Viva Daisy! with Daisy Martinez
Popi's Steak and Potatoes
Grilled Skirt Steak (Churrasco)
Coconut Panna Cotta With Tropical Fruit
Potato-Egg Salad
Rachael Ray is producing a new Latin cooking show for the Food Network. Could this be because she realizes that the current one is so poor? It’s the first non-Rach show from her production company. This could be a really good thing if it gets her out of the kitchen. Let’s just hope the talent, in this case Daisy Martinez, knows more about cooking than her producing partner.
Daisy starts off sitting on the front of a huge fire engine in the same firehouse where her father worked when she was a little girl. Today, she’s cooking for him. Nice food shots in the beginning segment. And I LOVE her necklace. It’s a more elaborate version of Giada’s circles.
She’s doing “Argentina” food today. She kind of has a Bronx accent (remember that’s my homeland), and her Spanish seems impeccable.
She starts by measuring a tablespoon of gelatin for a Coconut Panna Cotta. Wait a sec, why is she doing that? A packet of gelatin IS 1 tablespoon. Actually, it’s a fraction less, but it’s fine to consider it a tablespoon.
I also don’t like how she’s dealing with the gelatin. She’s STIRRING it into 3 tablespoons of water, getting a lot of it on the sides of the little bowl. I like to sprinkle the gelatin over the top of the water slowly and carefully, trying not to get any on the sides. You shouldn’t even need to stir it for it to dissolve. Every bit you lose on the spoon or on the sides of the bowl is a bit you DON’T have to thicken your mixture.
Daisy tells us that the food of Argentina has a lot of European influences. She was surprised by how much Italian and German food there was there. She opens a can of cream of coconut and a can of coconut milk and adds them to a saucepan. (As far as I know, neither of those items is Italian or German.) She heats them up gently, whisking, until they just begin to simmer. Daisy whisks in the gelatin until it’s completely dissolved and pours it into a bowl. I would absolutely have strained it into the bowl, just to make sure there are no stringy bits of gelatin. She stirs in a pint of heavy cream.
I just checked the recipe and it does say to strain the mixture. Score one for me! AND it has a ¼ cup of powdered sugar added at the same time as the cream. I don’t know which recipe is more reliable - the written one or the one she did on the air. I guess just taste the mixture after you add the cream and if you feel it needs sugar, go for it.
It’s kind of annoying to have to second guess it and not a great way to start a relationship with viewers. But I’m guessing that has nothing to do with Daisy herself, so I’ll try not to hold a grudge.
Just an aside about the FN website. It continues to annoy me. I know various folks have commented, telling me ways to get to specific recipes on that only take 15 clicks instead of 25, but really!!! The people that developed the Food Network website are idiots. Well, maybe they aren’t personally, but their work is idiotic. It is NOT easy to get around on; to get to one thing from another thing; or to get ANYWHERE easily. It is an abomination. I’m not a COMPLETE beginner on navigating websites. (Kids, keep your stories to yourselves!) I’ve said before that I pride myself on finding anything, anywhere, but this is so frustrating that many times I just google the host’s name and the recipe and get there THAT way. (A tip from a reader.) See? I’m all huffy puffy from just wanting to take a quick glance at Daisy’s recipe, as I watch her show. It should be easy. It should be encouraged and not be an exercise in futility with pop-ups and annoying videos every 2 seconds. Why can’t they be like Microsoft and just admit that it doesn’t work? I sure hope for their sake the check wasn’t already cashed by the brilliant consultants that came up with this website redesign.
Sorry Daisy, they’re not doing you any favors over there at the FN, by making it impossible to find your recipes. BTW, I managed to find her bio (finally) and she’s from Brooklyn. Same difference.
Daisy stirs the panna cotta mixture over a ice bath until it starts to thicken up and then ladles it into Fiesta ramekins. She chills them for 4 hours but she doesn’t want them to get SO chilled that they start to clump. Huh? Maybe she means to take the mixture off the ice before it starts to clump. I’m confused.
For her potatoes and egg salad, she places her eggs into a pan of water, and after the water comes to the boil, she cooks the eggs for exactly 10 minutes.
Sorry, but I have my own egg boiling method, and good reasons for it. The time it takes water to get to the boil varies by stove, by amount of water, by pot material, by number of eggs in the pot and by the temperature of the eggs. In other words, there are too many variations which make that a very inexact way to boil eggs.
By starting them in boiling water, you’re cutting down on a lot of those variations and it’s easier to replicate the results each time you make them.
It’s easy – Boil a pot of water. Add the eggs with a slotted spoon. Add a splash of white vinegar (which will set any whites instantly, if the shell has cracked) and bring back to the boil. Boil for exactly 11 minutes. Plunge the eggs into a bowl of ice and water and, voila, you have beautifully boiled eggs with nary a hint of nasty grey or green.
Daisy IS bringing up a lot of issues and she’s only been on for 7 minutes. She peels and dices the potatoes. Sorry, there is just one other little thing here. I hate to be annoying, but…I like to cut the ENDS of the potatoes, or really ANY vegetable or fruit before peeling. It makes it much easier to peel right up to the end of the vegetable, instead of having to go around the South Pole and dig out the peeler and start again at the North Pole.
Daisy likes to use a waxy potato, which she also describes as Eastern. I have no idea what that means, unless she’s discriminating against Idaho potatoes. But then she said she likes baking potatoes (but not floury ones) for this. This is rather confusing…just use whatever you usually do for potato salad, Yukon gold or whatever.
An old fashioned timer goes off. Daisy fills a pot with cold water. She takes out the eggs and loosens the shells by rolling them on the counter. Daisy says it’s much easier to do this right after cooking and then the shells will come right off when you need to peel them. THAT is an excellent idea. She adds them to the cold water.
Daisy’s been boiling the potato pieces for 10 minutes. She checks them by inserting the point of a paring knife. I like Ina’s trick of taking them off the heat JUST before they’re done. Then the Barefoot Contessa drains them in a colander and covers them with a dish towel to finish cooking gently by steaming.
Daisy’s potatoes do look nice. She scoops them into a bowl and sprinkles them with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. (We learn the pepper grinder is her favorite kitchen gadget.) A little vinegar and olive oil goes over while they’re hot. Daisy adds some freshly chopped chives to add “a nice onion note”.
She takes out skirt steak and tells us to trim off the silver skin. Daisy says it doesn’t make sense to spend all that money on the steak and then leave all that tough stuff on.
She makes a big deal of washing her cutting board. How about having separate ones for meat and vegetables? She sprinkles salt over the meat, then pepper and a little onion powder. D repeats the seasoning for the other side, adding a little vinegar and a drizzle of olive oil. She sets them aside for 30 minutes.
I like to marinate steak in vinegar too. I like the flavor and the acid breaks down the fibers and tenderizes it.
Okay, this is confusing. There was just a commercial that said the Barefoot Contessa was coming back next Saturday. What have we been watching? I guess The Barefoot Contessa - Back To Basics is different. I dunno…and I'm certainly not venturing onto the website to check it out.
Daisy gets ready to cook the steak. The grill is HOT!!!, she says. She puts the steaks on the grill and loves the smell. “Daisy’s happy”. She peels the eggs.
She cooks the steak for 4 minutes on the first side 3 minutes on the other. She reminds us to have really good ventilation and she says whenever you cook for a fireman (her dad), there’s bound to be smoke.
She pats the eggs dry and quarters them. They do look perfectly cooked. She sprinkles over something olive green and old looking. The chives, maybe?
She turns over the steaks. Daisy drains jarred red peppers on paper towels and cuts them in largish pieces. It looks pretty, but I hate commercial roasted peppers in that nasty briny stuff. Homemade ones are the way to go.
Daisy tells us the trick of testing the meat by comparing it to how the skin between your thumb and forefinger feels. That’s a trick I know and use.
To finish off the dessert, Daisy takes half a papaya from the fridge and grabs several kiwis. She cuts the ends off the kiwis first (yay, just like I do) and then cuts off the skin.
She removes the steaks and lets them rest on her board. She mentions when she and Jerry go on vacation he always has papaya, which is served with a squeeze of lime. Who’s Jerry and what wonderful place are they going that has papayas?
Daisy dices the papaya and starts a chimichurri sauce. (Interestingly, the February cover recipe of Bon Appétit is Grass-Fed Steaks with Kalamata-Olive Chimichurri. I LOVE the idea of adding olives. It makes it tapenade-y, which could never be bad, unless, of course, you have the misfortune to be an olive hater.)
For her Chimichurri Sauce, Daisy pulses 2 cups of chopped parsley and 2 garlic cloves in the food processor. She leaves the texture pretty coarse. She puts it in a bowl and whisks in red wine vinegar, salt, pepper and some olive oil. She adds red pepper “seed’. I don’t know what that it. The recipe says flakes.
Daisy slices the skirt steak into nice and pink slices. She puts it on a red platter and then drizzles on some of the chimichurri.
She brings the platter to the table with lots of family waiting. Dad, the firefighter and her cute preteen daughter are there. I’m guessing Jerry is her husband. They like the steak. I wonder how much she had to bribe her daughter to eat red meat. Teen girls, in my experience, seem to eschew it.
Daisy comes back to the kitchen and unmolds the panna cotta onto Fiesta plates. She garnishes the fruit. Oh, there’s mom too.
The credits include the producers – Rachael, her hubby and Daisy herself. This was an okay show. Obviously, Daisy knows what she’s doing. I like her manner. She’s good in front of the camera. And she’s got great hair and her makeup is good too, but I’d like the food to be a bit more exciting and more about HER. Tyler did a Puerto Rican menu just before Daisy’s show and he was so thrilled with his pork that I thought he was going to take a bath in it.
I LIKE her, but I’d like to REALLY like her. I’m sorry I never saw her shows on PBS. How about a segment with the daughter and have her complaining that her mom bosses her around too much? Oh wait, could I be talking about MY daughter and how everyone runs out of the kitchen when I come into it.
Perhaps Daisy is just a lovely, calm, nice person, who cooks well and has a wonderful family who actually appreciates her. Let’s have a bit more exuberance and Daisy will do just fine.
Showing posts with label Hard Boiled Eggs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hard Boiled Eggs. Show all posts
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
A Lot Of Butter, A Lot Of Breakfast, A Lot of Lovin’ – It’s The Neelys
Down Home With The Neelys
Sunday Sleep In
Breakfast Trifle Grits
Nana's Cinnamon Rolls
Buttermilk Waffles with Homemade Strawberry Sauce
Lazy Sunday Mimosa
Two words about The Neelys: They actually cooked everything FROM SCRATCH this week. THIS is what they should have been doing from the beginning. I'm not saying it's healthy or even stuff that I would make. But, at least, we're learning about their cooking traditions without the reliance on boxes and pouches (except the one you get after breakfast at their house).
Gina starts the cinnamon rolls before Pat gets up. She doesn’t get very far, before he comes bounding into the kitchen, greeting her warmly. You may think their lovey-dovey shtick is over the top, but I'd like a little of what's he's serving. (Would it get annoying, though? I wouldn’t mind finding out.)
They proceed with the dough, using the dough hook in the mixer. Gina reminds us to use warm water with the yeast, saying, "Nothing cold activates anything”. Pat, down boy. The dough is very sticky, but between the two of them, they get it all mixed and kneaded and sitting in a bowl to rise.
To make the rolls, Gina sprinkles flour on the board, dough and rolling pin. Pat rolls it out and they both stretch it even thinner. They brush 1 stick of melted butter over and sprinkle over 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 1/4 cup pecans and raisins if you with.
I would have mixed those ingredients together and then put them over the dough to avoid a glut of cinnamon in one bite and not enough sugar in another.
They roll it up from the long ends. They cut the ends off and cut it into 8 sections. The rolls go onto a buttered baking dish. They let it rise one hour. Now that's a good all-purpose homemade cinnamon roll recipe with nary a dough boy in sight (except Pat, just kidding...sort of).
They get to work making waffles. They separate 3 eggs and Gina beats them until stiff. Pat melts copious amounts of butter and mixes it with buttermilk and vanilla. The wet gets mixed with dry ingredients. They make rather short shrift of the waffles, so we never actually see Pat making them. Who knows if it took him 15 batches to get those perfect waffles or if he did it right the first time?
The cinnamon rolls go into the oven to bake. The waffles (finished during the commercial, outside of our prying eyes) go into the oven to stay warm (the SAME oven? That’s kinda hot).
Pat and Gina slice up strawberries for a strawberry sauce. They get mixed with sugar and lemon zest and brought to the simmer with a bit of cornstarch.
Pat starts on a recipe that I've never encountered before. It's a kind of trifle made with grits, eggs and sausage. Gina's family always made it with scrambled eggs; Pat's with hardboiled eggs. (I like the sound of Gina's more.)
Pat uses quick cooking grits. I give him a pass for that, because they are making quite a few things for breakfast. But, for all you grit aficionados, tell me if that’s sacrilege. He adds ½ cup of the quick stuff to 2 cups of boiling water.
He seasons with salt and pepper and one of them says (don’t ask me which one. As our daughter says about H and me, when we independently lecture her on the same subject - we share a brain), “Here in the south, we love butter in our grits”. Frankly, although I know there are exceptions, THERE in the south is the only place they eat grits…Now don’t be telling me about your grandmother in Milwaukee or uncle in Portland that loves grits – they ARE a dish mostly cooked by southern cooks, no matter where they live…
Oh, they add sugar too.
They’ve gone about boiling their eggs in that imprecise way that I detest: If the recipe starts with "Put eggs in cold water", I don’t want hear about it. What if you add too much cold water? It takes longer to come to the boil and then your eggs will have the same tell-tale overcooked grey-green line between the yolk and white that the Neely’s eggs do.
Try this, you’ll be a convert. Put your eggs in boiling water. Add a squidge of white vinegar to set the white instantly, if you have a crack. Bring back to the boil, simmer for eggsxactly (get it?) ELEVEN minutes. Plunge into ice water. Finis. Perfect eggs.
After Gina peels her eggs, she chops them up and puts them in the bottom of pretty glasses.
Pat fries up 2 sausage patties. I’m assuming Jimmy Dean isn’t involved. Gina grates some cheddar cheese. She gets the cinnamon rolls out and brushes over a quick powdered sugar glaze. Pat tops the hardboiled eggs with the crumbled sausage and spoons the buttery (remember they’re from the south) grits over. Just a little cheddar cheese and chopped tomato for garnish and voila you have…WHAT do you have? Breakfast Trifle Grits. That could be good.
Pat spoons the strawberry sauce over the waffles. And Gina sugars up 2 champagne glasses and makes a nice variation of a mimosa: blood orange juice, pineapple juice, champagne and Grand Marnier. I likey, so does Pat, but he’d like anything Gina serves up, and, this week, at least, so do I.
Sunday Sleep In
Breakfast Trifle Grits
Nana's Cinnamon Rolls
Buttermilk Waffles with Homemade Strawberry Sauce
Lazy Sunday Mimosa
Two words about The Neelys: They actually cooked everything FROM SCRATCH this week. THIS is what they should have been doing from the beginning. I'm not saying it's healthy or even stuff that I would make. But, at least, we're learning about their cooking traditions without the reliance on boxes and pouches (except the one you get after breakfast at their house).
Gina starts the cinnamon rolls before Pat gets up. She doesn’t get very far, before he comes bounding into the kitchen, greeting her warmly. You may think their lovey-dovey shtick is over the top, but I'd like a little of what's he's serving. (Would it get annoying, though? I wouldn’t mind finding out.)
They proceed with the dough, using the dough hook in the mixer. Gina reminds us to use warm water with the yeast, saying, "Nothing cold activates anything”. Pat, down boy. The dough is very sticky, but between the two of them, they get it all mixed and kneaded and sitting in a bowl to rise.
To make the rolls, Gina sprinkles flour on the board, dough and rolling pin. Pat rolls it out and they both stretch it even thinner. They brush 1 stick of melted butter over and sprinkle over 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 1/4 cup pecans and raisins if you with.
I would have mixed those ingredients together and then put them over the dough to avoid a glut of cinnamon in one bite and not enough sugar in another.
They roll it up from the long ends. They cut the ends off and cut it into 8 sections. The rolls go onto a buttered baking dish. They let it rise one hour. Now that's a good all-purpose homemade cinnamon roll recipe with nary a dough boy in sight (except Pat, just kidding...sort of).
They get to work making waffles. They separate 3 eggs and Gina beats them until stiff. Pat melts copious amounts of butter and mixes it with buttermilk and vanilla. The wet gets mixed with dry ingredients. They make rather short shrift of the waffles, so we never actually see Pat making them. Who knows if it took him 15 batches to get those perfect waffles or if he did it right the first time?
The cinnamon rolls go into the oven to bake. The waffles (finished during the commercial, outside of our prying eyes) go into the oven to stay warm (the SAME oven? That’s kinda hot).
Pat and Gina slice up strawberries for a strawberry sauce. They get mixed with sugar and lemon zest and brought to the simmer with a bit of cornstarch.
Pat starts on a recipe that I've never encountered before. It's a kind of trifle made with grits, eggs and sausage. Gina's family always made it with scrambled eggs; Pat's with hardboiled eggs. (I like the sound of Gina's more.)
Pat uses quick cooking grits. I give him a pass for that, because they are making quite a few things for breakfast. But, for all you grit aficionados, tell me if that’s sacrilege. He adds ½ cup of the quick stuff to 2 cups of boiling water.
He seasons with salt and pepper and one of them says (don’t ask me which one. As our daughter says about H and me, when we independently lecture her on the same subject - we share a brain), “Here in the south, we love butter in our grits”. Frankly, although I know there are exceptions, THERE in the south is the only place they eat grits…Now don’t be telling me about your grandmother in Milwaukee or uncle in Portland that loves grits – they ARE a dish mostly cooked by southern cooks, no matter where they live…
Oh, they add sugar too.
They’ve gone about boiling their eggs in that imprecise way that I detest: If the recipe starts with "Put eggs in cold water", I don’t want hear about it. What if you add too much cold water? It takes longer to come to the boil and then your eggs will have the same tell-tale overcooked grey-green line between the yolk and white that the Neely’s eggs do.
Try this, you’ll be a convert. Put your eggs in boiling water. Add a squidge of white vinegar to set the white instantly, if you have a crack. Bring back to the boil, simmer for eggsxactly (get it?) ELEVEN minutes. Plunge into ice water. Finis. Perfect eggs.
After Gina peels her eggs, she chops them up and puts them in the bottom of pretty glasses.
Pat fries up 2 sausage patties. I’m assuming Jimmy Dean isn’t involved. Gina grates some cheddar cheese. She gets the cinnamon rolls out and brushes over a quick powdered sugar glaze. Pat tops the hardboiled eggs with the crumbled sausage and spoons the buttery (remember they’re from the south) grits over. Just a little cheddar cheese and chopped tomato for garnish and voila you have…WHAT do you have? Breakfast Trifle Grits. That could be good.
Pat spoons the strawberry sauce over the waffles. And Gina sugars up 2 champagne glasses and makes a nice variation of a mimosa: blood orange juice, pineapple juice, champagne and Grand Marnier. I likey, so does Pat, but he’d like anything Gina serves up, and, this week, at least, so do I.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Ina's A Gas...No Wait, Just Her Food Is
Barefoot Contessa with Ina Garten
Baby Shower
Ina is surprising Sinead, a coworker, with a surprise baby shower. What a lucky girl!
She’s starting with Greek Gazpacho. What a fascinating idea! I’ve eaten many varieties of gazpacho in Spain and made many different versions – regular; white; with almonds; garnished with shellfish; served in giant martini glasses; even frozen, but I’ve never heard of or had GREEK gazpacho. What a nifty idea!
Ina puts 2 thick slices of stale bread in the food processor with 6 cloves of garlic. Uh, Ina, are you sure you want a pregnant lady eating that much raw garlic? She adds 2 tablespoons of roughly chopped parsley and processes the mixture until fine. She adds 5 tablespoons each of olive and red wine vinegar, reminding us that FOUR tablespoons is ¼ cup.
I knew that. You can ask me any measurement equivalence question. I went to cooking school in England when they were supposed to be going metric (but basically they refused to). I learned ounces, imperial pints, dessertspoons and punnets and pounds. Then I lived in South Africa and Spain where they were totally metric, so I learned how to deal with milliliters, grams, kilos and centimeters. In other words, I could bake a cake in any hemisphere OR north or south of the equator.
Oh wait, sorry, this isn’t about me… :-(
She pours the contents of the food processor into a big bowl. She adds a red and a yellow pepper and processes them until coarsely chopped, but not baby food, Ina says. She thinks of gazpacho as being a soup that’s really a salad. I agree.
She’s starting with Greek Gazpacho. What a fascinating idea! I’ve eaten many varieties of gazpacho in Spain and made many different versions – regular; white; with almonds; garnished with shellfish; served in giant martini glasses; even frozen, but I’ve never heard of or had GREEK gazpacho. What a nifty idea!
Ina puts 2 thick slices of stale bread in the food processor with 6 cloves of garlic. Uh, Ina, are you sure you want a pregnant lady eating that much raw garlic? She adds 2 tablespoons of roughly chopped parsley and processes the mixture until fine. She adds 5 tablespoons each of olive and red wine vinegar, reminding us that FOUR tablespoons is ¼ cup.
I knew that. You can ask me any measurement equivalence question. I went to cooking school in England when they were supposed to be going metric (but basically they refused to). I learned ounces, imperial pints, dessertspoons and punnets and pounds. Then I lived in South Africa and Spain where they were totally metric, so I learned how to deal with milliliters, grams, kilos and centimeters. In other words, I could bake a cake in any hemisphere OR north or south of the equator.
Oh wait, sorry, this isn’t about me… :-(
She pours the contents of the food processor into a big bowl. She adds a red and a yellow pepper and processes them until coarsely chopped, but not baby food, Ina says. She thinks of gazpacho as being a soup that’s really a salad. I agree.
She adds the next vegetables separately. She cuts up 2 (pretty big) red onions and processes them. (Ina, have you ever heard of pregnancy heartburn?) Into the bowl they go.
She cuts a seedless cucumber in half lengthwise and takes out any seeds that may be there. She roughly chops it in the food processor and adds it to the bowl. It looks a little too roughly chopped to me. She chops tomatoes and Kalamata olives and adds them with salt and pepper. She stirs in a big can of Sacramento tomato juice and puts it in the fridge. It looks really good...aside from the trouble the pregnant guest of honor (and her baby) will have digesting everything from the garlic and red onion to the burp-inducing cucumbers.
She’s making shortbread. I know most of you aren’t with me when I say that dry crumbly cookies just aren't my thing. She puts 1 ½ lbs. of butter (6 sticks!) in a mixer and creams it with 2 cups of sugar. Don’t overbeat it, Ina tells us. She adds 2 teaspoons vanilla and almond extract, which she likes with the pecans. She adds 7 cups of flour and a little salt and beats it on a very low heat. She makes sure it’s all mixed with a spatula. She adds 3 cup chopped pecans. (I would toast them first.)
Ina's worried that the mixture isn’t going to fit in the bowl. It does…barely. She likes to form big flat disks and then chill them before rolling, so that the dough is baked when cold, which keeps the edges nice and clean.
I have another idea. This is what I do in any rolling out situation, whether it’s pastry or cookie dough: I would place the cookie dough between two sheets of plastic wrap right after I make it. I roll it out to the desired thickness and then place the rolled out sheets in the refrigerator (or freezer if I’m doing it in advance). After it has chilled, I take it out and do whatever I need to - cut out the pie crust or cut out the cookies and then I bake it. In this case, the dough is definitely still chilled when you bake it.
Ina’s setting the table on the porch. She puts an electric train set ON the table and puts TONS of candy in the dirty cars. Well, they don’t really look that dirty, but she hasn’t lined them with anything and knowing Ina, she borrowed an antique train and the cars are probably painted with lead paint. Sinead, STAY AWAY FROM THE CANDY and everyone else of childbearing age too!
Ina takes the shortbread out of the fridge and flours her work surface and the rolling pin. She rolls it out into ¾ inch thickness. She flours her 2 inch circle cookie cutter and cuts out the cookies. They look perfect. The recipe makes 75 to 100 cookies. She bakes them at 350° F for 20 to 25 minutes on parchment. (Guess what I’d use...if I ever made these, which I won't.)
Ina bags the cookies 4 to a bag in glassine bags for favors. She says to make sure they’re cool before you bag them. She puts the extras on plates for a rather, underwhelming I believe, dessert.
For the main course Ina zests lemons for a marinade for salmon. Wait, are pregnant ladies supposed to eat big slabs of salmon? I’m not entirely sure this was a well-thought out menu. Oh well, the pregnant one will probably be so doubled over from indigestion from the soup that she won't even touch the salmon…
She zests 4 lemons and adds ¼ cup of olive oil, ¼ cup mustard and 4 cloves of garlic. (Yeah, I think the menu required more raw garlic.) Oh, she also adds pepper and 1½ tablespoons of salt. Let’s not even think about those swollen ankles.
She pours this mixture over the salmon and lets it sit for 15 minutes. She cooks Yukon Gold potatoes in boiling water for 20 minutes. She drains them in a colander and places a dish towel over for 10 minutes to continue to steam them. She puts haricots verts in boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes and then shocks them in ice water.
Ina puts the salmon in a 500°F. oven for 12 to 15 minutes.
She boils eggs her special way. She puts them in a pot and covers them with water. She brings them to the boil and simmers them for 5 minutes. She turns off the heat and allows them to sit in the water for another 5 minutes. She drains them and runs cold water over them.
I have another idea. This is what I do in any rolling out situation, whether it’s pastry or cookie dough: I would place the cookie dough between two sheets of plastic wrap right after I make it. I roll it out to the desired thickness and then place the rolled out sheets in the refrigerator (or freezer if I’m doing it in advance). After it has chilled, I take it out and do whatever I need to - cut out the pie crust or cut out the cookies and then I bake it. In this case, the dough is definitely still chilled when you bake it.
Ina’s setting the table on the porch. She puts an electric train set ON the table and puts TONS of candy in the dirty cars. Well, they don’t really look that dirty, but she hasn’t lined them with anything and knowing Ina, she borrowed an antique train and the cars are probably painted with lead paint. Sinead, STAY AWAY FROM THE CANDY and everyone else of childbearing age too!
Ina takes the shortbread out of the fridge and flours her work surface and the rolling pin. She rolls it out into ¾ inch thickness. She flours her 2 inch circle cookie cutter and cuts out the cookies. They look perfect. The recipe makes 75 to 100 cookies. She bakes them at 350° F for 20 to 25 minutes on parchment. (Guess what I’d use...if I ever made these, which I won't.)
Ina bags the cookies 4 to a bag in glassine bags for favors. She says to make sure they’re cool before you bag them. She puts the extras on plates for a rather, underwhelming I believe, dessert.
For the main course Ina zests lemons for a marinade for salmon. Wait, are pregnant ladies supposed to eat big slabs of salmon? I’m not entirely sure this was a well-thought out menu. Oh well, the pregnant one will probably be so doubled over from indigestion from the soup that she won't even touch the salmon…
She zests 4 lemons and adds ¼ cup of olive oil, ¼ cup mustard and 4 cloves of garlic. (Yeah, I think the menu required more raw garlic.) Oh, she also adds pepper and 1½ tablespoons of salt. Let’s not even think about those swollen ankles.
She pours this mixture over the salmon and lets it sit for 15 minutes. She cooks Yukon Gold potatoes in boiling water for 20 minutes. She drains them in a colander and places a dish towel over for 10 minutes to continue to steam them. She puts haricots verts in boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes and then shocks them in ice water.
Ina puts the salmon in a 500°F. oven for 12 to 15 minutes.
She boils eggs her special way. She puts them in a pot and covers them with water. She brings them to the boil and simmers them for 5 minutes. She turns off the heat and allows them to sit in the water for another 5 minutes. She drains them and runs cold water over them.
I don't like this method. I think the time it takes for the water to come to the boil can vary so much from stove to stove that I prefer my own foolproof way. I bring a big pot of water to the boil. I pour in a smidgen of vinegar (white or apple cider vinegar) which will set the white immediately if an egg should crack. Then, very carefully I lower the eggs into the water. After the water comes back to the boil, I cook the eggs for exactly 11 minutes. Then I plunge them into a bowl of ice and water. Voila - perfectly cooked eggs.
Ina takes out the salmon. It can be chilled at this point. To serve it, she cuts big pieces and lays them down the middle of the platter. She puts sliced potatoes on one side and quartered tomatoes on the other side with green beans. The hard boiled eggs get fitted in as well. Ina likes big blocks of color on a serving plate, rather than a little here and there. She adds green olives and anchovies. Ina tells us that a big platter makes even simple ingredients look special.
Ina puts together a vinaigrette to pour over the dish. She whisks ¼ cup of champagne vinegar and a teaspoon of Dijon with salt and pepper and ½ cup of olive oil.
The guests arrive. The food goes on the table. Ina adds 8 oz. of feta to the gazpacho and serves it in bowls BEFORE the guest of honor arrives. I guess she realized it might not be preggie-friendly. Sinead walks in, looks more appalled than anything, and the party begins. I must say the porch area has very bad acoustics. It sounded very loud and echo-y.
One of my eagle-eyed readers pointed out that the wrapping paper appeared to match the decorations. Now, Ina, THAT’S what I call attention to detail.
Interesting menu, not necessarily the best choice for the occasion, but I’m psyched to try it. One question...where were the party games, although Sinead didn't look like she'd be too thrilled to be dressed in a giant diaper or have 15 women guess how big her belly is. You know, maybe it's for the best they skipped the games...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)