Extra Schmaltz!

I remember looking this recipe up on the internet in around 1998 and I had to do exhaustive searching to find a single recipe. Now there are tons, as well as several videos of how to make it. Pão de Queijo are just as easy to make as buttermilk biscuits, but are arguably more delicious. They are springy little puffs of tapioca starch and cheese and go well with virtually anything--what's more, they only take about 35 minutes to make from start to finish. The only hard part is keeping tapioca starch (aka tapioca flour, manioc flour, cassava flour) on hand, though this is easy to find at any Asian store and is usually cheap. You also need a hard, mild cheese that won't overwhelm the puffs. I used a combination of parmesan and white cheddar. 2 c. tapioca starch 1 c. milk 1 c. water 1/2 c. vegetable oil 1 tsp. salt 2 eggs ~1 c. grated hard, mild cheese Preheat the oven to 450. Place the tapioca starch in a large bowl. Bring the milk, water, vegetable oil, and salt to a boil. Pour i...

Hooray! We finally got a grill and we put it to use immediately. Crisp, succulent cauliflower seems to be in season around here so we threw some on the grill. I make this in the winter too, using the oven. Simply cut up a cauliflower into fairly large chunks, brush with oil, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and paprika. Roast it in a hot oven (450) with a run under the broiler, if need be, or on a charcoal grill. It may take some time, so be patient. The steaks simply had salt and pepper on them and were fantastic. There may be hope for my steak-making skills yet. Look forward to more grill recipes! *** In other news, I finally found some rhubarb at one of the farmers' markets around here and I set out to make a strawberry-rhubarb pie. It sure looked good when I finished baking it... ...but, alas, it didn't thicken up enough and was also rather tart! Reflecting upon what went wrong, I realize that I only used 3 Tbsp. of thickener instead of 4 because I lost count, and I probably...

Like I said, it's piemaking* season and I've been getting some questions about recipes and techniques. I'm still in training to become the Queen of Pies, but I'll post here what I've learned so far. I'll try to update this post with any other tips and revelations, so refer back to it whenever you're making a pie. Before embarking on any piemaking pursuit, remember that most recipes are written for a 9" x 1.5" (usually metal) pie pan. Our family traditionally uses a 10" deep-dish glass pie pan. Glass heats more evenly, slows baking, and reduces browning compared to the metal pan. A 10" deep dish requires around 2 lbs of filling, while the 9" regular will only require 1.5 lbs. Adjust your recipe and pan choice accordingly. *I hereby declare 'piemaking' to be a real word. Generic Fruit Pie Recipe 2 Basic Pie Crusts 1 1/2 - 2 lbs. fruit pieces 3/4 - 1 1/2 c. sugar, depending on the sweetness of your fruit 3 Tbsp. - 1/4 c. thicken...

When Alex comes home from afar, I always feel the need to make tapioca pudding. Go figure. Everyone in the family loves it but I don't usually think of making it. Last night, Alex and Lillian and I were sitting around catching up on news and making sandwiches, so I decided to start some. I was all out of Minute Tapioca, so I soaked the big tapioca balls. Oh, my. I had forgotten how delicious it is. I always follow the recipe in my mother's favorite cookbook, The Settlement Cookbook. It is barely held together by tape but I feel that the connection to my mom is what is actually holding it together. Plus all the schmutz that has been spilled on it over the years. And her funny notes to herself, written in her beautiful handwriting. Here is the recipe (I doubled it, of course): 1/2 cup quick-cooking tapioca* 2 cups milk 2 eggs, separated 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla (or more) * when using large tapioca, measure it dry and soak it in some of the milk for an h...

Tonight we have the first frost advisory of the year here in Ithaca, so it's a good night to stay home and have a comforting meal. Also, I didn't feel like doing my homework, so I basically got food (at the farm and farm-stand) and cooked the whole day. I even took pictures this time! Tonight's meal was truly all-American, all-Yankee, in fact. A navy bean is also known as a Yankee bean, so the soup is self-explanatory. The Parker House rolls originated at a swanky hotel in Boston; I made the cloverleaf version. The concord grape pie may be more hard to believe, but it does exist and is a regional delicacy. Concord grapes are a 'labrusca' variety, which means they're descended from the native North American grape. I'm not sure if you can find concords in MN, but I hope so, since the pie smells delicious (it's still cooling, so I don't know how it tastes). I think that you can use any other black-skinned grape whose skins slip off readily. Yankee Bean ...