Popcorn!

In Irvine, I had an air popper. When I moved, I didn't want to take it with me, but I still bought real popcorn, and not the microwave stuff. One of my friends makes it by putting it in a paper bag, folding the bag over tight, and putting it in the microwave. I have yet to try that. But I have been making it on the stovetop. The nice thing about this is that nearly every kernel in the pot pops. Even with the air popper, I got a lot of unpopped corn. It only takes about 5 extra minutes (so about 10, total). All you need is a large pot with a lid (the lid is key), and the possibilities for flavors are endless. So far I've made kettle corn (pictured), and savory popcorn with salt, pepper, and dried herbs. Here's the general idea.



1. Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil or butter in a large pot. For kettle corn, I think butter is better; for savory, olive oil.
2. As the butter melts/the oil heats, add your flavoring. For kettle corn, a sprinkling of sugar goes in now. Unfortunately, I haven't quite figured out how to keep the sugar from caramelizing, so you get kind of a burnt taste to the kettle corn.
3. Once the butter is melted/the oil is hot, add a quarter cup of popping corn to the pot and cover it. Shake the pot as much as you can while still keeping it over the heat. It takes a few minutes for the popping to start, and once it does it takes about 2-3 minutes for all the kernels to pop.

The Rice Cooker

I used to not like the rice cooker. I actually burnt rice trying to cook rice in it, so I was suspicious. Instead, I used a pot and boiled my rice in the pot. However, I have finally figured out how to use a rice cooker successfully, and it is now one of the most used items in my kitchen. The one i have also has a steamer basket, which makes steaming things a snap. The downside, however, is that to get the rice cooker to work, you have to use at minimum one scoop of rice, which is about three servings. That's where I was getting tripped up before, because I was trying to make one serving of rice, which doesn't really work. If you only want one serving of rice, use a pot. However, if you have space, invest in a rice cooker! It means that watching the rice is one less thing you'll have to worry about while cooking.

Shameless Promotion

This blog's very own Vicki Paterno has started her own blog focused on children and nutrition. Please go over there and check it out! Dr. Vicki's Bytes on Tykes Tell your friends!

Sauce

Previously, I wrote about my pasta dish and how it needed a good sauce. I found one. It's a carbonara. Super simple.

Carbonara Sauce
2 Eggs
Parmesan cheese (grated to taste)
Pepper

In a bowl, beat the eggs and add the cheese and pepper. Mix. Once the pasta is cooked, drain it, then toss the egg mixture in. Mix, but don't let the egg scramble. Don't be concerned about raw egg--the heat from the pasta cooks the egg so that you won't get sick. I used this sauce tonight for a simple pasta dish of tortellini, broccoli, peas, and spinach. I cooked the tortellini, broccoli, and peas together in the same pot, drained it, threw in the spinach, added the sauce, and mixed. The whole thing took about 20 minutes. A perfect dinner for an exciting Friday night of studying for finals.

N.B. Generally a carbonara sauce has pancetta mixed into the pasta. If you don't have pancetta, you can use bacon. I didn't have either, and it turned out fine.

A Lesson in Baking

I made a cake for Carl's thesis defense. Actually, I tend to make cakes fairly regularly, and one of the problems I frequently have is that the cake sticks to the pan after it's baked, even if I butter and flour the pan. This was particularly frustrating with Carl's cake, because I wanted it to be perfect. So, there were two lessons here. The first is to butter the pan, and then cut a round (or whatever the shape of your pan is) piece of parchment paper for the bottom. The cake will just slide right out. If you forget that step, lesson two is that copious amounts of frosting can fix anything. Well, almost anything. If it comes out in crumbs there's probably no saving it. I also wanted to show you pictures of my pretty cake.

Improvisation

As I've become more experienced in the kitchen, I've been more willing to experiment with cooking sans recipe. Generally I keep it pretty simple, combining flavors that I already know will work. This usually means some sort of stir-fry, or as is the case here, pasta with vegetables.

This is a simple spaghetti dish, made with shrimp, tomatoes, and spinach, which were sautéed in olive oil. I think there were also some fresh english peas in there, but it's hard to tell in the picture and I made it so long ago. They would be a natural addition, though, and frozen english peas are just as good. The finished product is sprinkled with parmesan cheese. I think it was a little heavy on the oil, frankly. I'm really looking for an easy, light cream sauce or white sauce to go with it. Similar to an alfredo, but not necessarily as heavy. I haven't been able to find one yet, but if you know of any let me know!

Garden

Our tomato and pepper seedlings are growing nicely. We planted them about a month ago (a bit late, since the packet said to plant a few weeks before the last frost, which for Irvine this year occured in approximately January 2006). It's been a bit cooler and cloudier this year than would be best for them, but c'est la vie. Growing my own vegetables is something I haven't really done lately (what with my current lack of arable land), but I've found it to be quite rewarding in the past. You put in some effort and actually get results (i.e. edible, tasty things), plus homegrown vegetable are usually cheaper and taste much better than what you buy in the store. This year there will be tomatoes and peppers, plus spinach from the winter. I'll try to keep this updated as the season progresses. Hopefully there will be edible tomatoes and peppers within a few months.