Chicago Foodies

Harvard Science & Cooking Lectures #1: Historical Context Food & Science

Harold McGee and Dave Arnold join David Weitz in this first of a series of Harvard lectures from their School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. It's a monster series which Harvard has archived online and which we will be sharing in full right here. It's really a prerequisite for high-adventure in the kitchen.

 

Must Have Kitchen Appliances for 2012

Every morning, after I shuffle my kids out the door to school, I zip back in the kitchen and whip up my daily secret weapon in my Vitmix blender. Greens, fruit and water combine to give me a sweet and nutritious treat that motors me through the morning and on to lunchtime. We all have our kitchen heroes—the appliances we just can’t live without, so today, I dedicate this post to all my personal favorites, the modern day wonders that make my food-loving life so much easier.

So without further ado I present, my kitchen heroes: each one doing its part to make cooking a whine-free experience in this Real Mom’s home:

Easy Appetizer Bites Two Ways – Mushrooms & Spanakopita Recipes

I've always thought that homemade anything tastes better, and I can usually feel better about eating something when I know exactly what's in it. Appetizers are easy enough to grab from the freezer aisle. Resist the urge. For your next Superbowl party, holiday gathering or dinner party, try your hand at this simple concept. Buy some frozen puff pastry dough, arm yourself with a few mini muffin tins, and you're ready to go. 

I made a mushroom and caramelized onion version as well as spanikopita. Spanikopita can be a pain to perfectly fold in phyllo dough, so this method was much easier. These don't need to follow an exact recipe and can really follow your personal taste. With these proportions, I used all of my puff pastry and nearly all of my filling. 

Any Season Jam Muffins Recipe

Muffins are the perfect snack or breakfast item - but if you don't choose your fruit carefully, you'll be out of luck (and out of season). My favorite thing about these jam muffins is that you can alter the recipe slightly depending on the time of year. And if you don't know what's in season, just use whatever is in your freezer! It's the perfect way to use up any bit of frozen fruit you have on hand. 

I had some delicious, giant blueberries frozen from summer and some fresh pears lying around. I also was able to scrounge up just the right amount of leftover raspberry jam. No matter the combination, it always seems to work. These muffins are colorful and a bit lower in sugar than your normal muffin since the fruit sweetens them so much. If you don't like my combination, try out your own. 

Paula Deen's Bacon, Egg and Doughnut Burger... and Bukowski.

I miss 2008... Granted an incarnation of the Doughnut Burger even made it to the cover of This is Why You're Fat".  I feel the vintage video quality and compression artifacts add to the gritty feel of the dish. Kind of like the original 16mm-style Texas Chainsaw Massacre adds that icky-ness.

I struggle to come to grips with this stuff... we fetishize violence, so too gluttony! This is a how-to for biological weapons. Serious Eats has a great history of busting on Ms. Deen's tendency to try to kill her audience - Here's the link their Paula Deen Is Trying to Kill Us. It's more than kind of gross but it's awesome never-the-less. What would Bukowski or Burroughs be without the self-destruction?

Cheaper Gluten-Free Baking for the Holidays – Think Inside the Box

Although I’d love nothing more than to have Rose’s Bakery in Evanston cater to all of my gluten-free baking needs for the holidays (their seeded sandwich bread is some of the best) I simply can’t afford to spend 8 bucks on 6 cookies – as tasty as they may be.

I’ve consulted recipe books for the perfect flour replacement blend but unless I order online, I haven’t been able to find all of the ingredients I need at one store. The closest I’ve come is True Nature Foods in Edgewater. They carry almost the entire line of Bob’s Red Mill products, but wouldn’t you know it – they were out of tapioca flour this week.

In the spirit of the holidays and having to bring my own gluten-free options to parties (of course I never tell anyone it is gluten-free), I’ve started experimenting with alternatives that have proven to be cheaper, faster, easier and still pretty tasty.

I’m all about ease-of-box baking and with the price of xanthan gum, sorghum flour and all the other gluten-free baking essentials, I’ve found that the 5 dollars you pay for the box mix is a great way to go – if you find the right box.

Share My Holiday Recipe? I Can't.

With Hanukkah beginning and Christmas just around the corner, even the reluctant home cook will probably find him or herself in the kitchen this week. This is the time of nostalgic smells, of kugel baking, of yeast dough rising, of mulled cider warming on the stove. Nearly every family has those few special recipes that only come out of the yellowed card file around this time of year, covered not only with a year's worth of dust, but with a layer of sentimentality and family tradition.

My family has a few such dishes, but my Oma's stolen (a German yeast bread-cake) is the stand-out favorite. I bake a few loaves with her every December and give away the ones I can't possibly eat. Recipients always have two reactions: First, a huge, powdered-sugar-laced smile, and second, "Can I have your recipe?" The disappointing answer is: No. It's not because I'm territorial or protective of my Oma's time-tested stolen, but because the process of making it is just that: a process, and a nearly impossible one to transfer to recipe form.

Chocolate Covered Shortbread Two Ways

Traditional Christmas cookies aren't exactly my thing. If you're making them for a large number of people, it can be a pain to try to cut out each one and decorate them all. Last year, I came across a shortbread cookie recipe that turned out so well I decided to make it again this year with a little variety. The best part about these is you really can top them with anything you like, from candy, to nuts, to something a little less traditonal like pretzels. My personal favorite is the peppermint. If you can't decide, just double the recipe like I did and make two varieties, or go half and half. 

The Food Americans Googled, from Pizza Hut to Cream Cheese Frosting

Google Zeitgeist, the annual project that proves just how banal Americans are by revealing our fastest-rising Google terms of the year, has released its 2011 findings. When we weren't searching for Rebecca Black songs or planking photos, Americans Googled recipes and restaurants that paint a portrait of what foods America wants to order and cook. Hint: it's not kale.

The Chicago Foodies 2011 Holiday Gift Guide

Because every magazine and website hawks their holiday gift guides this time of year, allow Chicago Foodies to convince you that ours is different. We promise not to endorse any brands of dense holiday bread (fruitcakes, panettone, etc.) that could pose choking hazards. We promise that these are products that we genuinely like; we bought them, and we'd be proud to give them as gifts to our friends and family. Lastly, these are gifts that could hopefully appeal to the die-hard food nerd as well as the average person with a love of good food and drinks. So unless you've already stuffed every stocking with the singing electronic Justin Bieber toothbrush on sale at Walgreens, read ahead to see what Chicago Foodies want most in our stockings this year.

Recipe - Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Caramelized Apples

Muffins, french toast, bagels...sometimes it can be challenging to find a satisfying breakfast that isn't too heavy. My personal go-to is pancakes. I tend to whip up breakfast before hitting the gym on the weekends, and these pancakes can really weigh me down. So, this time I opted for ricotta pancakes - mostly since I had some extra on hand. 

Since these pancakes use very little flour, they are almost like eating little pan fried ricotta cheesecakes. If you are gluten-free, these pancakes would probably be a great breakfast choice since there is minimal flour to substitute. They aren't incredibly sweet, so the sauteed apples really help balance out the flavors. 

Desperately Seeking Good Gluten Free Pizza

When I tell people that I’ve recently chosen a gluten free diet their first reaction is wow – don’t you miss pizza? Similarly when talking to people who are gluten free the topic of conversation always steers towards living without pizza. Being in a city with amazing pizza on just about every corner made me wonder why gluten free pizza wasn’t available. Upon further investigation I found that there are a lot of gluten free pizza options in Chicago. The problem isn’t getting gluten free pizza. The problem is getting good gluten free pizza. Compared to its wheat-based co unterpart, is it even worth eating?

My first attempt at purchasing a pre-made gluten free crust from the grocery store was disastrous. The Rustic Crust brand crust from Dominick’s proved to be very doughy and just didn’t taste good, despite the fresh mozzarella, basil and Roma tomatoes I purchased to go on top.

The 10 Commandments of Food Allergy Safety for Party Hosts and Guests

There are a lot of snooze-worthy holiday "how-to" lists that pop up around this time of year: How to make paper snowflakes! How to wrap a fruitcake! But Kendall College has come up with a quick, ten-point list of rules for hosting holiday parties that will accomodate and protect your friends with food allergies. As your kitchen becomes a revolving door with friends, family, kids, and neighbors, these commandments are crucial to ensure that your party spread won't endanger anyone's health.

Thanksgiving Leftovers? Sweet Potato Bisque Recipe

It sounds pretty ridiculous, but soup is probably my favorite savory food. It’s my comfort food. It’s one of those dishes you don’t need a lot of money to enjoy, and yet you can always make it special with some unusual ingredients. Lobster, lentils and even tofu. I feel like I’ve run the gamut when it comes to soup.

When I ended up with tons and tons of leftover cooked sweet potatoes after Thanksgiving, the light bulb went off in my head. I had a fresh carton of vegetable stock in my pantry, and all the trimmings to make this one Thanksgiving leftover to remember. Even if you aren’t much of a cook, I’d say this soup is pretty difficult to mess up. 

Whole Wheat Pear Ginger Scone Recipe

Pears are one of the more neglected fruits. They are overshadowed by their seasonal counterpart, apples, are underappreciated in my opinion. They come in so many colors and varieties, and their uses are endless, from salads, to cakes, to breakfast items. I've always been a big fan of scones, but I've never had them with pear - because who would make a crazy thing like that? Mine turned out a bit too cakey for my liking. So, I'll give you some tips to get them a bit more biscuit-like. 

Chefs Share Thanksgiving Horror Stories and Turkey Mishaps

You'd think that professional chefs would be immune to the usual culinary mistakes and small kitchen fires that plague the general population. Not so. Even accomplished chefs in the city have had their share of Thanksgiving blunders, from electrocuted turkeys to vegetarian conundrums. To make you feel better about your own missteps, here's a sampling of their most hilarious moments.

Spaghetti Squash, Swiss Chard and White Bean Gratin Recipe

Cooking is a learning experience. This sounds obvious, but the trial and error in the kitchen is especially important if you are a vegetarian. I've never been satisfied eating the same things over and over. It's easy for us to get into that rut of buying the same foods every time we go to the grocery store. In fall, my rut is squash. I could end up eating it for every meal. 

I decided to change it up a bit by making something with all of this squash I had on my hands. I had a recipe for a spaghetti squash gratin from awhile back, so I decided to tweak it and then change it into a lasagna. If I had to go back in time, I would'nt have layered the ingredients and would have stuck with the gratin. Plus, the bread crumbs I added on top really were'nt necessary, so I left them out. Here's the revised recipe: 

Sweet 'N Salty Snack Mix Recipe

Sometimes all you need is a little something sweet. You don’t want to put effort into baking something but you don’t want to resort to store bought sweets either. And you have tons of leftover Halloween candy. What to do…

Fortunately for me – and my office – I had such a predicament just last night. And I knew exactly how to fix it. When you have a sweet and salty craving, just make a snack mix, which basically means a combination of random snack foods you have lying around.

I personally have a weakness for caramel corn but it isn’t the healthiest (or most accessible) item. So, instead I whipped up my own creation. You can do the same with whatever you have in your cabinets. Here’s my recipe:

Recipe - Pumpkin & Peanut Butter Granola

Nothing says fall like a steaming pumpkin latte, or a slice of pumpkin bread. Best yet, pumpkin pie! Pumpkins are everywhere. They're seasonal, delicious and full of beta carotene, antioxidants and fiber. They're also low in calories and fat. They're good for you.

But many people limit this fall treat to indulgent desserts. Get your fill of pumpkin with this healthy pumpkin granola recipe. It combines pumpkin and peanut butter, an unexpected combination that really works. It's nutty, perfectly spiced and dangerously addictive. I adjusted the recipe based on my tastes, and you can do the same. It's pretty hard to mess up.

Eating Gluten Free is Hard! Or is it?

I was tested years ago for food allergies and the blood tests proved to be inconclusive so I never pursued it further. On a recent trip to my doctor she was reviewing some of the old lab results as reference for our conversation and noted that although I tested negative for Celiac Disease my scores were on the higher end of the range. She recommended eliminating gluten from my diet for a couple of weeks to see if it made a difference. She said, “Really, how hard could it be?” How hard could it be? My initial thought was extremely hard. I had been eating wheat at every meal every day of my life. It took me several weeks just to mentally prepare myself for the task. I decided to start the diet on a day that I went to The Loving Hut in Edgewater for lunch and noticed gluten free symbols next to several dishes. I was encouraged to see that I could go gluten free and still enjoy going out to eat.