Monday, December 31, 2012

Cooking under pressure


Being a prolific cook, my mother didn't believe that a meal was complete without soup. She made soup nearly every day of her married life, and her secret weapon was a pressure cooker. She dutifully hoisted that ugly but powerful thing onto the stove and cooked soup in abundance.

Her old-fashioned pressure cooker made our kitchen a somewhat uncomfortable and noisy place, as it sounded not unlike a steam engine's piston, and it always fogged up the windows.

All the same, my mother's chicken soup was unquestionably a big hit in our family. She brought home a fat chicken from the weekly farmer's market, threw it in the pot with some water and a bouquet garni which consisted of a brightly-colored carrot, a piece of flavorful celeriac, a gleaming green leek, a crunchy parsley root and half of a sweet onion all tied together with kitchen string. She cooked it in a remarkably short time and the result was a clear and aromatic broth tinged golden and boasting with tons of flavor. She served it in white soup bowls adorned with little pink flowers, and it was full of tiny al dente star-shaped pasta, shredded tender breast meat and a sprinkling of finely chopped, fragrant chives.

As for me, I am scared of pressure cookers. In high school home economics one year, I managed to have the cooker spew all its contents on the school kitchen ceiling. I learned early on that it takes certain finesse if you don't want to damage your home while cooking.

So I make my chicken soup in a stock pot instead. It may take a little longer, but it's just as delicious and my kitchen is calm and happy when the pot is simmering quietly on a low flame on my stove. Maybe one day I will take on a pressure cooker again, but for now, the only sound you hear in my kitchen is coming from someone noisily slurping up a flavorful chicken soup.
Photo by Annika Patel

Chicken Soup
For 4

Fill a large pot with 4 quarts filtered water, salt lightly and add the following:
2 organic free-range chicken breasts
2 organic free-range chicken wings
1 leek, cleaned, removing top 1/3
1 onion, unpeeled, cut in half
1 carrot, scrubbed
1 parsnip, peeled
Stems only of 1 bunch parsley
6 whole peppercorns

8 oz fine egg noodles

1/2 bunch fresh chives, finely chopped

Bring first eight ingredients to a boil, all the while skimming the white foam from the top until broth is clear. Simmer gently for about 1 hour or until breast meat is tender and shreds easily. Pour through a fine strainer and discard the vegetables and peppercorns. Season the broth with additional salt if desired and maybe a few drops of soy sauce. Remove the meat from the wings and shred the chicken breasts into bite-size pieces. Add the meat and the cooked pasta to the hot broth. Serve in bowls with chopped chives sprinkled on top.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Some things Christmas

A Southern California Christmas takes some getting used to after growing up in Germany, but through years of practice, I can almost embrace the clear, bright and warm 68 degree t-shirt weather which often times marks our holiday season.

I actually love Christmas here, it’s so exciting and cheery and never fails to put me in an uplifted and happy mood. Some of my favorite Christmas reminders are:

uniquely-wrapped gifts in stiff wrapping paper with festive bows

the greatest holiday movie ever “Love Actually” which makes me laugh and cry at the same time

adorably cute and very silly songs like “Santa Baby” which I will play over and over until Kevin turns off the stereo

my favorite Christmas gift of all times

turning on the oven, taking my old German cookbook from the shelf and baking buttery, cinnamon-scented, jammy star-shaped Linzer cookies deliciously nutty with a dusting of snow-white confectioners’ sugar. Just like the ones I used to know (sorry, I couldn’t resist) early on in my baking career with my sweet and patient nanny Marianne

And then for the briefest of moments, I am longing for just a little snow….may your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white.

Linzer Stars
Makes about twenty stars
Adapted from Bon Appétit and various German cookbooks

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups almonds, pulsed in food processor until finely ground (you could also use a coffee grinder)
1 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of sea salt
2/3 cups sugar
½ cup (1 stick) butter, unsalted, at room temperature
1 large egg
2 tsp dark rum
¼ tsp vanilla extract or 1 little envelope of vanilla sugar
½ cup raspberry or plum jam
Confectioners’ sugar

In a large bowl beat sugar and butter using an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat an additional minute. Add rum and vanilla, combine well. Beat in almonds, flour, cinnamon and salt and mix on low speed until ingredients start to come together. At this point, you will have to knead the dough gently by hand until well combined. Form into two balls and wrap in clear plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least two hours or over night.

Take out one of the balls, cut in half and keep the rest of the dough chilled. Roll out with a slightly floured rolling pin to about 1/8 inch thickness. Using 2 – 3 inch star cookie cutters cut out cookies and transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Half of the cookies need to have an extra cut-out in the middle (a small star or a circle) for the jam to show through.

Just a little forewarning, you need to work quickly since the dough is fickle and works best when cold. So chill all the dough scraps sufficiently until all is used up.

Bake cookies at 375 degrees for about 11 – 13 minutes until light golden brown and just firm to the touch.

Stir jam until smooth and spread on cooled whole stars flat side up. Dust the cookies with cutouts with confectioner’s sugar. Assemble and enjoy!

Followers