Freezing Summer

Strawberries don't last very long but neither do strawberry sales. If, for example, you were to get carried away and buy more strawberries than you could ever possibly eat* before half of them became a moldy disgusting mess in the hot summer heat, you might want to figure out a way to save some for later enjoyment. Of course you could make jam, but that is hot and sticky work and summer is already hot and sticky enough. The other option is to freeze, which is probably both the easiest and coolest solution.

To ensure that you preserve your strawberries to their fullest potential, it's a good idea to gently wash your berries, dry them very gently, and the lay them out on a baking sheet or a pie dish and let them freeze individually before packing them into a heavy ziplock bag to await their future use. Obviously if fresh strawberries are what you want then freezing strawberries is not the answer, but if you aren't going to be able to eat them when they are at their peak then freezing them so that you can use them in a recipe later is a good way to go. Nothing makes me sadder than throwing out once beautiful fruit because it has gone past its prime. If you freeze your precious ripe fruit, you do want to take the time to do it correctly. You don't want to save your fresh fruit from the trash only to have to throw away a freezer-burned icy mass of unusable frozen fruit.

*My personal experience points to strawberry consumption topping out at 1 pound per person per day. Any more leads to extreme strawberry exhaustion and may result in nausea and never wanting to eat another strawberry.

Lime Popsicle to the Rescue

Like anything in life too much of a good thing can eventually leave you a little numb to its specialness, or in this case deliciousness. While I could eat strawberry popsicles, or a number of other exciting flavors, in an endless nightly rotation, I find that punctuating the more unique flavors with what I like to think of as a popsicle palate cleanser helps me to appreciate the showier, more expensive, more time consuming, and more obscure recipes. Lime Popsicle to the rescue!

Lime popsicles are pretty much the easiest, yummiest, thriftiest, most refreshing of popsicles. The great thing about lime pops is that not only do they themselves taste fantastic, but they are even capable of making you realize how great the other flavors of popsicles you have eating previously or subsequently. For example, I started to get a little jaded regarding the deliciousness of my strawberry popsicles after eating them three nights straight, but when I mixed it up and ate a snappy refreshing lime pop I suddenly appreciated the strawberry in ways I had not previously been able to. How had I not realized how smooth and almost creamy it was? Or how densely strawberry-y? But this is not about the strawberry popsicles.

You can't go wrong with lime popsicles. A couple of limes, not too much sugar, and some water and you are set. Now all you need is a beach and a big sun hat.

Lime Popsicle

I started with a recipe from Paletas, but I found that the lime zest used in the original recipe gave the popsicles an overwhelmingly bitter bite. Also, I prefer the flavor of regular large limes over that of the small mexican limes recommended, which I again found to be a little too bitter for my liking. Three batches later and I'm happy with a simplified and perhaps Americanized version.

Makes 6 tiny 1/4 cup capacity popsicles

1 cup water

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

Mix the water and sugar in a small saucepan, and put it over medium heat. Bring the sugar water to a boil and simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Cool to room temperature. Mix the freshly squeezed lime juice with the cool sugar water and pour into your popsicle molds.

Go to sleep and hope that it is hot enough in the morning to justify eating a popsicle for breakfast.

Garlicky Jalapeno Burgers

Before my nightly popsicle, I have to eat dinner. Lately that has meant a lot of grilling. Mostly grilled pizzas and hamburgers. The first batch of burgers we made was a little boring. So to spice up the next batch we mixed the meat with chopped shallots, garlic and a jalapeno pepper. A splash of worcestershire sauce, a good pinch of salt, and a grind of fresh pepper later and our burgers were far from boring. Juicy, a little spicy, and very meaty.

Garlicky Jalapeno Burgers

Serves two

2 garlic cloves

1 Tbsp shallot or onion

1/2 jalapeno

1 tsp worcestershire sauce

Salt and pepper

8-10 ounces 15% fat ground beef (Depending on how big of a burger you want)

Cheddar cheese (optional)

Hamburger Buns

Turn the grill on and pre-heat!

Finely chop the garlic, shallot/onion & jalapeno, and mix into the ground meat along with the worcestershire sauce, a good pinch of salt and a healthy grind of pepper. You want to mix the ingredients thoroughly, but try not to overwork the meat! Halve the meat and shape into patties, making them thinner in the middle than around the edges.

Grill the burgers to your desired doneness. Don't forget to toast the buns also. If you want a cheeseburger then melt some cheddar cheese on top. Boyfriend Tip: grill the tops of the buns on both sides to toast the sesame seeds on top (if there are any).

Eat up!

Summer means Strawberry Popsicles

Summer is definitely here, which for me means hot days, warm nights, and no air conditioning. I actually really like it, we have a little covered area outside of our apartment where we have put a table and chairs. And we have enough windows inside of the apartment that I can enjoy a nice breeze during the daytime.

I would have to say that the best thing about summer in California is the produce. Corn, tomatoes, plums, peaches, strawberries, blackberries, cherries, zucchini. Which translates to lots of grilling and lots of fruit desserts.

In an attempt to keep things light and cool (who wants to turn on the oven when it's 90 degrees out?), I have turned into a Popsicle Fanatic.

Homemade popsicles are so much better than store-bought in so many ways. First of all, they are so much less expensive. Also, way less wasteful (so much packaging!). Last but certainly not least, making your own popsicles gives you control over what ingredients you want to put into them, which allows you to have the last word in flavor and healthiness (additives? sugar content?). Fantastic!

We have al tiny popsicle maker from ikea that makes 6 popsicles, each of which hold about 1/4 cup liquid. It's great because every three nights we can try a new flavor.

Oh, and I almost forgot. Strawberries. One of the local grocery stores had a special, 1 pound of strawberries for 97 cents. We bought 7 pounds over the course of the week. We ate them for breakfast and dessert, and made rich strawberry ice cream as well as several batches of strawberry popsicles. There is nothing better than simple ripe strawberries, but when you can't eat your stash fast enough you can't beat strawberry popsicles. Simple and delicious, these straightforward popsicles really let the strawberries shine.

Strawberry Popsicles

(adapted from Paletas)

This will make 6 small (1/4 cup capacity) popsicles, it can be doubled for more.

2 cups fresh strawberries (washed, hulled, and cut into quarters)

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Stir the sugar into the sliced strawberries and let them macerate for around 30 minutes. Once they are nice and juicy, put the strawberries and their juices into a saucepan with the 1/2 cup water, and bring to a simmer. Simmer the mixture for about five minutes, then take the mixture off the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Once it is cool, add the lemon juice and puree the strawberry mixture in a blender, food processor or with an immersion blender until it is smooth, then pour it into your popsicle molds!

Now all you have to do is wait for them to freeze!

Over the Stove and in the Icebox

I'm back! I'm finally settled into my new kitchen and cooking up a storm. The summer season has provided some much needed encouragement to break out of my cooking habits and try lots of new recipes. Because I have been gone so long, I have decided to reinvent this blog and will be taking on a new title! Please join me at my new location: Over the Stove and in the Ice Box

The Cookies I Should Have Made

Yesterday I made a batch of really disappointing chocolate brownie roll-out cookies. It was completely my fault. I did not make the cookies properly, and due to the exacting nature of baking they did not turn out well. I decided to halve the recipe on sight and since I wasn't paying attention and added an excessive amount of cocoa powder. As a result the cookies were tough and dry. The thing is, even if they had turned out perfectly, as they have when I have previously made them, they still wouldn't have been as good as the cookies I should have made. Sure, they would have been mildly chocolate-y, toothsome, tender, and cakey, but they wouldn't have been goey and intense, the cookie equivalent of a flowerless chocolate cake. That would have only happened if I had made the other recipe.

So what led to my decision? Why did I make the ok cookies instead of the better ones in the first place? Maybe I was trying to save money. Cocoa is cheaper than chocolate, and I already had a tub in my pantry. Perhaps I didn't think I should make something so decadent and good for myself. I would definitely make them for my mom (I have), and I would absolutely spend the time and money that these require if my boyfriend requested them. Then why, I wonder, would I not do the same for myself?

I read an article in the Times a couple of weeks ago on how important it is to be kind to yourself, and how American's have a particularly confused relationship when it comes to self-compassion. Unfortunately, due to my apparent need to beat myself up over my poor decision to bake and then consume a sub-par cookie seems to indicate that I myself have a very deficient in the self-compassion category.

So this is what I am going to suggest to myself. In the future, when you want a cookie, make a good one. Enjoy it. Enjoy the fact that you are enjoying it. And leave it at that. That seems reasonable right?

About these fabled chocolate cookies: these chocolate-y chocolate chip studded cookies are enhanced with espresso which really makes their chocolate flavor shine. Instead of being cake-y like the cookies from the brownie roll-out recipe, these could be compared to brownies in that they have the same sort of papery thin chocolate crust and the same gooey richness and deep chocolate-y flavor that really good chocolate brownies have. My mom, who loves chocolate more than anything, was unsure about the espresso at first, and did not want to try the recipe. Since devouring the first batch, her only complaint has been that I have not posted the recipe yet and that I have not been regularly making batches and sending them to her in the mail. Gourmet was right when it concluded "this recipe could be the only one a chocolate lover needs."

Mocha Cookies

From Gourmet's Cookie Archives

Makes about 36 cookies

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate (chopped)

3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter (diced)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

4 large eggs (at room temperature)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp instant espresso powder

2 tsp vanilla

Either in a double boiler or using a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt the unsweetened chocolate, 1 1/2 cups of the semisweet chocolate chips, and the butter. Stir the mixture until it is smooth and remove it from the heat and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until the mixture is pale and thick, then beat in the espresso powder and vanilla. Fold the cooled chocolate mixture into the egg mixture, fold in the flour mixture and stir in the remaining chocolate chips. Let the batter rest for 15 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 350

Drop heaping tablespoons of the batter onto parchment paper lined baking sheets and bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes or until the centers puff and they are shiny cracked on top. Err on the side of under-baked, they are best goey rather than dry. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets, and then transfer them on to racks - they need to set up a little bit to move them easily from the pans to the sheets, one way to get around this is to pull the whole sheet of parchment paper onto the cooling rack so that you can re-use the baking sheet, once they have cooled enough they can be removed from the parchment paper and put directly on the racks. Let them cool completely (or eat them hot from the oven).

Pasta with Braised Kale and Homemade Ricotta

I have been sitting on this kale recipe for a while. I keep thinking of sharing it, wanting to even, but for some reason I keep putting it off, saving it for a special occasion. But now is the time to close the kale chapter, so to speak, and that cannot be done without first sharing this recipe. Suffice to say, kale chips are fun and clever, but pasta coated with freshly made ricotta mixed with braised kale, laced with mild garlic, is deeply satisfying.

I originally found the recipe on Racheleats, one of my favorite blogs. It is delicious. In fact, if I wanted to be honest, which I do, I would have to admit that this recipe is the #1 reason why I have been obsessed with kale for so many months. Those other recipes are good, and I like them well enough, but this recipe is the best, and I love it.

Unlike Rachel, I do not live in Italy and therefore do not have access to the amazing fresh ricotta that I like to imagine is widely and cheaply available there. Out of thriftiness, I decided to make, instead of buying, the fresh ricotta.

Luckily, making ricotta may be one of the easiest things I have ever done. Which is unusual. Most of my so called thrifty schemes are stressful, time consuming, multi-dish dirtying and probably not recommendable. But this is not one of those. This is a keeper. It's simple, quick, requires only two ingredients, one pan, and one strainer lined with one paper towel. If you can boil milk then you are capable of making fresh homemade ricotta. And if you are capable of making fresh homemade ricotta, then you are capable of impressing quite a few people, including yourself. Plus it's actually really good.

Pasta with Braised Kale and Homemade Ricotta

Adapted from RachelEats, Ricotta recipe adapted from Gourmet

Spaghetti (I prefer something toothsome and thicker to pair with the earthiness of the kale)

Parmesan

Braised Kale

Large Bunch of Kale

2 Tbsp Olive oil

2 Garlic cloves (peeled and smashed)

Homemade Ricotta

3 cups of whole milk

Pinch of Salt

1 Tbps Lemon Juice (vinegar can be substituted)

Rinse the kale well, then remove the tough stalk either by pulling the leaves off of it or cutting alongside it to remove it. Then chop the leaves either into ribbons or relatively small pieces, I find that the type of kale I am using determines how I cut it - curly kale is not quite as amenable to neat ribbons as tuscan kale. You want the pieces big enough that you can really taste the kale, and small enough that it is easy to eat. At this point, warm the olive oil and garlic in a skillet and add the kale along with a pinch of salt. Let it wilt, uncovered, for about 10 minutes over medium heat. Then add a cup of water, partially cover the pan, and simmer on low for another 30 minutes, until the kale is tender.

While the kale is cooking, make the ricotta* and the pasta. Put a pot of water on for the pasta, and when the kale has about 10 minutes left, go ahead and cook it. Meanwhile, bring the milk to a boil in a small pan. Add a pinch of salt, and when it is boiling stir in the tablespoon of lemon, and turn the heat down. Continue to stir, the lemon should cause the milk to curdle and separate fairly quickly, if it seems to be a little slow you can add a little more lemon. Take the milk off of the stove and pour the mixture into a strainer lined with a paper towel (or cheesecloth), set aside to allow the liquid to drain.

Once the pasta is cooked al dente, stir the fresh ricotta into the braised kale. Add a little bit of the pasta water to loosen the mixture, it should be creamy and saucy. Toss the pasta in the sauce in the sauce, mixing thoroughly. Serve topped with grated parmesan.