i wanna marry my slow cooker

i'm in love with my slow cooker. was it love at first sight? i'll admit it wasn't. as with all good relationships, we started out as just friends, but then i discovered something about my slow cooker and i realized that the fondness i felt towards it had suddenly turned into a deep, deep love.

it can make caramelized onions.

of course, i don't actually want to *marry* my slow cooker. i mean...c'monnnnnn....it's a slow cooker. a kitchen appliance. it can't love me back, right? (...right?) and besides, i'm already married. to a wonderful guy. who may or may not be able to make caramelized onions.

hmm.

ok, moving on.

all right, people, obviously i don't really love my slow cooker *in that way*. and obviously, i love kevin even though he can't, as a matter of fact, make caramelized onions. but i do love that my slow cooker can make with relative ease (although it does take a lot longer) one of the few things that i absolutely CANNOT STAND COOKING but yet LOVE TO EAT. seriously, i can't really think of anything else that i wish i didn't totally loathe making. if any of you have ever made caramelized onions, i'm pretty sure you feel exactly the same way i do. and if you don't, then it's because you are an abnormally patient person. who also obviously needs to get more of a life. or lay off your bong.

anyhoo, one of our favorite dishes at the "froon" household is french onion soup. i didn't make it all that often b/c, like i said, those onions are pretty freaking annoying to make (although now that i know my slow cooker can make them instead, that's definitely going to change). i mean, all that standing and stirring, standing and stirring. *yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn* dudes, i got better things to do. like.... well.... hmmm.... i'll come up with something, just give me a minute [to make something up].

in the meanwhile, below is the recipe. as you can see, making french onion soup takes time, but if you have a slow cooker, it'll do all the heavy lifting. because it loves you. i'm sure of it. ;)

French Onion Soup
3 lbs sweet onions, halved and thinly sliced lengthwise
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp salt
2 tsp unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dry red wine
4 cups beef stock
1 1/2 cups water
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 lb of Gruyère cheese, coarsely grated
4 1-inch thick pieces of day-old baguette*

Combine butter, onions, and salt in slow cooker. Cover and cook for 2 hours on high heat, stirring occasionally. Then cook for 2 hours on low, or until onions are evenly caramelized, stirring occasionally. At this point, you can transfer the onions to a pot on the stovetop or continue making the soup in the slow cooker. Stovetop takes a half hour, in the slow cooker, another 2 hours.

Stir in flour until well incorporated, about 1 minute. Add wine, water, stock, bay leaf, thyme, and pepper. On the stovetop: simmer for 30 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally. In slow cooker: cook on low for 2 hours.

Place each slice of bread into 4, 8-10 oz flameproof soup crocks or ramekins. Ladle soup into each bowl, and then top with cheese. Place bowls on a rimmed baking sheet and broil 4-5" from heat until cheese is melted and bubbly (~2 minutes). Serve immediately, but be careful, the soup bowls will be HOT!

*If you all you have is fresh baguette (sheesh), you can dry the bread out in a 350 degree oven. Place bread slices in single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes on each side.

mission totally possible: dinner in 25 minutes

my friend lyd told me this weekend that i was doing a great job making people think that "eating sustainably" was hard work.

*whoopsie*

that's actually the exact opposite of what i'm trying to do, so to that end, tonight i'm posting a recipe where you can make a very tasty dinner in 25 minutes, including prep time. for reals!

and any leftovers you may have are great even if you eat it cold. (which i did today, when i had it for lunch.)

Asparagus & Leek Soup
1 pound asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 medium leeks, white and pale green parts only, finely chopped and washed well
1 garlic clove, chopped finely
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup sour cream
salt and white pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add leek and garlic and cook until the leek is softened, stirring occasionally. Add asparagus and broth, and simmer, covered, until the asparagus is very tender, about 10 minutes. Using an immersion blender, purée the asparagus mixture in pan until smooth. Add sourcream and purée until fully incorporated, then add salt and pepper to taste.

I served this with a grilled-cheese sandwich (you can start it while you wait for the asparagus to cook), so the soup serves 4. If you're going to just have soup, then serves 2. Recipe for my most favorite way of making grilled cheese is below (lightly buttery, cheesy, crispy goodness).


Caroline's Favorite "Grilled Cheese" Sandwich
4 slices bread from country loaf
4 slices extra sharp cheddar cheese
2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

Toast bread in toaster oven on light setting. Spread half tbsp butter and place slice of cheese on each slice of bread. Toast again until cheese is bubbling. Assemble sandwiches, cut in half diagonally, and serve immediately. Serves 4.

(If your toaster oven isn't big enough for all 4 slices, you can do this in the oven: Preheat to 425 deg. Toast bread for 5-7 minutes. Spread half tbsp butter and place slice of cheese on each slice of bread. Toast for 5 minutes longer, or until cheese is bubbling. Assemble sandwiches, cut in half diagonally, and serve immediately. Serves 4.)

who moved my cheese?!?! oh wait, *i* did!

today i went with my friend katie to the artisan cheese festival in petaluma, ca. this was right up my alley as i [heart] cheese and 10% of the proceeds of the festival goes to helping to protect lands for pasturing goats, sheep, and cows.

strangely, this event was at a sheraton hotel...not exactly the place i would think a cheese festival would be. then again, i imagined a cheese festival would be most appropriate on an open pasture, where we would be surrounded by goats or sheep idyllically making goat or sheep noises (respectively, of course) while we all admired them from up close... aaaaaand, this is why someone like me isn't in charge of setting up events like this. obviously, having any sort of anything near farm animals and well, farm animal poopy, is a patently bad idea. [question: "what do you think of our award winning wine?" more than likely response: "hmmm, smells slightly of cherries, vanilla, and oak...but mostly i smell cow pie."]

on saturday night, i remembered that daylight savings time started the next day. i then moronically forgot to carry the thought out by changing my clock. so, today started with my waking up an hour later than i actually wanted to (which, btw, was still a good 2 hours or so earlier than i normally get up on sundays, so :P). my grand-master plan to wake up and make buttermilk biscuit breakfast sandwiches went out the window with an unceremonious and unladylike: "what the --...oh $%&&&&&&&&&&&&#!!!" (followed by frantic text messaging to katie informing her of aforementioned bonehead move.)

i got ready as quickly as i could (midway, i realized not only had i somehow completely forgotten to shower on saturday, but also that i wouldn't be able to correct this most unfortunate oversight until after the cheese festival. ...there's a joke in there, right?) and drove to katie's house. when she opened the door, i was greeted by a mirror image of me. and by that, i don't mean katie somehow had turned from a tall scandinavian blond into a *not-tall* (unshowered) korean girl with a large asian head. no, what i mean by "mirror image" is she was wearing exactly the same colors i was: bright green top and navy pants. how does something like that even happen? and you want to hear something even more disturbing? [dramatic pause] SHE WOULDN'T CHANGE HER CLOTHES! i know, f-ed up, right? peeps were going to think we were "booth chicks." or, worse still (but much, much closer to the truth): weirdos.

at any rate, brain farts and stubborn refusals aside, we still got to the cheese festival right at the beginning. we had bought our tickets ahead of time, so we stood in the "pre-registered" line to pick them up. now, i don't know about you, but i would assume that if you've taken the time to make sure you get to stand in the "pre-registered" line, you're supposed to get a leg up on riff-raff who are "walk ups"... well, let's just say for next year, i'll be perfectly fine being "riff-raff" and leave it at that.

once we got our "fast-track" tickets (ahem), our personal 3-hour cheesefest began. and it turned out it was actually a good thing that we hadn't had much in the way of breakfast. there were 26 cheesemakers (you can check out the entire list here), 8 wineries, and 4 breweries. and they all really really wanted you to try their generous samples, and we were more than happy to oblige them. below is the stuff i liked; i was able to buy everything except the wine and beer - for whatever reason, they weren't for sale today. yeah exactly: big-time buzzkill (and i had a really good one going, too, by the end ;).

alcohol heisman aside, this was a great way to spend a sunday afternoon; it was 70 degrees, sunny, and filled with cheeeeeeeese, glorious cheese!*

cheeses:
beechers flagship cheese (a mix btwn gruyere and cheddar; can you say "mac & cheese"?!)
cypress grove truffle tremor (goat cheese. AMAZING)
la clarine sierra mountain tomme (goat cheese. yum)
cowgirl creamery mt. tam (cow's milk triple cream)

butter:
spring hill organic butter (taaaasty)
clover farmstead organic butter (comes in a cute crock...i'm such a sucker for packaging)

artisan foods:
della fattoria panforte (snack-time treat!)
claire's squares flapjacks (crispy, toffee-oaty goodness)
the girl and the fig black mission fig jam (tastes like pure fresh figs)

wine:
keller estate (always been a fan of their pinot; finally bit the bullet and signed up for the wine club)
black kite cellars (pinot)

breweries:
lagunitas brewing saison ale
russian river brewing damnation
marin brewing company mt. tam pale ale (i think...not positive it was this one)


*cheese commercial jingle from the 80's
cheese, glorious cheese,
so sumptuous and lucious!
cheese, marvelous cheese,
makes everything scrumptious!
what else is so versatile?
real cheese is always a hit!
it's cheese: marvelous cheese,
versatile cheeeeeeeeese,
glorious cheeeeeeeeeeese!!!!!!

michael pollan looks like larry david. for serious.

i got a chance to see michael pollan in person tonight! he gave a talk at uc berkeley, where he's a professor @ the journalism school, about his newest book, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. (thanks, alicia, for telling me about it!)

the first thing i noticed was, if you looked around at the audience (which i did many times while we waited for the talk to start), you would have realized mp's fan base (at least at this particular shindig) skewed old. like...yo' mama old. like, i was younger by some of these people by at least 30 years (and no, i'm not 5 ;). which is completely fine. just a bit disappointing, i guess, that more people my age (early 30s, if you were wondering) aren't into what michael pollan advocates. now, granted, mixed in with this older crowd were some 18-25 year olds, but after all, we were on a *college campus* at a completely FREE event. (ergo, mean age = 40; median age = 60)

if you read his book before going to the event (which i had), you wouldn't have heard anything really new: mostly everything he talked about was just a rehash of the book. which was also completely fine, since the reason i wanted to go was to get the chance to see what the person who wrote the book that changed my food life is like. what i learned was that michael pollan is not only well spoken (which i expected), but also seems to have a decent sense of humor. (then again, for all i know he's a raging egotist with a fantastic public persona ;)

he also looks a lot like larry david. for reals.

check it out, tell me what you think:

seriously, let me know if you see it, too. now, michael pollan is taller and thinner than larry david, so i'm not saying they're identical twins, but there was definitely a resemblance. at least, alicia's "husband" (maybe one day i'll get around to telling you why that's in quotes) aaron agreed he saw some similarities. but then again, maybe he was just humoring me...who knows...he does that a lot.

i'm also not saying michael pollan sounds or acts like larry david; if anything mp seems to be the complete opposite: rational, articulate....likeable... (sorry, but i think larry david is waaaaaaay annoying.)

in fact, to be honest, after the talk i realized i sorta wanted to stick around afterwards so i could get my copy of In Defense of Food signed (the book signing was part of the event), but 1) i didn't *bring* my copy b/c i had decided beforehand that it was dorky (and i wasn't about to buy another one there just for the sake of getting it signed; i mean i like his stuff, but not that much); 2) i still thought it was pretty dorky and couldn't get over it all the way no matter how much i enjoyed the talk; and 3) i could only imagine what the line looked like, and i really hate standing in line. i mean really really hate it. reeeeeally hate it.

the one thing i would have liked to have asked mp about how much a factor does he think exercise (or rather, lack thereof) has played in the current health pandemic?

cars, computers, video games, etc. etc. - all of these things (and more that i've obv forgotten) have made us, especially americans, lazier and lazier...and fatter and fatter. [my friend nicolas believes humans will one day evolve into cube shapes, as we'll use our arms and legs less and less frequently until they become vestigal...] remember how as kids (at least, if you were a kid when i was a kid) we would FOR FUN do things like jump rope, ride our bikes, play tag, and in general run around and get, well...exercise? today, a lot of kids seem to stay indoors and play video games and/or surf the interwebs. doesn't this lack of exercise play a significant factor to the current obesity/health problem? i'm not saying diet isn't one of the biggest factor (i've changed the way i eat, haven't i?), but not nearly 100%.

i imagine neanderthals probably "exercised" a LOT, whether it was from running *away* from something to stay alive, or running *toward* something to kill it to eat it to stay alive. compare that to what we do now, and it's no wonder our bodies don't know what to do with all the calories, processed or not. mp only superficially mentions it in his books, and never mentioned it once tonight. not a big deal, but it was just something i would have liked to have asked him.

anyway, i digress. bottom line is i had a good time and i'm glad i had the chance to see michael pollan speak in person.

un-f-up-able (ineffable?) roast chicken

for the last 3 weeks, i've roasted a chicken on sunday nights. the first weekend, we had it for dinner (with herbed red potatoes and sugar snap peas); these past two weekends, i've used the chicken during the week for lunch (sandwiches, salads, etc.) and for dinner (pot pie, enchiladas, panini). all 3 times, i've used the leftover carcass (with wings still attached... imo, wings don't have enough meat to make it worthwhile to wrestle off) to make stock.

i brine it overnight with whatever i happen to have on hand, which works out well when there are random extras (e.g., kumquats...don't ask - an "impulse" buy at the farmer's market. no, i *said* don't ask.) that i'm not sure what to do with. i then roast it with a cut up lemon (or, um, kumquats like i did this past weekend...no, DON'T!) tucked inside. brining pretty much not only guarantees you can't f*** up the chicken, but it also gives it great flavor. recipe is below.

feel free to have fun with what you put into the brine. like i said, i just throw in whatever "aromatics" i think might make the meat tasty. this also works really well with turkey (you just need to make ~4x more of it and use a bucket [i'm serious! i have one expressly for turkey brining. ok, i'm kidding, not like that one; like this one.] instead of a large bowl).

Caroline's Favorite Honey-Brined Roast Chicken
1 chicken (i usually get one that's just under 4 lbs)
1 quart hot water
1 quart cold water
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup honey (or sometimes i use dark brown sugar)
1 lemon, quartered
1 small onion, peeled and quartered
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed with flat of knife
1-2 sprigs thyme
1-2 sprigs rosemary
handful of whole rainbow peppercorns

1 lemon, quartered
1 small onion, peeled and quartered
2 tbsp olive oil

Rinse chicken and place in bowl large enough to hold both it and 2 quarts of water (remember the chicken displaces the water, so make sure the bowl is big enough). Add quart of cold water to bowl. In quart of hot water, add honey and salt; stir until completely dissolved. Add this brine to bowl. Place rest of the ingredients into bowl, squeezing lemon quarters before adding to brine. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 450 deg. Remove chicken from brine (discard brine) and pat dry. Place in small roasting pan (I actually use an Emile Henry oval baker; it fits perfectly and cleanup is really easy.); squeeze lemon juice and place lemon rinds and onion into chicken cavity. Tie legs together and tuck wing tips under to prevent scorching. Drizzle olive oil and rub evenly over whole chicken (although don't worry about the underside).

Roast chicken for half hour at 450 deg. Reduce heat to 375 deg and bake until thickest part of thigh reaches 170 deg. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes if serving right away, or let cool completely and then take apart (as this is a good way to avoid working with super hot chicken that burns burns burns). Serves 4.

grass-fed corned beef sure is diff'rnt

tonight for dinner we had corned beef from marin sun farms. they raise their cattle on mostly grass, which apparently results in pretty lean beef. i can't speak for every other cut msf has since this is my first time eating any of their beef, but i can say this: pastured corned beef is definitely different than grain-fed corned beef. at least in the [giganto-'cuz-there-are-only-two-of-us] piece that i bought this past saturday at the sf farmer's market. specifically, there was NO fat on it. none, zero, nada, nil, zilch. are you sensing a theme here? if not, feel free to let me know ;)

to be honest, i actually enjoy a little fat on my corned beef; i think it's pretty deeeelish. (ok, you all can stop with the disgusted noises! hello, i'm RIGHT HERE and i can HEAR YOU.) that aside, the beef was pretty darn tasty. it was extremely lean, and the texture was a bit different than i'm used to: it had a little bit more of a...grained...feel to it? i'm not really sure how to describe it. all i can say is this was a *solid* piece of beef. and by that, i don't just mean it tasted "solidly good"; i mean it was *all* beef. (you know how corned beef has that stringy connective tissue or something in it...this piece didn't have any.) i think they may not put insta cure into their brine, 'cuz the meat didn't stay pink, but to be honest, i'm not 100% sure.

i made it "irish style," meaning with cabbage, carrots, potatoes, and...beer. mmmmmmm, beer. i served it with some slices of grilled country bread, which was a nice contrast to the super-tender beef. there were plenty of leftovers, meaning for lunch, i can look forward to a corned beef sandwich! i'll have to find me some organic rye bread, first, though. yum yum yum. recipe below.

(oh CRAP! i just realized i forgot to serve the beef with the sierra nevada stout mustard i bought expressly for this dinner! #$%^!!! $+*@!!! [yes, that's two different 4-letter words] arrrrrgh, i hate it when i do that!!!!

hey, so when you make yours, don't forget to put out the mustard like i just did. and if you happen to make it soon, lmk, 'cuz...i, uh...*just happen to have* some brand-new, never-opened mustard that would go great with it that i would gladly give you.)

Corned Beef & Cabbage
3 lbs corned beef
2 1/2 lbs small red potatoes, cut in half
4 large carrots, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
2 yellow onions, quartered
1 cabbage, cored, cut crosswise and quartered
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 cups water
1 bottle Sierra Nevada stout

Place everything in slow cooker, cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours until meat is very tender. Discard the bay leaf. Thinly slice beef; divide beef and vegetables into shallow bowls, and ladle broth from slow cooker into each. Serve with a stout mustard and crusty bread. Serves 6.

mint (too many?) chocolate-chip ice cream

well, the ice cream came out pretty well, except for the fact that - and i didn't think this was possible until today - it has too many chocolate chips in it. live and learn. it could have been worse, and had too FEW chocolate chips in it. [*shudder*]

at any rate, we now have about a half gallon of organic, raw-milk ice cream. (crikey) turns out ice cream is actually really easy to make, so i'm looking forward to trying out lots of other recipes. for this batch, i used organic pastures raw whole milk, straus family creamery organic heavy cream, marin sun farms pastured eggs, jacobs farm organic peppermint, and scharffen berger bittersweet chocolate.

[btw, it was pretty cute. kevin was super interested to witness the ice cream churning ("don't start without meeeeeeee!") ...sorta like a little kid...ok, FINE, yes, i was pretty fascinated with it, too.

picture this: two adults side by side in the kitchen hovering over the ice cream maker, intently staring at it for about 20 solid minutes while it did its thing... yikes...we need to get out more...]

recipe below. (and yes, adjusted to reflect there's too much chocolate in my batch.) fyi, the custard will taste a lot sweeter than you may like before you turn it into ice cream, but don't worry, it'll taste less sweet once it's frozen.

Peppermint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
10 medium egg yolks
1 cup sugar
2 cups whole milk
3 cups loosely packed fresh peppermint leaves, patted dry and chopped coarsely
2 cups heavy cream
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Ice cream maker

In large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and 2/3 cup sugar.

In heavy medium saucepan add milk, 1 cup of the heavy cream, the remaining 1/3 cup sugar, and the mint leaves. Heat over medium heat until mixture is steaming hot (just before it starts simmering). Remove from heat.

Temper yolks by slowly whisking in about a 1/2 cup of the hot milk. Make sure to whisk constantly to prevent yolks from scrambling. Once tempered, slowly whisk the yolk mixture back into the rest of the hot milk, whisking constantly. Over low heat, cook custard until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon - make sure to stir constantly - about 5 minutes (don't let it boil, or the custard will curdle).

Strain custard through fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl; press on and discard the solids. Whisk in the rest of the heavy cream; cover and chill until cold, at least 8 hours.

Churn custard in ice cream maker; add chocolate during the last minute. Transfer to airtight container and freeze until hard, about 2 hours. Yields about 2 quarts.