Fresh Fried French Fries

Now and then, just eat the real deal. Forget everything else. Slice, fry once, drain, fry again. Enjoy.
Worth it.
Now promise me you won't ever eat fries from frozen ever again...

Here's what you do.
Cut cleaned russet potatoes into 1/4-inch lengths. Heat oil to 350F. Make sure you use a heavy duty pot and that it is not filled more than half full of oil--the oil bubbles up when up put fries in...
Gently add potatoes to hot oil..Fry until they just start to color. Use a slotted spoon or a tool called a spider to get fries out of oil. Drain on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet. (You probably have to do this in batches.)
Heat oil to 350F again. Add fries in batches and cook until they are golden. Use spider again to remove them, drain them on the rack, salt and eat hot.

Any questions?

Child of the Corn

I probably shouldn't have scraped the sides--but I wanted it all.

I am a Child of the Corn. No, not that scary movie. It's just that I love things made from corn. I love popcorn, corn noodles, corn bread and corn muffins.

And I love polenta.

Ever wonder why corn and tomatoes, both New World ingredients, got to do so well in Italy? I wonder. Don't have an answer yet, but I do wonder.

But recently, I decided I had to have it with a dish I was making--nothing else would do. It's such a lovely color, it's such a lovely texture...

I turned to my rock, Marcella Hazan. Let me just say that Marcella doesn't do anything by halves. Remember when I begged to not have to par-boil the fresh lasagna noodles? She said NO.

For polenta, she has you standing there stirring and stirring and stirring...for 45 minutes. Luckily for me, she also has an easier method--er, one she refers to as the "no stir" method...HA.--for the lazy (my word, not Marcella's!) among us. Add the polenta to boiling water, stir it, put heat on low, cover, let it cook 10 minutes. Stir another minute. Cover and cook 10 minutes...etc. Do that 4 times, then stir stir stir stir at the end...serve this silky-textured molten corn with an intensely flavored tomato sauce and steak...

Or you could also pour it into a loaf pan to slice and saute or grill the next day or two.
Or you could stir cheese into it, pour it into a shallow pan, cut it into pretty squares or diamond shapes and top it with sauteed mushrooms, like we did at Union Square (name drop!)...mmm, great little hors d'oeuvres.

The crust is the best part, right? And trust me, just like Marcella says, an overnight soak and this came out in one piece.

And the next day I had it sliced and griddled...

But whatever you do, don't do instant. Marcella, in the spirit of being fair, tried hard to like instant polenta, but she just couldn't. And really, jumping up to stir a pot of this every 10 minutes? Not a hardship, not at all for the final results.

As for me, with every recipe I make from Essentials of Italian Cooking by Marcella, I am in love. Maybe I can blog my way through it like Julie did with Julia. Unoriginal, but man, what a year of good eating I would have!!!

Guest Post: Annie Logue and Sweet Carbs in China

My good writer friend, Annie Logue, had an incredible experience this summer--she got to spend six weeks teaching in China. I love her financial blog posts, but she happened to have some thoughts about baked goods in China..

Finding Carbohydrates in Chengdu

by Annie Logue

I dearly love all things flour, so I was worried about my stay in China this summer. I knew I’d have no trouble getting noodles, but I figured I’d have a summer without bread. But I was mistaken. It turns out that there are some mighty fine baked and fried treats available in the middle of the Middle Kingdom.

I was in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, which is known for its food. Apparently, the women are considered to be the most beautiful in China because the peppers makes them so hot. Po, the Kung Fu Panda (http://www.kungfupanda.com/), is from Qingcheng Mountain outside of Chengdu, and I was told that you can tell he’s a local because he likes to eat. In all the discussion of Sichuan favorites like mapo doufu (http://www.food.com/recipe/iron-chef-chinese-chef-chens-mapo-tofu-296880)  and hot pot (http://www.chengduliving.com/a-fiery-feast-sichuan-hotpot/), the pastry gets overlooked. And that’s a shame.

I spent seven weeks in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan and home of the giant panda. I was teaching finance at Southwest Jiaotong University (http://english.swjtu.edu.cn), which is well off the tourist track. On my first full day, I stopped in a bakery and found a wonderful treat: custard bread. It's a soft and sweet bread, almost like challah, spread with whipped cream (my favorite), custard, or jelly: 

MMm. Custard Bread.

Another bake shop nearby had a large, changing assortment of cookies and cakes. 

Cookies, cookies, cookies.

 My favorite were caramel rolls, which differed from the American version mainly in being a manageable size and having a light sprinkle of sesame seeds. Unfortunately, they were not available when I was taking pictures. I liked their sandwich cookies filled with a sweet bean paste, almond cookies, and pumpkin-seed cookies. The bakery also sold rolls garnished with shredded pork, a common item in Chengdu. It seems that in China, cooks will put meat in anything they can find! The baker was really nice.

Really nice baker!

That's not a surprise, because everyone in Chengdu was really nice and really friendly.

Twists or teething biscuits?

Many bakeries sold deep-fried twists , which had the sweet, plain taste of teething biscuits. That's a good thing; I'm the oldest of five children, so I ate a lot of teething biscuits growing up.

One of the standard breakfast foods in Chengdu is you tiao, which are fried breadsticks. They are a lot like unsweetened yeast doughnuts. 

You tiao

They are usually served with warm soymilk or congee, a really thin rice porridge, which you can dip the sticks in if you like. I loved you tiao, although I was sometimes tempted to sprinkle sugar on them. 

In addition to the baked goods, I really liked the caramelized-sugar suckers. 

Lucky winner! Caramelized sugar rooster sucker.

These are sold in the parks. The vendors have spinners; for about $1.00, you take a turn at the wheel to select your shape. The best shape was the dragon. I won the rooster, which was pretty cool. The vendor spoons melted sugar on a marble slab, inserts a stick, and viola! A tasty treat. I'm told these vendors are mostly found in lesser-developed areas; Beijing and Shanghai are too sophisticated. Who knows if that's true?

What I do know is that Chinese food was always surprising, sometimes in a bad way, mostly in a good way. The best surprises were the baked goods.

Espresso Heaven

Every now and then, a little bonus shows up in my email--that's how I felt when a Phillips Saeco rep got in touch with me out of the blue to ask if I wanted to try the new line of espresso makers they have.

Let me get full disclosure out. I'm relatively attached to the very old (at least 10 years old, maybe older) Krups espresso/steamer I've had on my kitchen counter for years. I love it so much that I travel with it when I can. It's small, simple and gives me great coffee. I'm loyal.

Remember that paragraph. I will revisit it.

Where was I? Ah, Phillips. Um, well, YES, of course I'd love a shot at trying a few shots of espresso from this new line of machines that would make my morning coffee easier than it already was. So I said yes, send me a machine.

What I didn't let the rep know was that I planned on traveling with the machine. And that machine was going to be put through its paces, because I was taking it to our family reunion--17 people, almost every one of them a coffee drinker, and the tea drinkers? Well, they would decide if the hot water dispensed make their cups of tea worthy.

I unpacked the machine the minute we arrived at our destination.

Isn't everyone happy when they have coffee? I know I am..

Oooh, pretty. The machine is sleek, the lines slick. The would look nice in any kitchen and its footprint is pretty small. I'd find room for it in a flash.

Ooh, pretty.

The quick start guide was pretty straightforward, although I did have to read the manual to understand what a flashing light meant, how I could get my double shot (hit it twice, silly), the right way to clean the steamer wand and what the little warning icons meant (no beans, bin full of spent coffee, out of water--they were simple)...








I chose a Green Mountain coffee bean to make the first batch (I did read enough to know to let a couple of cups brew just for discarding before I began). I selected the strongest setting, hit a button and let the coffee brew.

Hit me twice for a double shot!

The espresso came out strong and pretty, with just the right crema foam, that milk-chocolately looking foam that tops a really good espresso. I loved that the spout could be lowered and raised to accommodate different height cups.

Next up? The steamed milk challenge. This is where so many machines fall short for me. They don't foam it well enough and they never ever heat it enough for me...

Not the case here. I was able to get the milk steaming hot with a great head of foam. That first morning, I was Babette the Capuccino mistress..."Double shot caps for everyone!"

Doubles for everyone!

Whether they liked it or not.
They liked it.


















The button that did not get a ton of use was the button for an american-style cup of coffee, although it got good reviews when it was used.

We used both whole beans and grounds throughout the week, but the beans won us over.

Once rocking and rolling, it was easy to make the coffees, and we went through a lot of coffee that week. As the primary barista, I must admit to liking not having to empty the grounds every cup, not having to fill water every time I turned around, and then, when I broke out the directions again, I loved that I could hit the "make" button twice and get a double shot without hanging out to make that second shot. I love that it grinds beans for each and every shot.

Cleanup is simple--I ended up keeping a pitcher of water near the machine to clean the steamer (we did clog it once, when I was NOT using the pitcher, but just wiping it down and blasting a shot of steam...that wasn't good enough), and that was simple..

I do wish I had stationed the machine closer to a sink to empty the drip tray, which seemed to fill up more quickly than expected, but that job was simple.

We had one tea drinker who was pleased with the hot water she got from the machine--she gave it thumbs up for being hot enough, and that was good enough for me.

The final critique? We enjoyed the machine. One user wishes the spout, which does raise and lower, would raise just a bit higher so he could fit a travel mug under it. That same user thought that for the price, he would want to be able to connect the machine to a water source (although then we are talking plumbing, and I myself prefer to avoid plumbing.

The real letdown was returning to my beloved, simple Krups, the one I traveled with when I could. After a week of Saeco's espressos, I wanted to quickly do a comparison, and my Krups didn't live up to its reputation. My coffee tasted burnt and weak compared to the Saeco, which was definitely not what I was expecting, and it has stood idle on my counter for a few weeks now.

Would I pay the price Phillips is asking for this machine? It's listed on Amazon for $949, and that sure seems pricey to me. But having done one kitchen in the past, knowing how I love my coffee, I think I might, might budget for a real espresso machine (at which point, I'd probably shell out for one that did get that water supply attachment). And because I'm a slave to stainless steel, I'd probably be eyeing the stainless steel version of this machine, which looks more substantial than the black (plastic) one feels at only a few hundred dollars more. Yep, it's an indulgence, but if I have it for at least the next ten years the way I've had my basic machine, drinking at least a cup of espresso/cappucino daily, I pretty much see me justifying that purchase for a new kitchen. (That I don't have, btw.)

This is a sponsored post; Phillips Saeco gave me the machine for use and review, and I warned them I'd be honest. I was pulling for my Krups to measure up, but maybe its decade of use has finally caught up to it. Unfortunately, when all was said and done, I subsequently passed the machine on to another user. I travel too much and it just couldn't come with me. I am sure someone, somewhere, is enjoying the coffee the machine must be making.

Babette Gets Chinese Food

Ah, how lovely. I've been craving Chinese food. In fact, I've been craving a lot of different ethnic foods...and last night my most wonderful SIL M took me to Ka Mei in Squirrel Hill,  a neighborhood just outside of Pittsburgh.

Ka Mei serves Hong Kong-style Chinese.
Cravings Satisfied. Behold:

:

And now is the time for me to admit I go so into the food that I didn't get photos of the eggplant in garlic sauce, which I almost couldn't stop eating, and the tofu with spicy sauce...Top to bottom I did get photos of the baby bok choy, the chow fun with brisket (who doesn't like pasta: come ON...) and the last, which was totally new to me, daikon and brisket in a rich brown gravy sauce flavored with star anise...that was awesome.

Sadly, I'm not where the leftovers are tonight.

NYC: Maialino

Oooh, who wouldn't want to go to NYC's Maialino just on Gramercy Park? This is the latest (I think) of the Danny Meyer USC Hospitality Group's openings...pretty spot on.

The space is gorgeous--comfy, modern but still homey--neat trick that, making the space modern but cozy and old-worldy (oh yes I am making that word up) at the same time.

Perfect place for a solo dinner

We went on a Saturday afternoon, fearing it might be all eggs and branchy--but no. Although there were plenty of brunch dishes available, there were also pastas, sandwiches, entrees and side dishes.

Let's start with the side dish we ordered. Potato skins. Fried potato skins. But if you are thinking fried skins filled with heart-stopping ingredients like sour cream, bacon and cheddar, the likes of which were pretty popular in more than a few spots a couple of decades back, erase that memory. These are the peelings (hmm. What Italian nana wouldn't be proud of this lack of waste?!), fried and tossed with salt, pepper and parmesan.

Best. Snack. Ever.

fried potato skins Maialino style

Then it was pasta almost all around. My sister, the black pepper queen, couldn't resist the cacio e pepe--pasta with pepper and cheese. Oh, and probably butter. Definitely butter.

I see carbonara and I have to have it...this was made with crispy guanciale...rich and satisfying.

In both dishes, the pasta was absolutely perfectly cooked.

If you're curious, there was also wine, fish, dessert..who could resist?? We shared a sampling of sorbets and gelato. There was a cheese sampler as well, and ...a cake, a tart? I can't remember, it was all so good...

Carbonara: bacon and egg pasta--brunch after all?

Finally: Prune

Ever since I read Blood, Bones and Butter, I have wanted to do two things:

1. Go back to work in a kitchen and maybe, just maybe after all, own and run a restaurant.
2. Go to eat at Prune, the restaurant owned and run by the author.

Of the two, that second item was far more likely to happen, and I knew that if I ever made it into Manhattan, I would make a beeline for Prune. That day happened last week. I dropped my daughter off to dance class in the city and found myself with about four hours to kill.

And guess what? It was lunchtime. One look at the subway map and I realized I was at the stop for a train that would take me to within two blocks of Prune. It was kismet. A trip to Prune for lunch was meant to be.

So it's probably okay to admit to a little bit of hero worship now for Gabrielle Hamilton. She's done what--twenty five years ago (coff coff)--I thought I would do. She's opened this tiny little space in a funky neighborhood with food that is just spot on. It's comfortable. It is definitely cozy in the Manhattan meaning of cozy (tiny, that is)...and for me it was just right for the food.

Food like my lunch: a crisp, cold glass of rose on a hot hot day.
A "kerchief" of pasta covering a perfectly poached egg and a salty-sweet-tender slice of ham, lean and melting. The whole dish then "sauced" with brown butter, toatsty-crunchy pine nuts and generous shavings of parmesan.

For a side dish, I couldn't resist the peas with a bit of honeycomb melting on the top. Just because.

Then also just because? Dessert--mascarpone ice cream with salted caramel sauce and brioche croutons.
Yes please.

It was all fabulous and low key and great food and relaxed and comfortable. Gabrielle was there, and even though I wanted to gush I didn't...I thought maybe she would be too cool for a gushing fan, but I did exchange a few words with her, saying how awesome the pasta was and that anything with a poached egg is heaven in my book.

And that was it. I went back out into the heat, had a few photos in my camera and wished I lived in NYC again.