Friday Food Finds

Edition 4

Mar 11, 2022

Before I get started on today’s FFF edition, I want to just apologize for the higher proportion of recipes that come from cookbooks rather than sharable internet sources. My family and I were all hit with some form of the stomach bug last weekend, so up until Wednesday this week, researching recipes was not much of a priority. I took the easy route and perused some cookbooks I hadn’t looked at in a while.

I’m also in the midst of judging a collection of more recently published cookbooks for the International Association of Culinary Professionals’ 2022 Cookbook Awards. This has made me curious to look at some of my older (yet still current) cookbooks to see how recipe writing has evolved and otherwise changed. It’s fascinating!

But enough about all that. Let’s get on to some actual recipes.

The first cookbook I turned to this week was Claire Clark’s Indulge: 100 Perfect Desserts, which includes a lovely mix of classic American and British desserts. I have this thing for giant cookies (maybe I’m not alone?), and the Oatmeal, Pecan and Raisin Cookies in that book were calling to me. Loaded with oats, nuts (in my case finely chopped almonds instead of pecans), and dried fruit, they’re they chewy, crunchy-edged, monster cookie I crave when I want an oatmeal cookie.

Testing notes: As I mentioned, I used almonds in place of the pecans. I also added a 1/2 teaspoon of salt, which oddly was not included in the recipe. I scooped the dough into 70g portions (rather than dividing it), and baked off just six cookies for the week, freezing the remaining 16 portions for another time. The recipe gives you a choice of either leaving the cookies rounded or flattening them — depending on how you like them — and I opted for flat. I’ll be curious to try the next batch rounded.

Not much to look at in its unbaked state, this béchamel-based mushroom lasagna from Smitten Kitchen (adapted from Ina Garten) is worth every bit of the project it is to make. Some friends served it to me a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve been wanting to make it ever since. Just garlic-infused béchamel, pasta, sautéed mushrooms, and a little bit of Parmesan; it’s not at all heavy or overburdened with flavors. It makes a wonderful meal served with a salad and bread, but it could also work as a side dish if meat takes center stage for you.

Testing notes: I sincerely appreciate Mrs. Perelman’s 2018 update/note about the number of pots you need to use for this recipe. I followed her advice and used a wide pot for cooking the pasta so that I could reuse it for the mushrooms. I did have 5 or 6 leftover sheets of pasta that I didn’t end putting into the lasagna. Looking back at the photos in the blog, I probably didn’t do as much overlapping as I could have.

Next up, Dorie Greenspan, whose tome on French cooking, Around My French Table, has long sat on my cookbook shelves without getting much use. I turned to her and this book in search of a couple of simple salads to serve alongside my lasagna.

I tend to make grated carrot salad a lot. It’s a quick veggie side dish that my kids will eat and it goes well with so many different dishes. I usually make it by throwing the grated carrots in a bowl and then tossing in some oil, vinegar, and seasoning along with the raisins and walnuts. In other words, I never bother to make a dressing separately. This time, I decided to see how Mrs. Greenspan’s recipe for Café-Style Grated Carrot Salad compared to my haphazard combination of ingredients.

I was not the least bit disappointed. The emulsified dressing coated the fine carrot pieces well and brought the whole dish together into a somewhat more unified result. That said, when time is of the essence, I don’t think you lose by winging it with a glug of oil, a splash of vinegar, and a sprinkle or drizzle of whatever other flavors you wish to add to the salad. Though I do agree with Mrs. Greenspan that it’s best to play with a more neutral-flavored oil here.

Testing notes: There’s not much to report on here. I added all the options — raisins, walnuts, and parsley — and followed the proportions for the vinaigrette as exactly as I’ll ever follow a salad dressing recipe (by eyeballing the measurements). I did end up only using about half of the dressing. I feel like the carrots would have been swimming in it had I used the full amount. I think this is important if you plan to have leftovers. As the salad sits and is refrigerated, the carrots will give up some moisture too, so it’s best to avoid having too much in there to begin with.

I also tried Mrs. Greenspan’s Chunky Beets and Icy Red Onions recipe from the book (unfortunately, I could not find this recipe on her website or elsewhere). I really like beet salads that play to beets’ natural sweetness and this one was no exception. I was mostly drawn to it by the technique for the onions, which involves rinsing them to remove any bitterness, then leaving them soaking in ice water in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve the salad. I was hopeful following these instructions would tame the onions a bit more than it actually did.

Testing notes: Since I thought the onions were still quite strong, I added about a third of them to the salad in the end. I found myself wanting the beets to be better seasoned, but that’s on me for not adjusting the salt and pepper before serving them. So as long as you do that, and use the onions to taste, this salad is a great way to close out the winter beet season.

And with that, I’ll close out this edition of FFF. I hope something tempts you into the kitchen this weekend. If you’re in Vermont, tomorrow sounds like a good day to be baking and cooking ahead of the week to come (unless of course you’re a skier).

Enjoy!

Balanced Diet

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