Taking a Deep Breath

Last night I dropped a bottle of canola oil in the kitchen and it exploded. Everywhere. All over myself, the stovetop, the floor. I tried not to take it personally as I pulled off my oil soaked sweater with shards of glass in it, and set to work wiping up the debris from every corner of the room. You see, I'm in the middle of writing my dissertation and juggling a couple of jobs for my academic department, plus preparing to graduate and maybe enter that big scary world that I've been avoiding over seven years in graduate school. So it was easy for the thought to creep into my mind, Was that shattered bottle a sign from the universe that I've bitten off more than I can chew? Or do I simply need to rearrange where I keep my spatulas in the kitchen. Jury's still out on that, but I should probably move the spatulas anyways.

On the bright side, the affected part of my kitchen is now really clean and uncluttered, and all my cookware has been reseasoned. The down side is that when I accidentally broke off a new branch from my lemon tree while watering it this morning, I was certain the universe was telling me to STOP. Stop what, I don't know. So for now, I'm taking a moment to stop, breathe, sit in the sun and listen to a playlist I made a couple of years ago when I was coming out of a dark place. I'm like my plants, sometimes I don't want to be forced into shitty situations. I just want some space and a bright sunny window. And occasionally I need to be serenaded. Soon enough, we'll both stop drooping and moping and crying over spilt oil.

And then I'll cook some more shakshuka, which was my original goal yesterday.

Watching all the plant babies bask in the sun and rehydrate after 3 weeks without parental care ☀️☺️🌿

A post shared by Elena Sesma (@elenasesma) on Jan 14, 2018 at 8:40am PST

Pie crusts and prospectus writing

Hello, old friend. It's been a while since I last blogged about food. It'd been awhile since I was quite this into cooking food, actually. But I recently moved to a new amazing apartment and have been getting back in touch with my inner foodie and butter-devouring inner self. Probably a combination of the new home, the boyfriend who will eat copious amounts of butter-filled dishes with me, and oh yeah, trying to write my dissertation prospectus.

I should say up front that I'm incredibly lucky that I have a pretty sweet deal in terms of research funding, as I was recently awarded a Wenner-Gren dissertation fieldwork grant for my work on memory and landscape in the Bahamas. But it's probably also not a coincidence that I've flown through several boxes of butter since finding out that I need to be ABD (all but dissertation, ie, done with my proposal, exams and ready to go do the damn thing) in the next like.... 3 months. I also finally split my only remaining pair of jeans last week. Definitely not a coincidence.

But that also means I've made a lot of really delicious food. Not even a humble brag. That's a straight up brag. Let's begin with the pie crust, shall we?

I waver back and forth between acknowledging that I'm good at what I do as an anthropologist, but I'm not even going to play like I don't know how to make a kick-ass pie crust. The recipe comes from a neighbor who was an amazing cook and famous for her birthday desserts. After she passed away when I was in high school, my mom compiled a bunch of her best and most liked recipes into a cookbook. (She got the recipe from somewhere else, which I'll eventually look up so I give proper citation.) So I've been following this recipe for the past 10 years, until recently when I started binge watching The Mind of a Chef (season 2) on Netflix last month, which altered my technique. The drive to smash flour into butter, however, comes from a desperate-starving-and-procrastinating-graduate-student place. The collision of three very important variables.

Pie crust 

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter (very cold)
6 tablespoons very cold water (or as much as needed)
Cut the cold butter into large pieces and drop into the flour and salt mixture. With your hands, press the flour into the butter until it starts to clump small loose balls/globs. Add one tablespoon of water at a time and mix with your hand until the dough starts to form into a loose ball. Use only as much water as necessary- you don't want the dough to be wet. And ideally, you'll still see small pieces of butter in the ball of dough. Divide the dough into two (for a top and bottom crust). Roll out into a crust, or refrigerate while you prep the rest of your delicious pie fillings. 

So after making 2 apple pies, peach hand pies, and a 'rustic apple tart/galette/thing' in the past few weeks, Evan suggested making butter tarts. How excellent. Just embrace the butter, shall we? Oh yes, and embrace it, we did.

So these are Canadian. And delicious. And buttery and sweet and they don't even have maple syrup in them. Impressive, eh? In the spirit of true cross-border cooperation, I made the pie crust. The first time I made apple pie a few weeks ago, Evan told me it was his first ever American apple pie (which I guess is due to the butter, rather than shortening on the other side of the border). Evan made the filling, using this recipe. 

Butter tarts 
1/2 cup raisins, rehydrated in hot water 30 mins
1/4 cp soft butter
1/4 cp brown sugar
pinch salt
1/2 cp dark corn syrup
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
pie crust of your choosing (cough, mine)
Mix butter, sugar, salt and syrup until the sugar dissolves. Then add the egg and vanilla. Drain the raisins and divide between the tart shells (pie crust already pressed into the muffin tin). Pour butter mixture into each shell. Bake at 400, about 20 mins. 

I asked if these tasted like Canada. Evan said that when you lick the ground there, it tastes like butter tarts. Which I can only assume was the truth. 

Anyways, these are really good and you should make some soon and then maybe order some new jeans because, well, butter tarts. 

Sauteed Sprout Slaw

I love brussel sprouts. LOVE. They're just so friggin cute and tasty. But I get sick of roasting them every time I make them, so I tried something new this past week.

I got my sprouts from the store in a little mesh bag, but you could also get them by the stalk and cut them up yourself.

Ingredients:

20- 30 medium brussel sprouts, sliced thin

1 medium onion, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

salt and pepper

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp soy sauce

Cook onions and garlic in olive oil over medium-high heat until onions are soft.

Add brussel sprouts, mix well with onions and garlic. Season with salt and pepper (use less salt if you are also using regular sodium soy sauce).

Once sprouts are softened and starting to brown just a bit, add vinegar and soy sauce (you can add more or less as desired). Mix well. Serve.

Bacon Cheddar Hot Tots

Well, that's what I like to call them. My roommates and I were not particularly interested in watching the SuperBowl last weekend, but we are always really in to cooking. So we invited a few friends over, for the sole purpose of feeding them.

I found this recipe while browsing tastespotting the other day- my favorite non-homework activity. The original recipe is on RecipeGirl.com. Just from looking at it, we knew these had to be just heavenly. and they were! (if your heaven is full of greasy cheesy bacon-y goodness on a steaming puff of potato)

Make sure that tater tots are partially thawed- otherwise you won't be able to proceed with the rest of the recipe.

Make a small cut into each tater tot. Place a small piece of cheddar cheese inside the cut tot. Sprinkle with Tabasco or other hot sauce. Wrap in bacon and secure with a toothpick.

Bake on sheet pan at 450 degrees, for about 15 minutes, or until bacon is slightly crispy on edges.

Remove and devour.

Unfortunately, when we made these, we forgot the Tabasco. Instead, we sprinkled hot sauce on them as we ate them. Whenever you incorporate the hot sauce- you really need to include it- it makes them even more delicious.

We also made a few with small slices of pickles wrapped inside the bacon with the cheese. SO GOOD.

Beef & Mushroom Stroganoff

I was feeling really ambitious the other day, but not quite ambitious enough to find and follow a recipe for beef stroganoff. So, of course, I improvised- and it turned out quite delicious. I won't put the exact recipe up because (1) i don't quite remember it and (2) it was an odd assortment of ingredients and guesswork. I can give further details if anyone wants.

Sautee sliced onions and minced garlic until soft. Add sliced mushrooms, cook till soft and brown.

Remove from heat.

Quickly brown steak (I used pre-sliced stir-frying cuts). Turn down heat, add stock (I used chicken stock- about 1/2 to 1 cup). Add a splash or more of red wine, about 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce and about 1 tablespoon dijon mustard. Mix in pan, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix about 2 tbsp flour with butter in warm pan. Add a bit of stock to loosen. Then add to steak and sauce. Mix well.

Add mushrooms and onions back to steak and sauce. Add about 1/2 cup of sour cream, mixing to combine. Simmer for just a few minutes, until sauce has thickened just a bit.

Serve over warm pasta (egg noodles, or fusilli like I used). Sprinkle with grated parmesan.

Like I said, this was very much improvised, so feel free to do the same should you make this. Or better yet- maybe follow a recipe. But just so you know, this was delicious!