Friday, March 02, 2007
It's March and the time when all gay farm girls' fancies turn to poultry, baby chicks and the oncoming spring. I can't tell you how neat it is to come downstairs in the morning to hear the first cheeps coming from the incubator. Those fuzzy little sweet biddies with their promise of eggs and all things egg related.
When I was last at the Co-op in Newport, I checked out the bulletin board as I usually do. And saw the notice of when the chicks were going to arrive. I'm currently henless at the moment. I did get a bit disheartened by the predation issue here and just let my flock go. But I know what an idiot sucker I am for baby poultry. They are even going to have guinea keets for sale. I've been very desirous of getting guineas. Their eggs supposedly make the best french toast on earth. But now that I'm down to only two geese in the poultry department, I'm starting to miss all the fresh eggs.
Of course, once they start laying real good, you end up scouring ancient cookbooks for those egg rich recipes from the days when everyone had a home flock. You will find eggs in places you never expected. And it's true. An egg in the mix of almost anything makes it taste better, fry up better, or just add an extra bit of protein to the diet. And you have all these dozens of eggs that you hate to just feed back to the hens or give to the dogs.
Have I mentioned that I have a freakishly low cholesterol level? I'm not sure if I mentioned that before I moved to an agrarian lifestyle that I had a freakishly high one. In all of my years of city living I was a devoted member of the 200 + club. And I didn't really eat many eggs then.
Today's Food Porn Friday is all about getting rid of absurd quantities of chicken ovum in the most delicious ways possible.
When the eggs really start to add up, my favorite big egg user is home-made pasta.
Basically all pasta is flour and eggs. It's super easy to make and once you get used to it, it's a fairly easy thing to make. Semolina flour is preferred as a base flour. Bread flour mixed with a bit of cornmeal is a good substitute. Home-made pasta keeps well in the fridge for about a week. I usually make a larger batch than the recipe given so to have enough for a few meals. The more whole grains you use in the pasta, the better it is for you. Fiber makes a great "diet" food and is much more filling than a straight white flour pasta.
The equipment for making pasta by hand is very affordable. A hand cranked pasta machine will run you about 30 bucks at the kitchen supply. Atlas is the preferred brand and you can get all sorts of attachments for doing different shapes. Mine has angel hair and linguine and those are my favorite two textures. It will also roll out very thin sheets of pasta dough for making your own ravioli and gnocchi. I mix my dough in a food processor, but if you want to get real "old school" about it, you can do it by hand making a well in the middle of your flour and gradually incorporating the eggs.
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup bread flour
1/2 cup corn meal
5 to 8 eggs (mix to firm consistency...it takes as many eggs as it takes) You can use even more eggs and cut the calories by only using the egg whites.
1/2 tin of tomato paste
1/2 cup of dried basil leaf
Place all ingredients in a food processor and mix until dough forms a tube shaped mass. Remove, knead more flour into dough by hand and let sit for about 20 minutes in a floured bowl.
Cut mass of flour into 1 inch thick slices. Pat out and roll through the roller of the machine several times, flouring between passes. Decrease the setting on the machine gradually to about #3. You now have a long sheet of thin pasta. Switch the crank on the machine to the desired cutter and pass the pasta through the machine to make the desired type of pasta.
Brazilian Flan
I don't have a photo for this, but you will have to take my word for it that it is a showpiece of a dessert. It emerges out of a bundt cake pan to sit in a puddle of caramel sauce with the rich caramel oozing down the sides of the custard. If you fill the cavity with whipped cream and some fresh edible flowers, it makes a very elegant statement at a dinner party.
I haven't made it in a while since I usually prefer to make creme brulee, but it does eat up the eggs just as handily.
I'm posting this for my sister's admirer, Chris, who frequents the SMB for tidbits of info about my stunning actress sister and also for Velociman who has written so eloquently about her in the past. Simone is teaching acting these days to gifted and talented students on Hilton Head Island, having retired from acting full time. I believe she got this recipe from Jose Feliciano's household. My mother returned from one of her visits to my sister when she was living in L.A. quite starstruck and thrilled that she had dinner with Jose.
Simone's Brazilian Flan
1 cup sugar
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
2 cans(from condensed milk) whole milk
4 eggs
Caramelize sugar until golden brown in a small iron skillet. Coat the bottom of a bundt pan with the caramel.
In a blender, mix the condensed milk, eggs and whole milk. Pour into Bundt pan.
Set Bundt pan in a pan of water in a 350 degree oven for 1 and a half hours or until a toothpick comes out clean. Top of custard should be nice and brown.
When done, let it cool and then refrigerate, over night if possible, as this is better the second day. Turn the custard onto a serving plate. Can be served with whipped cream and fruit, but is marvelous just as it is.
So there you have it. A few egg rich recipes to fill out your pasta and dessert courses. I have many, many more, as you may well imagine. But it's the wrong time of year to torture you with my egg nog recipe.
I'll go back to dreaming of baby chicks and the promise of eggs.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Cheese....it's good!
When I first sent the cheese pizza recipe to Rosie, I had only experimented a little- and only two toppings! As tasty as Roma tomatoes and mushrooms are, there are so many more food items to be explored.
The addition of artichokes, spinach, onions, leeks, basil leaves and even pickled beets, can be an interesting taste explosion in the mouth- for those who enjoy small salty fish, please consider them. Be creative and think how all the flavors will enfold upon each other as the pizza bakes.....
Each taste is to be considered before you add the ingredient to your pizza- a kind of gastronomic fore-play- imagine all those tastes individually in your mouth before you decide just which ones to put together on the pizza, but remember, the more that goes on a single pizza makes that 6" personal pizza harder to hold and enjoy- so why not expand your horizons and go for a 10" or even a 12" pizza, just so you can explore the possibilities.....Besides, cold pizza and warm Coke for breakfast......
The basic pizza recipe:
Take a 6" personal pizza, or larger as you feel the need, your favorite marinara sauce (I chose Newman's Own as that's my favorite commercial product), olive oil and fresh goat cheese crumbles. I put the ingredients together as follows, but they could go together a bit differently:
Spread the Marinara onto the pizza dough- I found that if it goes on too thick, the cheese combines a wee bit too much with the sauce- add as much goat cheese to this as you like, then use your toppings. I also found that adding the slices of Roma tomato on top allows the finished product to stay together a little better. Now for your toppings- the thinner they are sliced or diced, the better, but add as much of what you like, with tomatoes on top. Then drizzle the olive oil, about 1 tablespoon. Bake at 350 degrees until the crust is brown and the tomatoes are baked, about 30 minutes.
That's it- mangia!
One other tip- take the rest of the Marinara and add the rest of the goat cheese to it, then warm appropriately. Add spices if you wish, especially fresh basil cut small. Cook your favorite Italian noodle- angel hair pasta is good for this. On a plate of hot pasta, cover the pasta with the goat cheese sauce, toss a wee bit and serve with fresh buttered garlic bread- and fresh goat milk, served ice cold! Oooooh-weeee! Or red wine and a romaine lettuce salad for a late romantic supper.
Blessings to you all- Goat Yoda:-)
