FOOD ON THE FOOD

Raffle: The Homemade Pantry

Now that you've made waffles—or at least considered making them—now is your opportunity to win a copy of the book that inspired the waffles, The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying and Start Making by Alana Chernila.

You may know Alana from her blog Eating from the Ground Up (writers will want to read this post in particular). Perhaps you've waved to her from the Pike on your way through the Berkshires. But if you don't know her, it's about time you do. Her cookbook is simply delightful with charming stories about her family and the role food plays in making her home a happy place. Her recipes are imbued with a near-childlike excitement, and that enthusiasm is contagious. Am I really going to make homemade yogurt instead of buying it at the store? No. But maybe! She sounds so damn excited about it!

Included are recipes for homemade butter, ricotta, and mozzarella, as well as toaster pastries, pizza, macaroni and cheese, whole wheat bread, lasagna, graham crackers, and pesto: so many things that come up in the family snack or meal-time rotation. I have her cornbread and granola earmarked, but I'm also really interested in trying out her recipes for coffee liqueur and amaretto. Instead of throwing out your spent vanilla beans, she suggests rinsing them well and storing them in a little bottle with some cheap vodka to make your own vanilla extract. The book is a genuine, down-to-earth collection of some simple ideas for things you can make at home that might be worth the effort and save you money.

Clarkson Potter is offering one copy up for raffle. To enter, comment below by Monday, July 2 at 10 p.m. EST about the one thing in your pantry or fridge that you'll never, ever make yourself, no matter how easy it is. I'll start. I will never, ever make my own hot dog buns. Eff that. By the time I get to hot dogs, I've already given up. I don't care how good your recipe is, I'd rather eat the hot dog and its ample condiments out of my cupped hands than bake a hot dog bun. There, I'm glad I got that off my chest. Now you go.

(And, no, you will not be disqualified if you happen to mention something that's in the book. There are still 100 other recipes, after all!)

Waffles –or– Overcoming Fear of Electricity

Sometimes you have to eat waffles for breakfast AND dinner. Like yesterday!

Husband's vintage waffle iron has been sitting unused for more than a decade. Why? Because I didn't have a decent waffle recipe. And because I'm really afraid of his vintage waffle iron. I don't like that the electrical wiring is visible and situated so close to non-removable parts that require washing. Water is an excellent conductor of electricity, as you know. I am aware that "technically" I won't be electrocuted while washing the waffle iron as long as it's not plugged in, and I know it's not plugged in because I checked it 50 times, and there isn't even an electrical outlet near the sink. BUT STILL, my mental danger bells keep ringing so loudly, over and over again, that I don't even feel like making homemade waffles anymore I have such a headache.

But all that changed thanks to one recipe. And it came from a book that I think you should know about, The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying and Start Making by Alana Chernila. I'll be raffling off a copy this week, so stay tuned. I made the waffles for breakfast on Sunday morning, slathered them with butter, moistened them with just a bit of maple syrup, then piled strawberries and blueberries that we picked at Carver Hill Orchard on top along with some fresh whipped cream. Holy crap were they ever good. So good, in fact, that when we got back from the Red Sox game and I didn't want to make dinner, we just reheated the leftovers and had them AGAIN.

Take that, Danger Bells, it's double waffle time!!!

Waffles (print-friendly version)

Feel free to sub in half whole wheat flour if you like.

2 large eggs, separated
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup buttermilk, warmed
1 cup whole milk, warmed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 200°F.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, melted butter, buttermilk, milk, and vanilla. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another medium bowl, whip the egg whites several minutes with an electric mixer until they hold soft peaks that droop slightly when the beaters are lifted.

Stir the milk mixture into the flour mixture until combined. Stir in a big spoonful of beaten egg whites until incorporated. Then, with a flexible spatula, gently fold in the remaining egg whites.

Grease the waffle iron either with cooking spray or brush with oil. Scoop 1/2 to 2/3 cup of batter into the hot iron. Cook according to the manufacturer's instructions or until golden and crispy on the outside. Keep warm in a single layer on a sheet pan in the oven until ready to serve. Top with butter and maple syrup, or whatever fresh fruit is in season. Jam is also acceptable. Whipped cream doesn't hurt, either.

Source: Adapted from The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying and Start Making by Alana Chernila

Local Ingredients:
Eggs: Eric's Eggs, Starksboro, VT
Butter: Cabot, Cabot, VT
Buttermilk: Kate's Homemade Butter, Old Orchard Beach, ME
Milk, cream: High Lawn Farm, Lee, MA
Berries: Carver Hill Orchard, Stow, MA

Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Salad Nicoise

Julia Child's 100th birthday is coming up in August, and people are planning all kinds of celebrations and commemorations in the weeks leading up to it. I have very good intentions when it comes to these things, let it be known, but I usually find myself missing the boat. I'm great with professional deadlines, but terrible with bloggy deadlines. The internet is too free to be burdened by the constraints of time! (Of course, I'm pretty sure that's what the guy who played World of Warcraft for 362 hours straight said right before he died of a heart attack. Ditto for the guy who keeled over after his marathon porn binge. But for me it's different. Verrrrrry different. Because I was making salad!)

The above Salad Nicoise was what I was supposed to blog about for the JC100 a month ago. It's a composed French salad inspired by the Mediterranean city of Nice, and Julia taught us how to make it back before salad was even remotely cool. Or so I hear. I was only an infant at the time and capers were just a glimmer in my eye (it's hard to see the TV with tiny, non-dilating caper-pupils).

Besides lettuce, Salad Nicoise contains sliced potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, tuna, olives, capers, and anchovies all dressed in a lemony-mustard vinaigrette. It's a delicious mix of fresh vegetables and briny, pickled things. Husband and I devoured this salad—ate the whole thing in one sitting. Just as quickly, I missed whatever the deadline was for posting about it. Then this week, with temps nearing 100°F and several heads of CSA lettuce in the fridge, I found myself craving those flavors again. That's when I threw together a scaled-back version of this salad that was quicker and just as delicious.

First, I dispensed with anything that involved hot, boiling water because my house was steamy enough as it was. That meant the cooked potatoes and green beans were out. I had a few hard-boiled eggs already made, so I kept those, otherwise I would have left them out, too. I prepared my lovely seasonal veggies: lettuce, spinach, and radishes. I added a can of drained, oil-packed tuna (always keep a can of the good stuff in the pantry). Then came the olives and capers (again, always keep some in the fridge). And a few anchovies (optional). Then make a vinaigrette with herbs of your choice (remember my salad dressing primer?)

Voila! An easy dinner on a hot summer's day. Nice!

Happy Father's Day

To all the great dads out there, Happy Father's Day!

What would we do without you?

Our New Dining Room Table

Don't mind the supernova that crashed outside our house. Happens all the time. But what's new is the dining room table. And when I say new, I mean new to us.

Advantages:

1. Free!
2. From our dear octogenarian next-door neighbor, who moved into a place with 50 fewer stairs.
3. The right color.
4. The right size.
5. Cute!
6. No blood stains.
7. In surprisingly good condition thanks to the table pad it wore for decades.
8. Crafted in Bristol, Vermont. And who doesn't like Vermont?
9. Holds up our food off the floor.
10. Doesn't seem to be in danger of collapsing (yet).
11. Only a short distance to lug it.
12. I didn't have to do the lugging—Husband and my other neighbor did.
13. Free!!!

Disadvantages:

1. None.

So now, as much as we miss our long-time neighbor, who used to stuff newspaper articles into plastic bags and chuck them into the bushes for me, she will always have a place at our table.

What happened to the old table, you ask? Did I put it on Craig's List with the exact ad I threatened to run at the low, low price of $1? Of course not. I did what anybody does around here who values their time: I set it out by the street with a FREE sign and it was gone in 20 minutes. That's how we recycle here in Waltham. Now two families are pretty pleased with themselves. Or maybe one family is pleased with itself and the other is having itself a nice bonfire!

Tuesday Tease: Meringue Pie

If anybody has time this weekend to test a recipe, I could use some last minute help. Not only will your name go in my book, but you'll also have my gratitude AND you'll end up with something delicious. Unless you don't end up with something delicious. And I have to axe the recipe. But in that case you'll be doing everyone a public service!

Win win! (Sort of.)

My Best Recipes, Catalogued

A friend of mine recently commented that finding recipes on my blog is a pain in the ass. And it's true! I mean, it's one thing if you know exactly what you're looking for and Google it, but what if you just want to browse through some meat recipes until you find something you like? Or you want to peruse your vegetarian options but none of the posts actually contain the word "vegetarian" since I can't be bothered with search engine optimization? Wouldn't it be nice if you could find what you're looking for without digging through six years of recipes?

Some of you are nodding your heads in agreement and the rest are itching to click back over to Facebook if things don't get funny soon. Spoiler: They don't! (But if Facebook lures you away, please consider "liking" Food on the Food on your way over there by clicking the little icon of my face down there to the right. Don't worry. It doesn't hurt that much!) (Ow! My eye!)

So I went through and catalogued all of my best recipes over there on the left under Recipe Box. If you're in the mood for chicken, click on chicken and you'll be treated to all the poultry goodness I can dig up. Desserts? I might have a few! Check out the Favorites category, too. There was a lot of good stuff hiding in the archives, some of which even I forgot about, so thanks for the reminder, Self! Some of the older photos are pretty scary, but the good news is that I can see my skills have actually improved a little over time. Just a little.

I'm also working on creating print-friendly recipe pages so you don't waste paper printing out a whole post when all you want is the recipe. Forests are important to me, as you know. Future recipes will have that feature already embedded, though it'll take a while to go back through the archives. Please be patient. I'm on deadline. Not only does my editor need the next three chapters stat, but the kids are out of school in two weeks. Craaaaaaaap!

Anyway, let me know what you think of the list. Go on. Try it out! The search bar is still there, but on the left now. As for the blueberry cobbler above, you can find that recipe here.