In which S. has a birthday, and I make her food.

S. had a birthday yesterday. Alas, we both spent most of it mired in our respective finals, but I took some time out to make her dinner-- herbed mac and cheese with caramelized shallots and Piave, and a green salad with feta and a clementine-bergamot vinegarette. Dessert was a Zingerman's Hot Cocoa Coffecake (thanks, Mom!), dressed up with some homemade hot fudge sauce.

The recipe for the mac and cheese, as requested by my cousin Miryam, after the jump. This is another of those dishes that falls into the "yeah, not a health food" category, so don't skimp on the butter or cheese.

I have won at Garlic Spaghetti

Crescent Dragonwagon (yes, that's really her name), in her excellent cookbook The Passionate Vegetarian, gives a vegetarian version of Spaghetti Carbonara entitled "The One, the Only, the Greatest Garlic Spaghetti" (p. 864, if you're interested.) And it is awfully, awfully good. I've tried it now several times, and I totally get why she wishes "to have this recipe chipped on [her] tombstone as [her] greatest contribution to human happiness." But I've never gotten it quite right, and I'm a little ashamed to admit why.

See, she tells you:

Don't wuss out on the garlic...or you'll miss out on one of the very best dishes known to woman or man. 

Thing is, she calls for 7 to 8 cloves of raw garlic for a two person serving, and when I tried this the first time I made it, my head damn near flew off.

Subsequent attempts to tone it down a little bit helped only a smidge with the bite, while reducing the depth of flavor. But tonight, I finally got it. The trick, as it turned out, was to use 6 or 7 cloves-- but to saute half of them in butter until they just begin to caramelize around the edges, and use them as you'd use the bacon in traditional (and treyf) Spaghetti Carbonara (I also added some bits of roast, marinated chestnut.) I also added some lemon juice and rosemary to the egg sauce to compensate for the lack of depth from reducing the raw garlic.

The verdict from me & S.? Unanimous orgasm faces upon first bite.

Recipe after the jump. But first, an admonishment of my own-- do not, under any circumstances, try to cut down on the butter, egg, or cheese. As Rachel Maddow said (originally of mojitos), "Yeah, [garlic spaghetti] is not a health food." Trying to turn it into one will make the deity of your choice weep tears of blood.

Also, I have no pictures. We ate it all too quickly. So sorry. Or, you know, not. (Edit: Made it again, and got a picture.)

Cider Bread

I've been meaning for the longest time to do some recipe posts here, and when I tried a new bread recipe this weekend, I finally had the time and presence of mind to take some pictures.

Crust Porn.

So beer bread, apparently, is a thing. I've read that a few tablespoons of beer will enhance any bread's flavor, and I've seen breads wherein most or all of the liquid is replaced with beer such that the beer flavor is prominent. It always seemed like a cool idea.

However, I hate beer. I saw no reason, therefore, why I couldn't do the same thing with hard cider. We'd recently found a tasty line of craft ciders at The Great Guilty Pleasure (that is, Whole Foods), and they make one with molasses and Irish stout yeasts that seemed like it would assert itself well in a wheaty sourdough.

Crispin "Lansolowne"

I used Thom Leonard's Kalamata Olive Bread (sans olives), from Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking Across America as my base recipe with regard to proportions of flour vs. starter vs. liquid, but I altered the composition pretty significantly. Incidentally, if you want to get started with sourdoughs, I can't recommend the above book enough. In addition to giving fantastically detailed directions, and recommending a solid rather than liquid sourdough (more reliable and lower maintenance for those of us who actually have a life), the book itself is just gorgeous.

Yum.

I've got between 5 and 7 pages to go on my last paper, due Monday. Do I want to be writing it? Of course not. But somehow the deal is sweetened by having the last of last night's artichoke-feta potato latkes.

I can confidently say that this recipe for latkes is the. best. ever. I don't remember where my dad discovered it, but it was several years ago, I think in a newspaper. Over the years I have tweaked it a little, playing with different kinds of cheese and adding rosemary and garlic. No matter-- any way you do it, it's divine.

Artichoke-Feta Latkes
(serves two, with leftovers)

Two large russet potatoes, grated
approx. 1 cup crumbled feta (for a special treat, substitute chevre)
4-6 artichoke hearts, torn up
3 large eggs
Rosemary (healthy shake of cracked dried, or about 1 tbsp chopped fresh)
2-3 medium cloves of garlic, minced
Just enough all-purpose flour to bind
Salt and pepper to taste (note this recipe requires less salt than normal latkes thanks to the artichokes and cheese)
Plenty of oil-- a light, neutral kind with a high smoking point, though it's nice to add a squirt of olive oil for flavor.

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Meanwhile, heat about 2 tbsp of oil in a large, heavy skillet on high. (At this point, turn on the fan and open a window. It WILL smoke, and there's just nothing you can do about it.) Once the oil is hot, deposit batter (about 1/4 cup per latke) into the skillet and flatten out. Cook til golden brown, flip, repeat. Place on a plate covered in a paper towel. Add more oil. Repeat until done.

These really don't require sour cream or applesauce; they're flavorful and moist enough on their own. The cheese makes them delightfully gooey on the inside. They also reheat beautifully in a toaster oven.