Saving Sugar

Unless it's around the holidays, I don't cook very often with pantry items like brown sugar. That means that when I do want to use brown sugar in the "off-season" I buy a bag, use about 1/4 cup, and stash it back in the pantry. Sure, I put it in an "airtight container", but no matter the precautions by the time I need that brown sugar again it's hard as a rock.

There are a number of ways to revive your brown sugar, but I think the quickest and easiest is the microwave method. Simply, if you have time for the oven fix (also listed below), you probably have time to go get another bag of brown sugar, so the only deterrent is wastefulness.

Microwave

-Place the brown sugar in a bowl and cover with a moist paper towel.

-Microwave in 30 second increments, checking in between.

- You will want to do this close to use, as the sugar will harden after cooling and losing its moisture again.

Oven

- Put the oven at about 250

- place the sugar in a pan and bake, checking every five minutes.

There are other multi-day methods involving reintroducing moisture (sealing in a baggie with water, storing the sugar with a piece of damp clay pottery), but that...requires planning? Yeah, haven't ever used those methods! I do not recommend chucking the hardened sugar into a food processor/blender and pulsing til usable. It just breaks up the hard sugar without really making it mixing-friendly.

Mushroom Tartlets

Affordable, and rather hearty for an app, these tartlets take about an hour and a half to prep and are a great warm app for a party. Because they are so affordable, I tried them out on the Friday meeting guys (gave me plenty left in the budget for beer).

Mushroom Tartlets

(yield: 16 tartlets)

1 package frozen puff pastry sheets

2 c walnuts

4 yellow onions

6 tbs butter

1 1/2 lbs mushrooms (cremini or porcini), trimmed

chives, cut

kosher salt

freshly ground pepper

blue cheese

glug of evoo

Preheat oven to 350 F.

1) Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. Let cool.

2) Roll pastry sheets to 1/8" thick, and cut into 16 four inch rounds. Place round on a parchment lined baking sheet, then prick them with a fork. Cover with another parchment sheet and place a baking sheet on top. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

(Increase oven temp to 400)

3) Melt the butter in a large skillet (or two - I don't have one big enough for four large sliced onions!), and cook the onions over medium heat for a few minutes. Turn the heat to low and stir, letting the onions cook until very soft (45 minutes). Let cool.

4) Combine the walnuts and onions in a food processor and pulse until they are a rough paste. Do not puree. Season with plenty of salt and pepper.

5) Blanch the mushrooms - 2 minutes should do it - in boiling water, then drain, dry and slice thin.

6) Spread the walnut and onion paste on the rounds and arrange the mushroom slices on top. Brush with a little olive oil and bake for 12-15 minutes. Garnish with chives and a tiny bit of blue cheese and serve!

Classic Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

I think it's because I didn't get to have hot dogs and go to a ball game on July 4th that I've been craving some all-American food. Burgers, chips, that sort of thing, and last night I made a solid burger and this simple salad. The choice of lettuce is up to you, I like to mix a couple different types like Romaine and green leaf. Also, if we weren't on a pinched budget I would have bought more blue cheese and made twice as much dressing - to save some for later!

There are all sorts of make ahead options here - the croutons, the bacon, the dressing - and if you can I suggest you make extra of all: prep twice as much bacon and croutons as you will need and you'll have two salads practically done for the week.

Classic Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

(serves 6-8)

3 c cubed baguette

1/4 c - 1/3 c veg oil

1/2 lb bacon

1 clove garlic

kosher salt

2 tbs mayo

3 tbs buttermilk

1 1/2 tbs red wine vinegar

1 tsp Dijon

4 oz blue cheese

1/2 onion, sliced thin into half moons

1 celery stalk, thinly sliced crosswise

dash of cayenne

few handfuls of lettuce, chopped

1) Toss the bread chunks with a glug or do of veg oil, then pop them under the broiler until golden.

2) Cook the bacon until crisp, then break into about 1" pieces.

3) Mash the clove of garlic with a pinch or two of salt in a bowl (you can use a fork but a muddler gets the job done more easily).

4) Whisk in the mayo, buttermilk, vinegar and mustard. Slowly add the veg oil while whisking then season with salt and the dash of cayenne.

5) Combine the lettuce, onion, celery, bacon and croutons then dress and serve.

Salad for Dessert: Watermelon and Cantaloupe

Salad for dessert, my attempt to come to a BBQ armed with a way out of the chocolate goodness I inevitably want to stuff myself with. A refreshing alternative on a hot day, this rather Italian dish even has the Mackenzie seal of approval (at least, she asked for the recipe and the woman doesn't even like cantaloupe!).

The recipe can easily be scaled up or down, I just scooped as much fruit as I had for the party, then made the dressing to suit! You could chop the fruit if you don't have a melon baller or similar utensil, but I recommend picking one up for a few bucks - the melon balls look like little ice cream scoops! I made it at the last minute, thirty minutes or so before we had to scoot out the door to the event, and still had time to pop it in the freezer for a quick cool down beforehand.

Watermelon and Cantaloupe with Mint and Amaretto

(servings: 8)

2 bunches of mint, leaves picked

1/2 c fresh lemon juice (2-3 lemons)

1/2 tsp amaretto

4 c watermelon balls (1/2 of a large watermelon)

4 c cantaloupe balls (2 cantaloupe)

1/2 c simple syrup (1 c sugar, 1 c water, bring to a simmer and bubble for 5-10 minutes 'til sugar dissolves. Let cool. Save the extra for mojitos!)

1) Blend or process the mint, lemon juice, simple syrup and amaretto until smooth.

2) Combine the watermelon and cantaloupe in a bowl or the cleaned half of the watermelon, then dress. Serve, or chill and serve later.

Friday Meetings: Leek and Gruyère Tart

Just about every Friday I make food for about a dozen guys in what I'm pretty certain is a clever team-building scheme for their company. These guys are the best guinea pigs in town, and I try out all sorts of appetizers, finger foods and generally party-friendly concoctions with them as diligent taste-testers.

I really want to blog about the results and share with you some of the better recipes, but you will have to understand one thing: I pretty much never get a picture of this food! I start shopping and prep in the afternoon on Friday, and even hen I think I'm on track for delivery it always ends up being 3:50 p.m. and I am just scooting out the door. To see what these recipes look like, you will have to try them yourself!

First up, leek and Gruyère tart. The basic recipe is below, and the quantity makes two large tarts which I then slice, pizza style. You can easily halve it for smaller groups, but in my experience when I open a box of frozen puff pastry I may as well use it all! I baked the two tarts simultaneously, but you could easily prep them both then pop one in the oven while the other is being devoured by your guests.

Leek and Gruyère Tart

Handful AP flour

1 box frozen puffy pastry

olive oil

6 leeks, white and pale green halved and thinly sliced crosswise

2 tsp thyme, chopped

1 lb Gruyère, shredded

6 oz bacon

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 475 F

1) Roll out the slightly thawed pastry dough to two large rounds (13"-14") folding the corners to a pretty finish. Place on baking sheets and pop in the frig.

2) In a large skillet, lay out the bacon and cook 'til just done, but not wholly crisped. Remove and break into large pieces.

2) In the same skillet add a few glugs of olive oil if there isn't much bacon fat (or if you prefer to pour off the bacon fat, do that and add olive oil). Add the leeks, thyme and season generously with salt and pepper. Stir occasionally, letting the leeks soften (5 minutes).

3) Remove the pastry from the frig and sprinkle on the cheese. Top with the leeks and bacon then sprinkle on some salt and pepper.

4) Bake until golden, about 20-30 minutes. Slice and serve!

Urban Spoon

I don't get to use the Urban Spoon app much in Moscow. With a handful of restaurants in a given category, most of them Mexican, there just isn't a whole lot of culinary depth to be plumbed. On our recent trip to Annapolis, D.C. and Baltimore, respectively, I got to try some practical applications.

Thing is, I think I am Urban Spoon incompatible. Yes, it pulls up a bevy of nearby restaurants; yes, you can sort by neighborhood, cuisine, and price; and yes, you can read reviews. In a metropolitan area there are too many restaurants to easily sort through, too many dated reviews, and it is too hard to find a restaurant when you don't have specific neighborhood or cuisine hankerings - you know, when you just want something good.

We were booking for parties of six, typically, and each meal needed to be something special. If I were a local and just looking for a random eatery decision in a pinch, Urban Spoon might be a fun magic eight ball approach to the matter, even if I had been on slightly more familiar ground, like Seattle; but the reality is that when traveling in an unfamiliar city and booking meals for myself, family and friends I am way too particular for the level of variables Urban Spoon dishes up.

On the upside, Urban Spoon made it dead easy for me to make multiple reservations - and then cancel them.

Baltimore: Chameleon Cafe

On what we thought was the last night of our stay (that story is for a blog on travel disasters!), we went out with Rob, Bonnie, and the Kadan elders to Baltimore's Chameleon Cafe. After a few culinary near misses trying to find a dinner spot with Urban Spoon (a generally great app, it served up a dose of fail this time around) I finally got my MacBook on some WiFi and searched for Baltimore+best+chef. The name that came up most often was Jeff Smith, which settled things for us, off to Chameleon.

The specials were actually, well, special. I started with their pork rillettes, artfully prepared in the French tradition and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Think creamy pâté, the process purportedly takes weeks when done just right. I definitely appreciated the effort, it was fantastic.

Chameleon Cafe knows how to do a menu right - brief and focused. Their regular menu changes seasonally, and if the online version is to be trusted the handful of appetizers and seven or so entrees have already changed since our visit two weeks ago. We took a cue from the rillettes and Adam ordered the house made charcuterie for his starter. The staff were incredibly enthusiastic about the food, and rightly so. The sausage, pâté and terrine were all delicious. I had the leek wrapped confit of halibut for my main, which was wonderful (and yes, I have a halibut problem).

We have a bit of a travel policy for food that stipulates we only get one "repeat restaurant" each trip. There will be a lot of votes going to the Chameleon Cafe!

(photo courtesy of Rob Sentz, 2009)