This recipe, if you can even call something this simple a recipe, is all about a technique that also happens to be one of my favorite words: macerate. Isn’t that a lovely word? It evokes what happens when you macerate fruit; it gets all juicy and a little squishy and all the goodness runs out to make it’s own syrupy sauce. Yum.

Again, this is another thing that doesn’t really have a recipe, but I’ll do my best. Serve it over vanilla ice cream as we do most of the time, or in strawberry shortcake, or in a yogurt parfait, or on oatmeal, or on pancakes or waffles…You get the idea. It’s good on everything.

Vanilla Macerated Strawberries

strawberries, sliced
white sugar, to taste, but at least a couple tablespoons
half a vanilla bean

1. Slice the half vanilla bean in two lengthwise, then scrape the seeds into a bowl with the strawberries and sugar. Mix thoroughly, then let sit on the counter or in the fridge for 30 minutes. Mix again, then serve. The sugar will bring out all the juices from the fruit and create a syrup. You don’t have to eat this right away, but the fruit breaks down the longer it sits, so I usually use it within a day, otherwise the strawberries start losing their color and get mushy.

Blueberries were on sale at Sendik’s, 4 pints for $5. Not too shabby. I bought them before I knew what I was going to do with them…An impulse buy I guess. In the end I decided to make crisp, as oppossed to cobbler, buckle, crumble, grunt or whatever other regional variation of fruit+carbs. I almost always have everything already on hand for crisp, I love oats, and it’s super easy. Crisp is a great way to use up those impulse berries you buy this summer.

This is a general recipe as I never really measure crisp ingredients. For the fruit, if you like it thicker, add more cornstarch. If your berries are sour and not ripe, add a bit more sugar. For the topping, you’re looking to add enough butter that it turns into wet, coarse sand. If you squeeze it together in your hand, it will hold it’s shape, then crumble into large chunks.

Blueberry Crisp

4 pints blueberries, washed and picked over
1/2 to 3/4 c sugar, to taste
3-4 T cornstarch
1 T lemon juice
2/3 c flour
2/3 c brown sugar
2 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 c rolled oats
1 stick butter, chilled and diced

1. Preheat oven to 350. Combine fruit, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice in a bowl. Pour into a 9×13 pan.

2. Combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, oats and salt in a bowl. Add chilled butter chunks and work with fingers, fork or pastry cutter until butter is evenly distributed and mixture holds its shape when squeezed. Squeeze mixture, then crumble coarse chunks over the fruit. Bake until browned and bubbly, 30-40 mintues.

Hi Blog, how’s it going? Long time no see!

Sorry for the lack of updates, everyone. Life’s been busy. And unfortunately, life comes before blog.

But fortunately, I have a couple recipes stocked up, so even though I haven’t been cooking much, I have something to post about! Three cheers for planning ahead for just these moments.

I’m not really sure why Texas caviar is called Texas caviar…You’d think Texans would love regular caviar. They like expensive things, right? Maybe the tiny little fish eggs go against their “Everything’s bigger in Texas” motto. So they decided to substitute with slightly bigger beans and veggies? Yeah, I don’t know either.

No matter why it’s named what it’s named, it’s delicious. I think of it more as a salsa or chip dip than a salad, even though it’s got a bit of a salad dressing going on. I think traditionally, black eyed peas are used, but I’m a fan of black beans, so I used them instead. Plus I upped the salsa quotient by adding lime juice, cilantro and serranos. If you’ve got access to good ripe summer tomatoes, use those. I didn’t get a chance to go to the farmer’s market before making this, and the grocery store had anemic tomatoes, so I ended up using a can of small diced tomatoes. It was all right, but I’d prefer fresh next time.

Texas Caviar

2 cans black beans or black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
Fresh corn from 1-2 ears
3 roma tomatoes or 1 large heirloom or 1 can small diced tomatoes
2-3 minced serranos
1 large red bell pepper, diced
1/2 small onion, diced
4 green onions, chopped
1 small bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
3 T red wine vinegar
juice of 1-2 limes
6 T olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 t ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix all the ingredients and let it hang out in the fridge for a couple hours before serving. Or, you know, don’t. I didn’t. It’s good no matter what.

Happy 4th everyone! Another holiday…and another excuse to try some new recipes that also happen to be pretty unhealthy! But I figure if I do things like fried food only on holidays, that’s not so bad. Right? Right?!…

Anyhow, this is a recipe from a Cook’s Illustrated Best of 2008 book I got last year. For some reason it’s not on their web site, so I’ll post an abbreviated version of their usually OCD instructions. Nick and I were originally a little dubious because we’re not big fans of mustard sauce and it seemed a little thousand island dressingy, but it turned out better than we both expected. Nick was hankering for fried chicken and we both love spicy, so there you go. We both also prefer boneless fried chicken to meat on the bone — it just grosses us out picking meat off the bone sometimes. I changed the recipe slightly based on what I had on hand, and it still worked perfectly. None of the coating came away from the chicken as I was frying it, which has been the bane of my existence when it comes to fried chicken in the past.

Firecracker Chicken

Sauce/marinade
1/4 c sliced pickled banana peppers, finely chopped
1/4 c pickling liquid from the banana peppers
1/4 c fresh lime juice
1/4 c yellow mustard
1/4 c veggie oil
1 t mustard powder
1 T sriracha
1 T ketchup
2 T brown sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 habanero, minced
4 green onions, sliced

Chicken
~3 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 c AP flour
1/2 c cornstarch
1 T salt
1 t baking powder
4 egg whites
canola or veggie oil for frying

1. Combine all ingredients for the sauce/marinade in a bowl and set aside.

2. Pound the chicken until 1/2-inch thick, then cut into strips. Place in a large ziploc bag, add 1/4 c of the sauce and squeeze the bag to coat the chicken. Marinade in the fridge for 1/2 to 2 hours.

3. When chicken has marinaded, combine flour through baking powder in a large bowl. Add 6 tablespoons sauce mixture and combine with your hands until it resembles wet, coarse sand. These clumps will stick to the chicken and make little crunchy parts when you fry it.

4. In another bowl whisk the egg whites until foamy. To coat the chicken, pat each piece dry on a paper towel. Dip in egg whites, let excess drip off. Lay in the coating mixture, cover the piece with coating, then press it into the chicken. Shake off excess coating, then place on a rack or tinfoil. Coat all chicken and let sit for 15 minutes (or refrigerate for up to 4 hours).

5. Heat oil in a large high-sided skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering (I use an old cast iron skillet with high, straight sides that I love). Fry the strips in batches until browned on both sides, 2-4 minutes per side. Serve with sauce for dipping.

This recipe brings together two great things: cupcakes and cheesecake. And it’s got lots of other things going for it, too. The cheesecakey part adds enough moisture and creaminess that you don’t need frosting, eliminating the extra frosting steps. Plus I didn’t even use the Kitchen Aid for this one, just a quick blend with my hand mixer for the cream cheese and a good old fashioned wooden spoon for the batter. Couldn’t be easier. Found the recipe on allrecipes.com.

Black Bottom Cupcakes

1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 c sugar
1/8 t salt
1 c miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 c sugar
1/4 c cocoa powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c water
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 T cider vinegar
1 t vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper cups or lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray.

2. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese, egg, 1/3 cup sugar and 1/8 teaspoon salt until light and fluffy. Stir in the chocolate chips and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, 1 cup sugar, cocoa, baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Make a well in the center and add the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla. Stir together until well blended. Fill muffin tins 1/3 full with the batter and top with a dollop of the cream cheese mixture.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes.