Impulse buyers will sympathize with me. Well, some impulse buyers. I have good enough self-restraint to resist buying another bottle of glittery nail polish, or just one more cardigan (alright, fine, I still own too many cardigans, you got me). However, I don't have any self-control when it comes to super market aisles.
I'm not being precious here either, I'm not at Eataly every week picking up truffle oil and seasoned salts. Instead, I'd happily spend a morning browsing Fairway's shelves throwing this and that into my cart. (Shopping carts are essential for my kind of grocery shopping! Those handheld baskets get too heavy, too quickly and limit the amount of time you can linger in front of the deli meat counter). My biggest tempters currently are the flour and the dried beans sections. I consider it a show of great willpower that I don't own every single one of Bob's Red Mill flours.
Anyway, what my impulse shopping has resulted in, is that I have one of those kitchens out of which one can extract a week's worth of meals without leaving the house. My baking projects usually start with a decision on whether I want to bake with fruit or not, and only if the answer is yes, will I go to the store. Well, that and whether or not we're out of butter - a terrifying prospect!
Having just come back to my apartment after a work trip to San Francisco, I settled into the kitchen with a cheese omelet and a cup of tea. Then, faced with another week of Whole Foods lunches, and Monday morning without any souvenirs for my colleagues, I checked my cupboards for suitable ingredients and then made some soup and cookies - using only what I had in the pantry.
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Now, I'm lying, I did go to the store for bacon. I could have easily left it out of the soup, just as I did the ham hocks, but I've been craving bacon. As you see, I simplified the original recipe quite a bit as I only had onions and carrots to hand. I wish I hadn't gotten distracted though, and stirred in the flour before adding in the water. There was just the teensiest amount of excess liquid in the soup, which the flour would have taken care of quite nicely. Or just add a cup less water.
There are no pictures as pea soup is not the most attractive fluid, but it made for about 4 very large servings, all from a bag of Goya split peas.
Split Pea Soup
based on this Saveur recipe.
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
3 slices bacon, finely chopped
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and finely
chopped
Kosher salt, to taste
3 sprigs dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1 lb. green split peas,
rinsed and drained
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1. Place oil and bacon in a 6-qt. pot and cook over medium-high heat until crisp, about 6 minutes. Transfer bacon to paper towel with a slotted spoon; set aside. Add onions and carrots, season with salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 10 minutes.
2. Add thyme and bay leaves to pot with peas and 7 cups water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until peas are very tender, about 1 hour. Remove from heat. Discard bay leaves. Season soup with salt and pepper, and ladle into bowls.
Sprinkle with reserved bacon.
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World Peace cookies are an excellent reason to always have cocoa powder and bittersweet chocolate to hand. The cookies are best eaten a few hours after they come out of the oven as they take on a crumbly sable-type texture with tons of chocolate flavor. Chop the chocolate very finely, as it will help prevent the cookies from breaking apart when you slice them from the log.
Speaking of Fairway, I usually have some of their chunks of Callebaut chocolate lying around. They're fantastic.
World Peace Cookies
adapted from Smittenkitchen. The original recipe is credited to Dorie Greenspan.
Makes about 36 cookies
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/4 cup vanilla sugar*
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips
* Vanilla sugar - take two de-seeded vanilla pods from a previous baking project. Stick them into a clean, dry jar and cover with regular castar sugar. You now have vanilla-scented sugar at your disposal.
1. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together. Use a hand mixer in a large bowl and beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and beat for a few minutes more. Turn off the mixer. Pour in the flour mixture and start mixing the dough together with a wooden spoon — for the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don’t be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.
2. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. If you’ve frozen the dough, you needn’t defrost it before baking — just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.)
3. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
Working with a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. (The rounds are likely to crack as you’re cutting them — don’t be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about one inch between them.
4. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes — they won’t look done, nor will they be firm, but that’s just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.
1 comment:
I. LOVE. THIS.
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