When I first went to college, back in the late 1980s, I was introduced to a candy I had never tried before, named Laekrits. Each piece was a small chocolate lentil, meaning it was the same size and shape of an M&M, but it was different for three reasons: one, the chocolate was a fine milk chocolate, akin to putting a Swiss or Belgian chocolate inside a candy shell instead of the relatively grainy and unbalanced chocolate of an M&M; two, the shell was black; and 3) the shell was licorice-flavored.
I adored these little lentils, but they were not easy to find and pricy to boot. A package half the size of an M&M package usually cost twice as much. Still, I enjoyed it when I could. Then the manufacturer stopped making them.
I have eaten other candies in the meantime, but earlier this year I was excited to find a supplier of what looked to be a recreation of Laekrits. I ordered a five pound bag and waited for it to arrive.
When my bag arrived I tried a piece of the candy secreted inside. The chocolate was grainy and insipid, the mark of an American mid-grade dark chocolate. The shell wasn't very strongly licorice. When I looked at the ingredients list I knew why it tasted so wrong: high-fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oil, two ingredients never present in the old lentils. I gave them away, sad that I had not found the candy I'd missed.
Earlier today, when visiting an office, I saw two candy dishes. One had Hershey's Kisses while the other had Jelly Belly jelly beans, including some licorice-flavored beans. On a whim, I combined one licorice bean with a Kiss. It wasn't the same as my beloved missing Laekrits, but it was a lot closer than anything else I've had in the last decade.
I still miss those little licorice lentils.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Friday, December 2, 2011
Cooking while sleepy
One of the problems with cooking while sleepy is grabbing the wrong size pan. If it's too big it's usually just a headache to clean. Unfortunately, this evening I grabbed my small frying pan instead of my medium one.
Results?
It took twice as long to caramelize my onion, and several of my green beans ended up falling on the stove instead of cooking. Further, because the green beans were not cooking the way I would have liked, I did not get to make the sauce for them I'd hoped to make, with tamari, mirin, ginger, garlic, mustard and sesame seeds.
No, this is not as bad a problem as accidentally cutting yourself, but it is frustrating.
Results?
It took twice as long to caramelize my onion, and several of my green beans ended up falling on the stove instead of cooking. Further, because the green beans were not cooking the way I would have liked, I did not get to make the sauce for them I'd hoped to make, with tamari, mirin, ginger, garlic, mustard and sesame seeds.
No, this is not as bad a problem as accidentally cutting yourself, but it is frustrating.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Restaurant Review: Ruyi in Lexington
One of my occasional problems is buying too many online deals for dining out. I do not plan my time for these as well as I would like, and I end up with vouchers that I can't really use. I was facing this problem with my second voucher for Ruyi, so last week I went there for lunch during one of my less busy days.
I was able to park on the street quite close to the restaurant. Parking, by the way, is considerably cheaper than street parking in Boston, Cambridge or Somerville, though not quite as cheap as in Medford. I walked into the establishment and found it mostly empty. This is more likely in places outside of easy train reach, but it was still disheartening as I like the place.
I sat at the grill for some Japanese steakhouse food. I started with the onion soup (tasty) and a green salad with ginger dressing (also tasty). The show after the introduction was short but sweet, with the chef displaying considerable knife skills. Lunch does not include shrimp, but as I don't eat shrimp I didn't miss it. It does include grilled vegetables, rice and some sort of animal-based protein. I paid a bit extra ($2) to have vegetable fried rice and a little more (another $2) to have two sources of protein: sirloin steak and tuna steak. The vegetables went very well with the rice, and both the sirloin and the tuna were quite enjoyable even if a little saltier than my diet would strictly allow for.
Ruyi serves a variety of styles, from sushi bar to Japanese steakhouse to Chinese Cantonese-style cuisine. Prices are reasonable, with most steakhouse suppers coming in under $25 and Cantonese entrees generally in the $8-$12 range. It's a fine place for lunch or supper, and there's some excellent ice cream right down the street. If you have a car, or you have the time to ride the bus there and back, I suggest heading over there some day for a nice supper. It's closer to "nice date" range than "regular eats" range, but it is well worth it.
I was able to park on the street quite close to the restaurant. Parking, by the way, is considerably cheaper than street parking in Boston, Cambridge or Somerville, though not quite as cheap as in Medford. I walked into the establishment and found it mostly empty. This is more likely in places outside of easy train reach, but it was still disheartening as I like the place.
I sat at the grill for some Japanese steakhouse food. I started with the onion soup (tasty) and a green salad with ginger dressing (also tasty). The show after the introduction was short but sweet, with the chef displaying considerable knife skills. Lunch does not include shrimp, but as I don't eat shrimp I didn't miss it. It does include grilled vegetables, rice and some sort of animal-based protein. I paid a bit extra ($2) to have vegetable fried rice and a little more (another $2) to have two sources of protein: sirloin steak and tuna steak. The vegetables went very well with the rice, and both the sirloin and the tuna were quite enjoyable even if a little saltier than my diet would strictly allow for.
Ruyi serves a variety of styles, from sushi bar to Japanese steakhouse to Chinese Cantonese-style cuisine. Prices are reasonable, with most steakhouse suppers coming in under $25 and Cantonese entrees generally in the $8-$12 range. It's a fine place for lunch or supper, and there's some excellent ice cream right down the street. If you have a car, or you have the time to ride the bus there and back, I suggest heading over there some day for a nice supper. It's closer to "nice date" range than "regular eats" range, but it is well worth it.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
The Gashleycrumb Dishes
With apologies to Edward Gorey and his Gashlycrumb Tinies, which I adore.
A is for Apple that fell down the stairs
B is for Basil devoured by bears
C is for Cookie just eaten today
D is for Dumpling thrown out of a sleigh
E is for Eclair deglazed by a peach
F is for Fruitcake sucked dry by a leech
G is for Gazpacho spilled on a rug
H is for Herring done in by a thug
I is for Ice Cream that drowned in a lake
J is for Jimmies on ribs by mistake
K is for Knishes struck down by an axe
L is for Lutefisk left by the tracks
M is for Mutton that swept out to sea
N is for Nachos thrown at the T V
O is for Olive run through with an awl
P is for Pasta served dead in the mall
Q is for Quinces smashed flat by a tire
R is for Rhubarb consumed by a fire
S is for Shwarma expired in kits
T is for Turkey that flew into bits
U is for Udon that slipped down a drain
V is for Venison squished by a train
W is for Wings imbedded in ice
X is for Xiphias eaten by mice
Y is for Yarrow dissolved in some gin
And Z is for Zeppole tossed in the bin
I wrote this today, aside from the two original lines that I was able to leave untouched but with changed meaning.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Stuffing solutions
One of my favorite parts of a Thanksgiving dinner is the stuffing, which, since I cook it outside the bird, should technically be called the dressing. The issue with a lot of dressings is the flavor: how do you spice them? Plus, if you need to add liquid, what kind do you use?
Normally, when I make a stuffing, the liquid I add for flavor is some sort of chicken stock or chicken broth. However, for Thanksgiving, one of the things I like to do is substitute some of that liquid, no more than a third, with apple cider. It adds some extra sweetness and flavor reminiscent of autumn in New England, especially autumn near an apple orchard, and I get to drink the spare cider. I do use some oil as part of my liquid for texture purposes, typically a light oil like grapeseed, rapeseed (canola) or extra light olive oil.
The tricky part for many people is the spicing. This is one time when I am willing to take a shortcut and buy a mix of spices colloquially referred to as "poultry seasoning." If you live near a megamart, you will probably find some Bell's poultry seasoning in the spice section. Even in my modern chowhound state I still consider this an acceptable blend, a flavor from my childhood that still works. Right now I have some poultry seasoning from Penzeys in my house, which is a fine blend as well. If you don't have any poultry seasoning in your home but you plan on making a stuffing/dressing, Don't Panic. If you are near a Penzeys outlet, they should be well stocked. Even if you aren't, your local megamart and even some little general markets should have plenty of the Bell's for your needs. One box will handle multiple batches of stuffing unless you're cooking for sixty, in which case you're probably too busy cooking right now to read this.
Have a happy Thanksgiving!
Normally, when I make a stuffing, the liquid I add for flavor is some sort of chicken stock or chicken broth. However, for Thanksgiving, one of the things I like to do is substitute some of that liquid, no more than a third, with apple cider. It adds some extra sweetness and flavor reminiscent of autumn in New England, especially autumn near an apple orchard, and I get to drink the spare cider. I do use some oil as part of my liquid for texture purposes, typically a light oil like grapeseed, rapeseed (canola) or extra light olive oil.
The tricky part for many people is the spicing. This is one time when I am willing to take a shortcut and buy a mix of spices colloquially referred to as "poultry seasoning." If you live near a megamart, you will probably find some Bell's poultry seasoning in the spice section. Even in my modern chowhound state I still consider this an acceptable blend, a flavor from my childhood that still works. Right now I have some poultry seasoning from Penzeys in my house, which is a fine blend as well. If you don't have any poultry seasoning in your home but you plan on making a stuffing/dressing, Don't Panic. If you are near a Penzeys outlet, they should be well stocked. Even if you aren't, your local megamart and even some little general markets should have plenty of the Bell's for your needs. One box will handle multiple batches of stuffing unless you're cooking for sixty, in which case you're probably too busy cooking right now to read this.
Have a happy Thanksgiving!
Simple orange-maple glazed carrots
One of the problems with carrots is getting the flavor balance right. When you roast them, they get small and dry; when you boil them, they stay large but lose flavor. Steaming would take hours. Frying them is another post. So how do you get carrots with a nice glaze?
The trick to a good glaze is this: start with already-reduced ingredients. What do I mean by reduced? I mean ingredients that have already had some of their liquid content removed. Standard maple syrup has had a fair amount of liquid boiled off. So has frozen concentrated orange juice.
Get your carrots and boil them. You may have bought pre-cut skinned carrots, you may have bought whole carrots, skinned them and cut them up. That doesn't matter. Boil them until they're slightly soft, soft enough that you can stick a fork in it without worrying about rolling your carrot. Drain them, then add two parts frozen concentrated orange juice to one part maple syrup, enough to have a glaze. The orange juice doesn't need to still be frozen, but it should still be a concentrate. I suggest adding some ground cinnamon and either some good fresh grated ginger or some powdered ginger as well, to add some extra flavor. Put this in the oven you're using to reheat your food for Thanksgiving, which is probably at 325-350ºF for some 10-20 minutes. Add some butter if you want, but you don't have to if you don't want to.
Serve them up hot. If your guests marvel at how exotic a dish it is and how difficult it must have been to glaze the carrots, just smile and say, "It was simple, really."
The trick to a good glaze is this: start with already-reduced ingredients. What do I mean by reduced? I mean ingredients that have already had some of their liquid content removed. Standard maple syrup has had a fair amount of liquid boiled off. So has frozen concentrated orange juice.
Get your carrots and boil them. You may have bought pre-cut skinned carrots, you may have bought whole carrots, skinned them and cut them up. That doesn't matter. Boil them until they're slightly soft, soft enough that you can stick a fork in it without worrying about rolling your carrot. Drain them, then add two parts frozen concentrated orange juice to one part maple syrup, enough to have a glaze. The orange juice doesn't need to still be frozen, but it should still be a concentrate. I suggest adding some ground cinnamon and either some good fresh grated ginger or some powdered ginger as well, to add some extra flavor. Put this in the oven you're using to reheat your food for Thanksgiving, which is probably at 325-350ºF for some 10-20 minutes. Add some butter if you want, but you don't have to if you don't want to.
Serve them up hot. If your guests marvel at how exotic a dish it is and how difficult it must have been to glaze the carrots, just smile and say, "It was simple, really."
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Pasta with Chicken and Mushrooms in a Balsamic Sauce
If you go to Davis Square in Somerville, you will find the Boston Burger Company located between the two Davis Square T stations. Some one to two restaurants ago, in that very spot, was an Italian restaurant that served linguini in a balsamic sauce with sauteed chicken and mushrooms. I adored that dish tremendously and tried to make it at home, but I had limited success. If I tried using chicken stock or gelatinized chicken drippings, it muddied the balsamic flavor. I made balsamic reductions but they still didn't impart enough balsamic flavor. I gave up the dish for several years.
After the experiment a few weeks back where I got wine flavor into pasta, I have been playing with my pasta considerably more. Tonight I realized I could use the technique there and combine it with a balsamic reduction, which had previously been my closest to success. I had the chicken, I had the mushrooms, I had the pasta, and I could make the reduction. This was a three pot dish, something I normally try to avoid.
Equipment:
cutting board and sharp knife, for cutting mushrooms and possibly other items and finally the chicken
One good 3-4 quart sauce-pot
One medium-size frying pan
One small frying pan
Two large cooking spoons
One metal spatula
One regular-sized bowl
Ingredients:
One 8-10 oz. container of mushrooms - even white button mushrooms are OK in this
about 1 lb boneless chicken - I use breasts but thighs are fine too
2/3 lb. dry pasta - any shape you want, but I used a short twirly pasta for this dish
balsamic vinegar
sherry, preferably dry
extra virgin olive oil
salt
other spices to taste
Put your small frying pan on the back burner of your stove, and turn it to medium high. Add about 3/4 of a cup of balsamic vinegar and a splash or two of sherry. As soon as it starts to bubble, turn down the heat to medium low and let it continue to simmer. Check it occasionally. If it starts to get too thick, ass either a glug of balsamic vinegar or a glug of sherry. This is where you can add some spices. Keep it light on black pepper, if you use it at all, and stick with less pungent flavors like garlic powder or a little paprika. If you want basil in this dish, get fresh basil leaves and toss them in this at about the same time you drain your pasta.
Wash your mushrooms, remove the stems, and slice them up. If you want to use a little shallot with the mushrooms, cut that up too. Put the mushrooms (and shallot) off to one side and cut up the chicken. Try to keep each side of the chicken to about 1.5" as a maximum. Smaller is fine. Just do your best to have a uniform size.
Next, fill your pot with water and put it on high heat.
While waiting for the water to boil, take your medium frying pan, put it on the stove, and turn the heat to medium high. After about a minute, test the pan with a mushroom. If it sizzles, put in as many mushrooms as you can while keeping them to a single layer in the pan. If you need to do this in more than one fry, that is fine. Cook them until they are nicely (and gently) browned, then decamp to your bowl. If you have shallot, put it in with whichever batch of sliced mushroom is going last.
Your water should be boiling now. Put your pasta in the water and set the timer for about 2 minutes short of the recommended cooking time.
Go back to the medium frying pan and cook your chicken pieces, again one layer at a time, but don't crowd your chicken too much. A few millimeters between pieces is fine. If it takes multiple times in your frying pan, again, so be it.
When the timer goes off for your pasta, drain is well. Return your pot to the stove, on medium high, and add about 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar. Put your pasta back in the pot and cook for two more minutes, stirring constantly or nearly so. Add in your chicken, your mushrooms, and your balsamic reduction. Mix well and serve.
Since I had a bone-in chicken breast with the skin still on instead of already-deboned, already-skinned chicken, I took off the skin and fat from my chicken, cutting it up into small pieces no more than 1.5" on the long side. I rendered it in the frying pan on medium heat for part of the time that the pasta cooked, until it was all nicely browned and much of the fat had rendered out. I took out the remaining solids and added them into my pasta dish. It is much like adding bacon bits to a dish - and if you like bacon and have good bacon but no chicken skin, feel free to brown a slice and crumble it up on your finished dish.
I made what I thought would be enough for my wife and me to have dinner and put away a couple of luncheon-sized containers of leftovers. I had two servings, my wife one, and our roommate the rest.
Yeah, I get to make this one again.
I still miss the little Italian place that was there before Boston Burger Company, but now I can finally make the dish they made that I adored, at home.
After the experiment a few weeks back where I got wine flavor into pasta, I have been playing with my pasta considerably more. Tonight I realized I could use the technique there and combine it with a balsamic reduction, which had previously been my closest to success. I had the chicken, I had the mushrooms, I had the pasta, and I could make the reduction. This was a three pot dish, something I normally try to avoid.
Equipment:
cutting board and sharp knife, for cutting mushrooms and possibly other items and finally the chicken
One good 3-4 quart sauce-pot
One medium-size frying pan
One small frying pan
Two large cooking spoons
One metal spatula
One regular-sized bowl
Ingredients:
One 8-10 oz. container of mushrooms - even white button mushrooms are OK in this
about 1 lb boneless chicken - I use breasts but thighs are fine too
2/3 lb. dry pasta - any shape you want, but I used a short twirly pasta for this dish
balsamic vinegar
sherry, preferably dry
extra virgin olive oil
salt
other spices to taste
Put your small frying pan on the back burner of your stove, and turn it to medium high. Add about 3/4 of a cup of balsamic vinegar and a splash or two of sherry. As soon as it starts to bubble, turn down the heat to medium low and let it continue to simmer. Check it occasionally. If it starts to get too thick, ass either a glug of balsamic vinegar or a glug of sherry. This is where you can add some spices. Keep it light on black pepper, if you use it at all, and stick with less pungent flavors like garlic powder or a little paprika. If you want basil in this dish, get fresh basil leaves and toss them in this at about the same time you drain your pasta.
Wash your mushrooms, remove the stems, and slice them up. If you want to use a little shallot with the mushrooms, cut that up too. Put the mushrooms (and shallot) off to one side and cut up the chicken. Try to keep each side of the chicken to about 1.5" as a maximum. Smaller is fine. Just do your best to have a uniform size.
Next, fill your pot with water and put it on high heat.
While waiting for the water to boil, take your medium frying pan, put it on the stove, and turn the heat to medium high. After about a minute, test the pan with a mushroom. If it sizzles, put in as many mushrooms as you can while keeping them to a single layer in the pan. If you need to do this in more than one fry, that is fine. Cook them until they are nicely (and gently) browned, then decamp to your bowl. If you have shallot, put it in with whichever batch of sliced mushroom is going last.
Your water should be boiling now. Put your pasta in the water and set the timer for about 2 minutes short of the recommended cooking time.
Go back to the medium frying pan and cook your chicken pieces, again one layer at a time, but don't crowd your chicken too much. A few millimeters between pieces is fine. If it takes multiple times in your frying pan, again, so be it.
When the timer goes off for your pasta, drain is well. Return your pot to the stove, on medium high, and add about 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar. Put your pasta back in the pot and cook for two more minutes, stirring constantly or nearly so. Add in your chicken, your mushrooms, and your balsamic reduction. Mix well and serve.
Since I had a bone-in chicken breast with the skin still on instead of already-deboned, already-skinned chicken, I took off the skin and fat from my chicken, cutting it up into small pieces no more than 1.5" on the long side. I rendered it in the frying pan on medium heat for part of the time that the pasta cooked, until it was all nicely browned and much of the fat had rendered out. I took out the remaining solids and added them into my pasta dish. It is much like adding bacon bits to a dish - and if you like bacon and have good bacon but no chicken skin, feel free to brown a slice and crumble it up on your finished dish.
I made what I thought would be enough for my wife and me to have dinner and put away a couple of luncheon-sized containers of leftovers. I had two servings, my wife one, and our roommate the rest.
Yeah, I get to make this one again.
I still miss the little Italian place that was there before Boston Burger Company, but now I can finally make the dish they made that I adored, at home.
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