The very hungry grad students have been, of late, very remiss grad students. While the blog has suffered, our stomachs have not, and we’ll try to bring the site up to date with our most recent cooking experiments sometime in the near future.

I’ve made these whole wheat apple muffins from smitten kitchen twice, and I can’t recommend them highly enough. I brought the first batch as breakfast for my law school car pool (a group of us have joined forces to make sure we get to our 8:30 a.m. class on time), and made the second batch for an Environmental Law Society Bake Sale (benefiting the NRDC and Friends of the Chicago River).

Cook: Katie

Music: Eddie Vedder (mostly this soundtrack)

Lessons learned: Muffins and tea make even the earliest of classes bearable.

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins, from smitten kitchen

Click here for smitten kitchen’s Whole Wheat Apple Muffin recipe.*

*I used plain yogurt instead of buttermilk because I had some on hand (thanks for the yogurt maker, Mom!), and I chose Granny Smith apples since they’re a bit tarter. I also put plenty of brown sugar on top, which crystallized well, and the muffins kept for several days.

Additional note: I wasn’t sure if the recipe called for buttering and flouring the paper muffin cups, but it seemed to; I did, and the muffins turned out well.

Oatmeal cookies, one of the homelier desserts, are nonetheless a personal favorite. I’ve made this recipe from Smitten Kitchen several times, but only recently perfected it. The trick? Baking them for 12 minutes rather than the recommended 13 to 16 (which made the cookies slightly too crisp). The sprinkled sea salt in this recipe balances out the sweetness of the white chocolate, and you’re left with an addicting treat.

Cook: Katie

Music: Kasey Chambers

Lessons learned: Despite my love for Deb’s blog, you don’t need to buy Maldon or fleur de sel sea salt for this recipe. Any run-of-the-mill sea salt (or even Kosher salt) will do.

Also, decrease the baking time!

Crisp Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies, from Smitten Kitchen

Click here for Smitten Kitchen’s Crisp Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookie recipe.

Law school finals and a hectic new quarter have made for very little food blogging recently. Fortunately, this Spanish soup, which I first made in November, has helped sustain me through it all. If you only make one or two soups this winter, I’d put Caldo Gallego on your list. Better yet, it freezes well, so you’ll be able to serve up a taste of Galicia any time you please.

Cook: Katie

Music: Jorma Kaukonen

Lessons learned: I was a little skeptical of this “celebrity” cookbook, but my doubts have been vanquished. Not only did I enjoy this caldo recipe, the cookbook has the best tortilla española recipe I’ve tried to date. (Post to come soon.) Gwyneth knows best?

Caldo Gallego, adapted from Spain: A Culinary Road Trip by Mario Batali with Gwyneth Paltrow

1/2 pound thickly sliced slab bacon, cut into 1/4 inch dice
1 cup dried white beans, soaked overnight in water to cover (I used cannellini beans)
1 large onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice
2 baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
2 turnips, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
1/2 pound Spanish chorizo, casings removed and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 pound kale, stemmed and coarsely chopped

1. Cook the bacon in a large heavy pot over medium heat until most of the fat is rendered, eight to 10 minutes.

2. Drain the beans, add them to the pot, along with enough water to cover them by two inches, and bring to a boil. Skim off the foam, then lower the heat and simmer gently, partially covered, for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the beans are beginning to soften.

3. Add the onion, potatoes, and turnips, and cook for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are softened. Add the chorizo and kale and cook for 10 minutes, or until the kale is tender.

Espresso Truffles

The very hungry grad students are on winter break, and I have returned to Midwest to visit friends and family. My lovely friend Emily lives in Chicago and was an awesome hostess when Kevin and I spent New Years in the Windy City. I made these truffles for her as a thank you/New Years gift and gave them to her when I returned to Chicago to help my little sister move in some seriously bitter Midwestern cold. I got the recipe from the Orange Tree Imports Cookbook, a compilation of recipes from the staff of Orange Tree Imports, a great specialty cookware and gift shop with cooking classes in Madison, WI, which my mom managed before I was born, and which has been thriving in Madison for over 35 years.

Chocolate Espresso Truffles (adapted from Glee Brechler’s original Chocolate Truffles recipe)

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate (go with Ghirardelli)
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon espresso, Grand Mariner, Kahlua or coffee (I used espresso)
1/3 stick unsalted butter
Bitter cocoa powder

Melt chocolate in top of double boiler. While chocolate is warm, add egg yolks. Stir with a whisk. The eggs will cause the mixture to curdle and form a large lump. Remove from heat and add milk and espresso (or liqueur or coffee). Return the mixture to heat and stir until the mixture is uncurdled, or smooth. Alternatively, if you don’t have a blender, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave — just make sure to microwave it for short periods of time so that you don’t overheat it.

Remove from heat and add butter bit by bit (tip: cut sticks of butter into small pieces beforehand). Whisk the chocolate after each addition of butter. Cover the mixture with plastic wrap. The original recipe suggests refrigerating for 48 hours until hard (the chocolate will keep in the fridge for up to two weeks), but because I needed to give the chocolates to Emily the following day, I ignored this step and actually just stuck the chocolate out in the garage for about four hours (at the time, it was 10 degrees in Milwaukee). The chocolate was workable and still delicious.

Use a melon baller to make balls (the recipe suggests either 24 1 inch truffles or 48 inch truffles) — I eyeballed it, but I wouldn’t make the truffles tooo big, because they are rich. Smooth with hand. Roll in bitter cocoa.

The warmth of your hands is enough to smooth the chocolates, as they melt quickly and easily. If the chocolate becomes too soft to handle, put the mixture back into the fridge (or, um, garage) and chill until hard again (~15 mins).

Cook: Emily

Lesson Learned: A garage in Wisconsin in January works refrigeration wonders.

I’ve been beginning to experiment with the slow cooker my mom gave me for my birthday — truly, it’s a grad student’s time and money management dream. These chicken tinga tacos (chicken tinga=chipotle and tomato sauce, with shredded chicken) are somewhat loosely adapted from Rick Bayless’s recipe (I’ve been inspired by my dad and sister’s recent foray into Mexican cooking. Also, waiting in line for dinner at Frontera Grill has been a special treat for my family when we visit Chicago). The great thing about this recipe is that you can really swap in the meat you have on hand or on sale. I don’t really like potatoes (ahem, except the mashed or french fried kinds), so I just didn’t include them — there’s plenty of starch when you serve with tortillas, and if you like, you can always add rice to the mix. The recipe also includes the optional addition of chorizo, but to keep this meal on the cheap, I omitted that as well. Honestly, though, the spiced tomato and chicken in this recipe are all you need, and this crock pot provided at least two dinners worth of tacos for us. We used flour tortillas already in our fridge, but the original recipe calls for corn tortillas. I highly recommend serving with guacamole or some freshly chopped avocados.

Tinga de Pollo, adapted quite liberally from Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen

2 pounds chicken, into 1-inch-ish pieces (no need to get finicky about chopping, as the meat will fall apart in the slow cooker) [skinless chicken thighs or boneless pork shoulder or boneless beef chuck, etc]
One 28-ouce can diced tomatoes in juice (fire-roasted is definitely best)
3 to 4 canned chipotle chiles en adobo, seeded and sliced ¼ inch thick (to taste; watch yourself with these if you’re sensitive to spiciness; the seeds add additional heat)
1 tablespoon chipotle canning sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano (preferably Mexican)
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 medium white onion, sliced ¼ inch thick (optional, but I included, think it’s a nice addition)
1 1/2 teaspon salt
Queso fresco or even cheddar cheese, optional, for topping

1. Spread the chopped chicken on the bottom of the slow cooker.
2. In a large bowl, mix the (undrained) tomatoes with the chipotles, chipotle canning sauce, Worcestershire, oregano, garlic, onion, and 1 ½ teaspoons salt.
3. Pour the mixture evenly over the meat.
4. Cover and slow-cook on high for 5-6 hours. (my slow cooker seems to heat things much more quickly than others I’ve read about, so this depends on your own crockpot). Pass some time in the library.
5. Return home to a delicious smelling kitchen. Taste and season with additional salt if you think the tinga needs it.
6. Shread/break apart chicken with fork. Serve with warm tortillas, fresh crumbled cheese and avocados, or serve on a tostada.

Cook: Emily

Lesson Learned: A slow cooker is the right answer.

Every year, I get excited for Halloween. Over the years, I’ve worn costumes ranging from a Corona bottle (college) to the Bill on Capitol Hill (during my last Halloween in DC).

But costumes are only one reason I love fall. I also get excited for the pumpkin and butternut squash recipes that are in season at this time of year. The Environmental Law Society held a Halloween bake sale at the end of October, and I couldn’t resist making this pumpkin bar recipe from my mom.

Cook: Katie

Music: The Weepies

Lessons learned: I think I’m going to try to sub butter for oil in this recipe next time.

Frosted Pumpkin Bars

Cake:

2 cups sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 16 oz. can pumpkin
1 cup oil (I would try experimenting with butter instead.)
4 eggs

Icing:

1 8 oz pkg. cream cheese (softened)
6 TBsp butter
4 cups sifted confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1. Combine all cake ingredients; mix well. Pour into ungreased 15 1/2 X 10 1/2-inch jelly roll pan (I just used a 9×13 glass baking dish). Bake at 350, 25 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool.

2. Frost with icing: Cream softened cream cheese and butter. Gradually add sugar; beat until well blended. Stir in vanilla.

Halloween 2010: Clue!

I’m pretty sure if there are saints among us, they’re the people who help us move. I recently had a good friend and her husband over for dinner after she spent an entire day helping me ferry my possessions from Hyde Park to the South Loop. (He was abroad in India at the time and therefore was excused from moving duty.)

I made Island Spiced Pork, which is one of my favorite fall/winter recipes. Enjoy!

Cook: Katie

Music: Les Choristes soundtrack (favorite song: Les Avions En Papier)

Lessons learned: If you read Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals before buying pork, you’ll not only feel uneasy about the whole concept, you’ll feel compelled to purchase it at Whole Foods.

Island Spiced Pork

Ingredients for Pork:

2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 pork tenderloins
2 Tablespoons olive oil

Ingredients for Glaze:

1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 Tablespoons finely chopped garlic
1 Tablespoon Tabasco

1. Put a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350.

2. Stir together salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, and cinnamon in a bowl. Coat pork all over with this spice rub.

3. Heat oil in an ovenproof 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until just beginning to smoke. (I didn’t have an oven proof skillet, so I just used a normal frying pan.) Brown pork, turning occasionally, about 4 minutes total. Remove from heat; leave pork in skillet.

4. Stir together garlic, brown sugar and tabasco in a small bowl. Pat the mixture firmly on the tops of the tenderloins. Roast (in a glass baking dish) until thermometer inserted diagonally in the center of each reads 140. ( I just roasted them for about 25 minutes or so — I don’t have a meat thermometer). Take out and let pork stand in baking dish, loosely covered with foil for 10 minutes.

5. Cut pork at 45 degree angle into 1/2 inch slices and arrange on a platter. Pour any juices from skillet over pork.

As finals approach, I’ve frozen a few soups so I won’t need to subsist on takeout this December. I recently tried a recipe for Basque White Bean Soup from my perennial favorite, the Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites cookbook.

I’ve been interested in the Basques since studying abroad in Spain during college. A friend and I later wrote an article about them in journalism school and were lucky enough to get funding for trips to Idaho and Wyoming (epicenters for the Basque diaspora in the United States). We also traveled to Spain and France to conduct interviews in the Basque homeland.

This soup brought back some wonderful memories and hopefully will help me make it through December!

Checking out a Basque cidery in Spain.

Cook: Katie

Music: Mary Hopkin (check out Streets of London)

Lessons learned: I think this recipe calls for too much fennel, so I would reduce it next time. Admittedly, however, I’m not a big fan of fennel, so you may not want to change anything.

As the Moosewood cookbook notes, this soup actually tastes better a day after you make it.

Basque White Bean Soup, from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites

2 cups chopped onions
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon ground fennel
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup thinly sliced cabbage
4 celery stalks with leaves, sliced (about 2 cups)
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed (about 3 cups)
3/4 cup minced red bell peppers
6 cups basic vegetable stock
2 cups cooked or canned white beans (I used cannellini and cooked them myself, but if you’d rather not, just buy a 15-ounce can)
Generous pinch of saffron, or more to taste (I bought this, but it was not conducive to a grad student budget)
Kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste

1. In a soup pot, saute the onions and garlic in the oil for about 10 minutes, until deeply browned and carmelized. Stir in the fennel and thyme.

2. Add the cabbage and celery, cover, and sweat the vegetables until they are nearly tender, about five minutes.

3. Add the squash and bell peppers, pour in the stock, bring to a boil and cook for five to 10 minutes more, until the squash softens.

4. Stir in the white beans and crumble in the saffron. When the soup is hot, add salt and pepper to taste.

San Inazio Festival in Boise

I bought turnips at the farmers’ market recently, and later realized I had no idea what to do these strange, rather bitter, purply orbs. My mom (who loves turnips) often serves them mashed, but I wanted to try something different, so I turned to Google.

I found a recipe for roasted turnips with maple and cardamom on the bitten word (chosen mostly because I had nearly all the ingredients on hand). While turnips still aren’t my favorite root vegetable (beets or carrots probably win the day), I loved the combination of maple, cardamom and cilantro, and would definitely make this dish again.

Cook: Katie

Music: Loose Digits

Lessons learned: This recipe tastes much better when served hot.

Roasted Turnips with Maple and Cardamom

Check out the bitten word recipe here.

We also served saag, Indian spiced spinach. I sort of improvised on this one, combining a few online recipes. Along with basmati rice and naan I picked up from Whole Foods (yup, that’s right),

Buttered Chicken, adapted from Essential Indian

8 tbsp unsalted butter (try 4-6 tbsp)
1 tbsp oil
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 tsp fresh giner root, finely chopped
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp black cumin seeds
1 tsp fresh garlic, crushed (and diced)
1 tsp salt
3 whole green cardamoms
3 whole black peppercorns
2/3 cup plain yogurt
2 tbsp tomato paste
approximately 8 chicken pieces, skinned
2/3 cup water (or a little less — eyeball your sauce’s consistency)
2 whole bay leaves
2/3 cup fat-free half and half (or cream)

1. Heat the butter and oil in a large pot or really large skillet. Add the onions and fry until golden, stirring. Reduce the heat.

2. Crush the fresh ginger and place in a medium to large bowl. Add the garam masala, coriander, ginger, chilli powder, cumin seeds, garlic salt, cardamoms and black peppercorns and blend. Add the yogurt and tomato paste and stir to combine.

spice and yogurt mixture

3. Add the chicken pieces to the yogurt and spice mixture and stir them to coat well.

4. Add the chicken to the onions in the pan and stir-fry vigorously, making semi-circular movements, for 5-7 minutes.

5. Add the water and the bay leaves to the mixture in the pot and leave to simmer for 30 minutes (uncovered), stirring occasionally.

6. Add the half and half and cook for a further 10-15 minutes.

7. Serve! Garnish with fresh cilantro if you like.

Quick Saag Recipe

2 tbs vegetable or other mild oil — 2 tablespoons
1 chopped onion
6 minced cloves of garlic (Kevin took one for the team chopping these)
1 tbs minced ginger
2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 lb spinach, chopped
1 cup water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup plain fat-free yogurt

Saag in process

1. Heat the oil in a large pot or saucepan over medium flame. Add the onions and sauté until translucent. Add the garlic, ginger and spices and sauté for another 2 to 3 minutes.

2. Stir in the spinach, water and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes (I was in a rush and barely did ten minutes. It was fine).

3. Remove spinach from heat, allow to cool a bit. Optional: use a blender or food processor to puree in batches (or, of course, use an immersion blender). I didn’t use a blender at all, however.

4. If using blender, return spinach to pan or pot. Stir in yogurt and return to brief simmer and immediately remove from heat. Serve!

The first time we tried this meal, in August

Cook: Emily

Lesson learned: Add less butter if you can get away with it. If you get ready-made naan, I’ve found it almost always burns if you throw it in the oven for warmth (but our new oven warms up too quickly). Microwave? Also, I am a firm believer in having an arsenal of Indian spices in your kitchen — sure, it’s kind of annoying and expensive to buy cardamom pods for the first time, but once you are stocked up, it is so easy to create awesome curries with basic meat or veggie ingredients.

Second go-round!