The Bitten Word

Culinary Resolutions for 2010 -- And a Look Back at How We Did in '09

Last year, rather than making a set of boring old new year's resolutions of the lose-weight-save-money-find-ourselves variety, we made a set of culinary resolutions.

In truth, we're not really resolution people (although this entire blog was the result of a New Year's resolution two years ago). We loved setting culinary resolutions, though, because it helped us set some good goals, and we've had fun checking in on them over the past year. 

So how did we do in 2009?  Here's the run-down:

    •    Cook a whole fish -- Done and done! We grilled a whole fish and it went well.  If we count smelt, we cooked several whole fish, but we don't think that quite qualifies. At some point, we'd like to salt-bake a whole fish in the oven.

    •    Buy foods with five or fewer ingredients -- This is a rule we adhere to pretty well when grocery shopping. We're careful to avoid foods laden with chemicals, and we try hard to stay away from foods with high-fructose corn syrup. But as anyone who has read a label lately knows, that's sometimes easier said than done.

    •    Make Beef Wellington -- Success!  We made Beef Wellingtons (or is that "Beefs Wellington"?). In fact, we made a lot of Beef Wellingtons that will be featured in a collection of recipes this year. More on that in a few months! 

    •    Cook Indian food -- We rocked some Tandoori Chicken back in February and it was de-li-cious. So we did it once, and since then, we've incorporated Indian spices into a few other dishes, like deviled eggs or roast chicken. Perhaps we'll try making Tikka Masala this year.

    •    Don't let food go to waste -- We did a lot better on this in 2009 than we did in 2008, when we would often throw away food that we had let spoil in our refrigerator. One thing that kept us on track, especially as produce from our CSA was piling up, was that we kept a list on the side of our refrigerator saying what produce we had on hand. We'd refer to it often when planning meals, so it helped us to use up the food we had on hand and waste less.  In related news, we started composting this year, so when we're throwing stuff away, at least we don't feel quite as guilty.

    •    Keep our knives sharp -- We didn't do so hot here. We sharpened our knives maybe three times. Every time we sharpened them, we were blown away by how much better they performed. This is one to stay on top of in 2010. 

    •    User fewer paper towels -- We did pretty well here.  We no longer keep our paper towels on the kitchen counter. They live in a closet just off of the kitchen, so it's easier to use a real towel than go for paper. There are times still when only paper will do -- especially when it's time to make some bacon. This is an ongoing goal.

    •    Learn to make fresh pasta -- This goes into the bucket with the knives.  After some iffy attempts in 2008, we made fresh pasta a couple times this year. It turned out really well both times, though we can't say that we really "learned" to make fresh pasta. We'd like to get to the point that we don't think twice about rolling out and cutting some fresh pasta for a meal. Some Southern boys can dream...

    •    Eat at least one vegetarian meal per week -- If there are any items on this list that were failures, it was surely this one. It's a failure on par with our disintegrating chocolate cake back in January. We can't even claim to have done this resolution successfully for a solid month. We even waxed on and on about the most delicious vegetarian meal we made, only to be corrected by a reader who rightly pointed out that dishes with chicken stock are not vegetarian. The bottom line: We ate a lot of meat. Probably too much of it.

    •    Eat more short ribs -- Um, in related news, we are experts at consuming short ribs and did so with absolute -- and frequent -- success in 2009.

So what about 2010? 

Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs and Other Party Food Ideas

Fine Cooking (December 2009/January 2010)

 

For Zach's mom, growing up in the South in the 1950s, cursing was strictly forbidden. Her parents never swore, and she and her two brothers couldn't either.

So the kids called each other the worst non-swear they could think of. They called each other "deviled eggs."

We suppose they thought the word "devil" gave the phrase an edge. And, hey, who could punish their kid for using such an innocuous phrase? But we just love the thought of Zach's uncle teasing his mom as a young kid until she stamped her feet and said, "Oooo, you...deviled egg!!"

Anyway, we think of that every time we eat deviled eggs now.

What's that got to do with New Year's Eve? Not much (unless your resolution is to swear less in 2010). But the truth is we've been asked by several different people for some of our favorite party-food recipes that could work for New Year's Eve. And these eggs are at the top of our list.

Happy Holidays From The Bitten Word!

Roasted Pork with Mostarda

Martha Stewart Living (December 2009)

 

You can have your goose, and you can have your ham.

Take your turkey and your beef roast, too.

For us, there's simply no better Christmas dinner than a roast pork loin drizzled in a sweet sauce. We can't say why, exactly. We just know that a succulent, tender pork roast smothered in a sweet, fruity compote is, to us, quintessential holiday fare.

Which is why our jaws dropped -- dropped! -- when we first spied this Roasted Pork with Mostarda in the December Martha Stewart Living. 

First, it was the word "mostarda" that caught our eye. Our minds immediately went to "mustard," thinking that this would be a pork loin slathered in a sweet mustard sauce.

Well, there is mustard in this mostarda, but there's also so much more.

 

 

Hot Chocolate Layer Cake with Homemade Marshmallows

Fine Cooking (December 2009/January 2010)

When it comes to food (or anything else, for that matter), we're not that big on whimsy. "Cute food" just isn't really our thing.

But we were positively bowled over by this stunning, amazing -- and, yes, whimsical -- Hot Chocolate Layer Cake.

It's the perfect dessert for the holidays -- fun, light-hearted and deliciously indulgent.

To be honest, though, this recipe really comes down to just two very important words: homemade marshmallows!

Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookies and Chocolate Peanut Butter Bark Cookies

Bon Appétit (December 2009)

We got the holiday cookie bug this year.

Nearly all the magazines we receive had beautiful spreads of adorable cookies in their December issues.  We pored over them, trying to figure out what to make.

The options were mind-boggling. Did we want Chewy Chocolate Raisin cookies? Golden Chocolate Truffles? Citrus Sugar Cookies shaped like snowflakes? Candy-Cane Meringues?

In the end, we settled on these Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookies. And are we glad we did!

Chestnut Soup with Crisp Prosciutto

Fine Cooking (December 2009/January 2010)

Last month, we had a roasted chestnut soup at a restaurant here in DC. Tasting it for the first time was an almost religious experience. Sweet, nutty and silky-smooth, the soup was just one of those foods that instantly warms your soul. We couldn't stop smiling!

A couple days later, we saw pints of chestnuts at the farmers market. We decided to grab some and see if we could replicate that heavenly bowl of soup. By a stroke of luck, we came home, opened our December/January issue of Fine Cooking, and found this recipe for Chestnut Soup with Crisp Prosciutto.

Several days after that, DC got its first snow of the season. For eight hours on a chilly Saturday, fat wet flakes fell silently outside the windows.

Could there be any better day for this soup? We would literally have chestnuts roasting...okay, not on an open fire (our landlord wouldn't like that). But we were excited about the smell of roasting chestnuts wafting through our house while we gazed at the Christmas tree and the falling snow.

The universe, it seemed, was telling us to make this soup.

But the universe had some tricks up its sleeve.

Pork Empanadas with Thyme

Everyday Food (December 2009)

Here in our nation's capital, we have a great little chain of empanada stores called Julia's Empanadas.  In fact, there's one right around the corner from our house. Julia's is a great place to grab a quick bite or a late-night snack.

For those of you not familiar with empanadas, Julia's sums it up nicely on their website:

Every country has one, in Jamaica they're called "patties", in Italy "calzones", the Israelis call them "knishes". We call them "Empanadas". So what's an Empanada? It's a mildly spiced, freshly baked sandwich served hot!!

Maybe it's because we have access to great empanadas, but we had never really considered making them at home. We love them, but Julia's does it so well, could ours stack up? Everyday Food was going to help us find out.

Ham Steaks with Hazelnut Sauce

Saveur (December 2009)

In writing about this recipe, Saveur tells readers that the sauce is "based on a recipe in Mimi Sheraton’s The German Cookbook (Random House, 1965)."

But we think we could have pretty much guessed that on our own. Ham steaks? In a cream sauce?

This dish screams 1965.

It's like something Mrs. Edna Schakowsky of Cleveland, Ohio, would serve for Thursday dinner before her husband's bowling buddies swing by to pick him up.

It's like what Mrs. Francine Flendermann of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, would serve on Monday night when the Dittmeyers come over for bridge.

It's what Alice would've served the Bradys.

The Bitten Word's Holiday Gift Guide 2009

Some of you might be scrambling for gift ideas. Then again, some of you might be like us, sort of lazily drifting towards the holidays.  Maybe there will be gifts, and then again, maybe there won't. A holiday surprise! 

We're trying to keep it simple this year. Rather than just buy a bunch of stuff, we want to give friends and family things that they will really enjoy. 

So here are some ideas for you that we've collected over the last few months.  Have something you'd add to the list?  Let us know in the comments. 

GIFTS YOU CAN MAKE

Full disclosure:  We're not sure either of us has ever actually made a holiday gift for anyone since the sixth grade.

But last December we made Jacques Torres' Cherry-Nut Mudslides (pictured left) and we liked them so much, we still think about them to this day. No doubt the person on your list who receives them as a gift this year year will as well.

December's Real Simple also has a feature about homemade gifts.  We loved their ideas for Infused Vodkas and Chocolate Chunk Hot Cocoa Mix.

The latest Food Network Magazine has an excellent feature about recipes-in-a-jar that can be given as gifts, from Curried Lentil Soup (pictured left) to Blue Cornbread to Christmas cookies. The photos are beautiful and make for festive looking packages.  The full batch of ideas are available on their site.

THE GIFT OF FOOD/GIFT CERTIFICATES

This year's hot holiday gift?  Pork.  You heard it here first.

We're giving a lot of gifts from Western Kentucky-based Broadbent Hams, who has been making award-winning pork products since 1909. We've been Broadbent's obsessed since visiting their store this fall. Here are some items we liked from their store that would make excellent gifts:

• Bacon Trio Gift Pack: Maplewood, Hickory & Pepper! (6 packages for $35).
• Two pounds of classic Cooked Country Ham (2 pounds for $28)
  
• Country Sausage Sacks (50 servings for $20)

If pork's not your thing (Heaven forbid!), a friend introduced us to La Tienda (Tienda.com), an online retailer specializing in products from Spain. They carry everything from food to kitchen gear.  It's definitely a fun site to browse. We already have our eye on this Bomba rice and this Chorizo Soria. 

Our friend Ken is a huge fan of Ricks Picks, a New York based company that makes fourteen varieties of pickles.  Ken, who has excellent taste, recommends the Mean Beans, a spicy take on dilly beans, and the Smokra, pickled okra with Spanish paprika.  With a name like Smokra, how can you go wrong?

More ideas after the jump, including gifts you can drink, read and cook with.