the thin chef

Gingerbread is one of those reminiscent, sentimental foods that evokes memories with a single whiff of the mixture of spices. I think people probably fall into two camps when it comes to the holiday sweet: crisp or soft. Perhaps the preference isn’t firm…but I’ve found that almost everyone does have a favorite texture. For me, it’s soft.

These cookies are exactly that. Cakey, slightly chewy, and very tender. I like that there’s just enough spice, not enough to overpower the characteristic taste of molasses. Again—don’t fear the Crisco. It’s not exactly an haute cuisine ingredient, but it’s what gives the cookies the light, cakey crumb, and you can’t omit it.

For frosting, I used the one from yesterday’s post. We put it in a ziploc and snipped a corner off as a sort-of piping bag, just right for making eyes, buttons, and the like on your gingerbread people.

Quick recipe note: if you don’t have buttermilk, and don’t want to buy any for just 1/4 cup, combine 1/4 cup milk and 1/2 teaspoon of white vinegar. Stir, and let sit for 5 minutes before adding to the dough.

Classic Soft Gingerbread Cookies
Originally published in Bon Appetit

6 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves or allspice
3/4 teaspoon salt
11 tablespoons (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) unsalted butter at room temperature
2/3 cup Crisco
1 cup sugar
1 cup unsulfered molasses
1 large egg
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon baking soda

Combine 5 1/4 cups flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt in medium bowl; whisk to combine well. Beat butter and shortening in large bowl until uniform Add 1 cup sugar and the molasses, and beat until smooth. Beat in the egg and buttermilk.

Combine 2 teaspoons water and baking soda in small ramekin to blend; add to butter mixture. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in 2 additions. Add in more flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until a slightly firm dough forms. Dough will be sticky.

Divide dough into 4 equal parts and place each mound on a piece of parchment. Top with a second piece of parchment, and shape each into a disc just less than 1/4-inch thick. Wrap disks and refrigerate until firm enough to roll, at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°. Working with 1 disc at a time, roll dough between sheets of parchment, if needed. Cut cookies. Re-roll scraps, refrigerating as necessary to keep dough hard. Refrigerate for a few minutes before baking to ensure a crisp shape.

Bake cookies until slightly darker at edges and just firm to touch in center, about 12 minutes. Cool on sheet 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; cool completely. Cool baking sheet with cold water before using for the next batch.

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If you’re like me (and I hope I’m not alone), you cringe and feel terrible when you throw away food…but it happens more than you’d care to admit. Especially for those of us cooking for just two, leftovers are a fact of life. Many times, I love leftovers…but sometimes, they sit in the fridge for days before I cringe and throw them out. I hate, hate, hate to waste food. I know the sad reality that the majority of our planet would kill to have enough food to even have the option to throw some of it away. Without going any farther down that road, we’ll just leave it at the fact that wasting food is clearly irresponsible.

So. What to do with those leftovers? Pasta is one of my least favorites to eat the next day, but I always cook too much the night before. It’s almost never good simply reheated, since any amount of heat cooks it further, and it turns to mush in a matter of minutes. Pasta is almost always the leftovers I throw away.

But the other day, that all changed. Famished after running around all morning, I came home with the knowledge of two ingredients I wanted to combine: local eggs and a little glass container of pasta from the night before. I envisioned something Giada De Laurentiis made ages ago on her show—something called Torta di Pasta, an egg-and-pasta cake that’s similar to a frittata.

Seriously good, cheap, and filling, this might be my new favorite lunch. It’s crisp on the outside, yielding and creamy on the inside. The next time you find yourself with some leftover long-strand pasta sitting in the depths of your fridge, try this. It’s not even a recipe, it’s that easy.

Simply heat a small splash of oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. When the oil is warm, add enough pasta to the pan to cover the bottom generously. Let it sit for 1 or 2 minutes. Crack some eggs into a bowl. For a small skillet, you’ll need about 3; for a large one, maybe 6. Whisk the eggs, and add some salt and pepper. Pour the eggs into the pan over the pasta. Let set until the bottom is firm and golden (maybe 3 or so minutes). Sprinkle the top generously with grated parmesan. Then you have a choice. If it’s a small skillet, use a spatula to flip the whole thing over. If it’s a big one, stick the pan under the broiler for a few minutes until the whole thing is firm and the top is golden-brown. Slice, and serve.

I dipped my bites in sriracha (of course), but some pesto or leftover warm marinara (or a mixture of the two) would be good to serve alongside.

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This is a multipurpose cake—one you can make for guests, or one you can throw together on a weeknight when you just want dessert. It comes together superfast…really, almost as quickly as a boxed mix. I’ve had a version of this cake made with a boxed devil’s food mix, chocolate pudding mix, and sour cream, and honestly, the from-scratch is better. And I’m willing to bet that the only thing you might need to buy for this is a carton of buttermilk (and maybe some mini chocolate chips).

Dense, moist, and absolutely delicious, this is an impressive yet everyday kind of treat.

Double-Chocolate Bundt Cake
Recipe from Oxmoor House

Baking spray with flour
1 3/4  cups  all-purpose flour
1  cup granulated sugar
3/4  cup Dutch process cocoa (Katie note: my grocery only has Hershey’s Special Dark, which is what I used)
1 1/2  teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2  teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup strong brewed coffee
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate mini-chips
1 tablespoon sifted powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°. Heavily coat a 12-cup nonstick Bundt pan with baking spray; set aside.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat eggs and next 5 ingredients with a mixer at medium speed 1 minute or until just combined. Add flour mixture to egg mixture; beat at high speed 1 minute. Stir in chocolate mini-chips.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes on a wire rack. Remove cake from pan; cool completely on wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar.

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This chili, a recipe from Tyler Florence, is unlike any other chili I’ve had before. The spices are pretty typical, for the most part, but the texture is totally different. Instead of using ground beef, this chili uses beef shoulder that braises for 2-plus hours until it’s falling-apart tender. Then you mash it up until the pot is full of tender shreds of beef coated in richly spiced sauce. If it’s possible, this chili is even heartier than the usual ground-beef version.

I made a few adjustments for what I had on hand, which I’ll note in the recipe. Otherwise, I followed Tyler’s words to a T. This was a big hit at our football party yesterday, and is even better the next day. (How do I know, you ask? I ate it for breakfast. No big deal.)

Not Your Average Beef Chili
very loosely adapted from Tyler Florence
serves 4 to 6

3 tablespoons olive oil
3 pounds beef shoulder, cut into large cubes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons good-quality chili powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoons ground coriander
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 tablespoon hot paprika
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 small/medium onions, diced
10 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1 jalapeno, seeded and roughly chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
Garnish: sour cream, pickled jalapenos, and shredded cheese

Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Sprinkle beef shoulder all over with salt and pepper. Add to the pot and brown it. As it’s browning, stir in the chili powder; cumin; coriander; regular, hot and smoked paprikas; oregano; and cinnamon. Stir to combine. Lower the temperature to medium. Place the onions, garlic, jalapeno, and tomato paste in a food processor, and puree. Add puree to the pot. Stir to combine, and cook for 3 minutes or so, stirring often to keep mixture from scorching.

Add enough water to cover by 1 inch, and add tomatoes with their liquid. Bring to a boil, skimming off the foam that rises to the surface. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the meat is completely tender and comes apart with no resistance, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. As it cooks down, add more water to keep the consistency loose but not soupy. Use a potato masher and mash the beef so it comes apart in shreds. Taste, and add salt and pepper, if needed. Serve with cheese, sour cream, and pickled jalapenos.

*Post Script

Making in a Slow Cooker
My friend Lainie asked in the comments whether this could be done with a slow cooker, and I think it could. I’d probably brown the meat first in a large skillet, for the added flavor. But if you don’t have time, it would still be fine. If you did brown the meat first, add the spices to the skillet to toast them. If not, then add the spices to the food processor with the onion mixture.

Place the meat (browned or not) in the slow cooker, and add the pureed onion mixture, tomatoes, and enough water to cover by about 1 inch. Cover, and cook on low for 8 hours, or until the beef falls apart when mashed. Uncover for the last 1/2 hour or so to thicken it up just a bit. Mash, and serve!

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You already know my love of pasta. It’s comfort in a bowl. I love short cuts, long strands, sheets of lasagna, and especially wide, slurpy papardelle. The name of the noodles derives from the verb “pappare,” to gobble up—which is what I do when I see a bowlful of this pasta.

I have an unabashed love of Trader Joe’s, and I stock up whenever we’re in a city that has one. My friend Sarah turned me on to their spinach and chive pasta, which I get every time. And last trip, I also grabbed a bag of lemon-pepper papardelle. Lemon, and pepper, and my favorite pasta? Yes, please.

I was waiting to cook the pasta until I could think of a sauce or preparation that would let the flavor of the noodles shine through, but also compliment them. I picked up bags of organic, locally grown arugula and watercress at the co-op last week, and I was reminded of a recipe from one of my favorite books, Cooking for Mr. Latte by Amanda Hesser. It involves pasta, lemon zest, creme fraiche, and arugula, and it’s fabulous. This is my take on it.

Pasta with Greens and Lemon-Butter Sauce
serves 4

1 pound long pasta, such as papardelle, linguine or fettucine
1 lemon, zested and juiced
3 tablespoons unsalted, room-temperature butter
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 large handfuls arugula
1 large handful watercress, thick or tough stems removed and discarded
Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

Cook pasta per package directions. Just before pasta is done, ladle out about 1 cup of the cooking water, and set aside. As the pasta cooks, combine the lemon zest and butter in a small bowl, mashing and stirring to combine. Drain pasta, and place in a large bowl. (I like to warm the bowl with very hot tap water so it doesn’t cool the pasta.)

Add butter-zest mixture, lemon juice, and olive oil. Use tongs or two large forks to toss the pasta together until it’s coated in the butter, oil, and lemon juice. Add greens, 1/2 cup reserved pasta water, and salt and pepper to taste. (Need guidance? Start with about 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and go from there.) Toss again until the greens are wilted and the pasta is coated in “sauce.” Add more pasta water, if needed, to keep the pasta slicked but not wet. Serve immediately.

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This is the second post this week about a favorite, go-to snack that tastes even better when you make it from scratch. Why go through the trouble, you might ask, when you can easily grab a box of crackers at the grocery store and call it a day? Well, for one, these taste better. (And I am a huge fan of the non-homemade kind. I once, regrettably, ate an entire box in one sitting, and was very ill as a result.) Second, you know exactly what’s going in them, and there are only a handful of ingredients, instead of odd-sounding preservatives and trans fats. You can use organic ingredients, if you’d like, and local butter and cheese, if you’re fortunate enough to have access to them.

It takes 30 seconds to throw this dough together in the food processor and about 4 minutes to roll and cut the crackers. They bake for less than 30 minutes, and you can clean the whole kitchen and start a load of laundry in that time, so really, it doesn’t count.

Now tell me that’s not faster than a trip to Publix. That’s what I thought.

Homemade Cheez-It Crackers
makes about 40 crackers
Adapted from this Country Living recipe

1 cup all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 (7-ounce) bag grated extra-sharp 2% reduced-fat Cheddar cheese
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional, but recommended)
5 tablespoons cold water

Combine flour, butter, cheese, salt, and cayenne in the work bowl of your food processor. Pulse until crumbly. Pulse in water, a tablespoon at a time, until dough comes together. (You may not use all the water.)

Wrap dough in plastic wrap, press into a disc, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350º. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick silicone mats. Set aside.

Place dough between two pieces of parchment paper. (It’s sticky!) Roll to 1/8-inch thickness. Carefully flip dough in parchment over, and gently peel off the top layer. Using a pizza cutter, trim dough into a rectangle, then cut into 2-inch squares. Carefully transfer squares onto baking sheets, using a spatula if needed.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until crackers are just slightly turning light brown, and are crisp. Quickly cool and taste one for crispness. If they are not crisp, bake just a few minutes longer. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days (if they last that long!). If crackers are soggy after storing, re-crisp them in a preheated 400º oven for 3 to 5 minutes.

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It’s been cooler—and far, far drier—here in central Florida than it usually is in October, which is a welcome and unexpected break from the heat and humidity of summertime. It actually feels like fall, and that’s pretty unusual for early October.

The last three years, we lived in Birmingham, Alabama, which (among its other delightful aspects) actually has four—count ‘em, four—distinct seasons, something we just don’t get in central Florida. So I was, let’s say, a little wistful on the first day of fall, knowing I was back in the two-seasons-at-best Sunshine state. But then…oh, then…the air dried out, the temperatures dropped to a chilly 75 degrees, and we had fall.

So, what do I do in response? I make apple crisp. I had planned to make apple brown betty, but I decided that the chunkier texture from a crisp or crumble is really what I wanted. I am not really a dessert person, and I am certainly not a baker. But I love a fruit crisp. This, really, is what autumn is all about, no? Eating warming, seasonal foods that remind us that the seasons (like life) are always in motion, are always changing, and are something to be celebrated.

Classic Apple Crisp
serves 4 to 6
My version is light on the sweetness, so adjust the sugar accordingly if you know you like your desserts super sweet. If you don’t have pure maple syrup on hand, please do not use pancake syrup. Substitute with brown sugar (and go buy some pure maple syrup!). Whole wheat flour adds an extra hint of heartiness, but if all-purpose is all you have, by all means, use that. Finally, you can easily double this recipe using a 9×13-inch baking dish.

4 small gala apples
Juice of 1/4 lemon
1 to 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, depending on the sweetness of your apples
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons room-temperature butter

Preheat oven to 350º.

Peel apples; slice the “cheeks” off of the cores, and discard cores. Slice apples into 1/4-inch slices, place in an 8×6-inch (or similar) baking dish, and toss with lemon juice and maple syrup. Taste a slice, and see if it tastes sweet enough; if not, add a bit more maple syrup. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, almonds, and cinnamon. Using your fingers, work in the butter until the mixture resembles wet sand, and it sticks together in clumps. Taste, and add more sugar if you think it should be sweeter.

Pour topping over apples in the baking dish. Bake for 22 minutes, or until topping is golden brown and apples are just tender. Cool for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with vanilla ice cream for extra oohs and aahs.

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Peanut butter is a very American snack. I was amused to see it on the “USA” aisle in a French grocery store a few years ago. In fact, in Paris, there is a shop called Thanksgiving, and its shelves are stocked with things like Pringles, McCormick’s gravy mix packets, Oreos, Campbell’s soups, and, yes, peanut butter.

But I really wonder why it hasn’t caught on worldwide as a favorite food item. It’s a favorite in our house, whether spread on soft bread for a PBJ (or PBBH—peanut-butter-banana-honey), warmed in the microwave and drizzled over ice cream, or just eaten out of the jar with a spoon. My friend Amy won’t keep it in her house, because she knows she’ll eat it out of the jar, spoonful by spoonful, until it’s gone.

Amy probably shouldn’t make this homemade version. If you love the store-bought stuff, you’ll find this to be a revelation. (I am being dramatic, but not overly so. This stuff is good.) Easy, cheap, and ever so satisfying, peanut butter is one of those things that’s just better—and, most likely, better for you—when you make it at home.

I used Alton Brown’s recipe, and it worked pretty much perfectly. The peanut butter is on the crumbly side, but spreads easily when warmed for 10 seconds in the microwave, or left at room temperature for a half hour before using. You can always drizzle in a bit more oil for a more spreadable consistency.

You can also customize the flavor…
*Maple: Use 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup instead of the honey
*Cinnamon-Raisin: Process with 1 teaspoon cinnamon; stir in raisins after processing
*Spicy Asian: Process with 2 teaspoons soy sauce instead of salt and 1 teaspoon sriracha
*Honey: Increase honey to 1 tablespoon

Homemade Peanut Butter
Adapted, very slightly, from Alton Brown’s recipe

15 ounces shelled, unsalted roasted peanuts
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons honey
1 1/2  to 2 tablespoons peanut oil (you can sub vegetable oil, as long as it’s flavor is neutral)

Place the peanuts, salt, and honey into the work bowl of your food processor. Process for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Place the lid back on and continue to process while drizzling in the oil; process until the mixture is smooth, adding oil bit by bit until desired texture is reached. Place the peanut butter in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.

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To me, Hershey’s Syrup is only good for only one thing: making chocolate milk. It’s too sweet and the texture is weird to be used for anything else. I’ve never enjoyed it over ice cream, and I certainly wouldn’t dream of licking it off of a spoon. This chocolate syrup, though, I both enjoyed it drizzled on vanilla ice cream…and I ate it straight out of the container, on several occasions.

I originally set out to make hot fudge as a special dessert for my college-bound little brother. Store-bought hot fudge contains all sorts of unpronounceable  preservatives and weird stabilizers and other things that I figure we’re all better off without having in our bellies, so I decided to make some from scratch instead. I found several recipes that looked great…only they all called for cream, and I didn’t have any. But then I found this recipe from David Lebovitz, which only called for a few ingredients that I already had on hand. Brilliant.

Here’s the thing…I should have known from the recipe title that this is, indeed, chocolate sauce and not hot fudge. I confess that I did not think about or realize the difference between these two confectionary treats. And then I made a few, small adjustments to the original recipe, and the result turned out less like thick fudge sauce, and more like a richer, tastier, more complex Hershey’s syrup. But as such, it’s actually much more versatile—it’s great over ice cream, drizzled atop a brownie, or even stirred into plain yogurt for an afternoon snack. (Yes, I went there…and yes, you should, too.)

Homemade Chocolate Syrup
Adapted from David Lebovitz’s Best Chocolate Sauce
Makes about 2 1/2 cups

The amount of sugar you use can depend on how dark your chocolate is and how sweet you want the resulting syrup to be.

1 cup water
1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably the Dutch-process kind)
3 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Combine water, sugar, and corn syrup in a small saucepan. Whisk in cocoa powder until mixture is smooth. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

Once it’s just bubbling, remove from heat and stir in chopped chocolate until smooth. Cool for at least 2 hours before using. (You can reheat it before serving, if you like.)

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In an effort to eat more cleanly, more locally, more healthfully, Jason and I have cut meat out of most of the meals we eat at home. I was a vegetarian for about a year in high school (and even flirted with veganism until I remembered how much I love cheese), and even though I do enjoy eating meat—hello, did you read my last post about bacon?—I am usually completely satisfied with meals created without it.

Perusing the recipes at vegetariantimes.com, I stumbled upon this brilliant idea to cook sushi rice like risotto (it’s short-grained and high-starch, after all, just like arborio or carnaroli), using miso broth instead of stock. I didn’t follow their recipe exactly…I just took the method and tailored it to the vegetables I had on hand. Even if you don’t love miso soup—Jason doesn’t—the nutty, salty flavor adds a perfect something extra to the flavor. And of course, I used copious amounts of garlic and ginger for even more flavor.

Totally satiating, a bowlful of this vegetarian risotto is a perfect dinner paired with sliced cucumbers simply dressed with soy sauce, rice vinegar, and toasted sesame oil.

Sushi Rice Risotto
Serves 4

3 tablespoons white miso paste
2 tablespoons peanut oil, divided
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
3 or 4 large cloves garlic, minced
6 green onions, sliced (about 1 cup)
1  1/2 cups short-grain sushi rice
2/3 cup sake or dry white wine
1 pound baby bok choy, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Combine miso with 6 cups water in a saucepan, whisking to combine. Bring broth to a simmer, and adjust heat to keep at a simmer.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a stockpot over medium heat. Add pepper, and cook until just tender. Transfer to a plate, and set aside. Heat remaining tablespoon oil in the stockpot over medium heat. Add ginger, garlic, and green onions. Cook, stirring constantly, until very fragrant, about 1 minute. Add sushi rice, and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add sake, and cook 1 or 2 minutes, until liquid is almost completely absorbed.

Ladle in 1/2 cup miso broth; cook and stir until broth is almost absorbed. Continue adding broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring often and allowing rice to absorb most of liquid before adding more. When rice is mostly done, stir in bok choy, stirring until wilted. Keep adding broth until rice is tender and cooked through. Add red pepper back to pot, stirring to combine. Taste for seasoning, and add salt and pepper, as needed. Add sesame oil, and serve immediately.

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