Chef On Call

Black & White Cookies

Black & White cookies are absolutely my kids favorite cookies. They are a New York institution but I am unsure how popular they are outside of the Northeast. A few weeks ago, I found a recipe for Black & White cookies in Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, I knew I had to make them. I thought it would be complicated but aside from having to ice them with a steady hand, making them was pretty straight forward, especially for a novice baker like myself. My son commented they were the best black and white cookies he had ever had. Pretty high praise! These cookies get better the next day.

This recipe has shortening in it. I have seen a couple of other recipes for these cookies without the shortening; just using butter. I think I will try one of those next.

BLACK AND WHITE COOKIES
from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 sticks (10 Tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 large whole eggs plus 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• Black and White Icings (recipe follows)

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, shortening, and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes,scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add whole eggs and egg yolk, one at a time; beat until combined after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add the flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the cream. Beat until just combined (do not overmix).

Use a 1/4 cup measure ( I used an ice cream scoop) to scoop dough 3 inches apart onto prepared sheets. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until the edges just begin to turn golden and the centers are cakey and tender, 10 to 12 minutes (mine took 15- 17 minutes). Transfer parchment and cookies to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Remove cookies from parchment and let cool completely.

On the flat side (bottom) of each cookie, use a small offset spatula to spread cholocalte icing over oe half of the cookie, creating a line straight down the center. Spread white frosting on the other half. Set cookies aside until icing is set, about 30 minutes.

Black and White Icing

• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder

Whisk sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon water in a bowl until smooth. Add more water, if needed, until mixture is slightly thicker than honey. Set aside half of sugar mixture (for white icing). Stir cocoa into remaining sugar mixture to combine (for black icing); thin with water if needed. Use immediately.

Singed Eyebrows

All in the name of cooking. My husband and I read the Wall street Journal and each year they have an event called Open That Bottle Night. The idea being that many people save special bottles of wine for a special occasion but then never have an event they feel is worthy of opening that bottle of wine. Before long, the wine has taken on a revered status and never gets enjoyed. We happen to have three bottles of Cakebread wine that were begining to take on that revered status so we decided to open one for OTBN. The moons were properly aligned as my favorite market, Fairway in Plainview, NY had veal chops on sale. My husband, Mike LOVES veal chops! Simply prepared, salt and pepper, grilled, with broccoli rabe and nothing else. For me, a meal is not complete unless accompanied by potatoes so I made baked potatoes as well.

I fired up my Big Green Egg. Have you ever heard of the Big Green Egg? If you like to barbeque, go get yourself one of these babies. It can get up to 800 degrees and go as low as 200. It is great for low and slow as well as searing a steak in a couple of minutes. Did I mention the smoky flavor and how juicy and moist the meat stays? It is amazing! You just have to remember when the Egg is really hot, you have slowly open the lid to let some air in first which I didn't do. When I opened the lid in a hurry, I was greeted by a little fireball and the smell of singed hair and eyebrows. Have you ever smelled burnt hair? It is not appetizing!

Being the food professional that I am, I continued on cooking and serving a delicious dinner to rave reviews. It wasn't until after dinner that I caught a glimpse of my hair and eyebrows in the mirror! I can't understand how my husband didn't notice the freak sitting in front of him! I guess he was too preoccupied with his veal chop and broccoli rabe to notice!

Dinner

This turkey and his friend were spotted on my neighbor's lawn last Thursday. My first thought was dinner! How much more local and fresh could I get?

Cookbooks

I have a confession. I am addicted to cookbooks. I don't know how it happened or why. Yes, I love cookbooks but it seemed so innocent. I would look at one in a bookstore and the next thing I knew I was buying it plus another. I couldn't walk out without at least two books sometimes three. And then they started multiplying in my house like rabbits. I would have two cookbooks by Nigella Lawson next to each other and before I knew it, they had produced a third. The same thing happened with Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, Ina Garten and more. Amazon just feeds my addiction. It is so easy to look at a book and before I know it, it is in my shopping cart and on its way to my house. 

Today has been a bad day. It started out innocently enough at Costco. As I was finishing up, I told my kids to hang on for a second while I glanced at the book section. Before I knew it, I was taking home Cooking Light Fresh Food Fast. Then my daughter wanted to go to the mall. A quick stop at Williams-Sonoma and I bought a new cookbook, Cooking For Friends by Alison Attenborough and Jamie Kimm. It looked so pretty and delicious! Then I came home and started surfing around the internet checking out some of my favorite sites and blogs. I stopped in at Orangette and read her delicious description of a roasted asparagus recipe from A16: Food + Wine. I had resisted numerous attempts by that cookbook to get into my house but I just caved. It should be here tomorrow thanks to Amazon and one-day shipping.
I'm glad that one of my New Years resolutions was to cut back on my cookbook purchases; who knows how many I would have purchased! 

Tomato Powder

I am starting a new feature on my Chef On Call blog called tips. As a personal chef and an all around lover of food and cooking, I am frequently asked by clients and friends about how to cook certain items, various ingredients and food related products. Case in point, a couple of weeks ago during oral surgery, my dentist started asking me what pots he and his wife should buy since they were in the market for a new set. Needless to say, it is hard to express an opinion while two people have their hands in your mouth. (For the record, I recommended All-Clad if he wanted to make a serious investment, which is what I use at home or Cuisinart, which is what I use for my personal chef business. I bought them because they were reasonably priced but they have held up to some heavy duty use and mistreatment.)

Today's tip is a relatively unknown product called tomato powder. I found it online at The Spice House and now use it regularly.  It is great in recipes that call for a small amount of tomato sauce where you don't want to open a can or you don't have any on hand, but it is also great in marinades and rubs to boost the rich tomato flavor. The bright red color looks great, too.

I'm Back but I Digress

I know I have been gone for a long time. It is not for a lack of cooking. Actually, I have been cooking more and I think been a more creative cook for the past few months. I just haven't felt like writing. I have been keeping up with lots of food blogs and getting inspiring ideas from them. I just didn't know what to write.

This all started last December as my father's health deteriorated. He had been sick with emphysema and heart problems for two years. He wasn't supposed to live past December but he did. My relationship with my father has ranged from tolerating each other (barely) to outright anger and hostility. I am his only child and for some reason, I never quite measured up. To be fair, many other people in his life felt the same way but as his daughter, I found it very difficult growing up because I didn't feel there was a good reason for his anger towards me.

As his health deteriorated before Christmas, he refused to go into the hospital. This put a horrible burden on my 79 year old mother and resulted in multiple stressful phone calls daily to me. But I didn't know what to do. I got very angry at my father for continuing to make my life difficult and I started to cry. I was sure I was going to have regrets after he passed away; that this was all my fault and that I should have tried harder. No matter that any attempt to fix the situation were met with yelling and screaming.

I was a wreck. January was worse as my father's health got worse. His doctor again tried to hospitalize him but he wouldn't go saying he wasn't going because the only way he would come out was in a box. It just wasn't fair to my mother and myself. We had tried hospice last year, but he was so horrible to the nurses that they left and refused to come back. From the middle of January on, my father could not leave the house. By the beginning of February, he could hardly get out of bed.

I decide on February 13 to go visit my father and help my mother out with some things around the house. I hadn't seen my father since Christmas; it was very awkward to look at him like that. I was so
angry with him for all the pain he has caused me over the years. He refused to attend my wedding finally changing his mind when he realized that we were going ahead with or without him. He didn't speak to me for two years because I purchased a new car and he wanted to pay for it and have me make monthly payments to him so he could take a sales tax deduction on his taxes and I said no because I wanted to establish my own credit (I was just out of college at the time). I really just wanted to yell at him but I didn't say much of anything. I had been crying off and on for over a month and was tired. Tired of him and tired of allowing him to interfere with my life.

After a couple of hours, I said goodbye. I didn't kiss him or anything. I just said goodbye. He looked sad but it was time for me to go. He died that night.

I haven't cried since. I actually feel peace now. I have a wonderful life; a fantastic husband and two wonderful children, a great career.

I feel no regrets. Back to cooking and writing.

I'm Just Here For The Food: Version 2.0

I just ran off to Barnes & Noble to pick up Nigel Slater's latest book, The Kitchen Diaries. Bon Appetit writes about it in the December issue (more on this book after I get a chance to read it). As I was perusing the latest arrivals, I stumbled across Alton Brown's "new" book. I put new in quotes because this book is basically a rehash of his great book "I'm Just Here For The Food".  I am such a big fan of all things Alton Brown that I was ready to buy the book with hardly a glance when I read on the cover that there were only 15 new recipes and some refrigerator magnets.  This book will be great for anyone who doesn't have the first version but stay clear if you already have it. I am a bit disappointed, Alton hasn't had a new cookbook out in a long time so he is definitely due, but this is a poor excuse for a "new" cookbook.

Chicken Pot Pie

I was craving chicken pot pie the other day.  Recently, I started getting into the habit of making an extra roast chicken any time I make one for dinner.  I can then use the leftover chicken for all sorts of applications from pizza to tacos to soup.  This week I searched for a recipe for a very traditional pot pie and found one that sounded very appealing in a new cookbook from the Culinary Instutute of America,  One Dish Meals They give you the option of using store bought pie crusts or puff pastry;  I went with the latter to excellent results.  I made the filling in the morning and stored it in the fridge in the casserole dish I was going to use to bake it.  I let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before placing the puff pastry on top.  Cut a couple of slits to vent and popped it into a 350 degree oven for about 50 minutes until the pastry was golden, brown and delicious.  Dinner was delicious, the puff pastry was flaky while the filling was flavorful and comforting.  I found the prep to be about 40 minutes and the rest of the time my little pie could just bake in the oven unattended.  The recipe calls for 2 pie crusts or pastry sheets so you could make individual crocks but I used one large dish and I only needed one sheet of pastry.

Chicken Pot Pie

3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups diced yellow onion
2 tsp minced garlic
3 tbsp flour
3 cups chicken broth (I used a bit more to keep it moist)
salt & pepper
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced celery
2 cups diced red or yukon gold potatoes
4 cups diced cooked chicken meat
1 cup green peas thawed if frozen
2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
2 9-inch prepared pie crusts or puff pastry sheets

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat until it shimmers.  Add the onion and saute, stirring frequently, until tender, 10 to 12 minutes.  Add the garlic and saute about 30 seconds.  Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until pasty and thick, about 2 minutes.  Add the broth, whisking well.  Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring frequently, until thick, about 15 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Add the carrot, celery, and potato and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.  Add the chicken and peas and remove from the heat.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Stir in the chopped parsley.
• Spoon the filling into individual crocks or a baking dish.  Cut pie crust or puff pastry dough to the appropriate size (I rolled mine out to fit my dish and crimped the edges) and cover the filling.  Cut vents in the crust and press the edges to seal.
• Bake the pot pie until the crust is golden and flaky, about 45 minutes for a large pot pie and 25 minutes for individual crocks.  Serve immediately.

Sunday Dinner

I love Sunday dinner.

It is my favorite meal of the week.  I thoroughly enjoy having a leisurely (although with two children it isn't that leisurely) afternoon to make a meal that requires more preparation than time allows during the week.  Growing up, my mother who is British, used to make our Sunday dinner at 2:00pm and then we were on our own for a light supper.  So, I am used to roast beef with Yorkshire pudding as a typical Sunday meal.
Around Thursday or Friday, my thoughts turn to what to make for Sunday dinner.  I have to take into account what activities are planned for the day but nothing makes me happier than to realize we don't have anything planned and the weather is suited to a nice heavy dinner.  Yesterday was this day.  My kids were going to the movies with their Grandmother and I really didn't have anything to do except make dinner.  How perfect.  I started dreaming about roast chicken and settled on a recipe from the new The Bon Appetit Cookbook (purchase includes subscription to Bon Appetit magazine) .  I made this recipe once before and really liked it.  It seems like an easier version of the infamous The Zuni Cafe Cookbook: A Compendium of Recipes and Cooking Lessons from San Francisco's Beloved Restaurant Roast Chicken so I could cook and watch football (Go Cowboys!).  I was all set to go and then....our cesspool backed up!  With our cesspool company unavailable yesterday, the instructions were to use as little water as possible until today.  No cooking because we couldn't clean up.  We were reduced to pizza and salad take out.  I was so disappointed. 

But today is another day and the cesspool has been pumped and we are back in business.  Roast Chicken with Arugula and Bread Salad are on the menu tonight.  I will try and remember to take some photos for you.

Roast Chicken with Arugula and Bread Salad

8 cups 1 inch cubes country style white bread

1 7lb whole roasting chicken (I'm using 2 4lb birds)

1/2 cup low salt chicken broth

1/3 cup white wine vinegar

3/4 cup sliced green onions

1/2 cup dried currants

3 bunches fresh arugula leaves (about 2 cups)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place bread on large rimmed baking sheet.  Bake until bread is lightly toasted, about 6 minutes.  Set aside; maintain oven temperature.

Season chicken inside and out with salt and pepper.  Place breast side up on rack in heavy roasting pan.  Roast chicken 1 hour.  Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees.  Roast chicken until juices run clear about 45 minutes longer (with smaller birds, mine usually takes about one hour in total).  Tent with aluminum foil to keep warm.

Pour pan juices into 4-cup measuring cup (do not clean pan).  Spoon off fat from top of pan juices, returning 2 tablespoons fat to pan.  Add pan juices, broth, and vinegar to pan.  Set pan over 2 burners and bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits.  Add green onions and currants.  Simmer 3 minutes to reduce liquid slightly.  Remove from heat.  Add bread to pan and tosswith juices.  Mix in arugula.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Serve with chicken.

Roasts

I don't hear of many people preparing roasts anymore.  Sure they come out around the holidays or special occasions, but not on a regular basis and certainly not during the week.  But I find them to be immensely satisfying and delicious and also easy to prepare.  Once you prep the roast which usually only takes 10-15 minutes, you are free to tend to other things (like blogging).  Right now, I am enjoying the smells of a 4 pound pork roast (did I mention that I dream about pork but I digress) that is happily cooking away in my oven.  I placed it in a small roasting pan along with a bag of sauerkraut (that would be the contents of the bag, not the bag).  I seasoned the roast by cutting slits into it and filling them with slivers of garlic along with salt, pepper, ground caraway seeds, and ground coriander.  I popped it into the oven (400 degrees) and in 1 - 1 1/2 hours, we will be feasting.  To round the dinner out, we are having buttermilk mashed potatoes and sauteed chard.
I especially like making roasts on Sundays and I like to have different types of meat.  Roast beef, pork and lamb cooked to medium rare are my favorites.  So next time you are looking for something delicious to eat, think about a roast; you won't be disappointed.