pam claughton
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Posts posted by pam claughton
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I'd also strongly suggest getting a part-time (or full-time in the Summer) job in a restaurant. Either the kitchen or serving, or both at different times. Both jobs will give you great hands on experience in understanding food and service, and will add depth to your food writing. I learned more about cooking just from being friends with the kitchen staff, and watching and learning by osmosis.
Pam -
I have a Kunz recipe that calls for a cup of tamarind paste and what I do I find at the store? Tamarind liquid.
Could someone explain the mysteries of tamarind conversions? I have seen it in beans, block form, and in liquid. Oddly, I've not seen paste.
And most important of all, how do you all like to use it?
This is a little different, as it's not Tamarind paste, but I received a bottle of Stonewall Kitchen's Tamarind sauce for Christmas, and I have been using it on everything! It has the great sweet tart flavor of tamarind with some Indian spices and is wonderful on seafood, pasta, etc. It's almost time to get another bottle.
Pam -
article from slashfood.comnow a great chef, a man of genius, has redefined the slider! David Burke, the avant-garde author of such postmodern masterpieces as fried foie-gras lollipops and pastrami salmon, has essayed the almost oriental art of the slider. His solution to the slider is to intensify it, maximizing every aspect. So the meat is a thick patty, almost meatball-like in its proportions. But by an ingenious system, he extends the meaty crunch to the outside extremities of the bun. Here’s how:
1) A miniature English muffin is sliced so that the bottom part ...
2) The meat, of the finest Creekstone beef, is formed and placed inside...
3) The meat juices cook into the bread ...
4) When the burger has taken a strong brown on ...
5) The burger, and a hundred of its brothers, are placed in ...
Are you a fan of the slider?
Admire the concept?
Next time I go to NY, I will make a special trip to Bloomingdales to try one of these...they sound so amazing as described in this article.
Of course, I am on a diet. So everything sounds amazing to me right now.
Pam -
Mexican hot chocolate made with the addition of a few chile flakes, a few cloves and a few drops of orange oil
(yes, there is a trend here
)This sounds amazing. Where do you get Mexican hot chocolate?
Pam -
Foods that have been added to my comfort food group include,
Risotto
Tortelloni with alfredo sauce, proscuitto and peas
Nachos with chicken, sour cream, and fresh guacamole
Escarole bean soup with Italian sausage
Lobster Newburg or casserole
Thai curries
Thai spicy soup with shrimp and lots of cilantro
Veal Milanese
Andrew's Outrageous Clam dip, which we eat with potato chips while drinking cheap chardonnay and playing cards. Comfort food at its best.
Pam -
I didn't think I liked salads with fruit in them, until I had one at Thanksgiving, and am now hooked. Lots of mixed greens, sliced fresh strawberries, blueberries, diced dried apricots, slivered almonds or walnuts, tomatoes, lots of crumbled goat cheese, and this dressing, which is amazing, and pulls it all together.
Equal amounts of real maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, and extra virgin olive oil, blend until well emulsified, and drizzle over salad.
Pam -
I have a picture of the famed porchetta sandwich from Salumi. It gets my vote for "Best Sandwich EVER" too!
Most delicious thing for me today...a plate of chocolate Sparkle cookies (Thomas Haas' recipe.)
Ling, this looks amazing, but can you explain what is in the sandwich? What is porchetta?
My brother lives in Seattle, I will have to send him there!
Pam -
I've only had conch fritters in Key West, at the Sloppy Joe's takeout window, but I still remember how amazing they were, with some kind of a spicy tartar dipping sauce.
The ones I love and have over and over again, are either clam fritters or lobster fritters, which are sometimes also called clam cakes. They are all over Cape Cod at just about any place that sells fried seafood. I like mine with cocktail sauce or maple syrup.
Pam -
My favorite chains aren't usually monster chains. I like places like Panera/SLBC, Qdoba/Chipotle or Nothing but Noodles/Noodles and Company that are semi-regional. Fast food wise, I'll usually try just about any new sandwich Sonic or Hardee's (Carl Jr.'s elsewhere) put out. At least their burgers taste like real meat.
I don't like chains, but I adore Panera. I like everything about the place. The one near me has a roaring fireplace, and I'll always grab the seat right by it if it's open. They have free wifi, and the service is great, people are always coming around to take away empty plates or offer free samples of different things.
But, the quality of the food is what I like most. The bread is made fresh and is the best I've had anywhere, especially the country white. I also like that they use organic chicken.
Pam -
A bone-in chicken breast that I roasted/braised in a shallow pan with red wine, and leftover spaghetti sauce, heavy with onions and fresh basil. It came out amazingly tender and flavorful.
Pam -
Melissa and Michelle,
Thanks so much, these both look great!
Pam -
There's a lot of recipes online for this, but I wanted to check to see if anyone here has actually made this and what recipe they use? I know it involves mayonnaise and maybe sour cream and lots of cheese, and it bakes in the oven until bubbly.
Thanks for any suggestions. We tried winging it, and it didn't quite work. (to put it mildly).
Pam -
Chappie wins for creativity.
Yes, he certainly does. I immediately thought of the old I Love Lucy episode when Lucy and Ethel visit a winery and stomp grapes in their bare feet.
Pam -
Two forks works well. One holds the potato down while the other smashes it.
This is a little trick I learned years ago in a restaurant where we had to make the caesar dressing tableside. We used two forks to crush the garlic and smear it along the bottom of the wooden bowl. I often do this when I'm going to saute garlic in oil, as it really releases the flavor into the oil.
Pam -
I ended up going with a hummus dip I've made before and forgot all about. It's a blend of roasted red pepper hummus, feta cheese, sour cream or greek yogurt, chopped artichokes, and you can also add cheddar or mozzarella (I didn't though this time). You mix it all, and microwave or bake until it all melts a bit, and stir to let the flavors blend. If you are serving it with the cheddar or mozz, it's best to heat before serving, so it gets all gooey. I'm just serving mine cold, and did the heating ahead, so the flavors would blend.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Pam -
Thanks everyone! Lots of great ideas...now the problem is how do I decide? They all sound good.
Pam -
Every Thanksgiving, we gather in the oversized kitchen at my sister's mother-in-law's house, and sip champagne or prosecco and nibble on appetizers while the final cooking wraps up. We always have two very rich appetizers, stuffed mushrooms with a buttery bread filling, and brie, baked in puff pastry with apricot or raspberry jam. I said I'd bring a third dish, something light, and thought a veggie tray would be good, with some kind of an interesting dip.
Any suggestions? I could do the old standbys, a ranch or onion or leek sour cream thing, but wanted to see if anyone has something a bit more interesting?
Thanks!
Pam
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"I'd have been thrilled even if he'd just comped that champagne and given us the menus--it was above and beyond to send out 2 extra courses and the glasses of wine and sherry, and the chocolate bars. The only explanations I can imagine for this is a desire to provide good service and a once-in-a-lifetime experience (which one's wedding night ought to be), or to reward us as customers for being so obviously thrilled to be there-
Whether or not this system would work for the average restaurant I can't say, but I can attest that it is working at the FL (or at least it seemed to that night).
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I copied this dish from Vespaio, a local Italian restaurant.
Haricots verts, Tregole cheese (similar to Asiago), soppressata
This looks great...cheese looks especially interesting.
Pam -
Brining is a wonderfull thing it makes the meat moist and very flavorful as the flavor is carried by osmosis (or diffusion-- but lets not get too technical) into the cells of the meat . No injection or basting can do that. For thanksgiving I made Alton Brown's brined turkey and it was a hit. guests were picking the meat while I was carving. Defenitly give it a try and you will love it.
PS: If you are brining the turkey in a 5 gallon bucket it might not fit in the refrigerator so just place it in a cool place (no more than 6 hrs) and since you add a gallon of ice to the liquid and since the liquid is very salty there really is no fear from contamination.
Yes, I found this out the hard way one year, when I waited too long to get the Turkey, and they were all out of Butterballs, which my Grandmother said was the only kind acceptable. I ended up with a 23 pound brand I'd never heard of, and decided to brine it, so it might be moist enough for Gram.
I couldn't find anything big enough to hold the turkey and brine, and go in the fridge, so I ended up using two trashbags, put the turkey in, dumped the brine over it, tied it up, and threw it outside on the porch (it was quite cold).
I used the Cook's Illustrated recipe too, and that turkey, which was ridiculously cheap, and not a Butterball, was the best one I ever made. Brining made a huge difference.
Pam -
I actually just blogged about this the other day. My favorite super simple, elegant meal is tortelloni soup. Just pour your favorite chicken broth in a pan, bring it to a boil, drop in a handful of plump cheese tortelloni, lower heat, cook until done, add a squeeze of lemon, and a pile of freshly grated parmesan which will melt into the broth and give it the most wonderful flavor. Takes less than ten minutes.
Pam -
Dare I admit this? I suppose I would fall into the category of Lady Who Lunches.
Currently I am a stay-at-home-mother of a toddler, but had a really active life prior to his birth. Prior to moving to London 3 years ago, I worked a really demanding job in SF, and my hobbies were shoe shopping, food and wine. Luckily, my friends here also have a similar profile as me (ex-career women who really enjoy food and wine, but have toddlers which really put a brake on our favorite pasttimes). Saturday-Thursday, I live the life of a typical mum, but Friday is my day off. Several of my friends also have their Fridays off, and this is the day we Do Lunch. This is the day we actually blow-dry our hair, put on make-up, throw on something fun (DVF wraparound dresses typical), and put on a piar of stilettos. This is the day we ditch the diaper bag and use a properly tiny pocketbook. We may meet earlier to do a spot of shopping (always something completely frivolous)or get mani/pedis. We usually choose a good to very good, buzzy-ish restaurant conveniently located (recent examples are Aubergine, Foliage, Greenhouse, Sketch, Zuma, Maze). We start with Champagne, and get 3 proper courses and definitely drink wine. After dessert, we have coffee and petit-fours (if available), and decide where to meet the next week. Lunch usually lasts 3 hours (sometimes longer!).
For us, the point of the day is enjoying adult time at a lesiurely pace with enjoyable company. It is also a time to not be mummy and wives, but ourselves. Even if I went back to work, I would make a day as often as possible to do lunch with my female friends. I suppose for me, it's like an upgraded version of university dining hall experience. I went to an all-womens college and our relaxation time would be spending hours in the dining hall discussing whatever. I prefer my current version (much better food accompanied by something better than diet coke and bad coffee).
Perhaps this isn't the lunching of the Babe Paley set, but I think that my experience is more in line with today's woman.
This sounds like a wonderful way to spend a Friday off. I love to get into town and meet up with friends for lunch, but we all work, so it's never that leisurely. The newest favorite place in Boston is Juries, the restaurant in the hotel. It gets a mix of ladies who lunch, tourists, and business people. We like it for the relaxing, yet hip environment, and the lobster bisque.
Pam -
I was fascinated by food at a ridiculously early age. My first word was 'cookie'.
When I was really young, we lived in Gloucester, MA, near the water, and my dad introduced me to lobster as soon as I could eat solid food. He used to buy bags of lobster bodies from the fish market, and we'd sit there digging out bits of sweet meat, sucking the juice out of the legs, and I thought the green tomalley was the most delicious thing.
I think I was about 5 when my dad taught me how to cook. We made popcorn, cooked in oil in a big saucepan, and then drizzled with lots of butter and salt. I've been addicted to it ever since, and even worked in a movie theater for years as a teen, making and eating popcorn, and never got sick of it.
My grandmother was a great cook, especially her spicy spaghetti sauce. I used to stand on a stool and watch carefully as she added a pinch of this and a pinch of that, stirred in the tomato paste, browned the garlic and onions. She did it by feel, and never measured anything, said if I just paid close attention, mine would come out just as good. She was right, sort of. Hers was still the best.
Where I really learned about cooking was waitressing at various restaurants on the Cape, and having friends in the business. I sort of learned by osmosis, by watching them put it all together, asking questions, and trying do the same at home.
Most memorable meal growing up was my other Nana's raviolis. These were a magical thing, larger than life in our family. Every Easter and Christmas, we had raviolis if we went to Nana's house. They were made from fresh, soft pasta and filled with a blend of spinach, sausages, and cheeses. The 'gravy' served with it was a smooth puree that had simmered with beef until the meat fell off the bone, and the seasoning was perfect. It used to take her hours to make everything, as there were no food processors in her day, and if there were, she probably wouldn't get one anyway.
Pam -
A web site is key for me. I love to check out a menu before I go somewhere, especially if it's a new place.
Web sites can be very simple, and inexpensive. I hate flash sites that take too long to load.
Some of the best sites I've seen have lots of great info on them, directions, events, news, recipes, reviews, etc. Here's one that I think is great....except for the somewhat slow opening.
http://www.radiusrestaurant.com/main.shtml
Pam
Good fish recipes
in Cooking
Posted
Sole is a nice mild fish, dip it in a little flour and egg, and saute in butter and lemon for a quick picatta, top with slivered almonds for a nice almondine. Mmmm
For a super easy, delicious way to cook salmon, mix a tablespoon of honey with a teaspoon of dijon mustard, spread over the salmon and top with slivered almonds or pecans and bake for about 20 min, it's delicious.
To make it even more low-fat substitute a splash of balsamic vinegar for the nuts.
One of my favorite ways to serve haddock or cod is to top it with a mix of crushed ritz crackers, butter, parsley, and a drizzle of sherry.