Cooking with Suvarna!

This post is to prove that lawyers are not just soulless, money-grubbing, ambulance chasers. Some of us can cook too! Suvarna was gracious enough to let me raid her kitchen for a day (Thanks, Suvarna!) Hence, the much classier table setting here, rather than my usual ugly brown wooden table. On the menu was baked macaroni and cheese, fresh spinach salad (pictured above), and cheesecake-swirled brownies. The mac and cheese turned our rich, creamy, and delicious because we followed the recipe (more or less). The cheesecake-swirled brownies came out soft and chewy and well, chocolatey - despite a minor scare of what we thought would doom the brownies (more on that in another post).

Baked Macaroni and Cheese fresh and bubbly in the oven

Baked Macaroni and Cheese
adapted from Everyday Food (original recipe here)

Ingredients:
1 pound elbow pasta
5 Tbs butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups whole milk
3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup Italian-style bread crumbs
salt and pepper

Method:
1. Preheat oven at 375 degrees.

2. Boil pasta in salted water for about two minutes less than instructed on the box. Drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process. (It will cook more in the oven). Return to the cooking pot.

3. While the pasta is cooking, melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a medium saucepan. Once melted, whisk in flour and cook for about one minute. Add milk, about two teaspoons of salt and a good pinch of pepper and bring to a simmer. Continue to cook, whisking constantly, for about two to three minutes (when mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon). Whisk in cheese until smooth. Pour cheese mixture over the cooked and drained pasta, and mix together until the pasta is evenly coated.

4. Melt remaining tablespoon of butter and toss with breadcrumbs.

5. Pour pasta mixture in a large baking dish. Sprinkle buttered breadcrumbs on top. Cover with foil and place in the preheated oven for about 55-60 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 5-10 minutes, or until golden.

Serves 6.

A Simple Ratatouille

Now I will try to write this post without discussing the Disney animated film involving cartoon rats. (Even though it is an awesome movie for kids and foodies). After my post on stir-fried asparagus, which was a recipe that I pulled from a cookbook I borrowed from the library, I decided a new project is to "test-run" cookbooks that that I find at the public library. Economical, tasty, and a good way to try new recipes and cooking techniques. Today's recipe is brought to you by Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything", a helpful reference book, that starts each section with the most basic techniques and recipe and then adds on variations. And at 1044 pages, it really DOES show you how to cook just about everything.

Simple Ratatouille (Sauteed Eggplant with Tomatoes)
Adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

Ingredients:
1 long Japanese eggplant, chopped into 1/2 in cubes (recipe called for regular eggplant, but I live in an Asian household, so all we had was Japanese eggplant. I actually prefer Japanese eggplants because the skin is thinner, so no need to peel them)
About 1/3 cup olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
2 teaspoons dried basil (Again, here I substituted dried basil for fresh because that is all I had)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Put oil and all but one teaspoon of garlic in non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook until translucent (about two minutes).
2. Add eggplant - stir and toss enough to coat the eggplant in oil. Allow it to cook until soft (about ten minutes), stirring occasionally.
3. Add tomatoes and cook for about another five minutes, stirring to break up the tomatoes.
4. Stir in remaining garlic and basil and cook for another five minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and enjoy.

On Food Blogging: A Disclaimer, an outlet, a rant

Yesterday, I finally saw Julie and Julia, a movie that has been getting mixed reviews in the food blogging scene. This is because Julie Powell, the author of the book and blog upon which the movie was based, has been largely criticized for her rise to fame as a food guru, when really, she doesn’t know how to cook. But from reading this article in Newsweek, I was reminded that Julie Powell, like most bloggers, didn’t claim to be a great cook. Cooking was a simply an escape.

Quite frankly, I enjoyed the movie because I like to watch cooking and see how ingredients are chopped, julienned, parboiled, baked, or what have you, into a final, edible, and with any luck, delicious product. I never met the real Julie Powell, so I have no idea whether Amy Adams’ rendition was true to character. I’ll even admit that my claims to be a foodie, I’ve never really watched Julia Child’s show, “The French Chef,” except for the clips shown on the Food Network in tribute to her life after she died in 2004. But I did find Meryl Streep’s interpretation to be funny and entertaining.

But what I really want to point out is that food blogging for me, as it was for Julie Powell, is really just a creative outlet for me. I don’t claim to be a great cook, I just enjoy cooking. I started cooking on my own in my sophomore year of college, when I had no meal plan, a borrowed copy of The College Cookbook, and a television that was almost always set to the Food Network. While in law school, I started reading food blogs to escape from the doldrums of reading stuffy Supreme Court decisions and memorizing the elements of intentional torts. I started this blog because it just looked like fun. I named it “Food Judicata” because I thought I was being clever by using a play on words with a legal term, even though this blog is more about food than the law. In fact, I’ve thought about changing the name because I really don’t want to write about the law. I’ve spent the last three years briefing, analyzing, and dissecting the law. This is my space to get away from the law. In fact, the law so far has done very little for me as I type this in my pajamas at 11 AM on a Monday morning.

Food blogging, or any blog for that matter, is really just a creative outlet for most people. It is a place for ordinary people to get “published” by a simple click of the mouse.

Zucchini Fritters

See these zucchini fritters? Notice how there are only six left on this plate? That's because I ate most of them while this batch was still cooking. Foods that need to be cooked in batches are dangerous for me because I tend to eat them while cooking, leaving very little left at the end. This was also an easy way to get your serving of vegetables - I almost ate two zucchini in one meal! (In fact, I would have if my mom hadn't eaten some of them). Although not pictured here, these are best served with sour cream.

Find the recipe here at Simply Recipes.

Stir-Fried Asparagus with Almonds

A few weeks ago when I was leaving the public library, this book on the display, Best American Side Dishes, caught my eye. After flipping through the pages, I was instantly sold, (or rather "borrowed"). It's a great book compiled by the editors of Cook's Illustrated devoted entirely to side dishes, such as appetizers, pasta salads, and a wide variety of vegetables. I took it out primarily to find ways to make vegetables more exciting* but found that the book is full of handy tips, such as how to cut broccoli properly (I didn't even know there was a "right" way to do it!) and recommendations on the best brands of foods and cooking equipment. In fact, I am a little sad that I have to return the book today, that I may actually buy it from the bookstore one of these days.

* I never liked veggies as a kid. Mostly because my mom's idea of cooking them was as my sister called it, "boil until dead." Or in some cases, "Fry, until dead." So I am always looking for new ways to cook vegetables and would be happy to hear suggestions!

And of course, here's a recipe adapted from Best American Side Dishes:

Stir-Fried Asparagus with Almonds

½ cup low-sodium chicken broth (I dissolved 1 teaspoon of no sodium chicken bouillon in ¾ cup of boiling water)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons of oil + ½ tablespoon reserved (recipe called for peanut oil, I used light olive oil)
1 ½ lbs asparagus, tough ends snapped off and cut into 1 to 1 ½ inch pieces
3 medium minced garlic cloves, minced
Sliced almonds (optional - I threw these in at the end because I thought it would look pretty)

1. Heat two tablespoons of oil. Add the asparagus and cook until browed (about five minutes). Add seasonings.

2. This is Cook’s Illustrated method for avoiding burnt garlic: Clear a space in the center of the pan, add garlic and the remaining ½ tablespoon oil. Cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the chicken broth mixture and toss to coat the asparagus. Cook until the sauce is syrupy, about 30 seconds. Top with almonds for garnish. Serve immediately

Tea: The Truly International Beverage

I just found this to be amusing... I know it's hard to see in the picture, but this bag of green tea has brewing instructions in FIVE languages (English, French, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese). And if that weren't enough for you, (I mean, what if you didn't speak any of those five languages or were illiterate?), there are PICTURES demonstrating how to brew the tea. I mean, don't get me wrong, I am all for multiculturalism and equal access by use of multiple languages. But come on, do you even NEED instructions on how to brew tea, let alone in five languages (and pictures)?

"Heavenly" Pancakes

Ricotta cheese makes an encore appearance in this recipe! (Well, I had to use up the ricotta cheese from last week somehow)

The inspiration from this recipe actually came from the ricotta cheese container. It called for complete pancake mix. But since I didn't have any, I made my own pancake mix using this recipe, which has appeared before on this blog.*

At first blush, I was not impressed by these pancakes. In sampling my first "test pancake" (you know, the first one you make that never comes out right because the pan hasn't had a chance to heat completely), the pancake tasted salty and not impressive. Something was missing... it needed sweetness... CRAP! I forgot to add the sugar to the batter! Fortunately, the batter was saved and I was able to add 1 tablespoon of sugar without overmixing the batter.** The sugar makes a HUGE difference. Somehow it brings out the sweet creaminess of the ricotta, and the pancake comes together, nice and fluffy. ***

*The recipe on the ricotta cheese container called it "Heavenly Pancakes" - for some reason a lot of recipes that include ricotta are called "Heavenly" Take the ricotta cheese cake from last week for example.
** Overmixing batter tends to make pancakes tough and gluey.
***Food photography tip: Whipped cream melts VERY quickly. So be sure to have everything set up and add the cream just before taking the picture. I had to learn this the hard way.

Heavenly Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 well-beaten egg
1 cup ricotta cheese
Optional: fresh strawberries, whipped cream, and syrup for topping

Method:
1. Combine dry ingredients and mix with a wire whisk. (Don't forget the sugar!)
2. Add wet ingredients, and mix until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.
3. Most pancakes recipes say that you should let the batter sit for a while - at least 30 minutes. I usually don't have time for this and just skip this step.
4. Preheat nonstick pan - I flick a drop of water on the pan to tell if it is hot enough. If it sizzles immediately, then it's ready.
5. Cook pancakes until golden brown on each side.
6. Garnish with fresh strawberries, whipped cream, and/or syrup.