small things...

#14–Take A cooking Class

I really like cooking.  I like the chopping part, the mixing part, the cooking it part and especially the eating it part.  It’s good stuff and good times. the end.

But wait there’s more!

When I put ‘take a cooking class’ on my list for this year it was not because I don’t know how to cook, it’s because I wanted to learn to cook some new things well.  Initially I thought I’d end up combining my “don’t freak out about cooking a chicken” goal with this one, but the chicken still eludes me (or I’m eluding the chicken?  But that would mean the chicken is coming after me…? *shudder*)

Last time I wandered by the new Sur La Table I noticed they have cooking classes.  On a whim I looked up what they were offering and found a Tapas and Paella class for the following Saturday.  I love tapas and I love me some paella – yay Spain!  I texted my friend Leah who also loves cooking and eating (and who is also up for just about anything) and she was game to join me. 

A piece of advice: Sur La Table will give you a nice coffee, water with lemon and/or they’ll make you bubble water.  So you really don’t need to wait all day in line for the Starbucks across the walkway.  ALSO – bring wine with you!  You can totally bring wine and drink it while you cook.  Bring two bottles, dude.

After everyone arrived (read: we were the last to arrive. see Starbucks above) the chef gave us a bit of an introduction to himself and what we’d be doing that day in class.

He showed us how he wanted the herbs and veggies cut for the Sofrito (the flavor base) and then divvied them up among us.  I learned a new way to dice onions – which is good because until now I’ve been a completely unreliable dicer.  No two alike.  But look at this:

I learned!  I pitched in with the garlic smashing and dicing, the herb prep and chopping asparagus

We made one Tapas dish – Sautéed Shrimp with Pimenton and Sherry.  Our class had split up into two groups and I ended up sautéing the shrimp for our group.  Another good thing, because shrimp is also something I have hang-ups about cooking, because I don’t know when it’s done and I really WANT it to be totally done, but usually I end up overcooking it and it’s tough. boo.  Our chef told us that after you flip the shrimp once (and only once) you are looking to see the shrimp curl up tightly and the center of the curl to be no longer greyish, but white.  I added the spices and sherry and our little dish ended up looking like this

It was good!  If I was a better food photographer I would have thought to clean off the plate before taking this photo.  ah well. 

Next up the paella.  Another of our team stepped up to man the paella pan – which apparently is required for making paella.  As in, if you didn’t use the paella pan what you made was not paella.  slowly-lowers-her-raised-hand-when-asked-who’s-made-paella-before.

oooh, fire!  Watch out for a little extra liquid when you add in the artichoke hearts!

We also prepared a little Majorcan Flatbread with caramelized onion, pine nuts and raisins to have with our paella.  A really easy little bread with incredible flavor

Leah getting our bread ready

We had a little break while the paella finished cooking. I spent too much money buying kitchen tools.  Thankfully they didn’t have an ice cream maker because do I really need one?

And then it was time to feast

*drool*

moral of the story: paella is really easy to make and fun to make with friends.  Cooking classes are fun and you should bring wine!

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Sundays in the Kitchen

I spent all day at home on Sunday as I’m slowly trying to put back together the room I had painted last week (pics to come).  I’m still missing a few integral pieces to that room but I’ll show off the finished project once it’s done!

So as I was busy climbing up and down ladders all day I decided an easy and tasty dinner was in order.  I bought my first tiny bunch of basil at the indoor farmers market this weekend.  They grew in a greenhouse and smelled like summer.

With a little spinach, pine nuts, parmesan and olive oil the basil made a tasty little pesto

With a few mushrooms, Italian sausage, fresh mozzarella and my favorite recipe for pizza dough – this baby was born

This pizza crust is light and chewy – just how I likes it.  Want the recipe?

Pizza dough  - Barefoot Contessa

this is the full recipe.  I always halve it when I make my dough.  If you halve it make sure you’re halving all of the measurements called for in the steps.

• For the pizza
• 1 1/4 cups warm water (100 to 110 degrees)
• 2 packages dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Good olive oil
• 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
• Kosher salt

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. 

For the dough, combine the water, yeast, honey, and 3 tablespoons olive oil in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook (I don’t have this and just use my Cuisinart). When the yeast is dissolved, add 3 cups of the flour, then 2 teaspoons salt, and mix on medium-low speed. While mixing, add up to 1 more cup of flour, or just enough to make a soft dough. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until smooth, sprinkling it with the flour as necessary to keep it from sticking to the bowl. When the dough is ready, turn it out onto a floured board and knead it by hand a dozen times. It should be smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl and turn it to cover it lightly with oil. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Dump the dough onto a board and divide it into 6 equal pieces. Place them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and cover them with a damp towel. Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes. Use immediately, or refrigerate for up to 4 hours.

Press and stretch each ball into an 8-inch circle and place 2 circles on each parchment-lined sheet pan. (If you've chilled the dough, take it out of the refrigerator approximately 30 minutes ahead to let it come to room temperature.)

Top it with your faves and bake for about 10-15 minutes. eat it.

 

It’s so much better than store-bought frozen pizza.  But hey, if you like a frozen pizza, just wrap this sucker up and toss it in the freezer.  what do i care?

The Challenge is BACK!

Ah, a year and a half later and it feels so good! 

(Come visit my other blog for more info!)

Why do a challenge now, you may ask, after all this time?  Well a few reasons:

1. We are heading into the best time of year for eating locally here in the midwest and I’m feeling inspired again by all the farmers and farm fresh food around
2. I was listening to a show on the radio about running out of oil and alternative fuel sources and I started thinking about how hard it will be to get fresh food (some time in the future) when shipping food becomes prohibitive.  What a great time to learn about all your local sources!  Or grow your own!!
3. In the last year and a half i’ve been asked more than a handful of times ‘when are you going to do that challenge again?’
4. Most importantly:  I miss all of you and your good food and your awesome photos of good food and of your cute selves.

So let’s get it going again.

Official start date: August 15th 

It will run for 4 weeks and the basics are the same:

1. Prepare one meal per week made up COMPLETELY from local ingredients
2. At the end of that week send in a photo and little write up of your meal including where the food came from and any other little tidbits you’d like to share

There is no prize for this challenge – just the enjoyment of good food shared with others. 

Here are the rest of the rules

What do you say?  Want in?

To official sign up send me an email (erinmloughlin@gmail.com) with your name and location (and if you have a blog, send the link).

 

yay! 

happy eating!!

Erin

Friday night’s alright

Redecorating a bit here at Small Things.  Hope you like the new banner image!

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Had dinner last night with a good friend for a belated celebration of her birthday.  We went to Nightwood Restaurant in the Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago.  It’s a cozy, chic place with leather chairs, great drinks and a hip and attractive staff.  I drove there directly after work and quickly lamented the frazzled/counselor look I was (not) rocking as soon as the hostess asked me if she could take my coat.  I relented, gave up the coat, smoothed back my loosening ponytail and took my seat to wait for the guest of honor. 

Chicago was in the middle of a little lake-effect snow fall and my friend was running late.  At the server’s recommendation I ordered the Warsteiner lager and glanced at the menu.  Nightwood writes their menu by hand each day and focuses on local meats and veggies.  This is from their website and pretty close to our menu from last night:

We split the mixed greens salad which was fresh and crisp with the most amazing homemade croutons.  they were buttery and crunchy and for some reason kept reminding me of a summer carnival (??) I’m going to have to go back and think a little harder about that one.  For my entree I ordered the Spit-roasted half-chicken.  It was just the right amount of food and left me feeling perfectly satisfied.

But we had dessert anyways.

I mean, they had bread pudding, for pete’s sake.  Salted-caramel bread pudding. You try to pass that up.  and we shared it by the way, so there.

Aside from being one of the best meals I’ve had out in a lonnngggg time, it was just a good night in general.  It’s been such a long time since I’ve gone out on a Friday night after work.  I’d forgotten what a fun, kinetic energy the world has going on right after work on a Friday night.

I’m thinking I’d like a few more Friday night’s out after work. Who’s in?

math skillz

I am busy this morning making this recipe for dinner for the next few nights:

If you look closely you’ll notice this recipe makes 12 servings.  Holy what? What’s a single girl to do in times like this?  I’ve made the mistake many, many times before of cooking recipes as is and ending up with so much food that I would want to punch brussel in the sprouts before eating another.

It’s all about division, ladies and gentlemen.  And for this one I figured 4 servings would be cool. So I third-ed the recipe.  Only that kind of math is completely confusing.  Why didn’t I just halve it or quarter the recipe??  who knows…I want what I want.

If you look closely again you’ll notice that the recipe counts for 2 lbs of butternut squash (yum).  Below that it called for 1.5 lbs of brussel sprouts (unharmed as of yet).  I don’t own a kitchen scale.  Do people really own kitchen scales?  What I did have was a 1lb bag of brussel sprouts and some counting skills.

one for the recipe, one for the fridge, one for the recipe, one for the fridge…and so on.  I figured that would be close to 1/2 a lb.  Then I minused 2 from the recipe pile to equal 1/3.  That’s probably not accurate….but what about this method is, fool!?

Also, I swapped tofu for chicken because I’m having chicken in my salads for lunch this week and I don’t like to eat meat 2x a day.  Vegetarians of the world – can you just swap tofu for chicken like that?  Without repercussions?  I’ll let you know.

 

annnnnnnndddddddddd….you’re welcome.

curry and squash,

Erin

Eat you up

The weekend before Thanksgiving marked the final farmers market in Evanston until next spring.  It’s typically held indoors about 3 weeks following the last outdoor farmers market.  People STOCK UP at this market.  All the root veggies, meat, garlic, squash and greens they can get their hands on and reasonably stock in their homes.  I buy more than I can eat in a week, but not exactly enough to feed me all winter.  I went in with no plan this year and just bought what looked good.

Like these two little cuties

Sugar pumpkins are the sweet, tender and fleshy little sister of the big and mostly seedy brothers we carve up every halloween.

Weird insight into my brain: When I was in college I used to make up songs at random, and sometimes at request.  The following is a little tune I created one afternoon while gazing lovingly at a small pumpkin plant growing in our yard:

Youuuu will be a pumpkin

when Youuuuu grow up!

We’re gonna carve you up, we’re gonna scoop you out

we’re gonna stick an candle in your mouth.

the end.

This morning I turned these little sugar pumpkins into this

Chocolate chip pumpkin bread. holy yum.

I roasted the pumpkins and made my own puree for the recipe which can be found here.  I won’t eat all of this and will freeze about half.  And it will be just as good when I defrost it.  I’m actually thinking if I play my cards right the leftovers might make a slap-your-face bread pudding……nomnomnom.

xoxo

erin

Breakfast of a soon-to-be-champion

So I’m totally on the oatmeal bandwagon, I swear I am.  I know it’s benefits, I even like how it tastes.  BUT I’m soooo not adept at cooking the little suckers.  Mine, inevitably come out chewy and dry and paste-like and blech.  So a while back (before I gave up on oatmeal for a bit) I learned about overnight soaked oats.  Softens the oats up to shorten the cooking time.  and promises better tasting/textured oatmeal…this is what I was told anyways…I still can’t quite get it.  And plus, I think I might just hate a hot cereal.

The SOAKING however, life-changing.

Recently I tried a little experiment of my own.  Before hoping in the shower I mixed 1/3 c grapenuts, 1/3 cup rolled oats, 1tbsp ground flax and 1 tbsp grated coconut

topped it with soymilk, a banana and frozen blueberries and let it sit while I jumped in the shower.

When I’m dried and bath-robed the my perfectly softened oats/grape nuts are ready.  Perfect texture and the good kind of chewy.  I *heart* this breakfast.  Who needs cooked oats??

Now, on to conquer the world.