November 2008 – Page 2 – From My Table…to Yours

Magazine Review: “Bon Appetit” and Shaved Brussels Sprouts

This is the fourth installment of my series of Thanksgiving magazine reviews. You can see my evaluative criteria here. I have been holding off on looking at one of the most popular food magazines of all, BON APPETIT, until now. Although I have already confessed that Fine Cooking is my favorite subscription, Bon Appetit is my longest running. Besides my own collection, dating back to my first cooking experiences in 1998, I also have access to my mother’s Bon Appetits – the oldest of which is from 1980 or so. Confession time: when I was in middle school, I would sneak into the closet where mom kept her magazines filed by title and date, and would cut out all of the Absolut Vodka ads. She only noticed this, and punished me, when she caught me in the act one day – because, like me, her collection kept growing and the motivation to go back to “the archives” was low.

I digress. My point is that I have a long relationship with Bon Appetit, and although I absolutely despise the redesign they recently introduced, the magazine has treated me well for many years – especially on Thanksgiving. You may already have sensed that my family holidays are pretty traditional, and the menu fairly fixed. However, each year I bring my Bon Appetit Thanksgiving issue up to the family house and make one supplementary fancy dish – once it was cheddar and sage mashed potatoes and one year we even mixed it up with a special turkey. Below, I decide whether 2008 matches up.

194 pages total : 98 pages of ads (51%) !!
65 Recipes (though this would be much higher if I included the many recipes that were offered on advertising pages, such as “Land o Lakes TM Blue Ribbon Sugar Cookies” or “Ghirardelli TM Ultimate Double Chocolate Cookies”)
News-stand price: $4.99
Price per recipe: $0.08
# of ads pretending to be articles: 14. What I found even more disturbing, however, was the ubiquity of especially long, multi-page advertisement spreads – like 4 pages each for Dacor appliances and Circulon pans.
Recipe Index? One index at the end of the magazine lists the recipes by specific types (Potatoes, Sauces, Breakfast Dishes, etc) and within those sometimes breaks the list down further (under Main Courses: fish/seafood, poultry, meats, vegetarian). Recipes are also labeled with nutritional advice (Low Calorie, Low fat, High fiber). Somewhat hard to follow due to small and dense text.

(c) Bon Appetit, photo by Tim Morris — (c) Bon Appetit, Photo by Tim Morris

Photos: Generally, I find BA to have great food photography. That being said, I alternated between annoyance and amusement when flipping through the shots in the Thanksgiving section of this issue. There were way too many full-page location shots of the sides of barns and insides of Shaker classrooms (there is a Heritage theme here – and we are not to forget it!!), taking up space where we should be looking at the food. Also – and I don’t know if I’m crazy or if anyone else was wigged out by this – there were pictures of platters set on the very edge of tables, seconds away from tipping over (see above), and other shots of pies sitting on the floor or on a side table parked directly in front of a chest of drawers obviously meant for a bedroom. The artificiality of these set-ups made me laugh out loud. I did like the fact that in the “Purely Pumpkin” section, they provided pictures of both the whole finished desserts and the individual portions, and the article on make-ahead side dishes was also well-illustrated.

Best Sections:
• R.S.V.P. – this section features readers’ requests for the recipes of their favorite restaurant dishes. Aside from the fact that I have thrice submitted a request and never been answered, I love this section.
• Fast, Easy, Fresh – pretty self-explanatory here: quick recipes for the weeknight. This section was so popular that many past entries have been compiled into a cookbook.
• Cooking Life – Molly Wizenberg, of Orangette fame, has her own section written in that same great voice from her blog (obviously) and features her own fun and beautiful photography.
• At the Market – Each month a different seasonal ingredient is highlighted, and several different ways to use it are provided. This month – Pomegranate!

Best Features:
• Recipes with obscure ingredients provide a suggestion for where to buy them.
• All of the Thanksgiving recipes are grouped together at the end of the magazine where, like Gourmet, the pictures are kept separate from the Recipe section. Photos are labeled so you can immediately go to the page for the recipe of the dish that caught your eye.

Thanksgiving at the Bon Appetit house:
The Thanksgiving section here is divided into five different “stories,” but all maintain the singular theme of a Heritage holiday, meaning authentic ingredients native (or at least traditional) to America. The first is called “Menu” and as far as I can tell it is meant to be the basic traditional meal while the following sections are optional swap-ins. It includes such recipes as Dungeness Crab and Heirloom Bean Brandade; Wild Rice with butternut, squash, leeks and corn; and Garnet Yams with Blis Maple Syrup and Maple-Sugar Streusel. Next up is “The Turkey” providing an alternative to the previous article’s turkey (Roast Heritage Turkey with Bacon-Herb Butter and Cider Gravy) and suggesting three variations of Salted Roast Turkey. Following the Turkeys is “One Recipe Four Ways” which outlines four flavors of stuffing and gives four separate recipes (rather than one master recipe which can be modified: slightly disappointing). After stuffing comes the other side dishes in “Make Ahead Makes it Easy” with do-ahead recipes like “Cranberry Relish with Grapefruit and Mint”, “Creamy Corn and Chestnut Pudding” and “Green Beans with Pickled-Onion Relish.” Finally, an exclusively pumpkin finale called “Purely Pumpkin” including “Pumpkin Butterscotch Pie”, “Pumpkin Praline Trifle” and “Pumpkin Ice Cream with Toffee Sauce.” Ruling? I’m confused.

Particularly Unappetizing:
• Cumin-Scented Eggplant with Pomegranate and Cilantro

I’m looking forward to cooking:
• Buttermilk Biscuits with Green Onions, Black Pepper, and Sea Salt
• Chaussons aux Pommes
• Bacon, Apple, and Fennel Stuffing
• *Shaved Brussels Sprouts with Currants and Chestnuts
• Scalloped Yukon Gold and Sweet Potato Gratin with Fresh Herbs

I would like to explain why I am so confused. The setup of the Thanksgiving section is heavy-handed, what with the puritain garb on the models, the Shaker furniture, and the old-fashioned barns and schoolroom blackboard. This might be actually very interesting and beautiful if they had stuck with the “heritage” theme of authentic local New England foods the pilgrims might have served if they had been equipped with convection ovens and 6-burner stovetops. However, mixed in with the corn-, cider- and maple-based dishes are recipes that stick out like so many sore Shaker thumbs: Green Goddess Dip (“created in the 1920s at San Francisco’s Palace Hotel”); Cranberry Relish with Grapefruit and Mint; Salted Roast Turkey with Chipotle Glaze; and Potato, Zucchini, and Tomato Gratin (“Thanksgiving goes Provencal”). Why put all the recipes together and try to tie them all to a theme which simply cannot cover all of them? Nevertheless, it says a lot that I couldn’t find more than one recipe of the whole bunch that I thought was unappetizing, and I must admit that my recipe file has grown since acquiring this issue. ((Sigh)) I guess I can’t fault a magazine which has been reinventing itself and the recipes within for over 50 years. If you are a cook with the same goal (reinvention, that is), this magazine is for you. An interesting review of the The Bon Appetit Cookbook
(which I do own, by the way) gives a rundown of the advantages and fallbacks of BA’s philosophy.

*Shaved Brussels Sprouts with Currants and Chestnuts

1/2 c. apple cider
1/2 c. dried currants
1 1/2 lbs. Brussels sprouts, trimmed
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 7- to 8-oz. jar whole peeled chestnuts, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
5 Tbs. butter
1 1/2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar

Bring cider to boil in small saucepan. Remove from heat. Add currants; let soak 30 minutes. Using processor fitted with slicing disk, push brussels sprouts through feed tube and slice. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill currant mixture. Wrap brussels sprouts in paper towels, then enclose in resealable plastic bag and chill.

Heat oil in large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add chestnuts; sauté 2 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to bowl. Add brussels sprouts to skillet; sauté until beginning to wilt, about 3 minutes. Add 1/2 cup water and butter; sauté until most of liquid evaporates and brussels sprouts are tender but still bright green, adding more water by tablespoonfuls if mixture is dry, about 7 minutes. Stir in chestnuts, currant mixture, and vinegar; sauté until heated through, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Results: This was very good. The problems I had with the dish were of my own making: Instead of using the slicing disk of the food processor, I used the shredding disk, resulting in a not-too-pleasant flakey texture to about half of my sprouts (before I realized my mistake and swapped the disk out). Second, I used dried cranberries and cherries rather than dried currants (which I couldn’t find in any of my three grocery stores), making the dish a bit too sweet for my taste. All in all, however, the flavor was very good – especially the chestnuts which had a very subtle and earthy savor to them. I reheated leftovers the second night, and while the color was nowhere near as vibrant, the taste was the same if not better. Prepared properly, this would be a great addition to the holiday table.

Sugar High Friday: Gemstone Cheesecake

Sugar High Fridays really raised the bar this month. Rather than picking an ingredient to work with, the host for this month, Susan from the Well-Seasoned Cook, picked an adjective: sparkling. The theme this time is “All that Glitters”, and the submitted desserts (see them here next Friday, 11/28) should look as dazzling as they taste!

Now, this has rarely ever happened, but I am actually getting to one of my saved recipes in a timely manner. I stumbled upon this absolutely beautiful creation on Esi’s blog, and I simply had to make it. What’s more, she made two mini-cheesecakes, rather than one big one, so I could modify the topping to RJ’s taste – plain or with caramel, thank you very much. As soon as I read the SHF topic for the month, my mind immediately went to this recipe which was at the top of my recipe pile. What food product, naturally produced, sparkles more than the garnet colored, translucent arils of the pomegranate? The answer is a sweet and shimmering pomegranate glaze dotted with them! My final product looked like a christmas ornament – a treat which would certainly entice Santa to unload some gifts on Christmas eve.
Enjoy this dessert, as I did so thoroughly this week, and don’t forget to peruse the numerous and undoubtedly creative results of the other participating bloggers on the Round-up page.

Gemstone Cheesecake
(Adapted from ‘Pom Wonderful’ by Esi from Dishing Up Delights)
Makes one 9-inch cake (or two 4.5-inch cakes)

For the Crust:
1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs
2 Tbs. sugar
2 Tbs. butter, melted

For the filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, well softened (this is important!)
5 Tbs. sugar
1 egg
3 Tbs. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Pinch of salt

For the glaze:
6 Tbs. pomegranate juice
1 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. cornstarch
Pomegranate arils

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
To make the crust, stir together crumbs, sugar and butter until moistened. Press evenly into bottom of two 4.5 inch spring form pans or one 9 inch baking dish.
To make the filling, beat cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl on medium speed of electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs, milk, vanilla and salt just until blended. Pour over crust in pan; spread evenly.

Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 20 to 25 minutes more, until cake is firm at sides and soft-set (jiggles slightly) in the center. Do not over-bake. Cool cake in pan on a wire rack for up to 2 hours, then cover and refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours before serving. (Refrigerate cake for up to 1 week.)

To make the topping, combine juice with sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Bring to boil; reduce heat. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Cool slightly; mix in pomegranate arils, then spread glaze over cake.

Chive Risotto Cakes

When I started this blog oh so many, um…days ago, I asked myself a very important question: as I work my way through all of these millions of recipes that I have in piles, cookbooks, and Firefox bookmarks, will I post all of my results, or just the best ones? Will people want to read about a failed attempt at a standing rib roast, or is that pointless? Am I making recipe recommendations or offering people a chance to learn from my kitchen forays?
I said that I asked myself that question, but I never said I answered it. Until today, it really has not been an issue! Not that I am some culinary prodigy in the kitchen or anything, but in my first month of blogging, I haven’t yet had a disaster, and so I have been content to post about nearly all my recent recipe trials.

This is not to say that the chive risotto cakes were a disaster for me. In fact, I think I would be more excited about the post if they had been. I could have featured my Italian version of a “Cake Wreck” (get it? 😉 )! No, they did not fail completely – more like a B minus. However, those with whom I went to college know that such a grade could send me reeling for days…

I suppose I should preface the whole discussion with the fact that RJ and I love risotto. Not only does it fit into the warm-and-hearty comfort food category while still being an excellent option for entertaining, but risotto has a special place in my heart because it is one of the only dishes into which I can insert vegetables without RJ flipping out. His recent acceptance of onions, mushrooms, and butternut squash all resulted from one of my risotto variations. Generally, I will cook risotto on a night when I have time to stand around the stove for an hour or so, and we will have leftovers for Day 2. If you’ve never tried to reheat risotto in a microwave before, please trust me: it isn’t very pretty. It comes out gummy and sticky and nowhere near as good as fresh risotto. But the stickiness may be used to great advantage, also. Cold leftover risotto of any flavor can be molded into round balls, rolled in panko crumbs, slightly flattened into a hamburger shape, then pan fried in butter or oil. You will end up with a crispy browned crust and an oozy, like-Day-1 risotto center.

Reading Deb’s pick for the Barefoot Bloggers‘ Bonus recipe, I was actually thrilled. Ina’s description explicitly claimed that her recipe provides risotto cakes without the Day-1 effort of stirring and gradually adding stock ladle by ladle. “Brilliant!”, I exclaimed.

I gathered my ingredients and even went to my favorite cheese shop for fine imported Fontina. Though the chives were a bit yellowed in some places, I figured I would only use the best ones and we’d be fine. But all the Fontina val d’Aosta and fresh-from-the-ground chives in the world could not save these risotto cakes. I am interested to see if the others felt the same as I did, or if I have just been spoiled by having ‘real’ risotto cakes as part of my repertoire for a while now, but I thought these suffered severely from the outset due to one major flaw in the directions – you cannot cook risotto in water! My cakes tasted, well, watery – comparable to how the inside of a baked potato with chives might taste if you omitted salt, butter, and sour cream.

To defend Ina’s honor, I probably could have salted the water more, or incorporated even more cheese or dried the rice in paper towels as opposed to a sieve. But none of that could have compensated for the flavor that chicken broth gives to risotto. That just wasn’t there. Even with all the cheese the recipe called for, the rice was barely holding together in balls because of the way the rice had been waterlogged. My clear conviction is that there is no shortcut to risotto, and thus no shortcut to the crispy cakes. Go the traditional route and make your favorite risotto dish. Then, on Day 2, treat yourself to your own homemade creation, covered in panko and fried.

Well, this is the moment of truth. Do I post the recipe? Will posting it diminish my integrity as a blogger or detract from my validity as messenger of good taste? I think not. You’ve read my opinion of the recipe above, but of course you all have the ability to make up your own minds. Perhaps reading the recipe will give us all some insight into where it goes wrong. Conversely, you may set out to prove that Ina is right and I am not, and I invite you to share your results with me in the comments section. Just don’t ever say I didn’t give you fair warning.

Chive Risotto Cakes, from Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics

Kosher salt
1 cup uncooked Arborio rice
½ cup Greek yogurt
2 extra-large eggs
3 tablespoons minced fresh chives
1 ½ cup cups grated Italian Fontina cheese (5 ounces)
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¾ cup panko (Japanese dried bread flakes)
Good olive oil

Bring a large (4 quart) pot of water to a boil and add ½ tablespoon salt and the Arborio rice. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. The grains of rice will be quite soft. Drain the rice in a sieve and run under cold water until cool. Drain well.

Meanwhile, whisk together the yogurt, eggs, chives, Fontina, 1 ¼ teaspoons salt, and the pepper in a medium bowl. Add the cooled rice and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight, until firm.

When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

Spread the panko in a shallow dish. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Form balls of the rice mixture using a standard (2 1/4 –inch) ice cream scoop or a large spoon. Pat the balls into patties 3 inches in diameter and ¾ inch thick. Place 4-6 patties in the panko, turning once to coat. Place the patties in the hot oil and cook, turning once, for about 3 minutes on each side until the risotto cakes are crisp and nicely browned. Place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and keep warm in the oven for up to 30 minutes. Continue cooking in batches, adding oil as necessary, until all the cakes are fried. Serve hot.

The Omnivore’s Hundred – Play Along!

Several months ago, Andrew from Very Good Taste posted a list of 100 things that every good omnivore should try in their lifetime. The list is nothing if not random – he makes no claims that the separate items are particularly good tasting, let alone transformative experiences, yet there is quite a diversity here, which I can respect. I have followed his instructions (posted below) and found my own results pretty revealing. Basically, I can consider myself an omnivore. I will try almost anything once, with the exception of some live foods (oysters are okay, insects are not) and really spicy foods, because I am deathly afraid my palate will never recover.

Speaking of never recovering, I am on the fence about #46, Fugu. There is a chance of death with every bite, a chance which I would consider not worth taking. However, if I actually were to find myself in a very well-known and respected Japanese restaurant in Tokyo, with my honor at stake, I might just dig in. In fact, whenever I came to a point of uncertainty on the list, I often decided that if I were presented with this item while in its country or province of origin, I would indeed try a bite. Brown cheese, snake, and pig intestines all sound pretty grotesque to me, but I would give it a go – if only for the right to tell the tale. Please let me know if you have some tales to tell about any of the below! And who can guess which of the 100 is pictured above?

Andrew’s Directions:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin *the link on this is bad, and a google search of Kaolin turned up a lot of results with the word diarrhea in them – here, I draw the line.
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake