Chicago Foodies

Kitchen Sessions: Trotter's Braised Short Ribs pt.1

This was an interesting recipe to follow, from Kitchen Sessions by Charlie Trotter. I don't think it was too obscure and not very hard either. At least not like Keller's short ribs from the French Laundry cookbook which is next on the list, as soon as I get a line on some good marrow bones (I have a good line but it sounds like a good excuse, no?).

The browning of leek, garlic, jalapeño, granny smith, and yellow onion created a wonderful aroma. Dumping  in a bottle of Zin, thyme, sage and coriander seeds certainly added something. Plunking the ribs into the marinade, I did a very hard thing, I tossed it into the fridge for the night.

Tagine Home Cooking

Over the holidays, a friend of mine who loves to cook turned me on to a very affordable tagine from Sur La Table. As a fan of cooking and experimenting with new foods, I thought a tagine would be a perfect addition to my kitchen-arsenal and I figured for the price (~$20), it would be a great idea for my Christmas list. Sure enough my husband bought one for me but unwrapping the gift was just the start of my adventures in tagine cooking.

White House Chef: 11 Years, 2 Presidents, 1 Kitchen

I must confess that I'm a political junkie and was surprised that I never really thought about the head chefs at the White House. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush's White House chef, Walter Scheib, has put out a cookbook full of interesting anecdotes, from the fact that W. like his hot dogs boiled, not grilled to details about Chelsea's high-school rooftop parties. There is no mention of Willie Nelson being there.

The Oldways Table: Essays and Recipes

I notice sometimes that I come across simple and nutritious recipes and my response is - well that's a no-brainer – I'll make that for dinner. The Oldways cookbook is a whole book of recipes that we all take for granted. In the rush to use our gadgetry and the most complicated fusion of flavors and ingredients we forget that simple really is better. Instead of masking flavors leave them alone. Let the ingredients have enough room to combine their flavors on their own. These are terms that contradict traditional French cooking but align with how the Japanese eat.

Cookbook: Moghul Microwave

It sounds too good to be true. Those fabulous sauces whipped up in the old microwave without all of the traditional – fat and time consuming, (and kitchen infusing) methods? Can't be.

Julie Sahni has figured on the adjustable power of the microwave and a variety of glass cookware to cover off on different cooking techniques but it seems that I was operating at 100% in covered glass pots almost entirely. I bailed on a microwavable browning pan since I don't have one and don't know if they even make them anymore. The cookbook is from 1990. She also published Classic Indian Cooking in 1980 and Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking in 1985.

Some interesting additions in the back include mung broth and how to make ghee... basically clarify the butter and then keep it going for about 5 minutes, until all the water fizzles out and the butter darkens. Without getting too carried away I wanted to see how easy these dishes are. I gave it a shot with a mulligatawny, chicken makhani and a gobi vindaloo.  The combined prep time of 20 minutes sounded too good to be true and I have the advantage of getting some of the tough to find ingredients at the local Devon groceries so finding asafetida is easy for me. I have to give this a shot.