I followed the recipe exactly putting in proper amounts and appropriate ingredients but the taste test told me there was something wrong. It was good, but not delicious. It required something else to push it to that level. For our cauliflower soup it was orzo and croutons, the lentil pasta lacked salt, the dessert buffet pie dough needed to be cooked longer. That's what this months play list is all about, recipes that are slightly off, missing something. Big O, here we come:
The croutons pictured at the top can be made by simply taking stale bread (the staler the better) frying it on two sides over olive oil and garlic (until browned) and then topping with salt and pepper. For more specific directions check out How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. After eating these you will never go back to commercialized ones, I swear.
This is the first installment of A Baker's Dozen, a new series on Write.Click.Cook.Listen, in which I interview a Write.Click.Cook.Listen certified artist asking them thirteen questions. Recently I interviewed (via email) a hilarious Swedish band called You Say France & I Whistle (their song When Lovers Die kicked off our June mix).
TB: To start off, could you introduce the members of You Say France & I Whistle?
YSF&IW: Claes: Guitar, vocals, keyboard and percussion. He loves vegetarian food and people who reads a lot of literature. Christian: Bass and laughter. He loves pizza, hamburgers and people who refer to Will Ferrell quotes. Ida: Keyboard, vocals and percussion. She loves children size pizza and sexy people with dancing skills. Patrik: Guitar, vocals, keyboard and percussion. He loves cheese and people who like postmodern cheese... "is that a cheese"? Petter: Drums, vocals. He loves food when he's pleased and in the mood for it. He likes people who are in the mood and pleased with the surroundings.
TB: Where did the inspiration for your band name come from?
YSF&IW: The name is just plain fun and reflects our music.
TB: How did You Say France and I Whistle get its start?
YSF&IW: We came together by the urge of playing music. One knew the other, and two of us bumped in to each other on a Tiger Lou concert in Stockholm, and so on.
TB: How would you describe your bands sound? Are there any bands that have influenced you?
YSF&IW: The keyword to the sound of the band is "playful". We are influenced by a lot of band and artists. To name a few: Arcade Fire, The Cure, Daft Punk, MGMT, Paul Simon. But if we reflect their music, we don't know.
TB: How often does You say France and I whistle perform live? What is the crowd's reaction?
YSF&IW: We play as often as we get the chance. If you don't have seen us live, then you don't really know us. The crowd reaction is instantly dancing.
TB: Do you have a favorite venue to perform at?
YSF&IW: We love the roof of the Culture House in Stockholm. We played there once, and it was good as grandma's chicken salad.
TB: How would you describe the Swedish indie rock scene? Any up and coming bands that we should look out for (other than yourselves)?
YSF&IW: The swedish indie rock scene is pretty lame. Everything that's not considered as mainstream is "indie". And everything that is considered "indie" is often "playing for the galleries", as we say in Sweden. But we would like to name We Got Company and The Dora Steins as two up and coming acts.
TB: What is You Say France & I whistle working on?
YSF&IW: At this time we are making new music. We have about 7 new songs, and they have a Caribbean feeling and more keyboards this time.
TB: What is the songwriting process like for the band?
YSF&IW: We are making it all together. Tossing and turning every detail of the song. It's like the instant democracy in Switzerland (not Sweden).
TB: What has been the most memorable or oddest thing that has occurred at one of your live shows?
YSF&IW: One memorable thing happend when we played in Hultsfred (a small town in southern Sweden). We brought along three big bags of stuffed animals. We decorated the stage with them. Half of them got stolen during the show and a big stuffed animal-fight started. We think it was a lot of inhibited feelings in that town.
TB: What has been the most difficult part of being an independent band?
YSF&IW: The club scene in Stockholm stinks.
TB: Does You Say France and I Whistle get a chance to do any cooking?
YSF&IW: We love to cook! We love the art of speed baking. Our coming music video has some scenes including speed baking. We also love to make ginger bread in the shape of squirrels.
TB: Any unique recipes that you would like to share with the readers?
YSF&IW: Svergiekaka (Swedencookie) is nice. Petters mom use to make it. (A Swedish version of the recipe can be found here. For a roughly translated English one press here.)
TB: Anything else you would like to say?
YSF&IW: A tip: Talk to strangers! In the worst case they will keep on being strangers.
To further investigate You Say France & I Whistle visit their Myspace page here. To purchase their 2008 EP go here. To see their playfulness in action, watch the video.
Yesterday I visited one of Tampa's finest late night food excursions, the Taco Bus. Open until four am, this old school bus turned taco joint shows that late night munchies do not have to be relieved by sub-par vittles. To start off, the manager on duty hooked J-Fur, Heed, and I up with a sample vegetarian creation he had come up with on his own. It was a fresh made tortilla, with cheese, peppers, onions, and cilantro. Not being a big fan of cilantro, I was wary, but tried it anyway. To my delight, it was pretty good. Even better was the tofu burrito I ate. The tofu, according to the manager, is sliced thinly and then basted in a smoked sauce. It is then cooked on a grill until carmelized. The result is a smokey flavored tofu that looks (and tastes) like steak.
Speaking of carmelized, my recipe of the week includes carmelized onions, pizza dough, and cheese. Not quite pizza, we'll call it a tart with pizza characteristics:
Carmelized-Onion Tart with Pizza Characteristics (adapted from Veg Times June 2009) Printable Version
-olive oil -2 large onions -1 tsp. dried thyme, crushed -1/2 tsp. ground black pepper -2 tsp. balsamic vinegar -1 pizza crust (ready to bake works fine or use your favorite recipe) -mozzarella cheese -provolone cheese -10 kalamata olives sliced and pitted
1. Heat the oil in a skillet. Add onions and saute 5 to 7 minutes until softened. Stir in thyme and black pepper, reduce heat, and cook an additional 15 minutes until onions are brown and carmelized. Add vinegar and cook an additional five minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat pizza pan with spray. Press dough into a ten inch circle on pizza pan. Sprinkle part of the mozzarella and provolone on the dough. Top with onions. Then cover the crust with the rest of the cheese and the olives. Bake until crust is golden (around 20 minutes).
Break out the pizza cutter and slice it however you desire. You won't be disappointed.
Hmm...pizza and tacos, tacos and pizza. Where to go with this post now? Only one place: Das Racist and Wallpaper's Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. In no way am I condoning these corporations (let's face it, their food isn't good) but I am condoning this song.
Some things are better not being in a jar like Bonsai Kittens (all the rage in 2001, Bonsai Kittens were a hoax created by MIT students in which kittens were supposedly stuffed into ornamental jars and sold), botulism (a bacteria that can appear on fruits and vegetables during home canning if proper precautions aren't taken) and anything detailed here. Other items like pickles, salsa, and pie are enhanced by spending time enclosed in glass walls. I'm not much of an expert in the field of pickles and salsa (at least as far as this blog entry is concerned) so I'm not going to spend much time addressing their jar experiences. Instead, I'll be focusing on pies. They are three reasons why pies in a jar are superior to their pan counterparts:
*jars act as serving containers so there is no need to go through the difficult process of trying to slice and serve a pie without it falling apart
*they are easy to freeze so there is no reason not to mass produce them
*there is slightly more crust when the pie is placed in a jar so if you love this part of the pie (like I do) then it means more of a good thing.
Pie in a Jar Recipe (adapted from J-Fur's brain because she is the one that throws these beasts down) Printable Version For the Crust: 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon granulated sugar 1 cup cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces 1/4-1/2 cup ice water
Pie Filling: We usually use store bought ones because we have found an excellent sour cherry filling at Sweetbay. But insert whatever filling you enjoy.
Jars: Make sure the jars have straight sides, you don't want them to be narrower at the bottom or the top because that will change the results. Our jars are six ounce Ball brand but I have seen pies made with jars anywhere from 4 oz to 8 oz. If you are planning on freezing them, make sure you have lids for the jars. Wide mouth ones will make the process of stuffing the crust inside much easier.
1. Put flour, salt and sugar in a bowl, blender or food processor. Add butter pieces and blend approximately 10 seconds. You want it to resemble a "coarse meal.
2. Add ice water drop by drop continuing to mix--- you want to the dough to hold together but not be too wet or gummy. Do not mix for more than 30 seconds.
3. Roll dough out on a piece of plastic wrap. Press down slightly. Chill for at least an hour.
4. After the dough has chilled begin filling the jars. The easiest way to do this is to break off little pieces, put them into the jar, and then smash them down until the sides are covered. Allow dough to hang over the sides of the jar.
5. Once the jar is completely covered with crust fill it to about 3/4 an inch below the top. Put on the top layer of crust. Crimp down the excess dough that you left hanging over the side of the jar.
6. Repeat the process until all jars are filled, dough is gone, or filling is exhausted.
7. To bake: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If the pie was frozen, allow it to thaw, remove the lid and bake the bottom crust is brown (usually 20- 25 minutes). Adjust times for non-frozen pies.
Serve with whatever you normally eat pie with. J-Fur likes ice cream, I like mine plain. Additional pie in a jar resources located here and here.
Not sure if Pink Eyes (aka Damian) is a pie fan considering he has pie (or is it pint?) glass stuck in his head, something that socialized health care hasn't been able to remedy, but he certainly howls like it.
I don't like that the video cuts out the chorus, my favorite part of the song, and doesn't include the flute intro. To hear the recorded version click here.
J-fur doesn't do squishy textures in her food. Tofu has to be cooked long and hard, yogurt and pudding avoided completely, and eggs mixed in with something else so that they don't resemble themselves anymore. That means anytime she leaves town I experiment. I grab raw hunks of tofu and stuff them down my throat, smear my face with yogurt, drop scrambled eggs into the couch cushions, or...make bread pudding (gasp!). Thank labor unions (in this sense replacing God) for trips to Oregon and recipes of the week.
Asparagus-Mushroom Bread Pudding (adapted from Veg Times May/June 2009) Printable Recipe
1 leek, finely chopped 1 1 pound loaf of crusty bread cut into small pieces 2 tablespoons olive oil 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 pounds asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces 2 cups white mushrooms, sliced 4 cups skim milk 4 large eggs 2 tablespoons fresh basil 12 ounces of goat cheese
1) Heat oil in skillet. Add leek and garlic and saute until soft. Add asparagus and mushrooms and cook four minutes more, or until asparagus is tender. Set aside.
2) Whisk together milk, eggs,and basil in a bowl. Set aside.
3) Coat baking dish (13x9). Spread half of the bread cubes in single layer. Spoon asparagus mixture over top. Cover with the remaining bread crumbs. Arrange goat cheese in rounds on top. Pour egg over entire baking dish. Press down to make sure bread is completely submerged.
4) Cover and chill for 2 hours, or overnight (I skipped this step my pudding was slightly soggy although this is just what I intended since there was no Jfur).
5) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 45 minutes until or until center is set. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Bread pudding is oftentimes associated with peasantry and poverty because it contains few ingredients (although the goat cheese and asparagus render this version the anti-poverty bread pudding)and uses stale bread which was historically sold at a cheaper rate.
I'm not a big fan of the Fleet Foxes the whole sound like you are singing in a church gets to me. That doesn't mean that I can't appreciate them lyrically or...enjoy their songs when covered by others. First Aid Kit covering Tiger Mountain Peasant Song.
Adjust your black frames, zip up your jumpsuits, pull your ironic trucker hats low enough to cover your eyes, put the PBR on ice, and let your old school pumas fell the fixed gear pedals beneath your feet. Its time to make the population of Manchester, Tennessee swell from a modest 8,000 to an enormous 100,000+. Its time for Bonnaroo.
I am beginning my trek today but unlike some of my friends who are moving northward toward Manchester, I am heading south to the Florida Keys. We'll all be doing the same things (enjoying music, pointing at people and laughing, camping, not showering) just in different ways. I prefer small crowds where I know everyone, the music lasts all night long, my favorite bands can play for hours instead of rushing through a set, and, this is the big one, I don't have to shell out a couple hundred dollars. Don't get me wrong, I'd enjoy being at Bonnaroo, it just isn't feasible at this time.
Aside from celebrating the music that will be playing this weekend the point of this post is to make a few suggestions to those of you that will be in attendance. It won't be an all encompassing list, my friend BTreotch has already taken care of that at his blog, just a few simple tips. First, drink lots of water to stay hydrated, you don't want to be that guy or girl that passed out in the middle of Animal Collective's amazing, indie rock changing, set. Also remember the importance of good food. Sandwiches are easy to carry and store until you need them (like after the Yeah Yeah Yeahs judo chop you upside the eardrums). If you are sick and tired of PB&J (that's peanut butter and jelly not Peter Bjorn and John) let me suggest this piece of carbohydrate heaven:
Mediterranean Bonnaroo Sandwich (tastes good cold, better pressed) As seen in Veg Times July/August 2008 Printable Recipe
1 small eggplant, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices 1 small zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices 1 small yellow squash, cut length-wise into 1/4-inch slices 1 large loaf ciabatta bread, halved 1/3 cup prepared pesto 1/3 cup prepared tapenade 2 jarred roasted red peppers, sliced 1 8-oz. pkg. fresh mozzarella, drained and sliced 2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
1.If heating: Heat grill pan or grill to medium-high heat. Brush eggplant, zucchini, and yellow squash with 2 Tbs. olive oil, and grill 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until charred and softened. Transfer to plate.
2.Hollow inside of bread to make room for vegetables. Spread pesto on one side of bread. Spread tapenade on other side of bread.
3. Layer eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, roasted red peppers, and mozzarella on one side of bread. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and remaining 1 Tbs. olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Press top and bottom of sandwich together, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Optional: Place on baking sheet, and weigh down with heavy skillet or two large cans. Refrigerate 2 hours or overnight. Unwrap before slicing and serving.
The most important part of Bonnaroo...find Elisa, she gives the best French manicures this side of Aquitaine.
I had shown up to a gun fight armed with a swift kick in the groin or, more appropriately, I joined a tackle football game, and was the one on the bottom of the pile checking to see if my counterpart was really wearing his cup. This is the best way to describe the chili cook off I entered on the Friday before the Super Bowl. All around me were crock pots simmering with vennison, chorizo, beef, and prosciutto. When I laid my okra laden entrant down tasters stared at me like I had broken into my friends house, invited two lady friends, dead bolted the door, shed my fake eyelashes in the sink, and then played forbidden games on the astro-turf. I met each of their eyes and nodded as if to say, yes, I truly did enter simply to lose. What they didn't know is that I would gain a small amount of revenge during this unfair competition, after all okra contains trace amounts of gossypol, a chemical that has been tested as a male oral contraceptive. I may be on my way down, but so were they.
I hadn't eaten okra before I ventured south to Florida, five years ago. I was introduced to the wonderful plant and now I eat it at least once a month. This month I decided to try it a little differently. I'd eaten it in chili, African Stews, gumbo, and on nachos, but I had never fried it up. This week's recipe of the week:
2 cups cornmeal 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. ground black pepper 1/2 tsp. paprika 1 large egg 1 lb. fresh okra or 1 16-oz. pkg. frozen okra, thawed
1. Preheat oven to 400F. Coat baking pan with cooking spray.
2. Combine cornmeal, salt, pepper and paprika in bowl.
3. Whisk egg in separate bowl. Dip okra in egg, then in cornmeal mixture. Work in batches to prevent clumping.
4. Spread okra on prepared pan. Roast 30 to 35 minutes, or until crisp and lightly browned, shaking pan occasionally. Remove from pan with slotted spoon, and serve hot.
Simple. Easy. Southern.
For my SAT takers out there, Gossypol is to okra as gospel is to ________. I'll go with The Welcome Wagon (sorry, it's only half the song).
I followed the recipe exactly putting in proper amounts and appropriate ingredients but the taste test told me there was something wrong. It was good, but not delicious. It required something else to push it to that level. For our cauliflower soup it was orzo and croutons, the lentil pasta lacked salt, the dessert buffet pie dough needed to be cooked longer. That's what this months play list is all about, recipes that are slightly off, missing something. Big O, here we come:
