Cleaning a French Coffee Press

Several years ago, I had some of the best coffee while traveling in Europe. It was at a hotel and the secret was the French Press. Well, the coffee was Italian Roast and the beans were also good.

Last year I broke down and bought a French Coffee Press and I love drinking dark roast coffee from it. However, it takes a long time to clean it, particularly on busy mornings. I’ve experimented with ways to clean the French Press and this seems to work.

• Use a brush and water to scrub the plunger and filter. Set it to air dry.
• Let the carafe dry. A few hours later, take a napkin and wipe the coffee grounds into a plastic bag.
• Place the plastic grounds bag into another plastic bag. Tie up the bags and place them into the freezer.
• Use a brush and water to scrub the carafe. Set it to air dry.
• Toss the coffee grounds bag with your regular trash weekly.

This method seems to save a little time and mess during the morning rush. Also it seems like the cheapest way to dispose of the coffee grounds.

Savory Oatmeal

Oatmeal by Daniella Segura http://www.flickr.com/photos/77568040@N08/

During the 90’s, I used to go car camping a lot. I found that oatmeal was a popular breakfast item with campers and backpackers. But I could never really get into it for lack of texture, flavor. Around the last few months of 2014, I discovered that I really enjoy steel cut oatmeal if it’s prepared with savory spices.

Tip: I like the nutty taste and texture of steel cut oatmeal but found this shortcut for cooking. I put the water and oatmeal into the pot at the same time and let them come to a boil together on medium heat. I set my timer for 15 min (this is about 10 min less than the package instructions). You may want to stir the oatmeal occasionally and check if there is enough liquid remaining.

Cheesey Dill Oatmeal

Prepare oatmeal according to the package.

After the oatmeal is done cooking, sprinkle on dried dill and coarse salt. Add ground cracked black pepper. (optional) Stir in a couple tablespoons of whole milk or cream. Add grated cheese (pecorino romano is my favorite). You can add whatever cheese you have on hand, I have used Fontina, Gouda, Cheddar, Bleu cheese.

Spicy Squash Oatmeal

Prepare oatmeal according to the package.

About 5 minutes before the oatmeal is done cooking, add cubes of leftover roasted squash. Sprinkle on cumin and dried coriander. Sprinkle on powdered cinnamon. Add a pinch of coarse salt. Stir in a couple tablespoons of whole milk or cream.

(optional) Add ground cracked black pepper.

Oatmeal with Gravy

Lately, I’ve been cooking a lot of whole roasted chicken. I save the pan drippings and refrigerate them. This is a great way to use the drippings for flavor.

Prepare oatmeal according to the package.

About 5 minutes before the oatmeal is done cooking, spoon 1-2 tablespoons of the gelatinous part of the pan drippings into the oatmeal. Add a few tablespoons of milk into the oatmeal (you might wish to add up to 1/4 cup of milk but this might add to the oatmeal cooking time to reduce the liquid a little). Stir the oatmeal and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. (*optional: I’ve been using unsweetened almond milk and it works well)

Gelato Ice Cream Sandwich

Gelato e brioche by Matt Frassica http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattfrassica/

I’m working out the kinks in this recipe because I could not find the original ingredients I wanted.

In one of the episodes of Lidia’s Italy (cooking tv show), she visits a cafe and has a breakfast of pistachio gelato in a brioche bun. It has always been in the back of my mind because it just seemed so decadent and elegant. This dish also reminded me of an ice cream sandwich I had at a Buddhist temple in Thailand (where some of the most tasty and least expensive food can be found). The sandwich looked like a hot dog bun but it was a little lighter and sweeter. Inside were three petite scoops of ice cream (like the colors of spumoni). It was delicious and a delightful surprise.

Ingredients

• gelato (or your favorite ice cream)
• brioche

Directions

Toast the bun in the oven for about 3-5 minutes at 350 degrees. Cut the bun in 1/2 (each half should have the top and bottom part of the bun). If you want, you can scoop out a little bit of the middle of the bun. Tip: If your brioche is a large shaped bread, slice the brioche into pie-shaped slices and then slice the pie piece partway through the middle to make a space for the ice cream.

Put a couple scoops of gelato inside each part of the bun. You can share it with a friend if you like.

Update: I’ve tried a couple brioche breads from 85 degrees Bakery in Los Angeles. I liked the large brioche that looks like a small round cake. I also tried a Japanese style brioche which looks like a package of dinner rolls which were baked closely together. The cake style brioche had a more dense texture which worked better to support the ice cream than the roll style brioche which was a little too light in texture. It is less messy to serve the brioche with gelato in a bowl and eat with a spoon rather than with fingers but the taste is delicious and the contrast in textures is wonderful. 

Note: I couldn’t find the brioche bun shape I was looking for at the bakery so I chose a Coffee Roll from 85 degrees Bakery in Los Angeles. I felt like the bread texture worked well but prefer this sandwich with the chocolate and raisin filling removed before adding the gelato. Otherwise it just tastes overly sweet. I may also experiment with the taro roll for the sandwich but also remove the taro filling.

Grapefruit and Red Onion Salad

Ruby Red Grapefruit by Stacey Spensley https://www.flickr.com/photos/notahipster/

This recipe comes directly from Lidia Bastianich’s recipe for Blood Orange and Red Onion salad. I just tried substituting grapefruit for the blood orange. You can also use more sweet oranges if you prefer.

Here is a short video with Chef Michael Simon demonstrating how to segment citrus fruit.

Ingredients

• 2 grapefruits, segmented (red makes a dramatic presentation but you can choose any kind)
• 1/2 of red onion, thinly sliced
• kosher salt
• ground black pepper
• olive oil (use a high quality)
• honey (optional)

Directions

Arrange a layer of grapefruit segments on a plate. Add a layer of red onion (breaking up the pieces). Alternate with layers of the remaining grapefruit and red onion.

Sprinkle with kosher salt and black pepper. Drizzle with olive oil. (Optional) You can also drizzle with a little bit of honey.

Grandma’s Meatloaf

Meatloaf by Joshua Bousel. https://www.flickr.com/photos/joshbousel/

A while back, I was thinking about comfort food and meatloaf came to mind. Technically, I don’t have a grandmother around who made meatloaf for me. When I was growing up, I remember watching cartoons after school with my younger brother. We ate a lot of spaghettios, Chef Boyardee ravioli, and I had a quirky taste for hot dog buns heated in the microwave with A-1 steak sauce. Since I don’t think steak sauce buns would be comforting to most people, I decided to come up with an easy meatloaf recipe.

The meatloaf is based mostly on a combination of the recipes of Alton Brown and the Collucci brothers (Collucci Brother’s Dinner Hyannis, MA). The sauce is based mostly on the recipes of Alton Brown and Bobby Flay.

Ingredients

Meatloaf

• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lb Ground beef (80% beef, 20% fat is good)
• one egg
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs (other breadcrumbs would do)
• 3 pinches cumin
• 3 pinches coriander (dried powder form)
• 1/4 tspn thyme
• pinch of salt
• ground black pepper

Sauce

• 1 cup ketchup
• 1 pinch cumin
• 1 pinch coriander
• 1 pinch red pepper flakes
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbsp honey

Directions

Preheat an oven to 375 degrees. Heat olive oil in medium sauce pan over medium heat. Saute onions and garlic until the onions are translucent. Let the mixture cool.

Mix the ground beef, egg, and breadcrumbs by hand in a large mixing bowl. Add the thyme, salt, and pepper. Add the onion and garlic mixture and mix.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the meatloaf mixture onto the sheet and mold into a roll.

In a separate bowl, mix all of the sauce ingredients. Whisk the mixture together. Cover the meatloaf roll with the sauce. You can use a brush or your hands.

Bake the meatloaf for about 45 – 55 min. Remove from the oven and let the meatloaf rest for 10 min. Make sure that the section at the very center of the meatloaf is fully cooked before eating it. You may want to cut slices from both ends towards the inside.

Tip: For leftovers, it is really yummy to make a sandwich using a pretzel roll bun and flavorful lettuce like arugula or herb salad. 

Tip: Since this makes a pretty rich dish, it is nice to serve Grapefruit and Red Onion Salad on the side to add a bit of freshness.

Resources

• http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/meatloaf-recipe1.html
• http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-meat-loaf-recipe.html
• http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/roasted-vegetable-meat-loaf-with-balsamic-glaze-recipe.html
• http://www.hulu.com/watch/351579#i0,p4,d0
• http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-meatloaf/
• http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/old-fashioned-meat-loaf-aka-basic-meatloaf-recipe.html
• http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Meatloaf-241512
• http://www.food.com/recipe/yes-virginia-there-is-a-great-meatloaf-54257
• http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/classic_meatloaf/

Bonello’s New York Pizza

In late 2013, Jon Stewart made a few rants about NY style pizza vs. Chicago deep dish pizza. Then this week, he made another rant about Mayor Bill de Blasio eating NY pizza incorrectly (with a fork and knife). So I broke down and searched Yelp for local NY style pizza.

The most popularly rated pizza joint in my area is Bonello’s New York Pizza.

I’ve ordered a slice of cheese pizza from them on two separate visits. I really enjoy the texture of the thin pizza crust. When you order individual slices of pizza, it is a gamble whether you will get the pizza fresh out of the oven or reheated. In the case of Bonello’s, I find there is a benefit to either scenario.

• Fresh out of the oven – I can really enjoy the freshness of the melted cheese (a very mellow flavor)
• Reheated – The crust is a little more crispy, which I love

In addition, although the Torrance space is a bit small, there is a familial and comfortable feeling to the space.

Bonello’s New York Pizza (Torrance)

How to Fold a Slice of NY Pizza

Warning: Jon Stewart videos contain profanity and are preceded by a short ad.

Jon Stewart: Strife of Pie (New York Pizza is Magic)

Jon Stewart: Strife of Pie (Chicago-ans respond)

Jon Stewart: Strife of Pie (Truce)

Jon Stewart: Once Upon a Tine (Bill de Blasio eating pizza)

Spaghetti Globulos e Pepe

Late in the summer of 2013, I came across this video of a recipe for 3-ingredient spaghetti. I was pretty hooked except my sauce for Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe always came out with blobs of cheese instead of a smooth and spicy white sauce. I have continued to try to get this dish right but the sauce is rarely as beautiful as the images from this recipe.

Lately I’ve omitted the butter that Fabio used in his recipe demo and tried to vary the amount of water added for the pasta sauce (cooler temperature, less water, for example). Next, I will try to buy a wedge of Pecorino Romano (rather than the finely pre-grated cheese from the deli) and see if grating it a little coarser helps avoid the clumpiness.

I would share a photo of my spaghetti globulos e pepe but alas, I’ve eaten all the evidence!

More to come with future experiments (and hopefully some foolproof tips on getting a better sauce consistency).

Spaghetti Della Vita

I’ve been going pretty crazy for Lidia Bastianich’s Italian recipes. This is a spaghetti sauce adapted from two of her recipes. One of the main ingredients is anchovies. Glued to the TV during Saturday morning cartoons, I absorbed that anchovy pizza is really, Really BAD. I never really knew what anchovies were (aside from small, stinky fish) but I swore them off.

About 30 years later, I tried using anchovies to season fried zucchini and that briny, sweet flavor tasted so familiar. My mother had been serving anchovies (Korean style) for my whole life (but called “myul chee” in Korean). She put the dried ones into soup as a flavoring base, she fried them in a sweet-spicy soy sauce, and we also dipped the dried ones in a spicy bean paste eaten together with rice.

Heck, I even spent many hours with the chore of cleaning the dried poop out of bags (sometimes even boxes) of dried anchovies. This was the chore for anyone with the short straw.

I feel like it is one of life’s great revelations that anchovies impart wonderful flavor – a taste that is of the sea but subtle and permeating.

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves – sliced
• red pepper flakes
• 6 anchovies (from a tin packed in olive oil) – chopped
• one onion – sliced in quarters (cut the onion in half, slice each half in 1/4″ to 1/2″ slices, cut the resulting slices in half)
• salt
• one 28 oz. can of San Marzano tomatoes (buy high quality whole tomatoes) – either cut the tomatoes or mash the tomatoes by hand (I like to cut them into about 6 pieces)
• Pecorino Romano cheese – grated

Directions:
Pour olive oil liberally in a sauce pan (over medium heat). Add the garlic and stir until it is golden. Add a few shakes of red pepper flakes.

Add the anchovies and stir until they are melted. (Note: I also add some of the olive oil that the anchovies were packed in)

Add the onion. Sprinkle salt over the onions. Stir until they are wilted and translucent.

Add the tomatoes and tomato sauce. Bring the mixture to a boil and then lower the heat to a slow simmer. Let the sauce cook for several minutes (this should be about the time you put pasta into boiling water).

*Note: I am not a fan of the flavor of tomatoes (more on that in a later blog). But I do favor jarred spaghetti sauce. I like to stir in about 1/2 cup of my favorite spaghetti sauce. This adds additional acidity because good quality San Marzano tomatoes taste a bit more sweet than acidic. In addition, I like the thickness of the jarred spaghetti sauce.

Since I started to make spaghetti sauce in the style of Lidia, I cannot dress pasta with only jarred spaghetti sauce (it lacks the sweetness, complexity, and texture of the sauce from recipe).

**Back to cooking the recipe. When the pasta is slightly undercooked (about 1-2 min. less than the suggesting cooking time), transfer the pasta (using tongs or a slotted spoon) to the pan with the spaghetti sauce. Stir the pasta so all of its surfaces are dressed with the sauce. Turn off the heat. Toss in Pecorino Romano cheese and stir the pasta again.

Serve the pasta.

*Re: canned tomatoes, I’ve been using the Rega Rega whole San Marzano tomatoes but while checking on the can sizes, I ran across some canned tomato reviews where it did not rank among the top 5 (and it IS pricier than other tomatoes). Here’s a canned tomato review. Probably best to experiment with several brands and select your favorite based on taste, texture, price, etc.

Here are the two original recipes that inspired this one:

Zucchini with Anchovies and Capers

Bucatini with Pancetta, Tomato, and Onion

Frugal Foodies:

Estimated $15 spent on sauce ingredients (most expensive was the can of tomatoes at ~$5). Estimate about 4-6 servings of pasta from the recipe (depending on whether you serve it as a main dish or side or how saucy you are).

Per person, estimated $4 for a plate of pasta (including the cost of pasta, which I generally buy for under $2 a package of 8 servings). I will admit that I probably eat at least 2 servings of pasta in one sitting (if not 3 servings).

Italian Recipe Craze

Anchovies, onions, black olives, garlic, San Marzano tomatoes

Lately I’ve been following the Hulu cooking videos by Lidia Bastianich. The recipes are simple and you get a visual tour of small Italian towns or locales. Afterward I look up the interesting recipes on Lidia’s website.

Today I tried her side dish, Zucchini with Anchovies and Capers. I substituted black gaeta olives for the capers and should have left out the salt or cooked more zucchini. I had leftover oil from that dish which smelled smoky, salty, and sweet.

Since I don’t like throwing out oil (it’s messy), I decided to use the leftover oil to make a sauce with tomatoes, onions, and olives. This turned out to be a blend of two recipes: Sauce from tomato and onion pasta dish and Sauce with anchovy-onion for pasta.

It was tasty over linguine (al dente <3), topped with some of the leftover zucchini from the first recipe. I would make this sauce again but put more chopped anchovy into the sauce for pasta.

I bought the tomatoes and anchovies from the local Italian deli. I “splurged” and spend $1-2 extra on each ingredient (avoiding the very cheapest ingredient options). For ex., I like the Rega San Marzano canned tomatoes which cost $2 more than Cento tomatoes but I think taste a little lighter and sweeter. I tried Agostino Recca Anchovies and liked their smoky, ocean flavor. The local Trader Joe’s has been carrying California olive oil since early this year. It tastes more flavorful than the less expensive Italian olive oils. I’ve been using California olive oil as the base for pasta sauces.

I actually don’t love the taste of natural tomatoes. Towards the end of the sauce reduction, I add several spoonfuls of my favorite jar spaghetti sauce. The end result is not totally pure but it is chunky with fresh ingredients and adjusted towards my palate. Maybe someday I will be able to enjoy sauce that is purely from the canned tomatoes and juice.

Health Food Humor

One of my google widgets provides healthy eating tips from the Mayo Clinic. This one seemed oddly humorous to me:

Expand your grain repertoire with whole-grain complements, such as kasha, brown rice, wild rice, bulgur or whole-wheat tortillas.

I guess they’re promoting the idea of a grainnaisance man.