ginger molasses cookies

Followed almost to the letter from the awesome Flour cookbook.

I've wanted to try this recipe since I tried these cookies at Flour. I'm normally more of a chocolate-chip kind of girl, but this is the rare spice cookie that keeps pace with basically anything. The spice mixture is terrific, and it doesn't overpower the butter and other things. Bottom line: these still taste very much like indulgent cookies.

3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks/170 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to the touch
1 c. (220 grams) packed light brown sugar
1/4 c. (80 grams) unsulphured dark molasses
1 egg
2 c. (280 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
granulated sugar for coating

Note: I used dark brown sugar, which worked great. For the most part, the gram measurements were much easier to use, but for some reason the cup of brown sugar was well under the 220 grams on the ingredient list. I went with the cup rather than the weight measurement there.

1. In a stand mixer, mix butter, brown sugar, molasses, and egg on low speed for 20 seconds (or until well combined).

2. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and cloves until well mixed. Add the flour mixture to the butter-sugar mixture and stir just until the dough is evenly mixed.

3. For the best results, scrape the dough into an airtight container and let it rest in the refrigerator. (The cookbook says to leave it in the fridge overnight, but I gave it about 5 hours and it worked great.)

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

5. Put some granulated sugar in a small bowl. Scoop out 1/4-cup bowls of dough, put them in the sugar, and roll the dough around until it's entirely coated. Placed the coated balls on a baking sheet, about 2 inches apart.

6. Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until cookies are crackly on top.

Restaurants: Oleana

More gift certificates, more delicious food.

We ate at Oleana, which has the added benefit of being

a) a restaurant that we have a tangential personal relationship to, since the chef's sister went to college with us
b) A saw David Chang, who was in town to give a lecture on fermentation. Not that A knew that. It was just an immediate celebrity reaction.
There's a 20% chance that she would recognize the mayor, and a 5% chance that she would recognize the junior senator from our state. But a guy whose restaurant we've been to once? ON IT.

...I was very impressed.

anyway, people write about it all the time on the internet, but some highlights:

we didn't drink, although the cocktail menu looks lovely (the ingredient list for the Sangria is just "order this")

the falafel are delicious. the best thing I can say about the beet slaw is that I couldn't really taste it. But the ball was fluffier than the gnocci from No. 9 Park.

the warm hummus was covered in some kind of thinly-sliced turkish pastrami. It was delicious, but the (something?) spiced crackers were really the highlight here.

The octopus with a herby couscous was certainly the best thing we had. Possibly the best thing I've had all year. Smoky and spicy and slightly crunchy, and yet pleasingly toothsome. Plus herby couscous! And Charred shisito peppers. It was the culmination of all that was good.

The fried mussels came in an amazing batter, but drenched in tartar sauce. Plus given that I know how cheap mussels are, I don't love spending $12 on like six of em (even if they were fantastic, also came with fried peppers, and the whole meal was $66 total, which is insane for how much delicious food we ate)

The moussaka was a letdown, mostly because it was covered in some sort of dry fava bean paste.

The table next to us got the Saganaki and liked it so much that they would have ordered a second had it not been sold out. So that's on the table for next time, since we're going to become regulars.

Ricotta Gnocci and roasted asparagus pesto

Gnocci:

http://food52.com/recipes/9460-grandma-dilaura-s-italian-ricotta-gnocchi

fresh whole milk ricotta cheese (calabria won the serious eats food test, so I used that)
1 large egg
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
some ground nutmeg, a dash of ground cloves
2 cups flour, sifted, plus extra for rolling dough
Add egg to ricotta cheese and oil and mix thoroughly. Add grated parmesan cheese to mixture and sprinkle with nutmeg to taste.
Add sifted flour a little at a time and continue to mix thoroughly until dough comes together. (i didn't sift, and added one cup at a time)
Dump onto generously floured surface and work with hands to bring together into a smooth ball.
Add more flour as necessary until dough is smooth and no longer sticks to your hands. Cut off slices of dough like cutting a loaf of bread and roll into ropes thumb size thick by spreading hands and fingers and rolling from center out to each edge of the rope. Line one rope parallel to another and cut 2 at a time into 1-inch pieces.
 Transfer gnocchi pieces to a lightly floured or non-stick baking sheet so they don’t stick together
 bring a large stockpot of generously salted water to a boil. (this is all the salt they get)
 Add gnocchi to boiling water and gently stir once with a wooden spoon to create movement and prevent gnocchi from sticking to the bottom.
 As gnocchi rise to the top {a sign they are done cooking} scoop them out with a mesh strainer or a bamboo wire skimmer and immediately place in serving bowl shaking off excess water. This time I did this much faster, and they came out much more pillowy.
I dried them off, and then fried them in a non-stick with some olive oil in order to get more textural contrast

pesto:

2 bundles asparagus
1 leek
garlic to taste
juice of half of a lemon
parm
olive oil
1 small scoop pistachios

roast two bundles asparagus at 400 degrees, for maybe 20-25 minutes, until nice and crisp. I turned the oven off, but let them stay in there for even more dehydrating action.
while I was doing that, I sauteed some leeks with garlic, and lightly toasted the pistachios
I then vitamixed everything together. I think that if I had chopped it first and then mixed it later it wouldn't have come out as pasty. but it was delicious. although maybe it looked like vomit a little bit.

lentil + sausage soup

Adapted from Food52.

An immensely filling, satisfying soup for a cold night. This recipe probably serves somewhere between 5 and 8 people; it's also perfect to make for two, because the leftovers are awesome.

1.5 c. French green lentils
2 bay leaves
3 tbs. olive oil, divided
3-4 sausages (the herbier the better; I used chicken sausage)
1 large yellow onion
4-6 cloves of garlic
1/2 c. sturdy red wine (I used a cotes du rhone)
3 stalks celery
1 tbs dried marjoram
4 carrots
4 c. chicken stock (I happened to have homemade stock on hand, I think it makes a big difference)
2 c. chopped spinach
1/4 c. chopped parsley
salt + pepper, to taste

1. Fill a tea kettle with water and put it up to boil while you do the following step.

2. Heat 2 tbs oil with one of the bay leaves and saute the sausages, if they aren't pre-coked. Once cooked, slice into 3/4" slices and brown them (next time, I'd cut the slices a bit thinner). Set the sausage slices aside, but leave the pan on the stove (with the now-sausage-flavored oil in it).

3. Rinse the lentils in cold water, make sure to pick out any stones, etc., and put the lentils on the stove in the soup pot with at least 3 cups of hot water from the kettle. (Note: it's fine if the water hasn't boiled yet.) Stir the lentils and cook over medium heat while you chop the vegetables (the timing is fine on this, though I like to chop all of the veg before I get started because I'm both neurotic and slow at chopping/peeling). Stir the lentils occasionally while you chop, and make sure to add more hot water as they cook if they start to look dry.

4. If you're in any sort of hurry (or if you find cold chicken stock to be totally gross looking), heat up the stock so it's hot when you add it to the soup.

5. While you're chopping: onions should be chopped so they're about 1/2" square, and the garlic should be coarsely chopped. In the pan where you cooked the sausages, add the remaining oil, as well as the onions and garlic.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally. When the onions start to look a bit translucent, push them to one side and add the wine on the other side of the pan.  Cook for a couple of minutes.

6. Add the stock to the pot with the lentils + water.

7. Chop the celery into small dice; add those to the pot. Add the marjoram and stir well, continuing to cook. (I also added a couple pinches of crushed red pepper here for a little heat.)

8. Chop the carrots into slices/chunks, and add them to the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. (Note: the original recipe says to add the sausage here, but I did and think it was a mistake with the chicken sausage. When it cooks for a relatively long time in the broth, the flavor of the sausage basically leeches out -- this makes for marginally better broth but definitely tasteless sausage. Next time, I'll add the sausage just before serving the soup.)

9. Cook for at least another 10 minutes, adding more water if necessary and stirring occasionally to prevent the lentils from sticking. I kept the soup more or less at a simmer, and basically monitored the lentils.

10. Cook until the carrots are tender and the lentils are to your liking. Adjust seasoning as needed.

11. Add spinach and parsley and serve when soup is very hot. (A nice, crusty bread goes great with this soup.)

butternut squash and apple soup

Courtesy of Ina Garten.

I made it with no substitutions, though m would serve it over chorizo and cheddar.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons good olive oil
4 cups chopped yellow onions (3 large)
2 tablespoons mild curry powder
5 pounds butternut squash (2 large)
1 1/2 pounds sweet apples (I used McIntosh(4 apples)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups water
2 cups good apple cider

Warm the butter, olive oil, onions, and curry powder in a large stockpot uncovered over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until the onions are tender. Stir occasionally, scraping the bottom of the pot.

Peel the squash, cut in half, and remove the seeds. Cut the squash into chunks. Peel, quarter, and core the apples. Cut into chunks.

Add the squash, apples, salt, pepper, and 2 cups of water to the pot. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook over low heat for 30 to 40 minutes, until the squash and apples are very soft. Process the soup with immersion blender.

Pour the soup back into the pot. Add apple cider; it should be slightly sweet and quite thick. Check the salt and pepper and serve hot.

spiced pumpkin bread

This recipe may just be the holy grail of pumpkin breads. Nicely spiced, moist beyond reason from the pumpkin + applesauce combination, and a nice crisp to the top. Easy, too!

Slightly modified from smitten kitchen (duh) by gourmette*nyc:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup canned solid-packed pumpkin puree
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 large eggs
1 cup plus 1 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon (but I tend to be a bit heavy-handed here)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
a pinch or two of all spice
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour one 9 inch loaf pan or two six inch loaf pans.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour and baking powder. In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, applesauce, eggs, 1 cup sugar, baking soda, salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, nutmeg, and all spice until smooth. Whisk in flour mixture until just combined. Then, add the raisins and whisk to combine.

Stir together remaining 1 tsp cinnamon and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in a small bowl.

Pour batter into one large loaf pan or two smaller loaf pans, sprinkle the top with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake until puffed and golden brown and wooden pick or skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes.

Cool in pan on a rack for 5 minutes, then transfer to rack and cool.

from the restaurant files: no. 9 park

As a wedding gift, some friends got us a gift certificate to No. 9 Park, which was awesome. They very thoughtfully got us exactly the right amount for two tasting menus, wine pairings, tax, and tip. But, since we're ingrates, one of us got the pasta tasting menu instead (with the obligatory fois gras & prune gnocchi, it was about $20 cheaper) with cocktails instead of wine (another $40 off), so now we get to go back for drinks a couple of times.

Some standouts:

A's salad had confit hearts of palm over a tarragon ash with charred grapes, which she liked. Basically I hate hearts of palm, which is why I got the pasta one instead. Which was the right choice.

I started with a sunchoke soup with fancy mushrooms, which was outstanding. Just so much butter. So much.

I also quite liked the sweet potato gnocchi with lobster and crispy kale. The gnocchi basically collapsed under their own weight they were so pillowy, the lobster was sweet, and the kale was perfect - it turns out that everything, even leafy greens, are better when deep fried.

The famous fois gras and prune gnocchi wasn't that good. The butter sauce was obviously great, but there wasn't enough fatty richness to match the prunyness of the gnocchi, so it didn't totally make sense to me. I would rather have spent $10 more, and got much more liver, but it didn't feel balanced as-is.

We both got dishes with pork belly. The foursome in their late-30s on a double date next to us was apparently unfamiliar with the ingredient - strange, since they seemed wealthy and kept talking about the fancy restaurants they had been to - and it's delicious but a bit like cheating. You don't have to be a genius wizard to make pork belly taste good.

On the other hand, A's main course was some sort of seared + slow cooked lamb that was out-of-this-world tender and gamey. Plus it was served with a deep-fried lamb's tongue. You do have to be a genius wizard to make a tongue have a crispy exterior and a creamy interior. Sometimes we go to fancy restaurants and try something that we think that we can try to replicate at home. This was not one of those things. We'll always have it in our memories, I guess.

The cocktail pairing was the right choice. I was thinking about ordering drinks on my own, but decided to put myself in the server's hands (other than the milk punch, because I will always order a milk punch). But he got me the conquistador, which was amazing.

1 1/4 oz Del Maguey Mezcal Vida
1 1/4 oz Soberano Spanish Brandy
3/4 oz Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth
1/2 oz Crème de Cacao
2-3 drop Thai Chili Extract
1 dash Bitter Science Mole Bitters

I would have ordered that on my own for sure. I would have preferred a bit more spice, and maybe some lime acid, but would order again for sure. Also I got a drink that was red wine with angustura bitters - also a great combination. 

A didn't like the desserts because it was a cheesecake and a panna cotta. But since I don't get to eat either of those things generally, I was super excited about it.

It was a great night, and I was in a happy/plastered mood.

Hooray for being married.

welcome!

We love to cook and to eat, but we're not very good at remembering things we've cooked and enjoyed. We're going to solve that problem with this blog.

If we're feeling saucy, we may also include restaurant reviews.

Pictures are probably not going to happen. But dream big, right?