It’s foodie haiku porn.  I want that food. I want that life.

Anthony Bourdain has dedicated a segment of his Sirius radio show to reading Reichl’s musings aloud , which is wonderful and hilarious, and perhaps inspired the brilliant satirical ruthbourdain twitter:

This clip from when Reichl calls into Bourdain’s show makes me wish I had satellite radio a little bit:

I am not the greatest recipe pre-reader.  Today I was all set to make Grilled Chicken with Cucumber, Radish, and Cherry Tomato Relish (from the bounty of summer-y recipes in August’s Martha Stewart Living) and reread “grilled.”  Realistically, grilling was not happening.  How to quickly cook the boneless skinless to make it moist and yummy?  How To Cook Like Your Grandmother’s Pan Fried Chicken in Butter was a revelation: pound the chicken thin, lightly flour it, and pan fry it in butter.

The result was perfect.  Moist and chicken-y all the way through paired perfectly with the fresh summer-y flavors and crunch of the cucumber, radish, cherry tomato “relish” (Martha-Stewart-ese for a salad on top of your chicken).  If you crave a summer salad atop chicken, this is what you are looking for.

Recipe and notes after the jump.

Pan Fried Chicken in Butter

I cannot compete with How To Cook Like Your Grandmother’s Pan Fried Chicken in Butter explanation, so click through.  It has pictures!  My only change was to use leftover seasoned flour.  And whether the chicken is done when there is no more pink showing around the edge seems to depend on how consistent and thin you’ve pounded the chicken.  I’m not an expert yet so I had to check for done-ness directly.

Replaces the chicken in….

Grilled Chicken with Cucumber, Radish, and Cherry Tomato Relish

From Martha Stewart Living, recipe not on site yet

Serves 6

1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon sugar
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 small jalapeño chile, stem, ribs, and seeds removed (optional), quartered
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 English cucumber (12 ounces), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch dice
5 radishes, very thinly sliced
8 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved, or quartered if large
1 small red onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (2 pounds)
vegetable oil, for grill
1 cup fresh mint, torn into 1/2-inch pieces, plus sprigs for garnish

1. Bring vinegar, water, sugar, garlic, jalapeño, and 3/4 teaspoon salt to a boil in a small saucepan.  Remove from heat, and let stand for 15 minutes.  Strain through a fine sieve; discard solids.  Let cool completely.
2. Combine cucumber, radishes, tomatoes, and onion in a medium bowl.  Pour in vinegar mixture, and toss to coat.
3. Preheat grill to medium-high. Season chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper.  Lightly oil the grill grate.  Working in batches, grill chicken until cooked through 6 to 7 minutes per side.  Transfer to a platter, and let stand for 10 minutes.  Stir mint into relish.  Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with vinegar if desired.  Spoon relish on top of chicken, and garnish with mint sprigs.

(Also – most recipes below have amazing food photography through the link.)

Big summer salads

• arugula, potato, and green bean salad
• Orange, Olive, and Fennel Salad
• Carrot, Dill & White Bean Salad
• Asparagus Salad
• New Potato and Summer Squash Salad
• Lime & Peanut Coleslaw (I don’t like coleslaw.  I love this.  Suspect I just hate mayo+cabbage together.)
• Eggplant and Pepper Salad
• Bún Chay (Vietnamese Vegetarian Noodle Salad)

Baked fruit desserts (aka, fruit desserts which go well with vanilla ice cream)

• peach and crème fraîche pie
• Buttermilk Berry Cobbler
• Rainier Cherry Gingered Sour Cream Muffins
• Roasted Peaches with Dessert Wine
• Plum and Almond Tart
• Lemon Blueberry Buckle

Recipes in August’s Martha Stewart Living were a big factor in creating these cravings as well but they aren’t online yet.  (Do not read the issue on an empty stomach – you will find yourself starving and cranky in the produce department or farmer’s market.)

Mullet wearers everywhere take note, if pop rocks can gain class without losing the party, there’s hope for you too.

Bonus question after the jump:  What makes pop rocks pop?
Answer: Pressurized carbon dioxide!  From the makers:

Pop Rocks is like other hard candy and the ingredients include sugar, lactose (milk sugar) corn syrup and flavoring. But Pop Rocks are processed with Carbon Dioxide.

The ingredients are heated together and boiled. The hot sugar mixture is mixed with carbon dioxide gas at about 600 PSI. The carbon dioxide gas forms tiny, 600 PSI bubbles in the candy.

Once it cools you release the pressure and the candy shatters, but the pieces still contain the high-pressure bubbles (look at a piece with a magnifying glass to see the bubbles). When you put the candy in your mouth, it melts (just like hard candy) and releases the bubbles with a loud POP! What you are hearing and feeling is the 600 PSI carbon dioxide gas being released from each bubble.

Answer: To keep the moisture in.  Most (supermarket) cucumbers are waxed to keep the moisture in, because of the larger surface area of English cucumbers’ wrinkly skin, it’s easier to wrap than wax.

Other interesting facts about cucumbers:

• Cucumbers are members of gourd family Cucurbitaceae
• Cucumbers have been cultivated since 4000 or 3000 BC and had the bitter bread out of them.
• Old recipes salted cucumbers to remove bitterness.  (Though one source isn’t convinced it worked.)
• Salting cucumbers crisps them.  Soaking cucumbers in salt water however softens them.

Sources:

• Practically Edible (Food Encyclopedia) > Cucumbers
• What Einstein Told His Cook 2: The Sequel: Further Adventures in Kitchen Science (parts available in Google books)
• Wikipedia > Cucumbers

Link what-huhs?  Look over at the right hand column to “Eating/Science/Culture” and “Recipe Radar.”  Those are the latest and greatest articles and recipes I’ve read and added to Delicious.  You can see more links by directly going to their Delicious pages [eat/sci/cul] [recipe] or subscribe to the RSS feeds [eat/sci/cul] [recipe].  If you want to get even more specific, I’ve tagged the recipes up a bit, so on Delicious you can see just vegetarian recipes or just recipes from the NYTimes Bitten column.

During my senior year of high school I used to have pad thai and Reed’s Ginger Brew at Saffron once a week.  I was craving the combo on Tuesday and disappointed to see that at some point Ginger Brew was replaced with a homemade Ginger Ale.  The Ginger Ale was refreshing (a tiny bit flat to be honest), but just didn’t pack the same gingery punch.  So when later that day I saw a recipe for homemade Ginger Ale in Dan’s away message, I was off to 99 Ranch Market for the ingredients.

Like the Amateur Gourmet, I am now sure I’ll be drinking this all summer.  The recipe below makes a nearly a syrup which you add to sparkling water.  I used the lemongrass and one deseeded Serrano, which gives it a great kick.  Half a Serrano is probably plenty though.  And sounds like some yeast derived carbonation would only make this better…

Recipe from Jean-Georges Vongerichten via the Amateur Gourmet:

(Yay Comic Life.)

Homemade Ginger Ale
recipe by Jean-Georges Vongerichten
from “Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef”

Ingredients:

1 pound fresh ginger, unpeeled and cut into small dice [I didn't dice because of the food processor]
2 stalks lemongrass, trimmed and roughly chopped
2 small fresh chiles, stems removed [recommendation: 1/2 to 1 deseeded Serrano]
1 1/2 cups sugar
Soda water
Lime wedges

1. Combine the ginger, lemongrass and chiles in food processor and process until minced, stopping the machine periodically and scraping down the sides.

2. Place the puree in a saucepan with the sugar and 1 quart water (that’s four cups). Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to medium and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat. Cool, then strain and chill. [I strained once in a colander, squeezed the mush through a cheesecloth, and then ran it all through the cheesecloth.]

3. To serve, place 1/4 cup of the syrup in a glass full of ice. Fill with soda water, taste and add more syrup if you like. Garnish with a lime wedge, then serve.

Off to make a Dark and Stormy!

So no pictures, see original recipe.  But normally, this is really easy, yummy, and cheap recipe.  Even in the midst of a clumsy streak, it’s still the second two.

Paprika-Braised Chicken with Salt Pork and Spinach

- makes 2 servings -

Ingredients

4 skin-on chicken pieces (thighs and/or drumsticks)
Seasoned flour for dredging [I approximated from this recipe and made extra a couple months ago]
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 oz salt pork, rind removed and finely diced
1 medium carrot, finely diced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 14.5-oz can chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon paprika, preferably smoked
5 oz (1/2 block) frozen chopped spinach, thawed [can sub fresh, though frozen seems to help with the thickening]
2 tablespoons corn starch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water [mix mix mix for no clumps!]
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Procedure

1. Pat chicken dry and dredge in seasoned flour, dusting off excess. Heat vegetable oil in a large, heavy saucepan over moderate heat, until hot but not smoking. Place chicken pieces skin-side down in hot oil and sear 6-8 minutes, transferring to a plate once skin is golden brown.

2. Discard left-over oil and reduce heat to low. In the same saucepan, cook salt pork until crispy, about 4 minutes. Add carrots and onions, stirring to coat in rendered pork fat, and cook until onion is translucent.

3. Add chicken broth and paprika and deglaze pan by boiling and scraping up any brown bits, 1 minute. Return chicken to pan, skin-side up, along with any juices that have accumulated on plate. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.

4. Add chopped spinach and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Pour in cornstarch-water mixture, stirring to distribute, and cook until sauce is thickened, about 1 minute. Season to taste.

Chickpea Puree with Crispy Shallots

- makes 2 servings -

Chickpeas aren’t just for hummus. Here’s a 5-minute, 99-cent side dish that’s luscious and unexpected.

Ingredients

For the crispy shallots
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
Vegetable oil for deep-frying

For the puree
1 15.5-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Procedure

1. Make the crispy shallots: Place the shallots in a small saucepan and cover with vegetable oil. On low heat, bring oil to a simmer. Maintain a low, steady heat until shallots are golden brown, then remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to paper towels to drain.  [Start this early and be patient.  Which is difficult with hot oil.  I am still working on getting consistent golden browning.]

2. Make the puree: Place the chickpeas, water, olive oil and ground cumin in a food processor or blender. Blend until texture is creamy and uniform, adding more water if necessary, 1 tablespoon at a time. Transfer to a saucepan over a low flame and heat through. Season to taste.  [Seasoning to taste may include adding other spices and/or lemon.  It's a bit bland.]

3. Serve puree sprinkled with crispy shallots. If desired, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

Camera phone pictures clearly demonstrate that though beet cake batter is pepto-bismol purple/pink (!) and beet cake is not red.

Batter is purple/pink:

Baked cakes are brown:

All iced up:

Recipe review, via Gchat:

5:59 PM me: were the muffins yummy?
6:16 PM Sarah: fine–i prefer carrot cake, though.

Unfortunately, when I turned to the internet, I learned that’s not the case.  According to this recipe from Cooking Light, beet cake can indeed be made just like carrot cake and the batter is bright red but the cake bakes up to a golden brown:

From Cooking Light

This is really disappointing.  Shredding that many beets would be way too messy to justify a golden brown cake.