Cooking Virgin

Rouxbe.com: The Cooking School That Comes To You

Learning to cook on your own can sometimes be a frustrating task.  It can be so much easier to have someone show you how to do something than try to interpret instructions out of a book.  Demonstration classes are a great way to accomplish this, if you don't happen to know a talented cook nearby, but they can often be cost prohibitive. 

A place that offers demonstration classes near me, for example, charges $40 a class.  If I only had one thing I wanted to learn I might be okay with spending $40. But there's a lot I want to learn and at $40 a pop I could easily spend $1000 a year.  With this economy, that's a heck of a lot more that I am comfortable spending.

Fortunately, there is another option out there.  Rouxbe.com is an online cooking school that offers a variety of instructional videos, many of which are free.  There are two levels of membership, basic which is free, and premium, which has several payment options: monthly ($15), annual ($99) and lifetime ($199 now, $299 as of 01/31/10).

I've had a basic membership to Rouxbe.com for about a month now and I love it.  The basic membership is completely free and gives you access to the Video Recipes, the Tips (which are also on video) and the cooking school lessons that are marked free.  It also gives you access to quizzes and the recipe forums, but I have not explored these as of yet as I really joined for the access to the videos.

Through my membership with FoodieBlogroll.com, I have had the pleasure of a free 7 day trial of the premium membership as well.  This gives me access to all of the cooking school lessons, gets rid of ads and you can get personalized responses from chefs on submitted questions (I haven't tried this but that sounds pretty darn cool).

No matter what type of membership you have all of the videos I have viewed so far have been outstanding.  Though I will warn you that the video quality in full screen was not that great and the video seemed to lag when in full screen mode as well.  Though in the normal view, I've never had a problem with the video.

Overall, the site is very well thought out.  They have the text version of recipes attached to the videos and you can control the volume of the music and the narration in the video separately.  The instruction is clear and detailed, even in the pan frying lesson I learned something and I didn't think that there would be anything to learn! 

Also, be sure to explore the tips thoroughly. I discovered a method for dicing avocados that is so simple I can't imagine why I've been doing it the way I have for so long.  These types of tips can be a lifesaver for the busy home chef. 

The video recipes are also a great way to pick up on little things and see just how things are done by the professionals.  If they gloss over a recipe for a sauce or something that is only a component of the main dish there is generally a separate link to that recipe within the navigation bar to the left of the video. 

I obviously love this site, but I have included a preview of the video recipe on fish tacos below so you can decide for yourself!

Rouxbe Online Cooking School & Video Recipes

Virgin Voyages: Deglazing

I'm becoming quite secure with incorporating new ingredients into my cooking, but I'm still reticent to use new techniques. I suppose that's because I always have help with the new ingredients in the form of recipes but when it comes to techniques I'm sort of on my own.

Last Friday I was finally getting around to making the chicken and spinach I should have made two days before based on the state of the spinach.  I was dreading it because I knew it would be on the bland side and I hadn't yet thought of a way to liven the dish up. 

As I was washing and spinning the spinach dry in my salad spinner I considered using the deglazing technique I had read about to make a sauce for the chicken.  Even with the obvious solution to my problem staring me in the face, I hesitated.  Deglazing didn't seem hard but I was positive I would find a way to screw it up. 

Finally I found my backbone and decided to give it a shot.  After all there was no rule that I had to use the sauce if it didn't turn out and then I would just be left with my original bland meal.  Nothing lost.

I seared the chicken breasts in the pan, finished them off in the oven and then threw them in the toaster oven on low to keep them warm while I worked my magic.  My boyfriend had broken open the bottle of Riesling for me (we had already started 'sampling' the vino) and I poured some in.

As I worked the stuff off the bottom of the pan (more technically called a fond), I realized that I was scared over nothing.  What I ended up with was a fairly thin sauce, but I imagined it would be unless I added a thickening agent of some sort.  Though thin, it was definitely tasty and gave the chicken the flavor I was looking for.  Best of all, it only took a few minutes.

Here are a couple of sites that discuss deglazing a pan:

• ehow.com
• rouxbe.com (You may need to sign up for a free membership to access this, but it is an excellent instructional video).

Two Tools That Act As Sous Chef In The Home Kitchen

Just before, and over, Christmas I had the pleasure of playing with two tools that made holiday cooking and baking easier than I could have imagined.  Before I get to each tool and just how they made things easier I would like to disclaim that I am not being paid for these reviews and received nothing in the way of free gifts.  These are just my honest opinions on tools I happened to be able to use over the holiday season.

That the first tool is a Kitchen-Aid Artisan stand mixer will probably come to no surprise to many home chefs.  A lot of people out there have already come to realize their value in the kitchen.  They are quick, durable and versatile tools which makes them extremely valuable to have.

There are certain cookies that I love to bake over the holidays, but I dread trying to mix the doughs because they are so stiff that my hand mixer often had a hard time keeping up.  My boyfriend, good guy that he is, decided to pick up a kitchen-aid mixer for us both one night on his way home from work.  It was like Christmas had come early!

It didn't take long for me to try it out.  And the cookie doughs that I used to struggle with were mixed in about two seconds flat.  And it was in that two seconds that I fell in love.  My boyfriend made bread dough in the mixer a few days later and was equally impressed. Then I knew that should my boyfriend and I ever part ways, there would be a fight over that mixer.  I would lose, since he bought it, but I would still put up a fight!

There are a lot of attachments out there for the Artisan, I'm not sure about the other Kitchen-Aid stand mixers, so I am recommending the Artisan specifically.  These attachments include items like a food mill, ice cream maker and pasta roller.  Though we have yet to get an attachment that doesn't come with it, we have several on our 'to buy' list.

The second tool I encountered as I cooked my through the holidays was a Cuisinart Pro food processor.  I have a rinky dink 4 cup Cuisinart food processor at home and I hate it.  I just end up grating or chopping by hand most times.  The only time I like it is when making pesto or if I need to make almond flour.  But my food processor is like the red-headed step-child compared to the Pro.

The Pro comes with discs that make slicing and grating a breeze.  We made this potato casserole and struggled with the mandolin so much that Mom went out and bought this little puppy on the spot.  I think we ended up making that casserole in about 20 minutes total, which is probably the same amount of time we spent trying to slice the first sweet potato on the mandolin.

It also comes with a dough blade which we used to make pizza dough on Christmas Eve.  It was my first homemade pizza and I was a little nervous about the dough.  This food processor mixed the dough to perfection in no time flat.  I even asked my Mom if she should though it was done because I just couldn't believe it was that easy!

I plotted all kinds of ways to steal that food processor from my Mom, but there was just no way it would fit in my suitcase with all of my Christmas loot. So I blew it a kiss good-bye and, I'm not ashamed to say, cried a little as I left it behind.  We will see each other again,  Cuisinart Pro... I promise.

I will in no way say that these two tools are necessary for home cooking.  Quite the opposite, they are indeed a luxury.  But, if you're going to spend your money on something to treat yourself, I highly recommend these two items.  They will make many things go so much more quickly and will enable you to do more with less time.

Virgin Voyages: Gnocchi and Parsnips

After picking up my CSA share one weekend I was faced with a dilemma that has become all too familiar in this winter wonderland of squash and root vegetables, how to cook something my boyfriend hates so that he'll eat it.  I've pretty much given up on squash, partially because I can't get enough of the stuff so I'm perfectly find commandeering it, but I can't eat everything on my own! 

I have to admit, I kind of like this challenge because it forces me to be creative where I otherwise might allow myself to be a little more lazy.  This particular week's challenge was parsnips, and though I had never had them, I could tell just by the smell that these would not be well received.  You see, my boyfriend hates cooked carrots.  And these parsnips smelled overpoweringly like carrots.  What to do, what to do.

Earlier in the week I had already determined that I would attempt to make gnocchi.  I'd never had it, and had always wanted to try it.  I really wanted to make a butternut squash gnocchi that sounded delicious, but since I knew I'd be in BIG trouble if I kept all the gnocchi to myself, I had decided that the normal potato stuff would be a good start.

As I was looking up recipes to try, I , of course, found one in How to Cook Everything that looked pretty good.  I also noticed that one of the variations allowed for the use of parsnips.  I pondered this for a bit. It was risky.  He could detest it and I would end up sacrificing my Valentine's Day gift for the next couple of years, but he could consider it passable too and I would kill two birds with one stone.  I decided to go for it.

For all of those out there intimidated by the thought of making gnocchi, it's actually kinda fun.  It does take a little patience when you boil them because you boil just a little at a time, but rolling out the dough reminded me of playing with Play-Doh when I was a kid, and it was Play-Doh you could eat! 

Everything went smoothly while making the gnocchi.  I made sure my mise en place was in order before I started, followed the instructions of the recipe closely and all went well.  I did avoid putting the 'dents' in the gnocchi as I really didn't see it necessary, but other than that I followed the recipe to a 'T'.

When dinner was ready, I didn't try to sneak anything by my boyfriend, I told him up front about the parsnips and he sportingly agreed to eat the gnocchi anyways.  I'm not going to say he loved the gnocchi, but after a few bites he looked up and said, "I can't really even taste the parsnips".  I don't know if it was just the flour that disguised the flavor of the parsnips or if it was the arugula pesto I made to go with it (which was fabulous by the way, also from How To Cook Everything), but I was ecstatic with that muted response.

I personally thought the meal was delicious and highly recommend the recipe.  It's great for a Sunday night dinner as it does take some time to prepare. By giving yourself time, you'll also be able to indulge your inner child as you roll out the dough.

What's the Right Type Of Bakeware?

When I first started cooking, I didn't understand why there were so many different types of bakeware.  How different could they be?  Very is the answer. There is definitely a science to selecting a certain type depending on 1) what you want to bake and 2) how you want it to turn out (more evenly cooked or browned on the outside).  Your possible selections, in very general terms, are metal or ceramic.  Though, as you will see, metal can consist of a myriad of sub-selections.

Ceramics

This category includes stoneware and glass as well due to their similar behaviors. A ceramic is a poor conductor.  It has trouble distributing heat evenly, but once it does get hot it retains the heat.  This is why ceramics are not generally a good idea on the stove top.  The heat on a stove top is concentrated which makes it difficult for the ceramic pan to distribute the heat.  The hot and cold spots that result can cause the pan to shatter (Anyone who has accidentally left a glass pan on a stove top with the burner on knows exactly what I'm talking about here.  Not a fun experience).

Ceramics fare much better in the oven.  The distributed heat of the oven makes up for the poor
conductivity and the ability of the the ceramic pan to retain heat results in more even cooking throughout the dish.  This makes them ideal for slow cooking casseroles or even lasagna.  Ceramics also don't taint the flavor of the foods they cook, unlike some metals..

Metals

While metal in general is a better conductor than ceramics, the type of metal determines the level of conductivity.  The following lists starts with best conductors and ends with the poorest:

1. Copper
2. Aluminum
3. Cast Iron
4. Stainless Steel
5. Tin

The better conductors will be better at browning the outside of a baked item. So if you want a crusty exterior and a soft interior these are the materials you want to use.

Non-Stick vs Stick

I could really only find anecdotal information about non-stick versus regular pans as used in baking.  But, in researching Teflon, I discovered that it is not a particularly good conductor.  Therefore the expectation is that it would not brown as much as a regular metal pan but would brown more than a ceramic. The anecdotal information did not seem to support this though.

Dark vs Light

The primary theory I've seen dealing with the brightness of a pan is that the lighter color is more  reflective than the dark there for the dark tends to stay hotter and will brown your food more quickly.

Air-Insulated vs Non-Insulated

Air-Insulated pans are a way of trying to incorporate some of the benefits if ceramics in a metal pan.  Using such a pan will minimize browning and cook foods more evenly throughout, but not to the extent that using a ceramic would.

Experiments

I didn't have all the different types of pans on hand, so I just experimented with what I had. This included:

1. Light colored non-stick pan
2. Dark colored non-stick pan
3. Aluminum air-insulated
4. Glass (ceramic)

I used the Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe since most of us have made that recipe before and know what the results will look like.  It's far from my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, but it was the most universal recipe I could think of.  I cooked the cookies on each pan for the same amount of time regardless if they were actually done or were overdone when they came out. I did put any underdone cookies back in the oven after the experiment was over.

The results of the experiment were fairly consistent with the information provided above.  The glass pan cookies were still fairly raw and after I cookies the rest of the cookies I put them back in to finish up.  Completely finished, the cookies were slightly browned throughout and were by far the most evenly cooked.  All of the metal pan cookies were more browned on the bottom than the top.

Out of the metal pans, the air-insulated pan showed the least browning on the bottom.  The non-stick pans both showed the most browning and I couldn't determine a significant difference between the two.  Experimenting with something that's a little more sensitive to browning might demonstrate a difference but my guess is that it isn't horribly significant.

The lesson I learned from this was that there are a lot of factors to consider when baking. Depending on the results I want, I shouldn't be afraid to play around with a pan until they turn out the way I want them. 

Resources

1. On Food And Cooking: The Science And Lore of The Kitchen by Harold McGee (pages 787-791).
2. CooksIllustrated.com: A Guide To Recommended Bakeware
3. Anecdotal info on non-stick pans from RecipeZaar.com
4. Technical information on Teflon from dupont.com

Virgin Voyages: Cinnamon Rolls

Ever since I started learning to cook I knew that one thing I wanted to perfect, for nostalgic reasons, was the cinnamon roll.  When I was little there was this place that had the best cinnamon rolls and they quickly became a favorite indulgence for the entire family.  After it closed down every once in a while a family member would comment at how they wished we could still go pick up some of those cream cheese frosted rolls of deliciousness.

When my mom and I started planning  the menu for Christmas, I realized that there would be no better time to make my first attempt at these cinnamon rolls.  I could get instant feedback from the family on how close they tasted and have help making them too.

There have been many cinnamon roll recipes floating around on Twitter in anticipation of the holidays, but the one from @TwoPeasAndPod caught my eye. Not only did those rolls look heavenly, but they were also a family tradition.

I chose wisely with this recipe.  I can't imagine another recipe holding up so well to my recipe abuse! My one recommendation for this recipe is to make sure you have a good amount of flour on hand.  I think when all was said and done I ended up using about 10 cups of flour and I still don't think it was enough.

One of the problems I had making these is that the dough kept sticking to my work surface, making it hard to roll up.  Part of that was due to cook error in how the surface was floured, but I think this might have also been a sign that I didn't use enough flour in the dough itself.  The dough had still stuck to the bowl a bit when I took it out to roll it out, and the recipe clearly states to knead the dough until it no longer sticks to the bowl.  I believe this would be my first count of recipe abuse.

After some ninja spatula work, I managed to get everything into a semi-rolled state.  From there I cut the log into sections to my rolls. Using a string to cut off the rolls is pure genius.  I'm not sure if most cinnamon roll recipes say to do this. If they don't, they should. It made this task very quick and simple!

Now here is where the second count of recipe abuse occurs.  The victim: cinnamon rolls.  The crime: pan overloading.  While we (I'm dragging my Mom into this one, I'm not going down alone!) didn't cram the  cinnamon rolls in as tightly as we could have, we didn't really leave a whole lot of room for growth.

The ramifications of this were twofold. Our cinnamon rolls could have ended up being much larger if we had given them some room to rise.  Also, we had to cook them a bit longer.  I blame this on pan overcrowding because our last pan did have a little room and it yielded bigger cinnamon rolls and its cooking time was much closer to the time listed in the recipe.

In the end everyone seemed to enjoy the cinnamon rolls despite my missteps along the way.  I used a cream cheese frosting (one in my Mom's old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook) instead of the icing associated with the recipe.  The only reason I did this was to get them as close as possible to the cinnamon rolls we loved when I was a kid.  That and cream cheese frosting is delicious.

As is, this recipe gets me very close to those nostalgic cinnamon rolls.  With a few improvements in my execution, it will be even closer yet.  Hopefully by next year I'll be even closer and a holiday tradition will be established.

Rearranging the 'Living Room'

I'm one of those people that would love to rearrange my living room every few weeks if I could.  Our current living room furniture and dimensions prohibit me from making any drastic changes, so the side of me that needs constant change will need to be satiated with changes to my blog instead.

I haven't posted a heck of a whole lot lately.  Mainly because I wanted to take a step back and really figure out what I wanted this blog to focus on.  I have lots of things I want to write about but I'm never sure if it will quite fit with what I actually want to accomplish, which is teaching things as I learn them.  I want this blog to be a place where anyone can come to learn something new or re-discover lost knowledge.  Venting about my crappy food processor (as I've often wanted to do) just doesn't necessarily fit into that.

Knowing myself as I do, I knew that eventually I would probably vent about my crappy food processor, rave about the latest foodie movie, or express my shock at who won Top Chef (I'm so sad Kevin didn't win!!!). So I decided to create an area for that in the form of a micro blog called CV Nibbles.  That way I don't feel like I'm having to contain myself and those that don't want to pay attention to my crazy Top Chef analysis won't have it thrown in their face.

Cooking Virgin will continue to be my spot for first time experiences, research on how things work in the kitchen, and reviews and research into kitchen gadgetry.  CV Nibbles will be food centric but will be a little less focused and haphazard in it's content.  And, in the spirit of the micro blog, the posts to CV Nibbles will also be fairly succinct. I hope you all enjoy the new addition!

Virgin Voyages: Edible Gifts

Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas.  I love the thrill of figuring out what to get friends and family, getting together with friends and family to celebrate life in general, and especially the food!  While I love doing things with and for my friends and family I don't really do much outside that circle.  I'm not the type of person to give the mailman a gift card to Target, or initiate a gift exchange at work.  So this year when I announced to my boyfriend that I was going to bake cookies for the neighbors it was understandable that he looked at me as if my skin had turned orange and I had grown a bulbous third eye in the middle of my forehead.

Okay, I admit, the 'gift' of cookies was somewhat self-serving.  I wanted to bake a LOT of cookies, but I certainly didn't need to eat them all.  My first thought was to take them to work, but everyone there seems to have dietary restrictions and I didn't want to just throw temptation into their face.  Now, I wasn't sure if the neighbors had any dietary restrictions but I thought at least the surprise might be fun. So neighbors it was! Now what to make.

I have a few favorite holiday cookies of my own.  Every year my Mom makes what we call bon bon cookies that are so delicious.  It's basically a type of butter cookie dough wrapped around a maraschino cherry and dipped in colored frosting.  I've made these before, so the only new experience related to this cookie was that I was able to use my new Kitchen Aid mixer to mix the dough.  It's a really stiff dough, I normally just end up mixing the flour in by hand, but this year the mixer did all the work. For that alone, I would marry this piece of equipment.

Another one of my favorite cookies this time of year is Mexican Wedding Cake cookies.  I have eaten plenty of these in my lifetime but always figured that making them would be too hard.  I could not have been more wrong.  The recipe I used was from How to Cook Everything (I know you are all shocked) and the hardest part of the process was letting the dough chill in the refrigerator over night.  If you're a fan of this type of cookie, but have been afraid to make them as I was, go for it!!  You'll even get to make a mess in the powdered sugar, who can pass that up?

Though they are not my favorite type of cookie, I just couldn't resist making cut out cookies so that I could buy some nifty cookie cutters and have an excuse to make buttercream frosting for the first time (as if I needed an excuse!).  I used the recipes for refrigerator cookies and buttercream frosting from How To Cook Everything. 

As expected, the frosting was much better than the cookies, but I quickly realized I was never going to win any cookie decorating awards as I was frosting the cookies.  To compensate for my lack of artistic skill I just really slathered on the frosting in the hopes that the neighbors would be too caught up in a sugar high to notice that all the cookies pretty much looked the same no matter the cut shape underneath.

The final component to my holiday tin was that all-time favorite...fudge!  I found a very quick and easy recipe in the Gourmet Today cookbook (yes, I'm sure it wasn't in How To Cook Everything).  It took me about ten minutes to melt the chocolate and mix everything together and then all I had to do was pop it in the fridge for a few hours before cutting and placing in the tins.  It was a bittersweet fudge, which I loved so much I plan on making it again when I go home to Nebraska for Christmas.

I finally got everything made and packed away in tins about 9 o'clock one night and decided it was still safe to deliver (fortunately all of my neighbors are night owls like me!).  I had butterflies in my stomach as I passed out the tins and it was everything I could do to keep from barging into their apartments so I could get feedback on how everything was right then and there.  But I behaved and went back to my apartment, fingers crossed, hoping everyone liked everything.

Over the next couple of days I got all sorts of compliments!  I was so excited.  I mentioned to one neighbor that I was just learning to cook and he said, "Oh, so are you a sous chef?".  Now I'm not sure he knew exactly what a sous chef does, but it still made me smile from ear to ear that he automatically assumed I was learning to cook professionally.

I had a lot of fun with all parts of this project.  The best part was that I was able to eat all of my favorite holiday cookies without over-indulging.  I think I'll have to make this an annual tradition.

Bon Bon Cookie Recipe:

• ½ c Soft Butter
• ¾ c Sifted Powdered Sugar
• 1 ½ c Sifted Flour
• 1 T Vanilla
• ½ t Salt
• Food Coloring (if desired)

1. Preheat oven to 350˚.
2. Mix butter, sugar, vanilla and food coloring.
3. Blend in flour and salt with hand.
4. If dough is dry add 1 – 2 t cream.
5. Wrap one level teaspoon of dough around filling (the maraschino cherries in this case).
6. Bake 1” apart on ungreased baking sheet for 12 – 15 minutes or until set but not brown.
7. Cool. Dip tops in powdered sugar icing.

Instructions for Powdered Sugar Icing:

• Put about 1 cup of powdered sugar into a bowl.  Add about a 1/2 tsp of vanilla (or to taste) and desired food coloring.  Mix the vanilla and powdered sugar together to get a feel for consistency.  Add milk a little at a time until the frosting is a texture that can be dipped into but will not drip too much off the cookie. If your frosting is too think just add more powdered sugar until the frosting thickens.

Memoir Cookbooks: The Story Behind the Food

The memoir cookbook seems to be all the rage, especially among food bloggers that are well established in the foodie blogging community.  I can't say that I'm opposed to this trend.  While the reader doesn't get as many recipes from a memoir cookbook as a traditional cookbook, what they can get from a well-written memoir cookbook is inspiration. 

The Foodie Handbook by Pim Techamuanvivit

    While this book is truly more of a handbook than a memoir, I do enjoy some of the stories attached to the recipes and tips Pim provides.   This was my introduction to the memoir cookbook format and I really wish I had started with something a little more on the inspiration side and a little less on the guide side. Because I was such a green foodie when I read this, some of the terms confused me.  Looking up the terms taught me a great deal but took away from emotional connection I was hoping for with the author.  That said, the title should have tipped me off to the book's more instructional nature and I accept full responsibility for not thinking things through at the bookstore. I would definitely recommend this book, but for an intermediate level cook or a beginner cook that doesn't mind learning a few new words.

The Sweet Life In Paris by David Lebovitz

    If you follow David Lebovitz on Twitter or read his blog, you have already had the pleasure of experiencing his quirky sense of humor. Through his endlessly entertaining perspective on daily interactions in the great city of Paris, David reminds the reader that cooking and life are fun and the good and bad aspects of each should be taken for what they are and thoroughly enjoyed. 

    While the title is fairly accurate (David is a pastry chef after all) he does feature a few savory recipes as well.  My favorite from this book will always be the Parisian Hot Chocolate.  It was the first time I've had real hot chocolate and the fact that I made it myself made the experience all the more enjoyable. 

    This book is great for cooks at all levels.  There is a little something for everyone and it will remind even the most serious-minded of cooks that it's okay to not take so things so seriously once in awhile.

Julie and Julia by Julie Powell

    This is obviously a very popular book since there is a movie out based on it.  I actually watched the movie before I read the book and found that I liked the Julia parts of the movie far more than the Julie parts.  I should have considered that this book, since it was written by Julie, would be all about Julie.

    I do need to add a disclaimer here, I did not finish the book.  I didn't even make it that far in (I have it on Kindle so I don't know the page number, but it was about 1/3rd of the way in).  I just couldn't take the writing.  I found it way too tangential and had a difficult time following her stories from beginning to end. Many times I found myself flipping back to re-read things so that I could make sense of what she was trying to say. It was a frustrating experience to say the least.

    I do not make it a habit of starting books but not finishing them. In fact, I've suffered through many mediocre and plain awful books just so I can find out how they end.  It might have been because I saw the movie first, but I just didn't see the need to suffer through this one.  If you are seeking inspiration I would recommend the DVD, that way you can just skip the Julie parts.

Gluten-Free Girl By Shauna James Ahern

    This book is the best thing I've read all year, that includes non-foodie books.  I laughed, I cried and I fell asleep reading it.  That's not to say it was boring, it wasn't, I feel asleep because I stayed up way past my bedtime to read it and my body ended up just passing out.

    Even though I have just begun my cooking journey, I have found that I'm already getting a little burnt out.  I haven't really motivated to get out my cookbooks after heading to the farmers market and I haven't really interested in blogging about food either.  I'm not really sure why, but I suppose being busy with the typical holiday stuff hasn't help.  This book has completely re-motivated me. 

    You do not have to have celiac disease to read this book.  I would recommend this book not just to any level cook, but even to a stranger on the street.  It motivates you to not just cook and to really experience cooking, but it makes you want to really experience life.  Shauna is a very passionate individual and she does a brilliant job of expressing her passion through her writing which then seeps off the pages of her book and into your heart.  I'm not just going to recommend this book, I'm going to demand you get this book.  You will thank me later.

Virgin Voyages: Swiss Chard

I nearly groaned the week that I went to the farmer's market and saw chard on the board as a mandatory item for my micro share.  My boyfriend had told me that one of things he would never want me to get from the farmer's market was swiss chard and relayed a horrifying experience of being forced to eat dirt encrusted chard as a kid.  Apparently his mother grew it in the garden and could never seem to quite get the curly and wrinkly leaves completely clean. 

So I tried to pick the least dirty chard I could find and placed it in my bag already running through the  recipe index in my head for any chard recipes I had stumbled across.  I couldn't remember any off hand, but knew that How to Cook Everything (really, I swear I'm not affiliated with Mark Bittman in any way, but the man can put out a cookbook) had pretty detailed instructions on how to prep shard so I tried my best to buck up my confidence for the frown of disapproval I knew was inevitable when I got home.

My boyfriend was far more supportive than I gave him credit for and though he said he probably wouldn't try it if I just cooked the chard on its own, he would give it a shot if I put it in a casserole type dish.  Luckily for me, Mr. Bittman had just the thing for me.  A couscous, ground lamb (though I substituted ground beef) and swiss chard casserole.  A tomato sauce binds everything together into a delicious dish that I couldn't get enough of.

But to get to this amazing dish, I had to learn how to prepare the chard.  I used my salad spinner to rinse the chard thoroughly.  I was painstakingly meticulous with this part and can testify that there was not an ounce of dirt on that chard when I was through with it.  I love the salad spinner because it's easy to see if there is still dirt coming off the leaves as you dry them. If you cook a lot of greens and buy from the farmer's market I highly recommend one. The bigger, the better.

I learned from How to Cook Everything that it is very important to separate the chard leaf from the tougher stem.  Because the stem is so much thicker than the leaf it takes a lot longer to cook than the leaf (which cooks quickly, as you might imagine).  By separating the two you can cook the stem first and then add the leaf once the stem starts to soften.  This may seem intuitive to those used to working with greens, but I have to be honest and say that, without this book, I would have learned this lesson the hard way.

I cooked the chard this way and then added it to the casserole mix.  I knew that after some additional time in the oven there was no way this leaf was going to be too chewy and the recipe didn't disappoint.  The chard was wonderful.  Even my boyfriend agreed that this recipe was quite good which kept me smiling even as I did the dishes.  Which is saying something since doing the dishes is my second most hated cooking related task, it's just a tiny bit better than going to the grocery store.