Orange You Glad I DID Say Banana?? (and cranberry nut)

I have off this week. Since the streets of Manhattan are knee high in slush, and E! insists on airing nothing but Bridalplasty (I mean, really?) I decided the best way to spend my time was in the kitchen. I initially planned on making just banana bread, but there was a recipe for cranberry nut on the opposite page (Bittman). Clearly, my mind was made up for me.

For the banana bread, first preheat the oven to 350 and grease bottom and sides of a loaf pan. Mix together your dry ingredients: 1.5 cups all purpose flour, a half cup of whole wheat flour, 1 tsp salt, 1.5 tsps baking powder and 3/4 cup sugar. Next, cream 1 stick butter (you can use smart balance also), and add to it 2 eggs and 3 very ripe bananas that have been mashed with a fork til smooth. Stir the wet mixture into the dry until everything is mixed together, but don't mix more than necessary. Gently stir in 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1/2 chopped walnuts. You can also add 1/2 cup grated coconut but as noted in a previous post, Needy Chef + Coconut = NO.

Pour your batter into the pan and bake for about and hour. This bread is unbelievably moist.

Onto the cranberry walnut bread. Mix together dry ingredients: 2 cups all purpose flour, 1 cup sugar, 1.5 tsp baking powder, one half tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt. Cut half a stick of butter (or smart balance) into chunks and then use a fork to combine with dry mixture until butter pieces are no bigger than pea-size.

Beat together 3/4 cup orange juice, zest of one orange and 1 egg. Pour into dry mixture until it is just moistened; do not mix until smooth. Fold in 1 cup chopped cranberries and 1/2 cup walnuts. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for about an hour.

O to the M to the G. This bread was unbelievable. I think the orange juice and zest do it. You do not get an overwhelming orange flavor, just the perfect amount of tartness. Enjoy!

Oh my COD, this dish is so good

One of my favorite things to cook is fish. You will be seeing a LOT of fish recipes on this site. From the simplest flounder fillets, to my "signature salmon"* to "the best dinner you've ever made" (a spicy shrimp/mango/pineapple dish), I think fish offers endless possibilities. Last night, I decided to cook something that was completely new to me. Cod in a curried coconut sauce.

This recipe was from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything (you will see this book mentioned a lot). I find his recipes to be accessible, yet sophisticated. I am also seeing a lot of potential to vary the recipes which is a lot of fun. The recipe actually called for grouper or a more sturdy white fish. However, upon approach of the fish counter at Whole Foods, both the size and $30 per pound price tag on the grouper deterred me. I love cod, so I went for that. However, if I ever do make this recipe again I will attempt the grouper as the cod wasn't quite thick enough (the fish should be in chunks and while the cod did hold up well enough, it flaked more than I would have liked.)

Start by cutting your fish into chunks. Generously season with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. Cook in two tablespoons of vegetable oil until lightly brown (about three minutes total).

Carefully remove the fish when done, pour out any remaining oil and carefully wipe out the pan. Add another tablespoon of oil and 1-2 chopped onions. Saute the onions until very soft and they are just beginning to brown. Add your spices: 1 tsp ground turmeric, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne (or to taste), 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander. Let everything cook for about two minutes. Then add 2 cups of coconut milk. Interesting anecdote: I hate coconuts. Hate them. My 84-year-old grandmother makes a bunny cake for Easter every year and I insist that she leave the shredded pink coconut off one of the ears. The fact that she never remembers to do this and therefore I miss out on bunny cake isn't very important. What is important is that I refuse to eat the hard work of an elderly Italian woman because I hate coconut so. That being said, I really like coconut milk in cooking. I don't know why.

One this starts to boil, reduce heat and reduce sauce by one-third....if you want. I love a lot of sauce so I didn't want it to reduce by much. Add the fish back in, simmer until the fish is cooked through (5-10 minutes), add two tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice and you are ready to serve.

I decided to service this over quinoa. I sauteed celery, carrot and garlic added the quinoa, covered with a combination of chicken broth and water and cooked til fluffy. Quinoa is amazing, by the way. I have a lot of fun playing with quinoa recipes.

Add a bit of diced cilantro, and you are done! Yes, I know there is currently a cilantro recall, but anything being sold at Whole Foods isn't going to kill me.

The fork had barely left my dining companion's mouth, when he uttered "this is excellent".

*All quotes attributed to Jordan Weinreich

Reasons I Love My Crockpot

I don't care who you are, what you do, what you say, who you know. You need a crockpot.

Crockpots might have a reputation as an old fashioned, declasse cooking device. Wrong. The crockpot is the single most versatile piece of cookware I own. We got it as a wedding gift, thank you Alex Chicco. It is the Crockpot brand. The first meal I made in it was a lamb and Guinness stew. I have made everything in it from chili to a whole chicken. Any kind of pork or beef is great as it is so tender. Tonight, I made a maple and Dijon chicken.

Start with placing about a pound of chicken in the pot (this is good for one serving for 2-4 people). Add in one chopped onion, 3 chopped cloves of garlic, 1 tsp dried thyme, 3 tablespoons of (good) maple syrup and 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard. Toss together and top with 2 sweet potatoes (peeled and chopped, but you can definitely leave the skin on if you prefer), one cup of chicken broth and 2 bay leaves. Cook on low for 5-7 hours or high for 3-5 hours. I cooked mine on high for 3.5 hours and it was perfect.

When I make this recipe again I will probably add another onion; it was so sweet and a nice compliment. I also would probably add another half cup of broth or other liquid because I like having a good amount of sauce to pour over the food.

FYI, this recipe came from Make It Fast, Cook It Slow. A wonderful book and the author has a website you should check out: www.crockpot365.blogspot.com.

The reaction to this meal was "ooh....good...delicious...very good". Enjoy!

Bye Bye Betty Crocker Brownies

My whole life, brownies have been made from a mix. Don't get me wrong, they have been delicious. My sister and I have a ritual where we make the brownie mix and (salmonella be damned), we eat it with a tall glass of milk while watching TV, preferably E!. She even referenced this ritual in her speech at my wedding.

So imagine my delight when I decided a few weeks ago to make brownies from scratch. Sweet lord, what a difference! These brownies were INCREDIBLE. So today on my day off, while watching E! of course (the Saved By the Bell E! True Hollywood Story was on. Jackpot.) I attempted the brownies again.

Pre-heat your oven to 350 and grease an 8x8 inch pan. Living in an apartment with a kitchen that isn't big on space I usually use disposable pans. It saves space and makes clean up so easy. I spray one of these all over with cooking spray

The first thing that you do is melt one stick of butter. You don't need to melt it; you can also use a half cup of vegetable oil but is there anything better than melted butter? Plus, any recipe that start with this is bound to be good:

BTW, that is my cast iron skillet to the left. More on that in later recipes, but to save space that baby lives in my oven and must come out when I need to bake.

Keep the heat low. You want to slowly melt it, being extra careful not to burn. I actually turn the heat of before it is fully melted and swirl it around until its fully melted.

Pour it in a large bowl and add 1 cup of sugar, 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Mix everything until it looks like this:

Next, add in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon baking powder. Use an electric mixer for about 30 seconds on high to beat this together:

Spread the batter into the pan and bake for about 25 minutes. Sometimes I sprinkle in some chocolate chips for a little surprise.

These brownies are so easy to make and taste amazing. Of course the first person I shared this recipe with was my sister!

The only bad part about baking in a small space is the clean-up:

It sounds cliche, but as long as you clean  as you go and do the dishes right away (before food cakes on), it isn't bad at all.

Lazy Sunday

Usually I pride myself in making the nice Sunday dinner. Today I just couldn't do it. After a filling breakfast at B&H Dairy (blueberry blintzes, boiled perogis, apple/pineapple juice juiced on the spot and coffee), lunch wasn't happening. Which means dinner happened at 5p.

I recently received Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything and he has a great simple recipes for pasta sauces. Knowing that there was a jar of Eataly anchovies in the pantry, I got to it. My inspiration was a combination of his Puttanesca and Tuna sauces.

I poured a generous amount of olive oil into a saute pan, added chopped garlic that cooked until it was just brown. I then added in about 4-6 anchovies, mashing with a force as they cooked so that they almost liquefied into the sauce. I then added a small can of tuna, coated it in the oil and the sauce was done. Poured the sauce over some linguine, added some black pepper and it was delicious.

My husband, being averse to canned tuna, wanted something more "normal". Sticking with my lazy theme, not wanting to make sauce from scratch, I decided to amp up canned sauce. I used store bought sauce, added to it olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a handful of grape tomatoes, crushing them as they cooked. Rave reviews!

Welcome to The Needy Chef!

Welcome to The Needy Chef, my trials and tribulations in cooking and eating.

I love to cook. Even though my kitchen is minuscule and I have no dishwasher, I manage to get by. I have a little bit of a hang-up where I desperately need approval of the dishes I make and will ask over and over if my food is good.

I also love to eat out. Luckily my husband shares this love and we go out to eat way more than we should. We justify this to ourselves because we live in NYC and it would be a sin NOT to dine out. Our tastes vary from mexican to sushi, 5-star to hole in the wall. Some of our favorite restaurants are: Yuca Bar, Sushi Yasuda, Hop Kee, Casa Mono, Capsouto Freres, Pampano, Campagnola, East (27th and 3rd), the dearly departed Jacques Imos (even though the NOLA original lives on), and Thai Jaiya. My only problem is that it is not yet socially acceptable to order more than 2 dishes for yourself.

The most exciting part of my culinary adventures is sampling food around the world. I have eaten squid ink in Venice, alligator in New Orleans, sardines beyond my wildest dreams in Spain, crepes in Paris and coming soon, blue fin tuna eye in Tokyo. I will try it all and it is never enough.