the petite pig

"what's a blog?": my introduction to 101 cookbooks and the world of food blogging

about three years ago my friend heather told me i should really check out heidi swanson's food blog 101 cookbooks. my response to her was, "what's a blog?" she explained to me a blog is short for web log, a website that is centered around a particular subject and is updated frequently. she then took me to 101 cookbooks, introducing to me the world of not only blogging, but food blogging. going through swanson's blog, i thought to myself, "this is brilliant!!! yay for all the technogeeks out there!" since then, 101 cookbooks and heidi swanson have found a place in my kitchen. 101 cookbooks is a particularly unique food blog structured around the mission of "exploring cookbooks. one recipe a time." her blog is centered around her cookbook collection. each entry tells a story of her experience with a recipe. swanson's blog has inspired me to grow my cookbook collection and appreciate the heart and creativity that have gone into each one of my cookbooks. they have become my bedtime reading and much of my cooking inspiration.

swanson herself has also authored one cookbook cook 1.0: a fresh approach to the vegetarian cookbook, a favorite of mine. filled with crisp, beautiful food photography, the cookbook is divided into 8 chapters. chapters 1.0 to 3.0 take us through our daily meals from breakfast dishes to the lunchbox to one-dish dinners while chapters 4.0 to 8.0 focus on sides, spreads, sauces & salsas, sweets, drinks and food ideas. i have especially enjoyed her pocket tart ideas in the lunchbox chapter and her modern take on the pot pie in the one-dish dinner chapter, perhaps because both involve the decadent wonder of puff pastry. it has always been my go-to cookbook when i'm having vegetarians over for dinner or when i'm in need of a simple but chic meal.

tonight was one of those nights where i wanted a warm, comforting dish to greet the noticeably cooler autumn weather that has finally set in. it didn't take long to decide that it was a night fit for the warm comfort of good ol' pot pie. i took cook 1.0 off my shelf and decided to put a spin on swanson's chipotle-potato pot pie. the original recipe calls only for potatoes, and i could not resist adding some sweetness to the mix by dicing in some sweet potatoes and yams (also featured in my autumn risotto - can you tell i'm ready for thanksgiving?). swanson's recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of adobo sauce which is the real kicker to this dish. that additional hint of heat provides that extra layer of warmth on a cold night, exactly what i was craving. in between greeting our constant stream of trick-or-treaters, my roommate anne and i prepared my favorite menu so far this season. anne fried up the last of the tomatoes from our backyard to add to the southern comfort feel of the pot pies. i threw together my favorite autumn salad. three friends sitting down to a warm, comfort meal. it doesn't get much better than this. thanks heidi.

jess' take on heidi's chipotle-potato pot pie (from cook 1.0, page 66)

preheat oven to 400 degrees. to a large pot over medium high heat add:
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup diced potatoes,1 cup diced sweet potatoes and/or yams (1/4 inc diced)
1/2 teaspoon salt
saute, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.

stir in:
1 tablespoon adobo sauce from a can of chipotle chiles*
1 cup corn kernels
in a small bowl, combine:
2 cups cold milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
stir into the potato mixture. bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and cook until the filling starts to thicken. remove from the heat and season with more salt to taste. pour the filling into small ovenproof bowls or ramekins, each three quarters full. cut a piece of puff pastry dough** to fit each bowl, with some overlap. place the odugh on the bowls and fold over the edges. brush the dough lightly with egg white for a golden crust. poke a few holes in the top with a fork to allow steam to escape. bake until the crusts are tall and deeply golden, about 15 minutes. 

*you can buy adobo sauce on its own, but the adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers transfers the additional heat of chipotle peppers into your pot pie, making this dish so unique.

**puff pastry dough can be found in the frozen food aisle of your local grocery store. most large-chain grocery stores will stock the pepperidge farm variety. however, some gourmet stores offer a less-commercial version which always seems to be puff up much lighter than pepperidge farm's. just a warning, once you discover the light, flaky, buttery heaven of puff pastry, there is no going back.

not enough meals in the day

i know most of us feel like there just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything we need to, we want to get done done. we all wonder where the time goes. and we all wonder what in the hell we did with the time that passed. yes, this indeed is a problem i face often . . . but lately, i've been facing another problem.  it's not there isn't enough time in the day . . . it's that there aren't enough meals in the day for me to cook everything that i've been wanting to cook. i keep a food journal. when my culinary musings happen upon a new recipe idea; my grocery lists for the past two years; a new restaurant that i want to try; a food term that i need to look up - all this gets written into the journal. a couple weeks ago, i sat down and started from page one and went through everything i've catalogued in that little book. going through my weekly grocery lists, i found a whole treasure trove of menus, dishes i've made in the past and now cannot wait to make again . . . and then there are the recipe ideas i jotted down that i still have not had a chance to test in my kitchen . . . and all the restaurants i meant to try at some point . . . and the experimentation i want to do with all the ingredients or cooking methods i had never heard of before . . . and then on top of all this, my cookbook collection keeps growing, my cooking magazines keep piling higher and higher . . . well, now you understand my dilemma? there just are not enough meals in the day for me to revisit the old favorites, attempt the new and get to all those restaurants. perhaps this is a dilemma faced by all food-lovers, of all chefs, professional and home but i must say, it's a damn good dilemma to be in.

i have not been on a plane in two weeks and that is a good feeling. i am hoping to stay local over the next few months, get back into the kitchen and address this problem best i can. i have a lot of food projects on my list. i hope to get to some of those old favorites, go through all the new cookbooks i've received over the past year, shed my title as a delinquent and absent blogger and expand "the petite pig" enterprise in general. if any of you out there have ideas on the direction of "the petite pig," shoot me an email. i'd love to hear your thoughts. it's a lot to take on, combating both this time and meals problem but i'll keep you posted on how i do. after all, the food network is long behind me and it's time to find the next food challenge. hot-dog eating contest anyone?

a new "farewell summer, welcome autumn" ritual

even though i cannot get enough of the sunny california weather, being an east-coast transplant i definitely do miss the feeling of seasons, especially this time of year when the dog days of summer are over and the crisp autumn air has just arrived. back east, this is the time when the trees have reached their richest golden, blood orange hues, and there is not a more picturesque time to enjoy the outdoors. so even though the transition from summer to fall is not evident from just being outdoors in california, i have begun to notice it at the local markets. we are seeing the last of our summer corn, peaches and heirloom tomatoes. they will soon be replaced with pomegranates, squashes and sweet potatoes.

i felt that without the apparent goodbye to summer and welcome to autumn weather from back east, the best way to experience this annual ritual out here in california was through food. so this past sunday, i hosted a "farewell to summer/hello to autumn" dinner for a couple of friends. thinking about the menu, i knew i had to have heirloom tomatoes for the "farewell to summer" part" as i will miss them most as we head into the cooler months of fall. i also could not leave out the sweetness of summer corn, which brings me right back to every summer in maryland where my family's chesapeake bay blue crab fests would always be accompanied by a bushel of buttered summer corn. slap some old bay seasoning on both and you have exactly what summer is all about in maryland. as for the autumn side of the menu, all i could think about was thanksgiving dinner. to me, the thanksgiving dinner table is what autumn produce is all about: pumpkin and apple pie, sweet potatoes, and mashed potatoes. i finally decided on a duo of risottos featuring some of the best of both seasons. to represent the summer, i chose to use one of my favorite risotto recipes from peter berley's the modern vegetarian kitchen substituting heirlooms for the regular tomatoes the recipe calls for. for autumn, i created a new recipe featuring three of my fall favorites: parsnips, sweet potatoes and yams. served alongside jamie oliver's pot-roasted pork in white wine with garlic, fennel and rosemary (found on page 172 of happy days with the naked chef) and finished with apple strudel a la mode, i think i found a new way to let go of summer and welcome autumn, even if it still is eighty-degrees outside.

jess' autumn risottoserves 4ingredients:1 1/2 quart chicken stock
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 medium sized parnsip, sweet potato and yam diced into equal sized pieces
1 medium sized white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cup arborio rice
1/2 cup chardonnay
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
parsley, minced for garnish

in a medium-sized saucepan, heat chicken stock to boil. keep at a constant boil.

heat saute pan over medium heat. add 1 tablespoon butter. when butter has melted, add brown sugar. stir until sugar has dissolved. add diced parsnips, sweet potatoes and yams. cook for about 10 minutes or until vegetables become tender. set aside.*

reheat saute pan over medium heat. add remaining butter. when butter has melted, add diced onions and minced garlic. cook until onions are translucent. add arborio rice and coat with cooked onions. add wine and stir. when rice has absorbed all the wine, add 1 cup of hot chicken stock at at time, stirring and allowing rice to absorb liquid between adding more chicken stock.** continue until risotto is al dente, tender but still with a bite to it. add diced parsnips, sweet potatoes and yams back right before risotto is done. fold in about 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese. serve with parsley and remaining parmesan cheese.

*i like to cook these root vegetables outside of the risotto to create a sweet caramelization which adds a bit of sweetness to your autumn risotto.
**i like to add a good sprinkle of salt with each addition of chicken stock to give the risotto a deeper flavor.

all-clad sale

just a heads up to all you all-clad devotees out there or those looking to start your all-clad collection on a budget, cookware & more is having their semiannual sale on all their all-clad products, offering an additional 20% off current prices. cookware & more is a certified all-clad outlet selling irregular items. however, from my recent purchases, don't let this "irregular" label scare you away 'cause at about fifty percent off of retail, you probably won't be able to find all-clad products at a better bargain. all-clad has an incredibly high standard for their products and even the smallest cosmetic blemish renders a product irregular. the products come with an "S" imprinted on the bottom of the handle, but any cosmetic flaws are barely visible. in fact in all of the items i purchased, i could hardly tell why they have been termed irregulars. can't wait to start cooking with my new pans.

man, do i sound like one of those consumer reviewers you find on amazon.com or what?

the reality tv of food

strangely for someone that was on reality television, i do not think very highly of the whole genre. however, there are certain reality tv shows out there that are just so damn tempting to watch. i was flying jet blue last week from washington, d.c. to long beach, california and indulged in a top chef marathon on bravo. okay, so top chef came out about the same time as the next food network star and i am probably going to be viewed as a traitor (and probably also violating 100 of the 1,000 clauses in my food network contract) for saying this but i would much rather watch an episode of top chef any day. this is not to say i would have rather been on top chef instead of the next food network star. if i was eaten alive on the food network, i would have been thrown into a meat-grinding machine to be made into human sausage for consumption by blood-thirsty vultures on bravo. but the two shows are inherently different. one is about food and the other about personality. one is lo0king for a chef and the other is looking for an entertainor.

i'll admit i tuned into the first episode of top chef last spring. i was intrigued to see what we were up against ratings wise. after one episode, i had had enough. i hated the shit-talking, the egoes, the pricks and the typical "chef" attitude. i did not watch another episode for the rest of the season but while watching this marathon, i realized if you can ignore the reality tv contrived personalities and just concentrate on the food, the dishes that were created on top chef were pretty incredible and those final few were talented chefs. the purpose of top chef is not about teaching the home chef how to cook.  it is about top-notch gourmet cooking. in the final three episodes of the competition that i caught in this marathon, i saw some of the best chefs in america talk about food and for that alone, the show is well worth watching. i had just recently dined at ame the very talked about new "it" restaurant in san francisco opened by chefs hiro sone and lissa doumani and there they were on television, critiquing dave martin's black truffle mac and cheese (which i'm making this week because who can so no to the decadence of truffles complimented by the simple comfort of mac 'n cheese?). to have a show that brings together america's top culinary talents, the likes of michael mina and hubert keller, is no small deal and is well worth checking out. and if you happen to also like the shit-talking that goes on on the show, all the power to you and reality tv. while it'll be hard for them to top the culinary cast that participated in season one, i'm sure they will. it is reality tv after all. just when you think it's subsiding, it always manages to give you more. i just hope the nice guy wins again.

heirloom tomatoes

don't knock heirloom tomatoes for their slight knobbiness and imperfections. these late-summertime delights are the real deal, the real products of nature before man intervened (not that i don't appreciate the varieties of produce hybridization has brough us). i was out grocery shopping this morning at my usual place for produce, the milk pail in mountain view. i was ecstatic to find crates and crates of my favorite summertime vegetable piled high and for only a buck ninety-nine a pound - it doesn't get much better than that. so remember to pick some of these up at your local farmer's market and even your local big-chain grocery store these days. allow them to fully ripen. slice them up and admire the unique winds and turns of juiciness these tomatoes offer. throw a simple vignaigrette over them and you'll soon find yourself thinking that there is not a more perfect tomato.

  *simple vignaigrette*2 tablespoons white wine vinegar1 tablespoon champange vinegar1 teaspoon dijon mustardmix ingredients together. whisk in 1/4 cup olive oil.  pour over sliced heirloom tomatoes and garnish with fresh basil.

the silver spoon

i was recently reading josh friendland's blog "the food section" (which definitely deserves a bookmark in any foodie's internet browser) when i came across his post "this is how we roll" where he talks about a cookbook that i am sure many of us own, the silver spoon. i am certain that all of us italian food lovers rushed out to grab our very own copy of this italian food bible when it came onto bookshelves last year. friendland aptly writes: "how many of you cookbook collectors out there picked up a copy of the silver spoon last year only to leave the behemoth languishing on your bookshelf to gather dust? i confess that i did."

well, i am guilty as well. since acquiring the italian cookbook of all cookbooks, i have been more than afraid to take it off the shelf. the sheer weight of the book has been deterrance enough but combined with the task of actually choosing one dish from the thousands and thousands of recipes would certainly cause a minor heart attack. however, my boyfriend tim (a food celebrity in his own right for competitive eating skills that could rival the japanese), being both physically stronger and emotionally braver than me, lugged the cookbook off the shelf last weekend on my birthday to find a gnocchi recipe. well he found about 100 but chose the basic gnocchi so that we could recreate one of the first meals we made together over three years ago. even though the gnocchi you make at home might not be the melt in your mouth experience you might get at your local italian joint, creating gnocchi from scratch not only satisfies the guilty pleasure of returning to your childhood play-doh playing days but also gives that much more satisfaction with each bite, knowing you made this as a labor of love and didn't just boil those frozen dumplings from trader joe's (although those are pretty damn good to have on hand too). so that night in celebration of my twenty-five years of life we ate our homemade gnocchi dressed in pesto. ok, so i definitely could use a food mill or a potato ricer in my kitchen, but there's nothing wrong with biting into a small chunk of potato in your gnocchi - after all, that is what they are made of! anyhow, sitting there that night to dinner, filling our bellies with our heaping plates of pesto-ed gnocchi, i remembered the reason i bought that book in the first place - to remind me of the many authentic italian meals i enjoyed in italy - and i promised myself it wouldn't be another year before i pulled that behemoth off the shelf again.

and then some crazy thought crossed my mind.  what if i attempted the julie and julia challenge with the silver spoon? alright, i'd probably have to give myself a good 10 years as opposed to just the one that julie powell had to conquer every recipe in julia child's mastering the art of french cooking but if i was able to complete this daunting challenge, i really will have mastered the art of italian cooking as it just might include every conceivable italian dish ever. anyway, when i picked up that book again, i was quickly reminded of how heavy it was, and my crazy idea quickly subsided back into crazy-ville but hey, it was a thought . . . any takers out there?