Ginger syrup

This is a syrup you can mix with soda to make fresh ginger ale (mint and maybe rum would be good in it, as well) or as a dressing for a fruit salad.

3 cups water
2 cups sugar
2 cups thinly sliced fresh ginger (1/2 lb; from a 10-inch piece), left unpeeled

Bring water, sugar, and ginger to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan, then stir until sugar is dissolved. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, then remove from heat and let steep 15 minutes. Pour ginger syrup through a sieve into a bowl, discarding ginger. Chill, covered, at least 2 hours.

Katharine Hepburn’s Brownies
(from Laurie Colwin’s More Home Cooking)

1. Melt together 1 stick butter and 2 squares unsweetened chocolate and take the saucepan off the heat.
2. Sir in 1 cup sugar, add to eggs and ½ teaspoon vanilla, and beat the mixture well.
3. Stir in ¼ cup all-purpose flour and ½ teaspoon salt. (Add chopped nuts here if you like them.)
4. Bake the brownies in a buttered and floured 8-inch-quare pan at 325º F for 40 minutes.

Julia Child : Bon Appetit!

I adored her. Read about her life as well as use her cookbooks and you will understand why she said, "Life itself is the proper binge."

A Note On Roasting Red Peppers

While you can do this on a gas burner, turning the pepper with tongs over and over in the flame until the skin blackens, I do mine in the broiler. When they're charred, I place them in a paper bag for a few minutes as they cool. This causes the skin to steam away from the flesh, making it easy to remove under some cool water.

If you're not going to use the pepper right away, you can store it in a jar with olive oil and a few cloves of garlic. Amazing on pasta, or a sandwich, or in salad, or eaten from the jar, cold, at 3 AM, with fingers or a fork.

Cilantro Mayonnaise

Ingredients:
3/4 cup reduced-fat (or fat free) mayo
3/4 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon fresh lemon or lime juice
1 teaspoon light soy sauce
1 or 2 small cloves of garlic

Place the mayonnaise, cilantro, lemon/lime juice, soy sauce, and garlic in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.

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I had this last week at a Solstice gathering and swooned. It is the best thing I've discovered in ages. Apparently it is from the South Beach diet cookbook. I will be making potato salad with it very, very soon.

Best Breakfasts

When I was a tiny poet, my grandmother used to make fresh squeezed orange juice for me in the morning. She'd slice a big orange in half and squeeze it with an old-fashioned glass juicer, which I now have. The juice was warm and sweet and very acidic; delicious. Then she'd make bacon and french toast (the best!) in the electric frypan on the kitchen table (which I also now have). After we ate, she'd drain the bacon grease into a coffeecan--she used it to make huge batches of party mix at holiday time (the best!).

A Carriage Trade Pastries cheddar scone, toasted in the oven and slathered with soft butter.

Homemade (Lame No More!) granola and yogurt--either Stoneyfield Farms Vanilla or Brown Cow Maple Vanilla.

Leftover apple pie.

Peanut butter toast.

Spring and a Poet's Thoughts Turn to Salad....

I have Salad-Making Resistance. I like to eat the stuff, but the machinations of preparing it somehow bore me. But I do have salad mix, baby carrots and other things about, and when there is no Annie's Cowgirl Ranch Dressing to motivate me, there is:

Lemon-Sesame Dressing (from the Cabbagetown Cafe Cookbook)

1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 cup light vegetable oil
Juice of two lemons
2 Tbs red wine vinegar
1 Tb tamari or soy sauce
I cup lightly packed fresh green herbs (chives, scallions, parseley, basil, dill)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp dried thyme or finely chopped fresh thyme
1/4 tsp dried or fresh whole rosemary.

Toast the sesame seeds over low heat in a frying pan until they're lightly browned. They burn easily!

Measure everything, including seeds, into blender and blend until smooth.

This winter's best soup, hands down...

Red Lentil Soup with Curry and Coconut Milk
 
 3 Tbs. vegetable oil
 2 medium onions, chopped (2 cups)
 1 cup red lentils
 3 medium carrots, peeled and roughly chopped (1 cup)
 14-oz. can light coconut milk (you can use regular, but I'm always looking to cut out fat/calories)
 1 bay leaf
 3 cloves garlic, minced
 1-inch piece fresh ginger, minced
 1 Tbs. curry powder, preferably hot
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

In medium saucepan, heat 2 Tbs. oil over medium heat. Add onions, and cook, stirring often, until onions start to brown, about 10 minutes. Add 4 cups water, lentils, carrots, coconut milk, 1 tsp. salt and bay leaf. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, until lentils are tender, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in small skillet, heat remaining 1 Tbs. oil over medium heat. Add garlic, ginger, curry powder and cilantro. Cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add to soup.

Remove bay leaf. In food processor or blender, puree soup in batches until smooth, or use immersion blender. Taste, and add a bit more salt if desired. Serve hot.