Top 6 Gourmet Olive Oils from California
The best gourmet olive oil is as collectible as the best artisan wine. That’s why we have a list of some of California’s best.
Cookbook Review: The Kosher Baker
The Kosher Baker cookbook is a delightful discovery for the home baker, published by Brandeis University Press.
There may be a lot of cookbooks out there that are dairy free, but none showed up on our doorstep right about the time 30% of our tasters declared they were now vegetarian and/or vegan.
Not to mention said book has over 160 recipes from traditional to trendy.
Author Paula Shoyer has divided the book into interesting and practical categories, which are based on how complicated the recipes are.
For example, Section 1 is “Quick and Elegant Desserts: 15 minutes preparation time.” Section 2 is “Two-Step Desserts, 15 to 30 minutes preparation time.” The concept continues throughout the book.
The 160 recipes include cookies, tarts, cakes, breads, cupcakes, cobbler, Key lime pie, and even fruit soups. Essentially any recipe that you may want to make but usually add milk or cheese you can probably find a version here without those ingredients.
We recommend this as a must-have cookbook for any home chef or baker, because you never know when you’re going to go vegetarian, vegan, or even all the way Kosher.
The Kosher Baker: Over 160 Dairy-free Recipes from Traditional to Trendy
By Paula Shoyer
348 pages
Hardcover, $35.00
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Quick Homemade Pickles
One day you may be like us, and just wake up and decide you’re going to pickle something.
You’ve never done it before, but you have seen enough cookbooks in the stores on the topic, and have heard enough experts on food radio to inspire you.
On the other hand, you don’t have weeks to get the project done, and you certainly don’t want food poisoning.
Fortunately, there are quick pickle recipes which bring satisfaction within a few hours. These are what we tried, much to our glee.
Since we didn’t want to invest too much money in this possibly failing endeavor, we used what was already available and in stock. This means essentially some cucumbers, some carrots, and some green peppers. Plus, some ginger and some onions.
The biggest choices we had to make came down to what to store the pickles in, and which flavor of vinegar to use.
For containers we had choices between small mason jars and Tupperware. Being fairly ambivalent, and not knowing which would be better, we used both.
For vinegar we had a choice between regular and apple. Again, we chose both.
We can say immediately that there is a difference between apple and regular vinegar when it comes to pickles. From this experience it appears that the apple vinegar is much more subtle and slightly sweeter. That may sound appealing to some, but if you want that really sour or tart pickle experience then you should probably go with the regular vinegar.
Some recipes also say you should blanche or pre-cook the carrots. We did not. They are as crunchy and hard as regular carrots. Except these are full of pickle flavor.
Some recipes also may try to get you to remove the seeds from the cucumbers for pickling. Not us! That soft interior in the pickle is fantastic and full of flavor.
Some morsels of ginger in the mix do add a little spicy kick — which is fun — and it is not a bad idea to go overboard with this ingredient.
QUICK PICKLE RECIPE
Please keep in mind, this is a recommended recipe, but you can change it based on your own taste preferences
2/3 Cup of Vinegar (white, apple or rice wine)
1/3 cup of water
1 Tbs of Sugar
1 Tbs of Sea Salt or Kosher Salt
Optional spices (literally, a dash): Mint, mustard seed, peppercorn, dill
How many vegetables (carrots, cucumbers, onions, green peppers, etc.)? It’s up to you, but to start you should keep it small, like around 5-8, basically whatever is going to fit in your jar. Slice them or dice them.
- Add ingredients together in bowl and stir. No need to heat up.
- Add vegetables to a mason jar (any size)
- Add liquid until jar almost filled (make sure to cover all the vegetable)
- You may also add 3-4 morsels of sliced ginger or garlic (peeled) to the mix to add some kick.
- Seal jar, and shake it to mix well.
- Place in refrigerator
- Let sit for 3-12 hours, the longer the better.
- Keeps for about 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator, if they last that long.By the way, Bon Appetit Magazine says you can avoid these 7 mistakes and your quick pickles will be awesome.
Shanghai Noodles with Tofu Recipe
Sometimes you want the flavor of your favorite Chinese dish, without having to actually go to the Chinese restaurant. This is true for Shanghai Noodles, one that we often crave. Fortunately, the basic recipe for it is not only easy, it’s also very inexpensive and fast.
Plus, we get to use whatever pasta is lying around at the time, not just noodles.
There are variations that use Cayenne pepper, cornstarch, chicken or beef, peanut oil, sesame oil, cabbage, onions, peas, corn, and rice wine. Try all of those combinations if you wish, but here is a great starting point:
INGREDIENTS
- 3 Tablespoons of Hoisin Sauce
- 5 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce
- 4 Tablespoons of olive oil (or peanut oil)
- 3 Tablespoons of minced garlic
- 3 Teaspoons of ginger powder
- 1 package of firm Tofu (in this case, Morinu Tofu)
- 1 package Penne pasta (or angel hair pasta)
PREPARE
- Prepare pasta according to instructions.
- Add oil to large saute pan or skillet, over a medium fire.
- Add garlic and ginger, and allow to saute (approx. 2-5 minutes)
- Add Hoisin Sauce and Soy Sauce and stir together. Allow to saute for 2 minutes
- Dice tofu, then add into sauce mixture, allow to saute for 3-4 minutes (we also added some peas at the end).
- Drain pasta, then add 4/5th to sauce. Stir well to make sure that all pasta is covered in sauce. Saute for approximately 4 minutes, stirring slowly to continue covering the pasta (but not so quickly as to start breaking up the pasta).
- Serve.
