Everything Is Under Control
Page 8
Put the lemon, rosemary, garlic, and olive oil in a mortar. Bash with the pestle until you start to smell the rosemary and the garlic—about 20 seconds. Alternatively, you can do this by placing the marinade in a closed Ziploc bag and whacking it with the bottom of a metal bowl.
Pour the marinade over the chops, flipping them a few times until they are all coated. Let them sit for 45 minutes at room temperature. Or marinate overnight in the fridge. Just make sure to bring them to room temperature before cooking.
Crank the heat to high under a large heavy-bottomed pan (I use cast iron). Turn on your fan. Open your windows. Add the vegetable oil. Once the oil is shimmering, toss a few pieces of the garlic, lemon, and rosemary from the marinade into the pan (you won’t eat them because they will burn, but they add a nice perfume to the chops). Using tongs or your hands, place the thin, fatty side of each chop into the pan. I usually lean them together (almost like reassembling the rack) just until some of the super fatty parts crisp up (about 2 minutes). Then cook for 2 minutes on each of the flat sides. The heat is high, so they will cook very quickly. You can cut into one to get the full picture. Make sure they’re pink, with the rawness just disappearing from the center. Remember they will continue cooking once removed from the heat. You can always throw them back in the pan for a minute. If you want to be more precise, use an instant-read thermometer. Rare: 115° to 120°F. Medium-rare: 120° to 125°F. Medium: 130° to 135°F. Remove the chops from the pan and top with a squeeze of lemon and chopped parsley. Let them rest for 5 minutes before eating. Serve with a bowl of pesto.
HAZELNUT BUTTER COOKIES
makes 20 to 22 cookies
These are a variation on the Mexican, Russian, Swedish, or Italian tea or wedding cake: a nut cookie, dredged or sprinkled, when just out of the oven, in powdered sugar, resulting in a sweet, gooey, and lickable exterior layer.
If you can, buy unsalted pre-roasted hazelnuts. They usually have some of the skins still on, which add flavor. Or follow the instructions below to roast them yourself.
3 cups whole hazelnuts, pre-roasted, or see directions below
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup white sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
If you are toasting the hazelnuts, spread them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet and place them in the preheated oven. Roast until they’re just starting to darken and smell nutty (about 10 minutes). Be careful. They will burn quickly. Remove from the oven and pour the hot nuts into a dish towel. Gather the four corners together, creating a tight package. Twist the top closed. Using your hands, press the hazelnuts into each other for about 5 minutes to remove some of the skins. Leaving most of the skins behind on the dish towel, scoop up the hazelnuts with your hands and place them in the food processor. Pulverize at full speed for 20 seconds until the pieces are about the size of peppercorns. Scoop out 1½ cups of the nuts and set aside for rolling the cookies later. Continue pulverizing until the rest of the nuts are creamy and smooth. Be patient, especially if your blade is a bit dull. It can take anywhere from 2 to 4 minutes.
Sift or whisk together the flour and salt. Set aside.
Place the butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and hazelnut butter in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat at medium speed with the paddle attachment for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides. Crank up to high speed and beat for another 30 seconds until fully combined with no traces of butter. Add the egg. Beat on medium speed for 10 seconds. Scrape down the sides. Add the vanilla. Beat on medium for 10 seconds. Scrape down the sides. Add the flour mixture in three batches on low speed for 10 seconds, scraping down the sides between each addition. The dough is done when there are no traces of flour left. Don’t overmix. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
Line two baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper. Spread out the reserved chopped hazelnuts on a dinner plate. Scoop out 1½-ounce balls of the chilled dough (or just eyeball about the size of a golf ball). Roll the cookies in the nuts, pressing a bit to get the pieces to stick, and place on the baking sheets. The cookies only spread a little bit, so it’s fine to have them about 2 inches apart. Bake them for 15 to 18 minutes. They will just start to brown on the outside and still be quite soft inside.
Using a sifter or a fine strainer, generously sift the powdered sugar over the hot cookies. The cookies must be warm when you do this or the sugar won’t stick.
Cool the cookies completely on the baking sheets. Sift some more powdered sugar over the tops before serving. They stay fresh at room temperature for up to 4 days. Or you can freeze them for up to 6 months. To bake from frozen, just turn down the oven temperature to 325°F and allow a little extra time for baking. Refresh the cookies with powdered sugar before serving.
GRANDMA’S FUDGY ICEBOX BROWNIES
makes about 40 small servings
These are adapted from a recipe my grandmother always made. The main difference is she served them right out of the oven, while I undercook them and store them in the freezer so anytime you need some brownies, they are there for you. They can be served in numerous ways—in elegant slender slices with afternoon tea, as a thick square under a scoop of ice cream for a birthday party, as the base for a baked Alaska. You can leave out both the walnuts and the chocolate chips; the cinnamon will taste more pronounced without them.
1 cup walnut halves
1½ cups unsalted butter (plus a bit more for greasing the pan; I often use the remainder on the butter paper), cubed
1½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon kosher salt
9 ounces unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
3 large eggs
2¼ cups white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
One 12-ounce bag (2 cups) of bittersweet chocolate chips
Powdered sugar, for serving
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Toast the walnuts on a cookie sheet until golden brown (8 to 10 minutes). Set aside to cool.
Butter and flour an 8-by-8-inch metal or glass cake pan.
Sift the flour, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
Put the butter and chocolate in a double boiler over medium-high heat (or in a heatproof bowl placed on top of a pot of boiling water; make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water). When the butter and chocolate are almost melted (about 8 to 10 minutes), remove from the heat, and set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, and vanilla until the mixture is thick and creamy and has lightened in color—around 4 minutes by hand or 2 minutes in a stand mixer on high with a whisk attachment.
Stir the cooled butter and chocolate mixture until smooth and then slowly whisk it into the egg mixture until combined. Switch to a wooden spoon or plastic spatula. Fold in the flour mixture until there are just a few remaining pockets of flour. Fold in the walnuts and chocolate chips.
Pour the batter into the cake pan. Bake for 30 minutes. It will still be jiggly at the center. Cool completely in the pan for 3 hours. Cover with wax paper or plastic wrap and freeze in the pan, at least 6 hours or overnight.
Once frozen solid, remove from the freezer. Set the pan over a gas flame or electric cooktop, sliding it continuously for about 15 seconds (or pop in a hot oven for 1 minute). Use a paring knife to separate the brownie from the sides of the pan. Carefully invert the brick of brownies out onto a cutting board. Using a very large and sharp knife, cut the square into four 2-inch-thick rectangles. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and store in the freezer. Pull out a brick and slice off a few brownies as needed. Serve right away, or let them soften up a bit at room temperature (about 15 minutes), and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Keep any leftover thawed brownies in an airtight container at room temperature or
in the fridge for a few days.
VANILLA BEAN CUSTARD ICE CREAM
makes one generous pint
This custard-based ice cream is fabulous in between two chocolate chip cookies, on a warm cobbler, or drizzled with a dark and salty caramel sauce. But it also stands alone. Make sure to treat yourself to a large spoonful of the cooked custard before it cools.
This recipe is also a solid base for almost any ice cream you want to make. Stir ½ cup Crème Fraîche (here) into the custard right before you churn it. Or use half brown sugar and half white. Or, once it’s churned, right before freezing, quickly stir in chocolate shavings, cookie dough, or streaks of fruit purée. Play.
I don’t use anything like cream cheese or corn syrup to prevent the ice cream from getting icy in the freezer. So it’s best eaten a few hours after it’s made. Just enough time to firm up. Not enough time to get icy.
Warning: Most ice cream machines require that you freeze the insert for 24 hours before churning.
6 egg yolks
⅔ cup white sugar, divided in half
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1½ cups half-and-half
1 vanilla bean
1½ cups heavy cream
To prepare an ice-water bath: Place a fine strainer over a medium-size bowl. Set the bottom of the medium-size bowl inside a larger bowl. Add a few handfuls of ice cubes to the larger bowl. You will add the water later.
In another medium bowl, whisk the yolks with half the sugar (⅓ cup) and salt until blended. Whisk in the half-and-half.
With a sharp paring knife, on a clean cutting board or a piece of parchment, cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. With the dull side of the knife, carefully scrape out the seeds.
In a medium-size heavy-bottomed saucepan (with an available lid), combine the heavy cream, the vanilla bean pods and seeds, and the remaining ⅓ cup sugar. Whisking over high heat, bring to just under a boil, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, then immediately turn off the heat, cover, and let steep for 5 minutes.
Slowly pour the vanilla cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. This tempers the eggs, allowing them to adjust to the change in temperature without getting stressed out and turning into scrambled eggs. If there are extra people in the kitchen, have them help you out.
Pour the custard base back into the saucepan over medium-low heat and start stirring with a wooden spoon. Don’t walk away. Keep stirring. You don’t want the custard to boil or bubble at all.
Watch and feel for the shift in viscosity. As you stir, the thin custard will slap against the sides of the saucepan like waves against the sides of a boat. As the custard thickens, the gliding spoon will cause it to rise up and settle back down without much of a splash. This takes anywhere from 4 to 6 minutes. But don’t time it. Just watch. To confirm that it’s done, do the drag-your-finger-across-the-back-of-the-wooden-spoon test. It’s ready when your finger leaves a lovely lingering trail. Or if you prefer to use an instant-read thermometer, it’s ready when the custard registers about 170°F.
Remove from the heat and pour the custard through the strainer into the medium-size bowl that’s resting in the ice. Add enough water to the larger bowl with the ice so that the level of the water is almost to the level of the custard. If the inner bowl starts to float, it can get tippy. I’ve lost custard into the ice bath. So go slowly.
Leave the medium bowl in the ice bath until the custard is cool. Stir every 10 minutes or so. Refrigerate the custard for several hours or overnight.
Before churning, set a pint-size container in the freezer to chill. Churn the custard in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s directions. It’s done when the ice cream looks like it’s moving in one solid piece along with the paddle. You can also stop the machine and swipe the ice cream with your finger. If it stays put, it’s done. If it’s soft and caves in on itself, it needs more time. This usually takes about 20 to 25 minutes in my Cuisinart ice cream maker. Transfer the custard to the chilled container, cover, and freeze for a few hours before serving. Lick the paddle.
STRAWBERRY BALSAMIC TART
serves 6 to 8
I don’t like to write recipes that require hard-to-find ingredients, but I am going to make an exception with this tart. Only make this if you can find tiny strawberries with lots of flavor. Sometimes these little baby strawberries can be found in the spring at a farmers’ market. Another option is the variety called wild, Alpine, or fraises des bois.
If you have a pizza stone or a baking steel, preheat it while you assemble the tart. This tart cooks at high heat and fast, and the stone helps keep the base of the tart nice and crisp. Otherwise, a sheet pan works fine.
Warning: If you make this tart with big and airy strawberries, there will be too much liquid and all will be a mess. So don’t do it!
1 recipe Tart Dough (here) or 1 (14-ounce) sheet puff pastry
3 cups small strawberries
1 tablespoon balsamic reduction, homemade (here) or storebought (you want it syrupy, not watery)
1 tablespoon white sugar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon cream or half-and-half, for the crust
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar, for the crust
Take your tart dough out of the fridge 15 to 20 minutes ahead of time (leave out 35 to 40 minutes if it’s frozen).
While the tart dough is softening, stem the strawberries and place them in a bowl. Toss them with the balsamic reduction, sugar, and salt. Leave them for 15 to 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.
Place a pizza stone or sheet pan in the oven and preheat to 400° F.
On a piece of parchment, roll out your tart dough into approximately a 13-by-4-inch rectangle, about ¼ inch thick.
Strain the berries and save the juice for later. Spread the berries down the center of the length of dough, leaving an inch clear all around the edges. Fold the long edges 1 inch into the center. The outer inch of berries will then be tucked under the border. Do the same with the short edges. Pinch the corners closed. Don’t be perfect about this; it should look funky. The priority is to seal the corners up so the juice is less likely to leak when the tart is cooking.
With a pastry brush, paintbrush, or a spoon, paint any exposed dough with the cream or half-and-half. Sprinkle the dough with the turbinado sugar.
Take your hot pizza stone or sheet pan out of the oven. Carefully slide the parchment with the tart onto the stone or pan. Bake until the crust is golden brown and the berries are soft and bubbling, about 25 to 30 minutes. A good trick is to use a spatula to try to lift up the tart. If it lifts up in one piece, it’s done. If it sags, it needs a few more minutes. It might leak as it cooks. Just wipe up drips with a paper towel before they burn.
Reduce reserved juices until syrupy. This will take about a minute so don’t walk away. Paint the cooked strawberries with the syrup using a pastry brush or the back of a spoon.
Serve right away with crème fraîche or ice cream. It’s also good cold for breakfast.
COTTAGE CHEESE PANCAKES
makes around thirty-two 3½-inch pancakes
My parents made a version of these protein pancakes on the weekends when I was little. They got the recipe from one of our babysitters. I call them the “empty out the tubs” pancakes because I often add any creamy dairy that needs to be used up: yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, Crème Fraîche (here), quark, or ricotta. They are thin, delicate, and crêpe-like. At the same time they are quite filling. The batter is very runny, so it’s essential that you pour it slowly onto the griddle from a pitcher.
We eat them with warm maple syrup, Nutella, or powdered sugar and lemon.
6 large eggs
1 cup cottage cheese
1 cup whole-milk yogurt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Butter for grillin
g and serving (I like salted)
Place all ingredients except the butter in a blender. Blend at high speed for 20 seconds. Scrape down the sides. Blend for 10 more seconds. Pour into a pitcher. Use right away or cover and place in the fridge overnight. After a few days in the refrigerator, the batter might start to look gray or green. Don’t worry. Just mix it thoroughly right before cooking and all will be well.
Crank a griddle or nonstick pan to medium-high heat. Once hot, add some butter (a few teaspoons, or just put the end of a firm stick straight down onto the grill and rub it all around). Once the butter has melted (watch that it doesn’t burn), carefully pour the batter onto the griddle to form pancakes of the desired size (the batter will spatter a bit). Flip each pancake when bubbles form on the top, and the bottom is a dark caramel color (check with a spatula). They cook very fast (20 to 30 seconds per side). You’ll need to keep regulating the heat between batches. Add a little more butter if needed. It’s best to eat them right away. They don’t hold up for long, so don’t keep them warm in the oven.
Tell your partner, friend, therapist, doula, midwife, or doctor if you have feelings of depression or anxiety during breastfeeding. Ask for help if you have intrusive thoughts about harming yourself or others. Or go to the websites below. There is a lot of support out there.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: https://www.samhsa.gov (click “Find Treatment”)
La Leche League International: https://www.llli.org
Postpartum Progress: https://postpartumprogress.com
Postpartum Support International: https://www.postpartum.net
Doulas of North America International: https://www.dona.org
You can e-mail me here with any questions: EverythingIsUnderControl2020@gmail.com
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to: