantro-Chipotle Tilapia was really easy to make though I have the worst blender ever. It just pushes whatever is in it to the sides and the blades spin in the middle. The cooking time given was perfect but visually not the prettiest once cooked. Pretty green and gloppy looking but again very good. Eyrleigh hasn't eaten much fish and didn't seem thrilled but then again, most American 15-month-olds probably don't eat much fish nor proclaim to really like it.
The Pineapple Salad was another story. Eyrleigh loves pineapple and quickly discovered she's pretty keen on jicama too. I enjoyed the salad, but it probably won't translate into a day-to-day recipe. Its flavors are strong and perhaps more appropriate to a relish or garnish.
Eyrleigh didn't get to enjoy the Mexican Chocolate pudding because of bedtime but Richard and I really enjoyed it. It tasted lighter than a pudding made with cow's milk but still had the rich chocolate flavor with a hint of cinnamon. It set up well in the recommended time and the toasted almonds added a nice crunch.
On a different but related topic, for frequent Gourmet readers and those who know American cooking history, I found a children's book at the local library titled "Bring Me Some Apples and I'll Make You a Pie" by Robbin Gourley. The story is about Edna Lewis, the award-winning chef and cookbook author. Edna was one of the first and perhaps one of the best teachers of regional Southern cooking. The book has wonderful illustrations and some recipes at the end. I read it to Eyrleigh and may even order a copy for our home library.

The First Recipes of February- 2/6/09

Before I thought of the idea to blog about my results from Gourmet recipes for this February, I already made 2 things from this issue. I made the Steak and Vegetable Soup on page 61 and the Buttermilk Fantails on page 86. Honestly, the Steak and Vegetable Soup was good but not spectacular. As babyfood though, Eyrleigh loved it. The kale was too strong for her but straining out the broth and giving her the pieces made for dinner and lunch for her for several days. The Buttermilk Fantails are excellent, though make sure you have time to let them rise the maximum. I am sure they have a great warm place to rise bread in the test kitchen for the magazine but in my kitchen, it rose very slowly. Would I make them again? Fantails, yes, though I need to let them rise the max or more! The Steak and Vegetable Soup was pretty normal, I'd love to find another similiar recipe with a little more flavor.

A Month of Gourmet- 2/6/09

When I was in college, the woman I babysat for had a stack of cooking magazines in her kitchen and after the children went to sleep, I would look at them until she and her husband got home. I found myself entranced with the lovely pictures and the enticing recipes. It reminded me of when my friend Heather and I would make thematic meals for our parents as kids. We used a child's cookbook of food from other countries (I still have that wonderful little cookbook.) and the Better Homes and Garden's International Cookbook printed in the 1960's. Some were a great success, though interestingly, those are not the meals I remember. Perhaps most memorable was a Polish meal we made, complete with a polka record in the backround and babushkas on our heads, that was unbelievably salty. Our parents kindly ate it and perhaps felt some strange sense of payback for the sour aspic and grainy humus they made us eat.

With these memories of my own enjoyment cooking as a kid and the knowledge that just looking at cooking magazines was a pleasure, I soon subscribed to several myself. In fact, since the mid 90's, I've gotten at least 3 different cooking magazines each month. I save past issues in magazine racks in the closet and at the start of each month, I get out the past issues of that month and look at them all in evenings or when I need an idea for dinner. I've made numerous recipes from these magazines and even write a little rating system in the back of each magazine to review the recipes I've made.

Some people may wonder why cooking magazine instead of cookbooks or online recipes. I love the pictures that go with almost every recipe and the fact that magazines are at the same time, seasonal, thematic, and have a great variety of recipes without being overwhelming in size.

Here's where my purpose for this blog becomes apparent. I wanted a documented format to reflect on my adventures with cooking magazine recipes. My goal for the month of February is to make as many recipes from this month's issue of Gourmet magazine and write about how successful I am with the recipes as a novice home cook with a 15 month old daughter tagging at my heals.

Why Gourmet? It is one of the magazines I've subscribed to or purchased for at least 10 years. Gourmet can at times be the most complex of the magazines I get, the recipes sometimes calling for obscure ingredients and multiple time-consuming steps. There are also a number of articles that challenge the readers thinking not only about cooking but about the way we think of food and how it gets to the table. I admire Ruth Reichl, the editor in chief of Gourmet, and have read some of her memoirs. Her editorials at the front of each issue sound less like an advertisement for her magazine than the honest reflections of a true cook. This February 2009 issue of Gourmet is pretty straightforward with recipes for very authentic braises and soups, as well as an article about wonderful yeast rolls. So here's to the rest of February, my month of Gourmet!