Cook the Books 2013 - Street Food hits the food swap and our table

The June Cook the Books selection was Street Food by Susan Feniger. Ohbriggsy wrote a great intro for this cookbook—and the cook behind it—and then Grow & Resist followed suit with an excellent review, so I won't do too much more on that front here.

Most important is how excited this cookbook got me. As soon as I started turning the pages, lots of recipes instantly vied for my attention, and I quickly had a slate of dishes I was craving to make. And, I fared pretty well on that front this month!

Croatian Sour Apple Fritters with Orange Sugar

Homemade apple fritters seemed like a far-fetched dream. Ambrosia of gods I didn't believe in...about as likely to end up on on my table as, I dunno, something really fantastical. Maybe I'm just such a sucker for interesting providence and fun-to-make condiments, but this one got me hook line and sinker. I knew I had to make them. And so I did. Happy to report my first real deep-frying experience was carried out, over two days, with no burns and many piping hot, just-greasy-enough, airy fritters. I recommend these highly! Cooking notes include making them small enough to cook all the way through, and under no circumstances should you skip the orange sugar.

We made these over a Saturday, Sunday morning sequence because even with a half recipe this makes a lot of fritters. On the second day we didn't have enough of the orange sugar left, and no oranges on hand to make more, so I pulled a few things from the pantry for a fritter smorgasbord. Below left is Chocolate Sugar and Earl Gray Tea Dust (adapted from this book), both scored from Angela at the swap. They provided fun and flavorful variation—I would definitely experiment further on this front if we make them again.

Because we had so many fritters, we carried a plateful to our next-door neighbor's house. It was Father's Day and boy was he surprised and excited to receive an unexpected serving of homemade donuts! Yeah, that was fun too. Big ups to my sweetie for helping man the fritter factory and being my número uno partner in crime.

Coconut Curry Caramel Corn

This recipe was love at first glance too. First of all, I had never made caramel corn, and it seemed both challenging and fun. Secondly, the sweet/savory combo sounded awesome. And, it featured the Candied Peanuts made with kaffir lime leaves (an obsession of mine), which was an attractive progression from the Kaffir Lime & Chile Spiced Cashews I've made, and swapped, in the past. Plus it uses fresh curry leaf, an ingredient I see regularly at my favorite Asian market and have long wanted to find a use for. Winning all around. Lastly, making this coincided nicely with our June food swap, and a recipe yielding 18 cups of anything seemed made for swapping. The fresh curry taste from the leaves was amazing. Familiar, yet so different than what you get from powder. A definite candidate for future parties and camping trips.

Thai Tea Pudding

I work across the street from two different Thai restaurants, and Thai iced tea has become an occasional late afternoon treat instead of coffee or a sweet. (It's a natural twofer!). I'm a mad fan, and pudding is probably my favorite dessert in general, so this one was obviously going to make the cut. And again, it provided the opportunity to buy another strange ingredient from the Asian grocery. Happiness all around. When I asked if there were smaller bags than the lifetime supply size (1 lb.), the man shook his head no apologetically, but then countered with "but it's only $3!" Not really the point, but I appreciated, and succumbed to his salesmanship. My cheesecloth straining went a little awry due to my impatience trying to get this pudding in my mouth, but it was only a small amount of tea and fine spice particles, so it actually added nice dimension and visual appeal to this orange beauty. I skipped the lime caramel and candied cashews, toppings suggested in the book, but would for sure give them a try if making this for guests or a bigger crowd.

Brussel Sprouts with Goat Cheese, Apples, and Hazelnuts
No big story here except that I like brussel sprouts, thought cooking a veggie couldn't be a bad idea, and we have crazy delicious hazelnuts from Oregon from C's mom that wanted a date with apples and goat cheese. This was simple to make and a great side dish. I might even mix it up and bring this to Thanksgiving instead of my usual brussel sprouts preparation.

Chilled Soba Noodles with Spicy Orange Sesame and Tofu
We've been having totally wonky weather in SF recently. All year even. But right now, instead of June gloom, we have grey skies, actual rain, and humidity. It's weirdly warm. So cold noodles are just the thing. I skipped the scallions and used regular sesame seeds instead of black ones since that's what I had on hand. I also McGyvered the spicy sesame oil by using some regular sesame oil, some homemade spicy Sichuan oil, and some red pepper flakes. This dish had some kick! I felt like it would be better with more than just the tofu in it. I think the leftovers will get a dose of broccoli rabe and chicken for good measure. And I got lots of extra sauce on hand. Nearly enough for another round. We'll see what the weather brings...

So that's the cast of characters this month. All worthy of a redux. My only issue with this cookbook is the yield of the recipes. I don't run a restaurant, so for example, I don't need 40 fritters! Even when I cut recipes in half, it seemed like a lot of food. But in my experience the food from these recipes was reliably satisfying almost all the time. I liked the ingredient spotlights for things a little more out of the ordinary, the condiments section, and the easy-to-follow recipe directions. Even though I got it from the library, I'd rate this a keeper cookbook.

Cook the Books 2013: Salty Sweet Seaweed Butter Cookies and more from Around My French Table

After doing both Cook It! 2012 and a Cooking The Breakfast Book collaboration last year, I was thrilled to see a new communal cooking project emerge for 2013. Dreamed up by Grow and Resist and Oh, Briggsy..., Cook the Books! A Cookbook Challenge is a creative and fun way to get people to use the cookbooks they own, or try out new ones, together.

First up for January was Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table. This is a delightful and inspiring cookbook. I was immediately struck by her clear, no-nonsense tone, making French cooking feel very accessible. My first pass through the book also left me feeling like I wanted to make a good 20 or so dishes immediately. A lot appeals, and I also like her approach of including dishes that may not be French in origin, but that have become part of the culinary and cultural fabric of the country.

While I did make a number of recipes from the book (more on that below), I decided to highlight the magical butter cookies known as sablés here, because they are both fun to make and fun to eat. After you've tasted these flavor grenades it'll come as no surprise to hear they are très populaire in France.

Instead of the toasted nori suggested in the book, I happened to be at Trader Joe's and thought a package of their Roasted Seaweed would be perfect. Lo and behold, they have a new seaweed snack on their shelves that was destined for these cookies. Their Sweet Sesame Seaweed doesn't come in sheets, but instead in a mass of crispy, crinkly blades (yup, that's what the leaves of seaweed are called...don't ask me how I know or recall that bit of trivia...), that at first proved themselves difficult to chop, but excellent for making a mess. After a couple tries resulting in flying seaweed bits, I turned to a technique I use for grinding whole allspice, and happily it was very effective. Place ingredient (in this case seaweed bunches) between two sheets of parchment paper and using a rolling pin, run it over the contents until broken down to desired grain/consistency.

Don't kid yourself. These are called butter cookies, because that's their main ingredient. Get over it and get creative with how you flavor them.

I made three different flavors, and brought them as slice-and-bake logs to our most recent food swap—where they were hit!

The Cheez-it-ish Crackers Greenspan features are basically like more delicious Cheez-its, with more butter. I used a raw Emmenthal and it was perfect. The lemon ones (not included in this book, but a variation suggested in her master sablé recipe) were made with fruit from my mom's tree. This made them just that much more special. And the seaweed ones were all that I imagined.

  

Salty Sweet Seaweed Butter Cookies
Adapted from Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick), unsalted butter, room temperature
3 tablespoons finely chopped toasted nori, or other seaweed of choice (see above)
2 teaspoons fleur de sel or 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon confectioner's sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Optional: flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, for sprinkling

This dough is easy to make by hand using a rubber spatula if your butter is really soft. In a large bowl, mix the butter, salt and chopped seaweed together until smooth and creamy in texture. 

Stir in the remaining ingredients following this sequence, but avoid overmixing or overworking the dough: sugar, egg yolk, olive oil, and flour. 

When it is smooth, divide into half (or thirds) and roll each piece into a slender log based on the size you want your finished cookies.

Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour, and up to 5 days. You may also keep in the freezer for 2 months.

When you are ready to bake them, preheat the oven to 350° and line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.

Slice each log into cookies "on the scant side of 1/4 inch" (description courtesy of David Lebovitz, who gave Greenspan this recipe). Place them on your baking sheet, cooking only one batch at a time on a rack centered in your oven.

Sprinkle the optional sea salt on top of each cookie at this stage if using.

Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes. They are done when they are slightly firm but not colored.

Transfer to a rack to cool, and cook remaining batches as and when needed.

Cooking Note: The flavor of the Sweet Sesame Seaweed was perfectly suited to use in this recipe. That said, I definitely plan to experiment a bit and will try the toasted nori method to compare. I also wonder if furikake might be a transformative addition?

Other dishes I cooked from this book include:

Orange-Scented Lentil Soup - I love lentils so am always looking out for new ways to prepare them. This recipe immediately tempted my taste buds, and being citrus season, how could I refuse them? My favorite way to pimp this soup out? Top it with a dollop of yogurt, some fresh dill, smoked sea salt, and a bit of hot sauce. (PS It is very hard to make a pureed lentil soup look good).

Lime and Honey Beet Salad - Nice, bright and simple. They way beets should be served in my humble opinion. I added a bit more lime juice than the recipe called for, and used some lime, cilantro and gingergrass flavored salt I had on hand.

Dilled Gravlax with Mustard Sauce - I left this to cure for 72 hours, which concluded this evening...but I didn't tackle the job until after dinner, and was too full to try it. I'm betting it won't disappoint.

Cooking The Breakfast Book, Chapter 1: Oatmeal Orange Bread

When I walked solo into the Herbivoracious event at the stunning Cookhouse space a few months ago, I had no idea I would leave so inspired by Michael Natkin's cooking and his luscious cookbook, or that I would eat and laugh and walk out the door with a gang of interesting and accomplished women. As we parted, we talked of getting together soon, and our plan somehow became meeting for "Sausage Tuesday" at my neighborhood German joint, Schmidt's. As we later ran through the calendar attempting to find a mutually-agreeable date for everyone via email, Rachel of Ode to Goodness suggested we do a Cook the Book project together, and recommended a favorite, The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham.

Some of our Cook the Book gang after our first meeting

We all heartily agreed, and although I am a big fan of The Fannie Farmer Cookbook by Cunningham — and an even bigger fan of breakfast — I was not familiar with the The Breakfast Book. If you aren't either, read the Gourmet magazine review here or David Lebovitz's musings on the author here, and hopefully you will follow along as we cook our way through it and will come to appreciate the warmth and character of this delightful classic.

The book is filled with illustrations and charming asides that are a wonderful expression of Ms. Cunningham's personality and old-fashioned style. For example, she provides 14 rules for 'Breakfast Table Civility and Deportment'. I was relieved to see that according to her guidelines you don't have to get dressed and can read the newspaper at the table...

Now that the rules of the game are set, let's get to cooking!

Chapter 1: Yeast Breads

Out of a chapter of full of tempting recipes, I chose the Oatmeal Orange Bread and had no regrets. Like most yeast breads it does take a good amount of time, but the end result is a moist, flavorful bread that stayed fresh for a number of days.

This is a toothsome and versatile bread. It's not too sweet, with zesty flavor and the oatmeal gives it great texture. Both versions of this bread made incredible toast and sandwiches. This is a go-to for PBJs and the non-glazed version is also great with more savory toppings.

I opted for the Orange Marmalade glaze variation on one of the two loaves in order to compare. While it did supply a nice second layer of citrus, make sure to process the orange so it's finely chopped and less chunky. Cunningham's recipe specified coarsely chopped for a marmalade-like result, where I think something closer to a true glaze with tiny chunks would be nicer.

Oatmeal Orange Bread

Adapted from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham
Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients:

For the bread:

1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 packages active dry yeast
1 1/4 cups milk, warmed
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
2 cups cooked oatmeal (made from rolled oats)
6 cups all-purpose flour, approximately
1 orange, quartered, seeded and ground in a food processor (or coarsely chopped to make 1 cup)

For the Orange Marmalade glaze (optional):

1 orange, quartered, seeded and ground in a food processor (or finely chopped to make 1 cup)
1 cup of sugar

As you prepare your ingredients, cook enough rolled oats for 2 cups of cooked oatmeal.

When the oatmeal is close to done, mix 1 teaspoon of sugar into 1/2 cup warm water in a large bowl. Add the contents of 2 packages of dry active yeast and let for 5-10 minutes, until frothy.

Warm the milk, and add it to the yeast mixture along with the butter, salt, remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar, cooked oatmeal and 3 cups of flour. Stir vigorously until well mixed and add only enough flour by half cup until it forms a workable dough.

{Note: I ultimately needed upwards of 7 1/2 cups of flour, due in part to the fact I didn't let the oatmeal cook long enough because of bad recipe reading/timing. Cunningham's recipe called for only 5 cups of flour which I found to be fairly inaccurate. Next time I make this bread I will definitely weigh my flour to ensure proper flour measurements and adjust the amount accordingly.}

Add the chopped orange and knead with your hands for 1 minute, or for 15 seconds with a dough hook attachment in a food processor. After letting the dough rest for 10 minutes, begin kneading again and continue until it is elastic and smooth.

Grease a large bowl and place the dough inside covered by plastic wrap, until it has doubled in size. Sprinkle your work surface with flour and punch the dough down and divide it into equal halves. Place each half in a greased medium-sized loaf pan and allow to rise to the top of the pan.

Preheat oven to 375° and place pans on middle rack. Bake for 45 minutes or until beginning to brown on top. Place on racks to cool.

For the glazed Orange Marmalade version:
Quarter, seed and finely grind an orange in a food processor to make 1 cup. Mix with 1 cup of sugar in a small saucepan and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until all the sugar is dissolved and the glaze becomes shiny. Let it cool and then brush onto the top of the loaves 10 minutes before they are done cooking. If you are only glazing one loaf, reduce ingredients by half.

Oatmeal Orange Bread, both ways

Don't miss out on a still-warm buttered bite!

My fellow Cook the Book cohorts are five excellent food bloggers who I feel lucky to be in the company of: Rachel of Ode to Goodness, Natasha of Non-Reactive Pan, Emily of The Bon Appetit Diaries, Claudie of The Bohemian Kitchen and Sammy of Rêve du Jour. Click through to check out each of their Chapter 1 choices, and be ready for our next Breakfast Book foray in 2 weeks.