This week’s recipe was not very exciting, but I got a kick out of the behind the scenes action at the NY Times. As a general matter, Bittman’s recipes usually occur on-line the Friday before they appear in hard copy. So I’d been on-line on Saturday morning (June 27) and got a preview of the recipe. On Monday (June 29), I intended on making it, but the recipe was not longer available. I thought that was a bit strange, but I just waited for Wednesday, and then it was back with a big “Correction Appended” at the top. Here was the correction:
Correction: July 1, 2009
A recipe on Page 4 today with the Minimalist column, about infused oils, corrects two errors that appeared in the recipe when it was published at nytimes.com on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The online recipe misstated the amount of time the oil should cook after it bubbles and the length of time it is safe to use after being refrigerated. The oil should be cooked five minutes, not “a minute or two,” and it should be kept in the refrigerator no more than a week, not “a month or so.” The corrected version can also be found at nytimes.com/dining.
And the accompanying video was even better – flashing big red text at the bottom of the screen with the corrections. I guess that’s what happens when you just whip stuff up in your kitchen and spread the word and then give it to the recipe checkers. It’s good to know that the Times is checking the food safety aspects of the recipes they publish. And in Mark’s defense, the accompanying article did end with the following: “Food safety experts recommend that you do not leave flavored oils at room temperature for more than two hours; refrigerate them, and use them within a week.”
Now, I don’t know about most people, but unless you’re making food for a mob, I think it’s unlikely that most of us would use a cup of specially flavored oil within one week of making it. And it also leads me to wonder what extra steps manufacturers take when making the infused oil they sell at the store, which doesn’t say it should be used within one week of opening. Oh well, I made the recipe as appended, but only made a half cup of oil. I used thyme, since my thyme plant has exploded in the past week and I like the flavor generally. I used the flavored oil in a simple vinaigrette, and I could tell a slight difference in the lasting herb after taste of the dressing. I’m thinking it would be a fabulous addition to cous cous with roasted vegetable or a simple focaccia. But I’m pretty sure I won’t use the rest of the oil in the next week, so I’ll have to decide whether to tempt the food safety gods….
Flavorfully Infused Oils
1/2 cup washed and dried fresh herb leaves: rosemary, thyme or oregano, etc., or dried bay leaf
Or
2 tablespoons whole spice: star anise, peppercorns, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, dried chilies, etc.
Or
4 garlic cloves, lightly crushed; or 4 tablespoons fresh ginger slices, roughly chopped shallot or scallion, etc.
Or
A combination of your choice
Pinch salt
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1. Combine ingredients in a saucepan over low heat. Warm mixture until it bubbles, then continue to simmer, the oil bubbling all the while, for at least five minutes.
2. Cool, then use a funnel to pour oil into a clean bottle or other container. Refrigerate and use within a week.
Yield: 1 cup.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
June 24 – Greek-Style Nachos
Nachos? Really, I have to make nachos? This was my first thought upon seeing this Bittman recipe. But then I started looking at the ingredients and found that it seemed to abide by my basic thinking about nachos as a toppings delivery system. Here were homemade pita chips topped with some nice Greek toppings – ground lamb, yogurt-feta “cheese sauce,” tomatoes, cucumbers, and olives. This was a nacho recipe I could get behind.
None of the ingredients were difficult to find. I decided to get some nice lamb steak and just grind it myself with the food processor, as Bittman has advocated many times in the past. The grinding itself was very easy, but I wasn’t sure how much fat to trim from the cut. In the end, I settled with trimming about half the fat. That seemed like a good call since the meat browned up nicely with just a bit of olive oil in the pan. I made one other small change from the recipe, buying Greek yogurt instead of plain yogurt. I love the rich, tart taste of Greek yogurt when I’m making sauces and dips, and I’m happy that many more grocery stores are regularly carrying it. However, after making the nachose, I should have chosen plain yogurt because it’s not as dense. My cheese sauce had a good flavor but was very goopy and couldn’t be drizzled over the chips. Thus, there were clumps of cheese sauce on some chips and none on the others.
On the other hand, I could keep the Greek yogurt and make this as I now make most nachos – as a layered dip of the toppings with the chips on the side. Or I could do something akin to a pizza by toasting the full pita and spreading on the cheese sauce/dip and then layering the meat and other ingredients on top of that. With either of those preparations there would be a bit of each ingredient in each bite. I enjoyed these nachos but didn’t feel the real combination of flavors until the end, when I was collecting all the scraps on my final few chips…but what tasty scraps they were.
Greek-Style Nachos
4 pita pockets, white or whole wheat, cut into wedges
About 1/2 cup olive oil
Salt
4 ounces feta cheese
1/2 cup yogurt, preferably whole-milk
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1 lemon
Freshly ground black pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 pound ground lamb
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 or 3 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 medium cucumber, peeled and seeded if necessary, and chopped
1/2 cup calamata olives, pitted and halved
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees Arrange pita wedges in one layer on baking sheets and brush or drizzle with a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Bake until they begin to color, turning once or twice, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt, turn off oven and put chips back in to keep warm.
2. In a blender or food processor, combine feta, yogurt, 1/4 cup olive oil, mint and zest and juice of lemon; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Blend or process until smooth. (You can also mash mixture by hand, with a fork.)
3. Put two tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and cook onions until soft, about 5 minutes. Add lamb and cumin and sprinkle with salt and pepper; continue cooking until meat is cooked through, about 5 to 10 minutes more. Put chips on a serving plate and top with lamb, sauce, tomatoes, cucumbers and olives if you're using them.
None of the ingredients were difficult to find. I decided to get some nice lamb steak and just grind it myself with the food processor, as Bittman has advocated many times in the past. The grinding itself was very easy, but I wasn’t sure how much fat to trim from the cut. In the end, I settled with trimming about half the fat. That seemed like a good call since the meat browned up nicely with just a bit of olive oil in the pan. I made one other small change from the recipe, buying Greek yogurt instead of plain yogurt. I love the rich, tart taste of Greek yogurt when I’m making sauces and dips, and I’m happy that many more grocery stores are regularly carrying it. However, after making the nachose, I should have chosen plain yogurt because it’s not as dense. My cheese sauce had a good flavor but was very goopy and couldn’t be drizzled over the chips. Thus, there were clumps of cheese sauce on some chips and none on the others.
On the other hand, I could keep the Greek yogurt and make this as I now make most nachos – as a layered dip of the toppings with the chips on the side. Or I could do something akin to a pizza by toasting the full pita and spreading on the cheese sauce/dip and then layering the meat and other ingredients on top of that. With either of those preparations there would be a bit of each ingredient in each bite. I enjoyed these nachos but didn’t feel the real combination of flavors until the end, when I was collecting all the scraps on my final few chips…but what tasty scraps they were.
Greek-Style Nachos
4 pita pockets, white or whole wheat, cut into wedges
About 1/2 cup olive oil
Salt
4 ounces feta cheese
1/2 cup yogurt, preferably whole-milk
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1 lemon
Freshly ground black pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 pound ground lamb
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 or 3 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 medium cucumber, peeled and seeded if necessary, and chopped
1/2 cup calamata olives, pitted and halved
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees Arrange pita wedges in one layer on baking sheets and brush or drizzle with a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Bake until they begin to color, turning once or twice, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt, turn off oven and put chips back in to keep warm.
2. In a blender or food processor, combine feta, yogurt, 1/4 cup olive oil, mint and zest and juice of lemon; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Blend or process until smooth. (You can also mash mixture by hand, with a fork.)
3. Put two tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and cook onions until soft, about 5 minutes. Add lamb and cumin and sprinkle with salt and pepper; continue cooking until meat is cooked through, about 5 to 10 minutes more. Put chips on a serving plate and top with lamb, sauce, tomatoes, cucumbers and olives if you're using them.
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