Kitchen +1

Recipes and pictures from my tiny kitchen in Chicago. I love to try new things in my kitchen, everything except doing the dishes. Follow on Twitter var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-22237232-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

[kitchenplusone-blog]

Minted Pea Soup!

I needed a way to use my wilting mint leaves before it was too late. This recipe is quick, and it almost cooks itself.

3 Tbs olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/2 - 1 cup spinach leaves

1 1/2 quarts soup stock (chicken or vegetable)

1 1/2 cup peas (fresh or frozen)

1 1/2 cups fresh mint leaves, no stems

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 milk to finish

Begin by heating oil in pan. Add onion, garlic and spinach. Saute until onion is translucent. Add stock to prevent spinach from burning. Add peas and mint. Reduce heat, and allow to simmer for 30-40 minutes.

Carefully transfer soup to blender, and puree. Wearing an oven mitt on your hand, hold your hand steady over the lid of the blender. Use short, quick pulses to prevent the soup from overflowing in your blender (speaking from experience).

Heat 1/2 cup milk (per serving) in the microwave or on the stove. Scald the milk and pour into bowl. Ladel soup over the milk and stir to blend.

I enjoyed this soup immensely with oyster crackers.

[kitchenplusone-blog]

Alfajor cookies

While in Peru, I was introduced to the alfajor cookie. It is a shortbread cookie sandwiched around dulce du leche and sprinkled with confectioner's sugar. It is a very simple and rich dessert.

[kitchenplusone-blog]

Sunflower and Honey Chocolate Truffles by Sweet Hive Chicago

The past few days have been exceptionally sunny in Chicago. I'm eager to find an urban apiary to learn about beekeeping in the city. During my search I came across Sweet Hive Chicago, a blog by Bobbi and Greg that is chock full with stories about raising bees.

Greg and Bobbi have posted several recipes that use honey as a main ingredient. Now I'm just as eager to try this recipe as I am to find beekeeping classes.

Sunflower and Honey Chocolate Truffles

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, cut into 1/2″ pieces or smaller 2 T unsalted butter, softened and cut into small pieces 3/4 c. heavy cream 2/3 c. Dutch-processed cocoa powder 1/4 c. honey 1/2 c. roasted, salted sunflower seeds, chopped

Warm cream in a sauce pan over low-medium heat until hot, but not boiling.

Place butter and chocolate in a medium bowl.

Pour hot cream over butter and chocolate. Whisk until smooth.

Add cocoa and honey, stirring until thoroughly combined.

Chill until firm, about 20-30 minutes.

Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper. Refrigerate until chocolate is firm enough to be handled.

Roll into balls and immediately roll in sunflower seeds. note: your hands will get very sticky!

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serve at room temperature.

[kitchenplusone-blog]

Amateur chefs/bakers can relate to this story of the "Cupcake Queen" Christine Richardson who started her own cupcake wagon "Iced Gems" to make extra scratch.

The effort required to find a space to work in, getting help, and spreading the word about your food product takes incredible dedication and support. Cupcakes are a great product that can almost sell themselves, but you have to be passionate enough to do the legwork to move 50,000 cupcakes. She's been doing this for ten years now and is looking to expand from Baltimore to the U.K.

Do you know any cupcake queens in your home town? Do you have any aspirations to do this yourself?

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Hilarious fun was had with this oversized image of cheddar cheese snack bag.

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 Maple Syrup Festival at the North Park Village Nature Center.

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Boiling down tree sap to make maple syrup.

I made my first visit to the North Park Village Nature Center today for their Maple Syrup Festival. My mother has often told me about tapping maple trees in Northern Minnesota, so I thought it would be cool to go see for myself how it works, a little closer to home. 

This is the process for tapping maple trees in the Chicago Park District.

1. Trees are marked with colored ribbons (red, white, and blue) which indicates how many taps a tree can support. Younger trees have a smaller trunk and can only safely support one tap. Older trees, with wider trunks are marked with white ribbon,  indicating they can support three taps.

2. A hole for the spigot must be drilled. Here, people use hand-powered drills, but in more industrial operations (such as in Vermont) gas-powered drills may be used. After a hole has been drilled into the tree, it is cleared of sawdust and then the spout is gently hammered into the tree trunk.

*Note: at the end of the season, the hole in the trunk will heal itself creating a "button." This is a sort of "scar" and for this reason, the spout is drilled into a different part of the trunk the next year.

3. A water jug or bucket is hung from the spout. In Chicago, water jugs are used because milk jugs cannot be cleaned well enough. Depending on the season, sometimes jugs can be filled and emptied two times a day. Due to the blizzard earlier this year an excess of water caused more sap to drain from the trees.

4. Sap is collected and boiled down. It takes 40 gallons of tree sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. When the sap is harvested it is more than 95% water. As the sap is boiled (for hours and hours) the water evaporates, leaving a caramelized, amber syrup.

5. Syrup is strained through a sieve or cheesecloth and bottled for sale.

Tapping, harvesting, and processing maple tree sap is incredibly labor intensive, which is why the cost of pure maple syrup is high. I promise you it is worth every cent.

[kitchenplusone-blog]

Peruvian coffee for friends in Lima. I recently returned from a vacation in Peru where I was visiting friends. Coffee is one of many products Peru exports, and because of this people there tend to drink instant coffee--most notably Nescafe. Chicagoans are spoiled with several splendid, local coffee roasters. While I was out-and-about today I purchased two pounds of Peruvian coffee to send to my friends in Lima so that they can taste the sweet, nougat flavor of the Peruvian coffee bean.

[kitchenplusone-blog]

Sorbet, done. Spiced simple syrup lends itself to an icy texture. Tastes like frozen applesauce. I am happy with the consistency and flavor.

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Disaster Relief Cupcakes from Sprinkles

This news from Zagat today:

If you can’t make it to the restaurants selling cupcakes for Japan on April 2 (more info here), the Sprinkles cupcake chain just announced a Red Cross Red Velvet cupcake. All proceeds from the sweet treat will be donated to the Red Cross to benefit the Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief effort. If there ever were an excuse to have more than one cupcake, this is it. They’re on sale today – get location info here.

Sprinkles locations: Chicago, New York, Dallas, Houston, Beverly Hills, La Jolla, Palo Alto, Newport Beach, Scottsdale and Washington D.C.