Madhu Knits and Cooks

The (Relatively Large) Haul from Rhinebeck -- NY Sheep and Wool Festival 2011

Although it's taken me over two weeks to put this post up, and as a result some of you may have doubted its continued existence, the New York Sheep and Wool Festival did happen this year.  And it was amazing. Really, really amazing - great weather, great people and it capped a perfect weekend of New England exploring and leaf-peeping.  

Perhaps the greatest indication of how great the Festival was this year was the relatively large amount of yarn I purchased.  In years past, I have exercised much stronger restraint, and limited myself to anywhere from a handful to ten skeins, let's say.  This year, despite not planning to purchase yarn for specific projects (with one exception, Noah's pumpkin hat), I really went to town.  And I think that each skein of yarn I purchased was special and unique, and really showcases some regional gems.  A summary of my new yarn follows a picture of the Rhinebeck 2011 haul.

From the top left, going clockwise:

- Alpacas of Staghorn Valley (NY) -- three skeins of 3-ply alpaca 

- Still River Mill (CT) - Two Step Sock Yarn, one skein in grey.  I have been eyeing yarn from the Still River booth for at least a year!

- Still River Mill (CT) - Cameloo, two skeins in beige.  Incredibly soft yarn -- I cannot wait to start knitting with it, and fear I may be selfish and just make something for myself from this beautiful yarn :-)

- Long Ridge Farm (NH) - Superwash Merino in Rain Forest (dark brown), one four-ounce skein 

- Buckwheat Bridge Angoras (NY) - 50/50 blend of kid mohair and cormo, one skein in orange and the other in dark green

- Persimmon Tree Farm (PA) - Piggy Toes SW, one four-ounce skein in maroon/vibrant red

- Good Karma Farm (ME) -- 60/40 blend of wool and alpaca, two skeins with blue hues and another with more yellow colors wool

Hopefully these new additions to my stash will keep me going for at least a few more weeks :-)

Duo of Hats for Baby Noah

Baby Noah has arrived!  And with his arrival, my knitting to-do list has probably tripled in size.  I have tried two new hat patterns so far, and I expect that I'll not only being making several new hats for him this coming winter, but also a whole range of baby clothes as well.  I almost pity him for how much wool he will forced to wear come January and February :-)

The first hat I made for Noah was the newborn Hat from Louisa Harding's Natural Knits for Babies and Moms.  I used some stash yarn for the project, and was really happy with the result, particularly because it fit Noah when he was born (I was afraid it might be way too big or way too small -- it's so hard to guess baby measurements!).  The second hat I made for baby Noah was a beautiful pumpkin hat from Sonnentaler.  I purchased yarn specifically for this project at the recent New York Sheep and Wool Festival (more to come on the festival soon!), and the colors are really, really perfect to evoke the intended pumpkin image.  Project details follow pictures of the completed hats.

Noah's Pumpkin Hat

Pattern:  Kurbis Hat from Sonnentaler

Yarn:  70% Kid Mohair/30% Cormo Wool from Buckwheat Bridge Angoras, approx. 1/4 of an orange skein and extremely small amount (a few yards) from a dark green skein

Needles:  Four US2 dpns for the rolled brim of the hat, and four US3 dpns for the body of the hat

Post-Blocking Measurements:  Ok, so I didn't actually measure the hat when I was done, but I will soon and update this post!

Modifications:  I cast on 7o stitches to get a 12-inch circumference for the hat.  I knit 6 rows with the smaller needles for the rolled brim, and then knit 3 inches in stockinette (not the ribbing called for in the pattern) with the US3 needles.  I then started the decreases, though modified them to reduce the number of plain rows between the decrease rows.  I also made the pumpkin top significantly shorter so that I didn't need to fold it over and sew it to the base of the hat.

Noah's Newborn Hat

Pattern:  Hat from Louisa Harding's Natural Knits and Babies and Moms

Yarn:  Approx. 0.1 - .2 skein of Shelridge Farm Soft Touch DKW in Spring Green

Needles:  Two US size 4 circulars for the first four rows, and two US size 6 circulars for the body of the hat

Post-Blocking Measurements:  12 1/2-inch circumference at the widest point, and 3 3/4 inches tall.  The hat grew only slightly after wet blocking.

NY Times Roasted Beets with Chiles, Ginger, Yogurt and Indian Spices

So unlike most of my cooking experiments, this dish did not result from either purchasing a set of ingredients and then determining how to prepare them or deliberatively searching for a recipe and then purchasing the required ingredients.  Instead, I just happened to click on the link for this recipe and then decided it looked good enough to try the next time I went to the market.  

As you may recall, two years ago I joined a CSA and was suddenly flush with beets.  Seriously, as I think back to that summer, I feel like the only items I ever got from the CSA all summer were beets and Japanese turnips.  Unfortunately, I never got that creative with preparing the beets -- I would roast them and include them in various dishes, slice them with a mandoline and make beet chips (never could get the baking process right though), or just throw them away.  At some point, you can really just get "beet" dealing with this root vegetable (pun intended!).

So when I saw this NYTimes.com recipe that prepared the beets with Indian spices, I was intrigued.  For some unknown reason, I had completely ignored using my Indian spices with beets in the past, and this recipe was almost too good to be true -- simple, used ingredients easily accessible in my pantry, and spicy.  I picked up some yellow beets at the farmer's market, and as I thought, put the dish together with ease.  The result was really great -- well-spiced, healthy, and the yogurt sauce was really amazing and could go well with a number of dishes.  The only alterations I made were to omit the lime juice from the yogurt because I just didn't have a lime, and to increase the cooking time for the beets by another ten minutes or so despite cutting the beets smaller than what the recipe called for.  I think the next time I prepare this recipe, I will cover the beet chunks with foil while they roast because the prepared beets were a little drier than I would have liked.  I will also continue to cut the beet pieces smaller than the one-inch chunks called for in the original recipe because I felt I had a good spice-to-beet ratio in each bite.

Brown That Butter! Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie Update

Last year, I attempted Cook's Illustrated Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies from the May 2009 issue.  The cookies turned out really well (note the positive comments from my cookie taster friends) even though I didn't quite follow the recipe.  A few weeks back, I decided to give the cookie recipe another go, but this time that I would actually perform the recipe's most critical step -- browning the butter -- instead of just melting it as I had done the first time.  

The difference in the result was amazing -- the cookies had this amazingly rich, caramel and butterscotch-like flavor to them that I don't think I have ever experienced in a cookie.  The first time I made these cookies without browning the butter I thought they were rich and had caramel undertones, but wow, actually browning the butter made such an impact to enhance these cookies.  To brown the butter, I used an All Clad skillet and heated the butter for much longer than called for in the recipe -- maybe 7 minutes instead of the 1 - 3 the recipe indicated it would take.  I also recommend baking the cookies until they look completely set because if you follow the recipe's baking instructions (just until the edges are set, and centers are still soft), the cookies seem way too underbaked, at least for my taste.  

So, brown that butter!  And let me know if there are other baked goods that would benefit from this technique!

Summer/Fall Slippers for My Sister

Last year I promised my sister a pair of lightweight summer slippers to complement the thicker socks I had knit her in 2009.  By the end of this summer, I finally got around to knitting them, so I redubbed them "fall" slippers and shockingly enough finished them in fall, so thankfully did not need to recharacterize them again as "winter" slippers.  They turned out well -- most importantly, they fit! -- and the full project details follow the picture (modeled on my smaller-than-my-sister's feet) below.

Summer/Fall Slippers for Malli

Pattern:  Summer Slippers in Knitting 24/7, size 7-8

Yarn:  2 balls of Nashua Handknits April, Color 0704 -- used up almost one entire ball for each slipper

Needles:  Five US size 5 dpns

Post-Blocking Measurements:  Foot length of 9.5 inches, 6 inches from bottom of slipper to the highest part of the top, and the ankle opening of 4.5 inches wide when stretched.  The gauge was larger than called for in the pattern, so I used a slightly smaller slipper pattern size to achieve the result I wanted.

Modifications:  In the last round of the pattern, I modified the bind off for a more snug ankle opening.  I knit 2 together 3 times, then alternated knit 1 with knit 2 togethers until the last 8 stitches, which I knit 2 together to the end of the round.  This was the bind-off round.

Two New Indian Dishes That Need a Little Work -- Indian Chinese Fried Rice and Leek Pappu

Every now and again, it's good to remind myself why I have this blog.  I have to admit that I maintain this blog not just for your readership and comments (though those aspects are certainly appreciated), but rather to remind myself of what I have made in the past, what worked and didn't, and to basically tell myself what I should and should not make in the future.  This post is an excellent reminder of why this blog has been so helpful to me over the years -- I know that if I didn't memorialize these new recipe attempts, I would probably repeat the same mistakes in just a few months.  

One of these dishes -- Indian Chinese fried rice -- I have wanted to make at home for some time.  The other dish -- leeks with moong dal or leek pappu -- I decided to make out because I had more leeks in the fridge than I knew what to do with.  Unfortunately, both turned out to bland and will require significant modifications to make them worth making again in the future.  The fried rice just tasted like lightly flavored vegetables and rice, and the leek pappu tasted like...well, leeks and pappu.  The details on each unsuccessful recipe attempt follow the dishes' respective pictures.

Indian Chinese Fried Rice

I adapted this recipe from a few different sources on the internet.  I tried to focus on the ingredients I had at home though, and to try to really enhance the flavors through using more different types, and greater quantities of, flavor-enhancers than the internet recipes included.  The smells that emanated from the pan after adding all of the aromatics together was quite enticing, and I think the ultimate problem may have been using too much rice in the dish, which of course diluted the flavors.  It is interesting to note though that I generally used far less rice than the recipes I found on the internet, so I really wonder how so many Indian blogs can recommend what must really be incredibly bland recipes.  In any case, here is a quick summary of what I did:

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsps. vegetable oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsps. minced fresh ginger
• 1/4  onion, chopped or approx. 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 red pepper, coarsely chopped
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 cup shredded cabbage
• 1 - 2 tbsps. soy sauce
• Approx. 3 cups cooked rice
• Chopped scallions for garnish (optional)

Directions:

• Heat vegetable oil in a large pan, and add garlic and ginger, sauteeing on medium-high heat for 2 - 3 minutes
• Add onion, and saute until onion is translucent
• Add red pepper and carrot, and saute vegetables, covered, for 5 minutes or until softened
• Add cabbage and cook an additional 3 minutes or until cabbage is cooked until taste (I prefer my cabbage to have a bit of crunch)
• Finally, stir in the cooked rice and soy sauce and mix ingredients well until combined and hot.

Leek Pappu

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup moong dal
• 1/4 tsp. turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 2 dried red chilis, broken in half
• 1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped
• 1 medium leek, white and light green parts thinly sliced
• vegetable oil
• water
• salt

Directions:

• Combine dal and 1.5 cups water in a medium pot, and bring to a boil on medium-high heat.  
• When boiling, reduce heat to a simmer, add turmeric to pot, stir and cover.  Cook approximately 20 minutes or until dal is tender, adding more water as necessary.  
• In a seperate small fry pan, heat a small amount of vegetable oil on medium heat.  Add mustard seeds, and when they start to pop, add other spices, and cook until garlic is fragrant.
• Add the leeks, and continue to cook on medium heat until the leeks are tender - add water if necessary to ensure leeks do not stick to pan.
• Once leeks are cooked to your taste, add the leek and spice mixture to the dal, stirring well.  Salt to taste and serve.

Scallion Pancakes at Home -- Couldn't Be Easier!

Among my favorite menu items at Chinese restaurants are scallion pancakes.  I really love the simple flavors of the pancakes, and particularly when I am at a restaurant where the vegetarian options are slim, I can definitely make a full meal out of this one dish.  I have never made them at home before, and following a recent farmers market, I found that I had a glut of scallions in the fridge (ok, glut may be a little much, but it seemed like a lot).  After I couldn't find suitable reciple ideas in my cookbooks and cooking magazines (yes, I have it a good faith effort), I decided to search the internet for recipe ideas and somehow realized that I should try to make scallion pancakes.  I did a new search, and came across several recipes.  The easiest, which also seemed to have the simplest set of ingredients, was Ming Tsai's recipe.  

I quartered the recipe to make just enough scallion pancakes for one (me!), but decided to use 1/2 the amount of scallions called for in the original recipe.  The pancakes were very easy to construct and cook, and I'll definitely be making them again.  The only downside of this recipe was that the pancakes were a little flavorless, so I may substitute multigrain pancake mix for the flour, which is what a former co-worker's mother had previously recommended.  I also used a simple dipping sauce of soy sauce and chili garlic sauce mixed together instead of the Tsai's ginger dipping sauce, and I may try to construct that sauce the next time around.

Mexicali Chopped Salad with Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette

I cannot stop eating this salad.  I have made the dressing three times in the past three weeks.  I have experimented with multiple ingredient mixes for this salad, and none to date has disappointed.  I even ordered a salad spinner last week because I know have renewed faith that I can make quick and filling delicious salads at home.  

So what is this salad you ask?  It's based on the Mexicali Chop salad from the July/August 2010 issue of the Vegetarian Times.  I altered the actual salad recipe to include the ingredients I most like when I get Mexican-inspired salads at restaurants, omitted the homemade crunchy tortilla strips, and modified the dressing recipe slightly to fit the ingredients I had at home.  The salad is really wonderful -- and given that I have made it with so many variations, it is really the salad dressing that brings this salad together and makes it continually interesting to eat.  The salad can be vegan or vegetarian, and both taste equally delicious -- lots of different vegetable textures and generally flavorful, but not too spicy.  My recipe modifications follow the picture of the first salad I prepared with this dressing.  

Mexicali Chop Salad -- My First, and Probably Best, Version

Mix the following ingredients together to make two servings of the salad:

• 2 hearts of romaine, chopped 
• 1 plum tomato, seeded and chopped
• 2/3 can of black beans, rinsed
• kernels from 1 ear of fresh corn, boiled or prepared to one's liking
• 1/2 cup red onion, chopped
• 1 ripe avocado, cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1/4 of shredded cheddar
• 1/2 cucumber, seeded and chopped
• crushed tortilla chips
• Salad Dressing to taste, with the juice of one lime (approx. 1/4 cup lime juice instead of 1/3 called for in the recipe).  I've found this dressing can last 4 - 6 individual servings.

This salad can really be customized how you like -- one can use the ingredients called for in the original recipe on VegetarianTimes.com, or really just pick what ingredients you most like in salads, like I did to prepare your "ideal" personal salad.  The dressing can be refridgerated for a week or slightly longer, though I guarantee it won't last long after you try it!