Category: food

Apple-Cheese Omelette

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

I had Tilapia & green beans earmarked for dinner this evening, but I just didn’t quite feel like it after I got back from the gym. So, through process of elimination, I looked around the kitchen to see what else I could make. Well, I had plenty of apples, some eggs and some cheese — voila, I could make a cheese-apple omellete. I had no idea if it would taste good, but it seemed like a good idea in my head ;).

Realizing that the heat of cooking eggs isn’t enough to cook an omelette’s ingredients, I decided to pre-cook the apples beforehand (I learned that part from Good Eats). So, I chose one of the smaller apples from the bag and proceeded to dice it (I figured that a too-big apple wouldn’t fit inside the omelette).

After dicing the apple, I preheated the pan and added about a half-inch slice of butter (yeah, real butter). Once the butter melted, which happened fairly quickly, I tossed in the apples. From here, I just played it by ear — I added a dash of cinnamon along with a good heap of Splenda.

At this point, I wasn’t sure how long to cook the apples. But, I aimed for the softness and texture of a baked apple. And, it actually took about ten minutes or so for the apples to soften and reduce. When the apples were ready, I set them aside in a bowl and realized that I could reuse the pan without rinsing it — no sense in losing the yummy apple sludge from the bottom of the pan.

From here, the omelette process was fairly conventional. I cooked the omelette about three-fourths through and then added the apples and the shredded cheddar. Of course, the apples were already cooked, but I also wanted to allow the cheese to melt.

The cheese only took a few seconds to start melting and I soon plated the omelette. It wasn’t a pretty omelette — the diced apple wedges made it a bit of a lumpy beast — but I was anxious to try it.

I wasn’t sure what to expect as I dug in to that first bite, but it turned out all right. In particular, I wasn’t sure how well the sugar/cinnamon of the apples would work with the eggs, but it was much better than I thought it would be. Would I make an apple-cheese omelette again? Yeah, I think I would.

Apple Crisp Recipe from Good Eats

Ashley Bischoff6 Comments

I have a Season Pass in my TiVo for Good Eats — a cooking show on Food Network. Oftentimes, the show’s theme may be obscure and I won’t end up watching it — and I thought that the Apple Family Values episode (yeah, just apple recipes) may have been one of those.

I somewhat expected an apple pie recipe in there somewhere, but Alton didn’t go for that. Instead, there were recipes such as Waldorf Salad and Apple Sauce (neither of which were particularly useful to me since I have no plans to make those). However, the Apple Crisp recipe (which he calls “Baker, Baker” on the site) caught my eye. Not only does it look delicious, but it seems fairly foolproof as well :).

Other than the ingredients for the streusel topping, there’s no measuring in the recipe. Mostly, it’s a matter of cutting a hole in the apple, filling most of it with honey, then adding the topping. In short:

  • Cut tops off apples with a knife using a diagonal cut towards the center of the apple
  • Use a melon baller to remove the seeds and form a shaft down the apple
  • Fill the shaft with honey, but leave room where the cone-top used to be
  • Add the streusel mixture to the top of the apple until overflowing
  • Bake

The recipe looked rather easy and Mike and I were tempted to try it that evening (alas, we had no oats). However, as I looked through the cupboard yesterday, I noticed that Mike had picked up some oats; so, perhaps we’ll be able to make some in the next few days.

Baker, Baker

Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown
Show: Good Eats
Episode: Apple Family Values

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup oats
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • Pinch kosher salt
  • 1 stick cold unsalted butter, diced
  • 4 Braeburn apples (Fuji will substitute)
  • 4 teaspoons honey [You don’t really need to measure this]

In a bowl combine all the dry ingredients and diced butter. Rub mixture briskly between finger tips until it forms small moist clumps in a loose sandy mixture. Refrigerate while preparing the apples.

Cut a small layer off the bottom of each apple to create a flat, stable bottom surface. With a small paring knife, cut a cylindrical cone out of the top of the apple, moving about 1-inch outside of the core, similar to removing the top of a pumpkin when carving a Jack O’Lantern. Remove the top and discard. With a melon baller or a teaspoon, remove the remaining core and seeds taking care not to puncture the base of the apple.

Place apples on a baking sheet or pie dish and fill each center with a teaspoon of honey. Spoon in mixture, packing lightly until heaped and overflowing over sides of the apples.

Bake in oven at 350° on the top or middle rack for 40 minutes or until filling is golden brown and the tip of a paring knife can be inserted into the side of the apple with little or no resistance. Let apples stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Thanksgiving Tryptophan Won’t Make You Sleepy

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

Via Marc Rust’s AMR:blog (which I found through Henrik Gemal’s Mozilla Related Blogs page), the Environment, Health and Safety Online group debunks the urban myth of tryptophan causing Thanksgiving-afternoon sleepiness. (Tryptophan is an essential amino acid present in turkey and commonly blamed for causing drowsiness.)

Sure enough, tryptophan was apparently a popular sleeping aid until about ten years ago. However, those effects were only acheived on an empty stomach. And, they’re are negated when consuming tryptophan as part of a meal:

Sorry to say, that if you’re looking for the sedative effect, it’s unlikely you'll get it from eating meats like turkey. L-tryptophan doesn’t act on the brain unless you take it on an empty stomach with no protein present. So it probably isn't at fault for the sudden drowsiness that hits right after the meal when the football games come on, and the dishes are waiting!

It’s more likely due to the combination of drinking alcohol and overeating — not just turkey, but also mashed potatoes, ham, creamed onions, cranberries, sweet potatoes, peas, stuffing (or dressing, if you prefer), carrots, bread, pies, and whipped cream — all of which have the effect of puling the blood away from your brain to help your digestive tract do it’s work, and the sugar/insulin effect. […]

So, if you’re prone to eating a bit too much on Thanksgiving (and who isn’t?), perhaps a cup of tea or coffee beforehand would counteract the effects.

Grilled Cheese Recipe from Good Eats

Ashley Bischoff12 Comments

I enjoy watching Good Eats on Food Network — it’s a cooking show hosted by Alton Brown. Each episode, he goes over recipes around a common theme along with the science behind why things cook the way they do (not to worry, this isn’t a science show).

Just last night, I saw the episode “For Whom the Cheese Melts”. The episode was about melting cheese and, ostensibly, fondue. I had a small hope that maybe he’d sneak in a Metallica reference during the show, but he didn’t go for that. And, for the most part, the fondue recipes didn’t interest me much since I have no plans to make fondue on my own.

However, the episode did conclude with what Alton calls “the best grilled cheese sandwich you have ever had”. Well, I looked forward to that segment since I not only enjoy grilled cheese, but I expected that the recipe wouldn’t be terribly difficult either.

The full recipe is below, but these are the key points:

  • Grate the cheese first, as it apparently melts more evenly [I didn’t know this.]
  • In addition to the cheese, Alton also adds a spoonful of Dijon mustard and fresh ground pepper to the sandwich [Sounds good to me!]
  • Use a spritzing of olive oil on the outside, instead of butter [I suppose it makes sense that olive oil may impart a more delicate flavor to the sandwich.]
  • Use two heated skillets, stacked, to cook the sandwich from both sides [This hadn’t occurred to me either.]

And, here’s the recipe itself:

Big Cheese Squeeze

Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown
Show: Good Eats
Episode: For Whom the Cheese Melts

Ingredients:

  • 2 slices of bread, cut thin (as far as bread selection goes, all I’ll say is the bigger the loaf the bigger the sandwich)
  • 1 teaspoon (or more) smooth Dijon mustard
  • 1 cup Grated cheese (This is the soul of the thing, so use the good stuff. We like a semi-hard, semi-soft combo like smoked gouda and Gruyere or Fontina with a young Asiago. If you’re a purist, go for the Cheddar, but make it sharp and aged if possible.)
  • Good quality olive oil for spritzing.

Preparation:

Find 2 heavy skillets that will nest together. Two (10-inch) cast iron skillets are ideal. Heat them over high heat.

Meanwhile, spread mustard on one slice of bread. Distribute the cheese evenly over the mustard, season with fresh black pepper and top with second piece of bread.

Spritz the bread surface that’s staring up at you with olive oil using either a Misto or a pump sprayer. A light coat will do, don’t soak.

When the pans are hot enough to vigorously sizzle a drop of water, remove them from the heat and place the sandwich, top-side down in the middle of one pan. (if your pans are a different size, this would be the smaller one.) Spritz the slice now facing you, as well as the bottom of the other skillet. Lay the skillet right on top of the sandwich. If the top pan isn't cast iron, weigh it down with a brick, can, or something of similar heft.

Wait patiently, crack a beer. When you hear the first bit of cheese run out and sizzle on the pan, it’s done. This will take anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes.

Carefully remove the top skillet, (you may need to coax it off with a spatula, but I doubt it). Just look at it. It’s perfect…better than mom’s. (no reason to tell her)

Remove to a plate, count to 10 and slice it in half. Take a bite. Take another. So they lost… there’s always next year.

I look forward to trying one of these sandwiches. I prefer other mustards to Dijon, so perhaps I’ll substitute another mustard. And, since all my skillets are aluminum (or some other non-iron metal), I’ll have to find a heavy object to place on top of the skillets.

Do I Like Crunchy Peanut Butter?

Ashley Bischoff7 Comments

With the recent news that regular peanut butter may not have trans fat after all, I’ve had peanut butter on the brain. Now that regular peanut butter is ok again, I’ve been contemplating the various peanut butters that I could try.

What first came to mind was that a sugar-free peanut butter could work well — there’d be the thick texture of regular peanut butter but without the typical sugars to get in the way. But, even though I haven’t been to the supermarket recently, I’m not getting my hopes up about finding such a product.

However, I got to thinking that maybe I should give crunchy peanut butter another chance. I’ve had creamy peanut butter for years and it’s been quite a while since I last had crunchy. Back when I was a kid, I preferred creamy since the nut bits in crunchy would tend to get stuck in my teeth.

So, on our last collaborative grocery run, I had Mike pick up both creamy and crunchy peanut butter for me (just the natural variety for now). Since I still had a few days worth of the old supply, I’ve only tried the crunchy just recently. And I’m not sure if the natural peanut butter itself is a significant factor, but this crunchy peanut butter had some good peanut flavor.

Of course, a spoonful of peanut butter is one thing, but I wanted to do some real-world tests as well. And, I couldn’t really come up with a canonical test for peanut butter. Sure, I could try something like apples with peanut butter (still a favorite of mine), but that only combines peanut butter with one other ingredient.

After some thought, it occured to me that peanut butter & jelly could work well. So, I whipped up an open-faced peanut butter & jelly sandwich for myself (though I actually used sugar free blackberry jam). Having made the sandwich, I paused to consider my testing method. Still, my main concern was whether the crunchy peanut butter would end up stuck in my teeth. So, I decided to not chew carefully to test whether I’d be able to induce some to get stuck.

Pleasantly, the peanut bits were fairly tender and they broke easily as I munched them. And, I didn’t really have any problems with the bits getting stuck. More than that, the peanut bits gave a degree of extra peanut flavor over creamy peanut butters. So, I may do some further testing, but perhaps crunchy peanut butter could become my peanutty spread of choice.