Oct03

That’s a White Sauce of a Different Flavor!

by Scraps on October 3rd, 2011 at 7:37 am
Posted In: food basics

Up until recently, I thought of white sauce in two ways: Bechamel and Veloute.

This past month, though, I’ve encountered a different sort of white sauce  on two separate occasions and I’m thrilled with this new addition: White Barbecue Sauce.

Unlike traditional white sauces which start with a roux and are thinned by either milk or stock, this white sauce has a totally different base: mayonnaise.

And I adore mayonnaise.

It all seems to have started in Decatur, Alabama, at Big Bob Gibson’s Bar-B-Q and several versions of the recipe are available online. For those who dislike the gloopy, giggly texture of my favorite emulsion, have no fear as this spicy sauce is thinned to the consistency of heavy cream or ranch dressing. And, sure, mayo ins’t the healthiest food ever, but it’s a condiment–a little goes a long way!

To make your own, you’ll spice the mayonnaise of your choice with horseradish, black and cayenne peppers, adding sugar or corn syrup if you prefer a little sweet in your spice, and thinning with vinegar (white or apple cider seems to be the most common) or water to the desired consistency.

I’ve had this, now, on both pork and chicken and it’s been amazing on each. We’re planning to barbecue for this year’s Pumpkin Party and this might need to be available as a topping option!

Have you ever tried White Barbecue Sauce–what did you think of it?

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Sep26

Hasselback Sweet-and-Spicy Potatoes

by Scraps on September 26th, 2011 at 7:07 am
Posted In: playing with your food

Faced with yet another batch of sweet potatoes from the farmers market, as I made the menu for last week I wondered what I could do with them that wasn’t the same old same-old. As much as we love sweet potatoes, it’s easy to fall into the baked or mashed rut with them.

Hasselback Sweet Potatoes

Enter the Hasselback.

Hasselback potatoes have been making the blog rounds with a variety of toppings. But they all feature skin-on potatoes cut into fans, crispy edges and lots of flavor. The most enticing I’ve seen include slivers of garlic slipped between some of the potato leaves.

What I hadn’t seen a lot of (though they do exist) are versions using the yam or sweet potato, but I saw no reason to let that stop me.

I did see one potential obstacle: the skin. While eating regular (brown or red) potato skins isn’t a problem, sweet potato skins can get quite leathery and unpleasant when baked–not exactly appetizing. And, yet, the skins help keep the fanned potatoes from falling apart. My solution was to peel 3/4 of each potato, leaving only the bottom of each au naturel. Since sweet potatoes tend towards irregular shaping, finding each’s natural base before peeling helped.

Semi-peeled sweet potatoes

After that, the procedure was the same as any other Hasselback potato:

  1. Slice
  2. Season
  3. Bake

When it comes to slicing, the idea is to slice almost all the way through. The best tip I’ve seen for this calls for using a guide–like a pair of wooden spoons or even chopsticks–to keep you from cutting all the way through the potato. This worked so well, I can’t imagine doing it any other way.

Cutting the sweet potatoes with wooden-spoon guides

For the seasoning, instead of garlic, I placed 3-4 slivers of fresh ginger into each potato, drizzled with some olive oil then mixed up some Demarara sugar, cinnamon, chili powder and salt (just eyeball the proportions) and sprinkled it all over. It doesn’t hurt to spread some of the leaves apart and make sure some of the seasoning makes it way in.

Sliced, stuffed and ready to season sweet potatoes

Finally, an hour at 350° F and the potatoes were ready to eat.

Finished Hasselback Potatoes

After stuffing, one potato didn’t want to sit nice and pretty, so it got a foil cradle but otherwise the rest behaved quite well. The end result was lovely coins of sweet potatoes that peeled away from the remaining skin without too much effort and were definitely the sweet and spicy flavor I was after.

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Sep19

Ode to a Toaster Oven

by Scraps on September 19th, 2011 at 7:45 am
Posted In: playing with your food


It started back in college life

Those heady days all on our own

When catching meals was full of strife

And home cooking did we disown

 

But to prep frozen pot pies was less than your due

Though what else could you really produce?

The years without you were not found wanting.

Until, that day, when we were so blue

No response from the range could be seduced

And our dinner plans so needed rescuing.

 

And there you were like a dutiful wife

Your element hot as a missile’s nose-cone

Glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife

Saving us from take-out via phone.

~~~

After two and a half weeks without a working oven, Todd’s little toaster oven that could got us through several dinners. And even though it was small, it was mighty in it’s timely cooking of everything from steaks to hash brown casserole, so I decided it needed a little tribute all it’s own.

[Image via Amazon.com; line 13 of the ode borrowed--with all due respect--from Meat Loaf (which is sorta fitting if you think about it!)]
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Sep12

Memory Lane Starts in the Kitchen

by Scraps on September 12th, 2011 at 7:25 am
Posted In: food stories

Friday night I served a throw-back recipe for supper: Tuna Noodle Casserole. I’m not really sure what made me think to put that on the menu (Todd suggested it might be a bit too much Mad Men), but it was a nice comfort-food meal and it got us talking about childhood food memories.

Mom wrote in my baby book that I would stand up on a chair and steal onions while she was getting supper ready. That one I don’t really remember so much. I do remember an early Thanksgiving, sitting in my high chair next to an uncle who explained the finer points of rolls: their use as “pushers” for the smaller bits of food and that’s why you wait to eat them until the end. I still eat my roll last.

My grandmother’s house had a wonderful walk-in pantry and these stainless steel canisters that were usually full of flour and sugar and stuff, but for holidays were used to store the cookies and candies they made starting the day after Thanksgiving. An enduring favorite were the rum balls and I was allowed one or two at a time for obvious reasons. But, oh, I was so infatuated with them that one day I snuck into the pantry, closed the door behind me and scarfed I don’t know how many rum balls before I was discovered. I regret nothing!

But not all food memories from childhood were holiday-related. Some weren’t even happy–like the times we discovered neither turnips nor Brussels sprouts agreed with my youthful constitution. (Happily, I’ve made peace with both foods and eat plenty of both of them these days.) Others were downright adventurous for the under-6 set–I remember sitting in the garage with my dad as he shucked oysters. 2 for him, 1 for me.

So, what food memories do you have from childhood? The good, the bad, the odd? When was the last time you thought about what you ate as a kid? The comments are ready and waiting!

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Aug01

A Big Summer Salad

by Scraps on August 1st, 2011 at 7:32 am
Posted In: food basics

Last week we wandered down the soup for all seasons path. This week, let’s talk leafy, green, studded-with-savories salads.

While salads are not restricted to any one time of year, have you ever found yourself really craving their crisp, coolness on a hot summer day? When the thought of heavier food just makes you lose your appetite completely?

Greek Salad

our Greek salad to go with last night's Pastitsio

Salads, I think, have a bad reputation among some folks. Either they’re considered rabbit food, “girl” food or, worse, diet food by your traditional carnivores. Not all salads are created equal, though, and one of my favorite salad indulgences is what I call the “Salad Bar” salad.

Inspired, obviously, by the array of options on the standard casual-dining restaurant salad bar, this isn’t a side salad or an opener to a meal, it’s the meal itself!

Here are the basic components:

  • Romaine lettuce (iceberg is almost all water, no substance, at least start with a better foundation)
  • Diced ham or turkey
  • Chopped hard-boiled eggs
  • Shredded cheese
  • Chopped veggies: mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumbers
  • Crumbled bacon
  • Dried fruit like raisins, cranberries or blueberries
  • Nuts or sunflower seeds
  • and, of course, Croutons and the salad dressing of your choice

This isn’t a complicated salad, but it’s great for a quick mid-week supper.

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