So we got a new coffee machine at work. Not exactly blogworthy, I know. For a host of reasons, we lease a machine that brews cups individually. It reduces waste — does anybody else remember That Person who would come into the office kitchen, decide the nearly-full-carafe of coffee wasn’t Quite Fresh Enough, and pour the whole thing out and make a new pot? **I** like this single-serve system because it reduces the opportunities for my co-workers to make a mess that they won’t clean up. I swear I’m going to set up a webcam and catch the lazy individual who keeps leaving dirty dishes in the sink for a week. And then publicly shame her/him.

The old coffee machine used envelopes of finely ground coffee/tea. The new one uses paper pods of finely ground coffee/tea. Not mechanically compatible with each other, clearly. So we had a bunch of leftover envelopes that were going to be thrown out. Now, I don’t like waste. But I also wasn’t going to tear open 100 envelopes of coffee to fill a basket filter to make ONE carafe of mediocre coffee. The tea, on the other hand, kinda tickled my fancy. I’d been drinking the chai fairly regularly and the Early Grey occasionally. So I decided to grab some of each to play with at home.

I paired the chai with white chocolate in a fairly traditional CCC recipe. The spices were subtle and the tea flavor more so — but both were there. Next time I’d probably use two envelopes of the chai — it was almost too subtle. I liked the visual effect of the flecks of tea in the cookie. I chose to let the chai infuse the butter since those spices usually need heat+fat to really bloom.

Earl Grey is pretty strong so I decided to pair it with chocolate. I also used two envelopes because I wanted to ensure the flavor came thru. I chose to steep the leaves in gin and leave out vanilla — trying to reinforce the herbal notes more so than sweet. I tasted NO gin in the final product — so not entirely sure if that was necessary :).

 Tasters gave both cookies a solid thumbs-up!

*****

White Chocolate Chai Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen cookies

1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 envelope (~ 1 1/2 teaspoon) finely ground Chai-spiced Tea
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Gently melt the butter. I like to use a 2-cup Pyrex cup in the microwave: 30 seconds @ 50% power, swirl, 20 seconds @ 40% power, another round at 40% power if needed, remove. Add the chai. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Pour the butter/chai over the sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on low for about a minute. Scrape the paddle and sides, then let the butter and sugar hang out for about five minutes to better dissolve. Then, beat on medium-low for a couple of minutes until fully mixed. Add the egg, mix until fully incorporated. Add the vanilla, mix until fully incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients slowly with mixer on low (I added in three increments), scraping frequently. Don’t overmix! Add the chocolate chips. Mix with the mixer about 3 rotations of the bowl — then stop and finish by hand.

Refrigerate the dough for about 20 minutes. Use a cookie scoop (mine is a generous tablespoon — probably about four teaspoons) to place eight scoops on a parchment- or silpat-lined cookie sheet. You need some room for spread. Put ONE cookie sheet in the oven, cook 6 minutes (set the timer!), rotate the pan, and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes. Remove to wax paper to cool.

*****

Chocolate Earl Grey Cookies
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies

1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
2 envelopes (~ 1 tablespoon) finely ground Earl Grey Tea
1 tablespoon gin
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Gently melt the butter. I like to use a 2-cup Pyrex cup in the microwave: 30 seconds @ 50% power, swirl, 20 seconds @ 40% power, another round at 40% power if needed, remove. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Mix the tea and the gin together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Pour the butter over the sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on low for about a minute. Scrape the paddle and sides, then let the butter and sugar hang out for about five minutes to better dissolve. Then, beat on medium-low for a couple of minutes until fully mixed. Add the egg, mix until fully incorporated. Add the gin-chai and mix until fully incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients slowly with mixer on low (I added in three increments), scraping frequently. Don’t overmix! Add the chocolate chips. Mix with the mixer about 3 rotations of the bowl — then stop and finish by hand.

Refrigerate the dough for about an hour. Use a cookie scoop (mine is a generous tablespoon — probably about four teaspoons) to place eight scoops on a parchment- or silpat-lined cookie sheet. You need some room for spread. Put ONE cookie sheet in the oven, cook 6 minutes (set the timer!), rotate the pan, and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes. Remove to wax paper to cool.

Both of my grandmothers were AMAZING Southern cooks (my mom is pretty good too). You know, I think my grandmothers saved their absolute BEST stuff for when us grandkids visited. So, yes, I might have had dessert at all three meals when I visited them. Drove my folks nuts, but you know, Grandma’s House, Grandma’s Rules.

So in my current pumpkin obsession, I got a hankering for pumpkin bread. My mom makes a lovely one, so I pulled out my trusty plaid Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook (circa 1953), thinking that’s where her recipe was, but no luck. No Pumpkin Bread. So I reach for HER mother’s recipe box, the one that my sister graciously saved for me when they were cleaning out the house after my grandfather (who survived my grandmother) died. It is one of my prized possessions. Sure enough — a recipe titled Pumpkin Bread — score! I still need to find out if this is Mom’s or not :).

I read through the recipe, and the ingredients were all basic pantry items that I had on hand. But I was a little puzzled by the yield: one bundt pan and a small loaf pan, or, two medium loaf pans. How many muffins would that be? I headed over to one of my favorite blogs for a sanity check and decided that my grandmother’s full recipe would yield about 24 muffins. Since I didn’t have a full can of pumpkin any more, that meant a half recipe (rant: did pumpkin cans shrink? They hold less than 2 cups now).

So I turn the recipe card over, and find this note about the recipe’s source in her oh-so-recognizable cursive: “She wraps this bread in foil to store. It stays moist and keeps a long time, unless hungry grandchildren find out it is on hand.” I almost bawled — it’s like she had written that hoping I would find it years later. It was a moment.

So I follow her recipe pretty much as is, except that I like raisins and nuts in mine. A couple of hints about those. If your raisins are a little firmer than you like, soak them in some hot water to plump, then drain well before tossing in the batter. Also — I highly recommend toasting the walnuts before you toss them in. Nuts in wet batter just don’t develop as full a flavor. Toasting also helps them stay crunchier!

These really are the best pumpkin muffins ever. There’s a strong pumpkin flavor – no guessing about what kind of muffins! They are moist and not too sweet. The perfect accompaniment to your mid-morning coffee. Truly.

Best Pumpkin Muffins Ever
Adapted from a recipe from Erma Payne, who got it in 1970 from Mrs. Whitisell, Leawood, KS
Makes about 16 standard muffins

1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons “baking” spice mix [*]
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup toasted walnuts, cooled and chopped

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 16 muffin tins with paper liners. Keep a couple extra on hand in case you can stretch it to 18.

Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Separately, mix the pumpkin, butter, eggs, sugar, and water together. Pour the wet into the dry and mix until almost all of the flour is incorporated. Add the raisins and nuts and incorporate — but don’t overmix!

Fill the muffin tins about 2/3 full with batter. Bake at 350F for about 25 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. I would check at 20 minutes and then at 3 to 5 minute intervals thereafter.

[*] This is a cinnamon-based spice mix that includes such things as ginger, nutmeg, mace, cloves, and/or allspice. Sometimes labled “Pumpkin Pie Spice” or “Apple Pie Spice”. Mine contains cinnamon, mace, anise, and a touch of cardamom.

I think the heat wave finally broke, but it still seemed too hot to cook. We were having guests over this weekend so Keith threw a small (6 lb) Boston Butt on the grill for a 9-hour smoke into pulled-pork-palooza. I steamed some yellow and green squash and heated up some (canned) baked beans, so the stove got used a bit but not much. Frozen pineapple margaritas for the big people and mango limeade for the little people. For dessert, he and a munchkin had hit the farmer’s market and brought home mangoes and apricots, so I had the base for a fruit crisp, if not the fortitude to actually turn on the oven.

Recently I ran across a Heather Christos post for a Peach Coconut Almond Cobbler that looked divine. Taking her flavor profiles as inspiration, I assembled a MUCH more rustic crisp that we “baked” on the grill after the meat was pulled and we were eating dinner. I think we all agreed it was a hit!

Tropical Fruit Crisp

3 mangoes, peeled and cut into rough chunks (pits discarded)
8 – 10 apricots, washed and cut into rough chunks (pits discarded)
1 heaping tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon “baking” spice mix
1/2 – 2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3 – 4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 1/2″ chunks
1/2 – 2/3 cup oats
2 tablespoons brown sugar (to taste)
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup dried, sweetened coconut

Prepare a 7″ x 11″ pan by spraying liberally with baking spray.

Mix the fruit, cornstarch, granulated sugar, and “baking” spice mix in a large bowl. Spread in the prepared baking pan.

Put the flour in a wide shallow bowl, like a soup bowl. Use your fingers to smear the butter into the flour until it is pea-sized (you aren’t going for “sand” like you would for biscuits). Put that in a large bowl and lightly toss with the oats, brown sugar, almonds, and coconut. Spread this over the fruit. Put on your grill (or in your oven) until the fruit is bubbling frantically at the edges and the topping is lightly browned (our grill was at ~ 300F for probably 40 minutes or so). I ran mine under the broiler for like 2 minutes just to add a touch more color. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

*****

I put the Trader Joe’s Ice Cream in this photo because it was a TRUE half-gallon container! Has anyone else noticed the ice cream containers shrinking?

I stopped at a farm stand on the way to work this week, and they had the cutest little baby “middle eastern” cucumbers. Cute as can be. I asked about their potential future as a pickle, and the farmstress said the skins were SOOO tender and they’d probably make a fine pickle! So I grabbed five (four for pickling and one for fresh) and took them home with intention to pickle ’em.

I don’t can, in the sense of hot water and headroom and sterilized jars. My grandmothers did. My mother has. I’m just a little intimidated by the whole botulism risk I think. And the heat. In the middle of summer. And the steam. I need an ice tea already!

Quick refrigerator pickles, though, are a totally different story. I’ve done them in the past (can’t find the recipe of course) and there are 1000s of recipes out on the internet. I’ve also done pickled shallots with much success (on a spicy lamb burger with greek yogurt OMG sounds like another blog post, eh?), but I was aiming for something sweeter, more like a bread-and-butter pickle, but without the jaw achingly sweetness. This brine struck that balance … sweet, but not too sweet … sour, but not too sour … salty, but not too salty!

I started these off in the morning before work and had serviceable pickles for dinner. They continued to percolate and mellow over the next day or so. Use within about 3 weeks I’m guessing.

Quick Refrigerator Sweet Pickles

4-6 very firm smallish cucumbers
2 cups distilled white vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons pickling spice (bay, pepper, mustard, …)

Slice your cucumber into rounds about 1/4″ thick. Place them in a large heat-proof glass bowl.

Combine the vinegar, sugar, salt, and pickling spice in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour the brine over the cucumber slices and stir to ensure all the slices are submerged. Cover. Allow to cool on the countertop. Refrigerate. Keep refrigerated under cover for up to 3 weeks. Discard if you start to get off smells or colors!

I especially like them with peanut-butter-filled pretzels. Peanut butter and pickles are a match made in heaven. You know, I bet these would taste amazing deep-fried! Hmmmm … do I sense yet another post coming up ?

So another dish I learned to make in cooking class was Drunken Noodles. Now, if your Thai grandmother was making both Garlic Basil Chicken and Drunken Noodles, I’m sure the two dishes would be totally different from each other. But with my foggy memory and American palate, well, my versions are VERY similar. One has fish sauce and is served over rice, the other has carrots and noodles, but I’m not sure I could name which was which in a blind taste test.

NOTE: If you have a Thai grandmother who can shame me into truly appreciating the differences, please contact me soonest because I WANT to be in that blind taste test!

Drunken Noodles
Serves 2+, but I usually double this to serve 4+

Typically when I make this, I make about 1/3 as a kid-approved version and 2/3 as a spicy adult version, which you will see in the pictures. So I will try to explain that as I go.

3 – 4 garlic cloves, minced
3 – 5 Thai chile peppers, minced fine
3/4 lb lean beef, sliced thin (can use chicken or pork)
12 ounce package of rice noodle sheet, cut into wide noodles
2 – 3 tablespoons canola oil
3 teaspoons granulated sugar, divided
2 1/2 teaspoons seasoning soy sauce, divided
3 tablespoons oyster sauce, divided
1 medium-sized white or yellow onion, sliced thin (root to stem) [I used a giant shallot this time since I had no onion!]
A large handful of baby carrots, cut into matchsticks
A bunch of Thai basil leaves

Your garlic, chiles, beef, noodles, onion, and carrots should be prepared before you ever turn on the stove. Have your condiments setting to the side with lids off.

Heat both a small saute pan (I use an 8″ omelet pan) and a medium saute pan (I use a 10″ fry pan) over medium to medium-high heat. Swirl about a tablespoon of canola oil in the small pan and a tablespoon or two of canola oil in the large pan.

Turn on your exhaust fan (trust me). Add 1/3 of the garlic to the small pan. Add the remaining garlic and the chiles to the large pan. Adjust the heat if needed — you are going to cook these just until fragrant. Add 1/3 of the beef to the small pan and 2/3 of the beef to the large pan — stir them around to coat the beef in the garlic and the oil. Cook the beef, stirring occasionally, until it’s about 1/2 done (a little pink is okay).

Add about 1/3 of the noodles to the small pan and 2/3 of the noodles to the large pan — stir them around to coat the noodles in the meat juice and oil. Don’t play with them too much — they tend to fall apart — and it’s okay if they caramelize a little — some color is okay.

Sprinkle 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon seasoning soy sauce, and 1 tablespoon oyster sauce over the beef in the small pan and stir.

Sprinkle 1 – 2 teaspoons of sugar, 2 teaspoons seasoning soy sauce, and 2 tablespoons oyster sauce over the beef in the large pan and stir.

Put a few slices of onion in the small pan (the kids will pick it out probably) and the remainder of the onion in the large pan. Put about 1/3 of the carrots in the small pan and the remainder in the large pan.

Turn the heat down a bit and cook a few minutes until the vegetables softens but are still tender-crisp. Sometimes I will put a lid on the pan to reduce evaporation while they cook a bit.

Toss in the basil leaves and stir until they wilt a bit. Serve immediately.

We adore Thai food. We adore Thai restaurants. But sometimes, you just want to enjoy those flavors at home in your jammies (and I’ve found few Thai restaurants that deliver). A couple of years ago, my husband gave me some cooking lessons at a local Thai restaurant as a Christmas present (present for him you are probably thinking). Initially, I was intimidated because Thai cooking tastes complicated. What I found surprising was that a couple of my favorite dishes really were easy to make at home if (1) You did all your prep work before ever turning on the stove and (2) You knew the right condiments! Don’t laugh, but I asked staff to bring out the condiment bottles from the kitchen so that I could photograph the exact brand and product for my subsequent shopping adventure at the international market (H-Mart or Great Wall).

Are these truly authentic? Probably not — I’ve adjusted them for my family’s American palate. For example, I’ve cut back a bit on the fish sauce and soy sauce because I found it a bit too salty. I also increased the oyster sauce because we like a little more sauce than is traditional. I make a version without the chile peppers if I have kids at the table. But that’s what I learned in the cooking class — these condiments are to be used “to taste” — and the goal of Thai cooking is the balance of sweet-to-salty-to-sour-to-bitter.

Garlic Basil Chicken
Serves 3 to 4

Typically when I make this, I make about 1/3 as a kid-approved version and 2/3 as a spicy adult version, which you will see in the pictures. So I will try to explain that as I go.

3 – 4 garlic cloves, minced
3 – 5 Thai chile peppers, minced fine
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced thin
2 – 3 tablespoons canola oil
3 teaspoons granulated sugar, divided
2 1/2 teaspoons seasoning soy sauce, divided
2 1/2 teaspoons fish sauce, divided
3 tablespoons oyster sauce, divided
1 medium-sized white or yellow onion, sliced thin (root to stem)
A bunch of Thai basil leaves

Your garlic, chiles, chicken, and onion should be prepared before you ever turn on the stove. Have your condiments setting to the side with lids off.

Heat both a small saute pan (I use an 8″ omelet pan) and a medium saute pan (I use a 10″ fry pan) over medium to medium-high heat. Swirl about a tablespoon of canola oil in the small pan and a tablespoon or two of canola oil in the large pan.

Turn on your exhaust fan (trust me). Add 1/3 of the garlic to the small pan. Add the remaining garlic and the chiles to the large pan. Adjust the heat if needed — you are going to cook these just until fragrant. Add 1/3 of the chicken to the small pan and 2/3 of the chicken to the large pan — stir them around to coat the chicken in the garlic and the oil. Cook the chicken, stirring occasionally, until it’s about 3/4 done (a little pink is okay).

Sprinkle 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon seasoning soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce, and 1 tablespoon oyster sauce over the chicken in the small pan and stir.

Sprinkle 1 – 2 teaspoons of sugar, 2 teaspoons seasoning soy sauce, 2 teaspoons fish sauce, and 2 tablespoons oyster sauce over the chicken in the large pan and stir.

Put a few slices of onion in the small pan (the kids will pick it out probably) and the remainder of the onion in the large pan.

Turn the heat down a bit and cook a few minutes until the onion softens but is still tender-crisp. Sometimes I will put a lid on the pan to reduce evaporation while the onion cooks a bit.

Toss in the basil leaves and stir until they wilt a bit. Serve over jasmine rice.

Who doesn’t love a long, slow, oven-braised short-rib in the winter, served over hot buttered egg noodles? In July? Not so much. But I found bone-in short ribs on sale at the grocer, and since I really do love that rich beefy flavor and melty tenderness (AND I found myself with a Sunday afternoon and nothing to do but stay cool), I thought I’d tackle short ribs on the grill.

I’d seen the BBQ U guy on PBS do various Asian-inspired glazes, and since I have a number of Asian-sourced condiments, I was pretty confident I could throw something together. I knew short-ribs took about 2 1/2 hours in my oven after first being seared off in a pan, so if I did some direct heat followed by indirect heat, maybe that would approximate the sear/braise. After a consult with my husband, I decided to put them in a disposable pan with a touch of water to keep them moist and avoid the more complicated plate-setter indirect setup. These really couldn’t have been easier. On a larger grill like mine, I think I could double the recipe (using two pans) and cook for a crowd.

Grilled Short Ribs with an Asian Flair
(serves 3 – 4)

2 1/2 to 3 pounds bone-in beef short ribs

Glaze # 1
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 teaspoons reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 star anise
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon-based “baking spice” [* see note at end of page]

Glaze #2
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1/2 – 1 tablespoon rice vinegar

Set up your grill for direct and indirect grilling. Because I was using our XL BGE (brick house), I was able to pile the coals towards the front of the grill for my “direct” grilling, leaving the rear of the grill without coals for my “indirect” grilling. Heat grill to 375F to 400F, pretty hot.

Combine all the ingredients for Glaze #1 in a small bowl. Put the short ribs, bone-side down, in a single layer in a disposable aluminum pan. Add about 1/4″ water to the pan. Brush about half of Glaze #1 onto the ribs (save the rest for later!). Put the ribs in their pan on the direct side of the grill for about an hour. At the one hour mark, check your ribs. They should be pulling back from the bone, fat will be rendering off, and they will be starting to carmelize. BUT, they will be tough as can be. Brush on the remainder of Glaze #1 and slide your pan to the indirect side of the grills.  [Food safety note: Please use a fresh brush for each glaze session]

To make Glaze #2, combine the oyster sauce and enough rice vinegar to make it spreadable but not runny.

About 1 hour after moving the ribs to the indirect, check them. The smaller ones will be getting tender but the larger ones are probably not quite ready. Brush about half of Glaze #2 onto the ribs (save the rest for later!).

Check again about 1/2 hour later — the ribs should be crusty on the outside but fork tender if poked (they may need a touch more time if they are all big).

Pull the ribs from the grill and brush with the remainder of Glaze #2. Let rest on the counter for about 10 minutes before digging in.

I served these with a microwaveable “Confetti Rice” from Trader Joe’s (it has lemongrass and Thai-inspired flavors) and a gingery white sangria. My husband LOVED the ribs. I was just relieved to have avoided using both oven and stovetop!

This is a kid-approved recipe: Note the lack of black pepper or chili flakes.

*****

[*] This is a cinnamon-based spice mix that includes such things as ginger, nutmeg, mace, cloves, and/or allspice. Sometimes labled “Pumpkin Pie Spice” or “Apple Pie Spice”. Mine contains cinnamon, mace, anise, and a touch of cardamom.