How to Poach Eggs Better Late Than Whenever

I mentioned in the recent Roasted Asparagus with Fried Prosciutto and Poached Egg video post that Id be doing a new and improved "how to poach eggs" technique demo. I said Id be doing it "soon," which to me means sometime this year, but apparently to many viewers that meant in the next day or two.

So, its safe to say, this video recipe was truly "by popular demand." And by "demand" I mean constant harassment, and good-natured threats, or at least I hope they were good-natured. The lesson here is to never promise anyone anything.

In related news: Im not saying exactly when, only that it will be in the future, but the breakfast I used as a destination for my poached eggs will also be turned into its own video recipe for a sort of hollandaise-less eggs Benedict, so stay tuned for that.

Anyway, this is fairly straightforward stuff, except for the fact that the really, really fresh eggs I bought to show how amazingly well they hold together in the hot water, were anything but. As youll see, they spread out faster that a group of food bloggers in a free grand tasting tent. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

For 2 quarts of water

1 teaspoon vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

fresh eggs!

View the complete recipe

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Giving Back to NYC

Since New York City and surrounding areas are still in such desperate need of help, I thought I’d post links to some of our favorite NYC-inspired recipes, in the hopes you’ll think to yourself, “After all the delicious food the Big Apple has given to us, the least I can do is give a few bucks to the Red Cross to help them out.” After enjoying some pizza, cheesecake, blintzes, and pastrami, please follow this link and give what you can. Thanks and enjoy!

Make Your Own Pastrami	New York-Style Cheesecake
Easy Cheese Blintzes	No-Knead Thin Crust Pizza

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Potato Italian Frying Pepper Frittata and How I Learned to Swear in Italian

One of my earliest and fondest food memories is that of my grandfather making frittata. It wasn’t the taste of this hearty, Italian omelet that made such an impression, although that was always wonderful, it was the excitement surrounding “the flip.”

Traditionally, a frittata is cooked about three-quarters of the way, flipped over on to a plate, and slid back into the pan to finish cooking the other side. It’s an hot, slippery exercise fraught with danger, and more than one of his magnificent creations ended up a broken mess. Come to think of it, this is where I first learned how to curse in Italian.

The funny thing is, as long as you have a broiler to finish cooking the top, which he did, you don’t need to flip anything. Just pop it in for a few minutes to firm up the eggs, and brown the cheese, and you’re ready to eat. So, why did he insist on the always risky flip-n-slid?

I’m not exactly sure, but I imagine it was because his father flipped frittatas, and so did his grandfather. That’s just the way they were done, so that’s how he did it. Regardless whether you’re flipping or not, this rustic egg pie was invented for late summer’s vegetable bounty.

If you can fry it in olive oil, it tastes great in a frittata, especially leftover vegetables that would otherwise end up in the trash. It’s also amazing with any kind of summer squash. Just remember that the veggies need to be tender before the eggs go in, since they cook so fast. I hope you give this “memorable” recipe a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 4 servings:

12 large eggs

1 tbsp olive oil

6 slices of bacon or pancetta

1 1/2 cups sliced peppers

1 1/2 cups cubed, cooked potatoes

OR about 3 cups of any summer veggies

dry or fresh herbs to taste

salt and pepper to taste

hot pepper flakes to taste

2 oz crumbled feta cheese

*Remember to drain oil before adding potatoes and eggs!

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Tarte Tatin – See What the Others Aren’t Willing to Show You

When I looked at some other tarte tatin recipes on YouTube, I noticed that very few showed the “flip on to the plate” step. They would just skip from the out of the oven shot to the final beauty shot. The reason of course, is that very few tarte tatins come out of the hot pan perfectly, and if they showed that, then you may not think they are as awesome as their profile says they are.

So, it’s with much pride that I show you the whole ugly scene that is the tarte tatin dismount. The good news is, it’s very simple to slap everything back on the crust before it cools, and none will be the wiser. This is even easier if you’re doing a version with very soft and tender apples and lots of caramel, which is my preference, as you’ll see.

If you do a Google image search for a classic, old recipe like this, you usually see a lot of photos that look alike, but that’s not necessarily so with tarte tatin. You’ll see an amazingly diverse array, which is fascinating since they were all made with the same few basic ingredients. Most of this is a result of cooking time in the pan before baking.

Some feature firm, barely cooked apples, while others cook the fruit all the way down to a buttery, caramelized jam. The beauty of a recipe that uses just pastry dough, butter, apples and sugar to make the magic, is that no matter how yours comes out you’ll enjoy it. Of course, you’ll want to hedge your bets with some vanilla bean ice cream to be safe. I hope you give this classic French treat a try soon. Enjoy!

3 large apples, quartered

3 tbsp butter

3/4 cup sugar

pie dough for a single crust

View the complete recipe 

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A Banana Bread That’s Okay to Make Early

Banana bread is one of those things people rarely make on purpose. Even though you know you’re not going to eat seven bananas in a week, you buy the big bunch anyway, because, “it’s kind of green.” Now, those last three bananas are almost black and you’re feeling like a bad person.

Then you remember banana bread, and long story short, you realize you’re not a bad person…in fact, you kind of rock. While that’s the most common scenario, this scrumptious banana walnut loaf, spiked with dark chocolate chips, is so good you’ll want to make it well before the bananas get to that condition. Yes, it does come out better with extra ripe bananas, but if you can’t wait (like I couldn’t), you’re still in for a treat.

The chocolate chips are sparse here, but make a big difference in the overall flavor. This is a case where more wouldn’t necessarily make it better. This should be more of a snack, not a super-sweet dessert. When Michele makes this, she actually grates unsweetened baking chocolate instead, and it’s amazingly like that also. And, don’t even get me started on how good this is toasted.

The recipe is adapted from one by Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, from their cookbook, City Cuisine. It’s one of the oldest cookbooks we have, and has tons of great recipes, so check the link if you’re interested. Enjoy!

Banana Bread Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup soft butter

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1/4 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp milk
1 cup chopped walnuts

1/3 cup dark chocolate chips

*Bake in a 9x4 loaf pan at 325 degrees F. for about 1 hour 10 minutes.

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Crispy Pork Cutlets with Creamy Jalapeno Green Onion Gravy – Say Auf Wiedersehen to the 3 Pan Breading Station!

This is what happens when you have two food wishes in your head at the same time. I’ve wanted to do a schnitzel video für immer, but thanks to another recent food wish, I was also craving biscuits with cream gravy. So, I sort of did both, and it worked out well. Very well.

The crispy pork cutlet part of the presentation is very simple and straightforward, but it did afford the opportunity to share my new breading system. With all the time you’ll save, you can hit the gym to burn off this less than light, but extremely satisfying meal.

I’ve never been a big fan of the 3-pan breading system. Once you dredge meat in the prescribed dish of seasoned flour, you have to toss the rest. The whole idea is to simply coat the meat with flour, so why not just sprinkle on already seasoned meat? We use much less flour that way, and with zero waste.

From there, we’re not dipping these in a bowl of beaten eggs. Why do that, when we can just dump one egg on to the same plate and toss to coat. Faster, easier, and one egg is plenty for four cutlets.

As far as the cream gravy goes, the jalapenos and green onion probably seem logical, but some may raise an eyebrow over the diced dill pickle. I’m not sure exactly why I added them, but I just had one of those feelings. Pickles and pork, dill and cream sauce, it felt right, and it tasted even righter.

By the way, you can substitute veal, beef, turkey or chicken for the pork without missing a beat. Anyway, I hope you give this easy pork cutlet, delicious cream gravy, and/or new breading system a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 8 Cutlets (makes four entrée size portions of 2 cutlets each):

2 fully trimmed pork tenderloins, cut into 8 pieces, pounded flat

salt and pepper to taste

flour as needed

2 eggs

about 3 cups panko breadcrumbs

For the gravy:

2 tbsp melted butter

1/3 cup diced dill pickles

1 or 2 jalapeños, small dice

1 bunch green onions, chopped

salt and cayenne to taste

1 1/2 tablespoon flour

1 1/2 cup cold milk, plus more to adjust thickness if needed

View the complete recipe

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How to Blanch Almonds

Turning raw almonds into blanched almonds is easy peasy.

Blanching Almonds

Boil some water (saucepan, kettle, microwave, etc.), enough to cover your almonds.

Place your almonds in a heat proof bowl and pour boiling water over them. Cover with a plate or lid and let it sit for 1 minute only, any longer and your almonds will get soggy.

Drain them in a sieve and run them under cold water and drain again. Do not let the almonds sit in water. Then use your fingers and squeeze them out of their skins. The skins will have separated off the nut and will come off very easily. Be careful of the almonds shoot out of your fingers and onto the kitchen floor.

Dry the almonds on a paper towel then bake them at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 to 10 minutes.

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Potato Pancakes – Delicious But They Go Right to My Thighs

There are few foods I enjoy eating more than a plate of crispy-edged potato pancakes. Unfortunately, Ive been trying to limit my carbs lately (I just cant let go of my dream to become a famous underwear model), so seeing all these amazing Latkes recipes that pop up during Hanukkah is really hard.

Anyway, just because Im not partaking doesnt mean you have to deny yourself this exquisite pleasure. Below youll see my version, which has always received rave reviews. These are garnished with smoked salmon, but my favorite way is to simply enjoy them topped with applesauce and sour cream. This is an older post, so use the link below the video for more info and the ingredients. A happy Hanukkah to all those celebrating, and as always, enjoy!



Click here for the original post and ingredient amounts.

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How to Turn Corned Beef into Pastrami – Abra ca deli!

Great pastrami is not the easiest thing to find west of the Catskills, so a few years ago I embarked on a mission to find a way to turn the common corned beef into something similar. My goal was to come up with a reasonable substitute that could be done in less than a day at home, without a smoker, or any other special equipment. Impossible? No!

As youll see in this video, I came up with a fairly easy method, which really worked well. While this homemade pastrami may not be exactly what you get at those famous New York delis, its tender, very tasty, and piled between a couple slices of rye, makes a great sandwich.

The spice blend is fairly traditional, except for the smoked paprika addition. This gives the beef a nice, very subtle smokiness without having to worry about the considerable time/temperature management required by an actual smoker.

By the way, this is a pretty fiery rub. If you’re scared, you may want to reduce the amount of pepper(s), and/or leave out the cayenne. However, if you want the punch of a spicy, intensely aromatic pastrami, then this recipe will have you smiling, from the first mustard-shmeared bite to the last. I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Editorial Note: No, you are not going crazy. We did do this video post before, but it was filmed for About.com, and played only on their website. That old post is no longer up, and being replaced with this one. Thanks!

Ingredients:

(Note: the dry rub should make more than you need)

3 to 5 pound corned beef brisket (should be the ready-to-cook variety)

1/4 cup fresh, coarsely ground black pepper

2 tbsp ground coriander

2 tbsp smoked paprika

1 tsp dry mustard

1/2 tsp white pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne

2 tbsp garlic oil (mix 2 crushed garlic cloves with vegetable oil, and let sit for one hour)

heavy-duty aluminum foil

View the complete recipe

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Time to Get Out the Tasty Vote!

Thanks to your always inspiring support, we’re happy to announce that Food Wishes is a Tasty Awards finalist in two categories this year! If you’d like to help us seal the deal, please follow this link to vote for us in the “Best Food Travel Series: Web,” and “Best Home Chef in a Series” categories. Voting ends on December 8, 2011. Thank you for the love!

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Tattie scones recipe to mark The Bards 253rd birth anniversary

Scots across the world (both true and honorary, like me) are celebrating Rabbie Burns aka The Bards 253rd birth anniversary today. Ive already ordered a sheeps pluck and will be making my own haggis over the weekend (yay! for the first time!), but today I made something less exotic - tattie scones. Tattie scones or potato pancakes are the Scottish equivalent of Jewish latkes and Norwegian lefses, and one of my fondest breakfast memories from Scotland (those of you who are new to Nami-Nami and are wondering about the Scottish connection:  I spent seven years studying and working in the beautiful capital of Scotland, Edinburgh, returning to my dear homeland in October 2006. That definitely makes me an honorary Scotswoman, I think :)).

Tattie scones are brilliantly easy to make. You can use freshly boiled potatoes,  leftover potato mash or even cold cooked potatoes. Ive tried them all; the ones I made earlier today were from cold boiled potatoes (tatties in Scottish).

Tattie Scones
(Šoti kartulipannkoogid)
Serves two to four

250 g (cooked) potatoes
25 g (about 2 Tbsp) butter
60 g (100 ml or 7 level Tbsp) all-purpose flour
0.5 tsp fine salt
0.25 tsp baking powder

oil or butter for frying

If youre using uncooked potatoes, then peel and cut into chunks, then boil in lightly salted water until done. Drain thoroughly, then mash and mix with rest of the ingredients.
If youre using cooked cold potatoes, then grate them finely, knead in the softened butter and then add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. The dough should be soft and pliable.
Divide into two and form each into a round disk. Working with one dough disc at the time, roll it on a lightly floured surface into a flat pancake, about 5-7 mm thick. Cut into sectors (I usually cut into four large sectors or 6 to 8 smaller ones).
Heat a heavy frying pan to medium-hot, add some oil or butter. Transfer the tattie scones onto the frying pan and gently fry on both sides, until golden brown spots form (thatll take about 3 minutes on both sides, depending on your frying pan and on the thickness of the scones).
Transfer onto a wire rack to cool. Serve with some butter (traditional) or some herb cream cheese (on the photo).

Other favourite Scottish recipes @ Nami-Nami:
Cook-a-leekie soup
Cranachan (a raspberry and whipped cream dessert)
Mince and tatties
Oatcakes

Other foodbloggers writing about tattie scones:
Wendy @ A Wee Bit of Cooking (lovely heart-shaped ones ;))
Emma @ The Laughing Gastronome
Susan @ The Well-Seasoned Cook (LOVE the sprinkling of caraway seeds!)
Valli @ More Than Burnt Toast

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Things to do with Estonian black pudding aka verikäkk

Someone left a comment on my blog this morning:

Just brought back home from Estonia some Verikäkk and still wondering what to do exactly with it :D Aitäh also from Spain for your blog ;)

I thought Ill help Enlil out and share some of the recipe ideas and photos with him :)

Verikäkk is basically a dense black pudding (also known as blood pudding or blood dumpling). Its a mixture of (usually pigs) blood, flour (rye, barley or wheat), fried onions, lard/bacon and seasonings. Here in Estonia its sold widely, and it comes in large dumplings, weighing about 450 grams. Traditionally it was made in late Autumn/for Christmas, but is now available throughout the year. I personally dont think of verikäkk as a Christmas product at all (as opposed to verivorst or black sausages), and happily buy it all year round.

Here are some of the ways of consuming black pudding.

Fried black pudding with sour cream:



1 black pudding
lard, butter or oil for frying
250 g sour cream

Cut into thick (about 1 cm) slices, fry in butter until browned and crisp on both sides. Pour the sour cream on top at the end and heat gently. Serve at once.
Pickled pumpkin salad and lingonberry or cranberry jam/sauce work well as condiments.

Fried black pudding:




1 black pudding
lard, butter or oil for frying

Cut into thick (about 1 cm) slices, fry in butter until browned and crisp on both sides. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and/or lingonberry jam. (If you forgot to buy that in Estonia, then head to your nearest IKEA food isle).

Fried black pudding crisps:



Ive already blogged about this, see recipe here.

MÕNED EESTIKEELSED VIITED:
Ülle tore ood verikäkile
UMA MEKK video verikäki tegemisest

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Changes to the blog

I am changing the direction of this blog a bit. Henceforth is is going to be not only about traditional Icelandic foods, but about what Icelanders like to eat in general.

So far I have mostly written about traditional Icelandic food, most of which is still being cooked and served in Icelandic homes. But the food many of the younger generations like best can also be called Icelandic, even if it includes such obvious new imports as passion fruit, Parmesan cheese or prosciutto. Therefore I am going to change tack and start including more modern Icelandic recipes here. To separate the traditional food from the modern, I have labelled all the traditional recipes as such.

Some of the food I have labelled “traditional” is really rather new, like cocktail sauce, rice pudding and hot chocolate, but I have labelled it as traditional by dint of its either being so lastingly popular that it has been proven not to be a fad and therefore likely to continue lasting, or because it or its use is unique to Iceland. Do keep in mind when searching for recipes that “traditional” may have as little as a 20 year history behind it.

A number of the recipes may look familiar to foreign visitors, which simply indicates that Iceland is not a closed country and we like to try foreign recipes as much as the next nation.

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