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Do You Use a Mortar and Pestle?

partysugar — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 09:13:33 -0700

Definition: Mortar & Pestle

partysugar — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 13:18:51 -0700

Mortar & Pestle
A kitchen tool that is used to grind, crush, and mash herbs, spices, and vegetables to make a paste, sauce or seasoning. The bowl shaped container is known as the mortar and the mini baseball bat shaped handheld tool is the pestle. The two pieces are generally made from the same material, usually porcelain, stoneware, wood, or marble. Traditional pesto sauce is made using one.

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The Basics: Pesto

partysugar — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:15:17 -0700

When basil is in season, I can't make enough pesto. The classic Italian sauce native to Genoa tastes delicious on everything from pasta to pizza to grilled fish. It's excellent stirred into salads or slathered on sandwich bread. Although store-made pesto is widely available, it's easy to make. Pesto is simply an uncooked paste consisting of fresh basil, garlic, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, and olive oil. It can be made with a mortar and pestle or in a food processor. Once you have mastered the basic recipe, you can get creative with other herb, nut, and cheese combinations. To learn the basic technique, read more.

Pesto
From Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients

2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1 garlic clove, peeled
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
1/2 to 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Directions

In a blender or food processor, pulse the basil, pine nuts, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper until finely chopped.
With the machine running, slowly add the olive oil until the mixture forms a smooth and thick consistency. Add the Parmesan and pulse until combined. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Makes 1-1 1/2 cups.

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Nancy Silverton and Mario Batali Talk Italian Food

partysugar — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:44:44 -0700

At the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen over the weekend I was lucky enough to attend a demonstration lead by Nancy Silverton and Mario Batali. The duo are the masterminds behind a popular Los Angeles restaurant, Osteria Mozza. Silverton works most nights at the eatery behind the mozzarella bar. Batali, of course, is busy with lots of projects like a new line of tomato sauce and a pizza oven. When he hit the stage he dipped his hand in a pot of boiling pasta water and used it to slick back his hair! The two cooked, joked, and talked Italian cuisine. To find out what they had to say, read more.

To cook like an Italian, Mario insists on spending quality time shopping. "If you get good ingredients and don't really mess around with them, then you're cooking like an Italian."
When looking for ingredients, both Silverton and Batali seek out harder to find Italian specialty items like straticella (a type of fresh cheese), speck (smoked prosciutto), and guanicale (similar to bacon, but made from pork cheeks). Mario shamelessly pointed out that this kind of charcuterie can be purchased from his father's salumeria.

When making pasta, Batali undercooks it by two minutes. "When the box says it cooks in 10-12 minutes, I take it out after 8 minutes of cooking, then cook it for one more minute in the pan."
Like many Italian chefs, Batali said the "most crucial ingredient when making pasta is the starchy pasta water."
Instead of liquid honey, when she can find it, Silverton likes to use whole edible honey comb on cheese plates.
Let the pan do the work. Place meat and fish in a hot pan and leave it there. Don't mess with it, especially if it's fish.
Try making pesto in a mortar and pestle. Silverton, whose a huge fan of pestos, makes a variety including the classic basil, and other more interesting renditions like celery leaf, tomato, and caper pestos. While the elements may change, she makes pesto by hand in a mortar and pestle instead of a food processor. "The difference between male and female cooking is that men like machines and women like to be hands-on."
In Italy, they cook with everything from the head to the tail and from the leaf to the root, so make the most of your ingredients.
Unlike in French cooking, Italians (and Batali) don't worry about emulsifying sauces. Batali likes it when each bite is different and textured.
Lightly dress salads.
Spend the extra dollar on more expensive pasta. It will affect the overall flavor of the dish and is worth it.

The most important thing that Batali and Silverton stressed was that Italians are regionally focused. Each town has its own specific type of local cuisine. To truly cook like an Italian, look to your hometown for ingredients that are local and special to that region.

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Gazpacho Two Ways - Beginner and Expert

YumSugar — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:30:15 -0700

Even if you aren't a fan of warm soups in Summer, it'd be hard not to get behind the tart, herbaceous, chilled Spanish soup known as gazpacho. In-season tomatoes provide a savory acidity, emulsified olive oil gives a creamy mouth-feel, and garlic packs a punch. In traditional Spanish recipes, the addition of day-old bread adds weight and body.

Make the soup by pulsing ripe tomatoes with other abundant vegetables - or go the rustic route, as California landmark Chez Panisse does, and use a mortar and pestle to smash cloves of garlic, and a grater to crush fresh heirloom tomatoes. See both versions of this classic refreshing soup when you read more.

Beginner Gazpacho
From Real Simple

Ingredients

3 small fennel bulbs, roughly chopped
4 celery stalks, roughly chopped
1 bunch scallions, roughly chopped
1 sweet onion (such as Vidalia), roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
3 red bell peppers, seeded and roughly chopped
2 ripe tomatoes, diced (or one 14.5-ounce can chopped tomatoes, undrained)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 cups (32 ounces) tomato or vegetable juice
Juice of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (optional)
Lemon or lime wedges

Directions

Place the fennel, celery, scallions, onion, garlic, and red peppers in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely chopped but not pureed.
Transfer to a large glass or plastic bowl and stir in the tomatoes, oil, salt, black pepper, tomato juice, lemon juice, and hot sauce, if desired.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Serve chilled with the lemon or lime wedges.

Serves 6-8.

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Expert Gazpacho
From Saveur

Ingredients

Soup:
1 dried ancho chile, stemmed and seeded
1 1⁄2 cups crustless, cubed day-old country white bread
2–3 cloves garlic, peeled
Salt
5 lbs. best available vine-ripened red tomatoes, halved
1⁄3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Relish:
1⁄2 lb. mixed varieties and colors small vine-ripened
tomatoes, quartered
1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
1 small sweet yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
1⁄2 small red onion, peeled and diced
Leaves from 1⁄2 bunch chervil, chopped
Leaves from 1⁄2 bunch basil, chopped
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1⁄4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 slices country white bread, brushed with extra-virgin
Olive oil, toasted, and rubbed with 1 clove peeled garlic

Directions

Make the soup: Soak chile in a bowl of hot water until soft, about 30 minutes.
Drain, peel, and crush to a paste with a mortar and pestle; set aside.
Soak bread cubes in a medium bowl of cold water until soft, about 5 minutes. Drain, squeeze out excess water, and set aside.
Crush garlic with 2 tbsp. salt to a paste with a mortar and pestle, add soaked bread, and grind until smooth; set aside.
Grate cut side of tomatoes just to skin on large holes of box grater into a strainer set over a large bowl, straining out seeds and pressing through as much pulp as possible; discard skins.
Stir reserved chile paste, garlic-bread paste, and oil into tomato pulp and season to taste with salt. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.
Make the relish: For the relish: Combine tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, chervil, basil, vinegar, oil, and salt and pepper to taste in a medium bowl.
Divide soup between 6 bowls; add a generous spoonful of relish and a slice of toast to each bowl.

Serves 6.

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Grind Spices the Easy Way

partysugar — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:54:31 -0800

Last weekend when making YumSugar's lamb - which was to die for! - my dad and I ran into a little problem. After toasting the cardamom seeds, the recipe asked you to grind them in a spice grinder. Yum used her mortar and pestle, but our mortar was missing! How on earth were we supposed to grind spices without a spice-grinding machine or a mortar and pestle? The solution is super simple, something that you can do at home! To find out what we did, read more.

Most kitchens have a black-peppercorn hand grinder. We removed the black peppercorns and filled the grinder with toasted cardamom seeds. To ensure that the spices end up in the grinder pour them into a small measuring cup. Next grind the seeds onto the lamb as you would black pepper. This technique can be used with other seeds or spice blends.

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Come Party With Me: Travel Party - Menu I

partysugar — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:57:39 -0700

This week, I've invited guests to join me in traveling to five countries. While we won't be actually jetting on a plane and heading to each destination, five rooms in my house will be transformed into a specific theme based around each country. The rooms will have unique decor, music, food, and drinks. In the Mexican themed room I'll fill huge bowls with multi colored tortilla chips and homemade salsa. A large mortar and pestle will hold just mashed guacamole. I'll take help from the grocery store or local Japanese restaurant for the Japanese themed room, and offer platters of various types of sushi: California rolls, spicy tuna rolls, assorted sashimi, etc. Order whatever you and your friends like. Offer guests a classic bite of Russia with cornmeal blinis and caviar in the Russian themed room. To take a culinary journey around the world in your very own home, read more

Salsa
From Simply Recipes

2-3 medium sized fresh tomatoes (from 1 lb to 1 1/2 lb), stems removed, finely diced
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1 jalapeño chili pepper (stems, ribs, seeds removed), finely diced
1 serrano chili pepper (stems, ribs, seeds removed), finely diced
Juice of one lime
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: oregano and or cumin to taste

Start with chopping up 2 medium sized fresh tomatoes.
Prepare the chilies. Be very careful while handling these hot peppers. If you can, avoid touching them with your hands. Use a fork to cut up the chilies over a small plate, or use a paper towel to protect your hands. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and hot water after handling and avoid touching your eyes for several hours. Set aside some of the seeds from the peppers. If the salsa isn't hot enough, you can add a few for heat.
Combine all of the ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Taste. If the chilies make the salsa too hot, add some more chopped tomato. If not hot enough, carefully add a few of the seeds from the chilies, or add some ground cumin.
Let sit for an hour for the flavors to combine.

Makes approximately 3-4 cups.

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Guacamole
Modified from Avocado Central

4 Hass Avocados, peeled and pitted
2 lemons, juiced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
¼ Cup cilantro, chopped
¼ Cup green onion, diced
¼ tsp ground cumin
1-2 Jalapeño, seeded and all of them minced
Salt and chile powder to taste

Place avocados in a large bowl and mash them.
Add lemon juice and mix well.
Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes and serve with tortilla chips.

Serves 12.

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Cornmeal Blini with Caviar
From Chow

1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
Vegetable oil
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons salmon caviar
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon Osetra caviar
2 cups crème fraîche
1 bunch chives, finely chopped
30 small fresh chervil leaves

Heat the oven to 250°F.
In a medium bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, baking soda, and salt and stir well to mix. Add the egg and milk, and mix until smooth.
Heat a heavy griddle or skillet over medium heat until hot, then brush with oil. Using a spoon and working in small batches, drop 1-tablespoon-size dollops of batter into the skillet. When bubbles form evenly on the top of the blini, turn (just once) and cook the blini until golden.
Transfer the first batch of cooked blini to a heatproof plate lined with paper towels and keep warm, covered, in the oven.
Repeat with the remaining batter.
To serve, top each warm blini with 1 tablespoon crème fraîche, 1 teaspoon salmon caviar, 1/2 teaspoon of Osetra caviar, a pinch of chives, and a chervil leaf. Serve immediately.

Makes 30 blini.

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