Tools of the Trade: Salad Spinner

I love my salad spinner! I finally wore out the first one, and this second generation Swiss model is even better. It has a cool pull-cord that the children clamor to use, and the salad can even be served from or stored in the bowl with its flat lid.

Spinning water off lettuce dries it well enough for the dressing to cling nicely.

Our new favorite salad goes like this (serves 8-10):
Cut 1 1/2 to 2 heads of romaine length-wise from stem to tip. Turn 90 degrees and cut again. Chop the lettuce cross-wise into a clean sink of cold water (see notes below). Swish and spin. Put in a bowl big enough for tossing.
Cut 3-4 large plum tomatoes (or whatever) in half, then dice. Put these into the salad spinner and "rough them up" with your hand to loosen the seeds and liquid. Spin these and add to the salad bowl.
Look how much liquid came out of those tomatoes! Add diced cucumber (up to 1 English) and croutons. Pour on your favorite dressing and toss. Serve right away. (By the way, the above salad was tossed in a larger bowl and transferred for serving.)

Notes:

• As I said, this is our new favorite. We can eat it up to 4 times a week and not get tired of it. We're at the stage of buying Costco-sized packages every couple of weeks: 6 heads of romaine (occasionally 12), 2 boxes (8 each) of tomatoes, 3-packs of English cucumbers, and 2 POUNDS of croutons (these last a month or more)!
• Our favorite dressing is actually Good Seasons Italian. I'm not going to look up the article right now, but when Cook's Illustrated (VERY picky) taste-tested commercial dressings, Good Seasons came out on top.
• If there's not time to clear and clean a sink, I will swish the lettuce in a big bowl of cold water. The bowl just gets rinsed and dried (not washed), so it's not really extra work.
• Do your best to make the right amount of salad. Once it is dressed, quality begins to decrease. I've eaten leftovers for breakfast, but it's not the best.
• I can make this mostly ahead, adding the croutons and dressing at the last minute.
• Another little grace note: pre-dressed salad can go right on the dinner plate. Until recently we had to set out bowls, and no one ate as much salad per meal as now.

Charoseth

This chopped apple salad is used at our Passover Seder to symbolize the mortar and bricks the Israelites were forced to make as slaves in Egypt. It is good year-round with any roasted meat or poultry. The amounts are flexible--mix, taste, and adjust. (The amount of honey depends on the sweet/tartness of the apples.) I don't think I would make this without my food processor.

Charoseth
1 cup raisins
1 2/3 cups walnuts
3# firm, crisp apples (about 6 medium)
1 Tbsp cinnamon
honey, to taste

1. Process raisins until they form a single mass. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
2. Process nuts until ground (medium texture). Add to the mixing bowl.
3. Quarter apples and cut out cores (do not peel). Grate with the french fry attachment or other grating disc. Add to the raisins and nuts.
4. Sprinkle with cinnamon and drizzle with honey. Mix with your hands (those raisins need help de-clumping). You'll now want an assistant to add more cinnamon or honey if needed.
5. Transfer to an attractive bowl and refrigerate, covered, until serving time. Leftovers will keep for a day or two in a tightly covered plastic container. The cinnamon disguises any browning of the apples.

Roasted Leg of Lamb

Okay, it doesn't look like much here, but this delicious lamb is part of our yearly Christianized Passover celebration. Although the recipe calls for a bone-in leg, I have the butcher remove it to make that long, festive meal just a little bit easier.

Roasted Leg of Lamb
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
5-6 pounds bone-in leg of lamb

1. Trim lamb of the thin membrane (fell) and ALL fat.
2. Blend remaining ingredients together in a small bowl.
3. Evenly coat surface of lamb. Loosely cover and return to refrigerator to marinate for 2 hours or overnight.
4. Place lamb on a rack in a roasting pan coated with cooking spray. Insert a meat thermometer, and place lamb in a preheated 450*F oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 325*F.
5. Roast until internal temperature reaches 160*F (for medium), about 20 minutes per pound. Transfer to a warm platter and loosely cover with foil. Allow to stand 15 minutes for easier carving.
6. Slice into thin slices and spoon pan juices over slices. Garnish with rosemary leaves or fresh herbs.

Notes:

• As I wrote, I usually have the butcher remove the bone for me. I try to get a leg that is 7-8# (with the bone).
• During trimming of a deboned leg, sometimes the muscles separate. The roast pictured above is held together with three lengths of string. Actually, I keep unwaxed dental floss in the kitchen for this task. Separated meat means more areas to cover with marinade, anyway.
• For this year's ~7.3# leg, I made a 1 1/2 batch of marinade. It was just the right amount, except I should not have increased the salt.
• I marinate the meat on the rack in the pan OR wrapped in heavy plastic wrap (for longer).
• I never end up with pan juices, so I line my roasting pan with heavy duty foil to ease cleanup.
• If you're roasting this for Seder, try to time it so the lamb is done a little before dinner (rather than when you intend to start your ceremony).
• This recipe is adapted from one in a Giant Food sales circular, ~2001.

Better Butter

This recipe is from my friend Anne. She thinks she got it from Mollie Katzen, but I haven't seen it the cookbooks of hers that I've read. CORRECTION (4/09): Anne remembers now that the recipe was from Laurel Robertson, of Laurel's Kitchen cookbook fame.

Butter is about 80% fat. The rest is water, salt, and some milk solids. "Better Butter" is spreadable, like margarine. It has the same 80% fat, but half of it is from canola oil, which is unsaturated and cholesterol free. So this natural spread doesn't have added trans fats either.

A few of my children don't like "Better Butter" plain on bread (they'd rather eat margarine!), but even they have no problem when I use it for grilled sandwiches, cooking, or topping vegetables. This is a VERY SOFT spread (no trans, remember?), so it stays in the fridge until the last minute; it can get soupy if left out for more than 15 minutes.

Better Butter

1 pound butter, softened

2 cups canola oil

1/4 cup dry milk powder

1/4 cup (scant) water

1 tsp salt

1 tsp liquid lecithin (from a health food store)

Mix in food processor until creamy and thoroughly mixed. Pour into container(s) and refrigerate. It liquefies at room temperature, but resolidifies in the fridge. Yield: about 6 cups

Notes:

• I could not find liquid lecithin, so ended up with granules. I combine the lecithin, salt, water, and milk powder in a little dish and let it sit (usually in the fridge) while the butter is softening. Stir to make sure lecithin and salt are dissolved before adding to the food processor.
• I find it easiest to put the butter in the food processor to soften--one less dish to clean!
• I use salted butter. The additional salt in the recipe, along with the water and milk powder, is there to mimic the composition of butter.
• I used to pour the BB into one or two plastic containers, but it's a lot to keep together. At WalMart I found a set of three Anchor Hocking glass containers (2 cups each) with plastic lids that hold one batch perfectly, and now there's no need to label, either. Everyone knows these hold the BB. A small touch, but it makes life nicer here. :-)
• This might sound like a lot of project just to make spreadable butter, but there is hardly any active time involved. And as far as hunting for the lecithin (it's an emulsifier, keeping the oil and water blended together), we're still using the first little container Len got more than a year ago.
  

Best-Ever Hot Chocolate

February is a great time to think about (and to drink) hot chocolate, and I've got a delicious version. It's better and easier than those recipes that call for cocoa powder with powdered milk or coffee creamer. Please don't even mention the bags of "hot cocoa mix"...

The house with the big trampoline might have more kid visitors most of the time, but we definitely draw the apres-sledding crowd.

Hot Chocolate
1 quart milk
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
vanilla, to taste

Heat milk almost to a boil. Add chocolate. Pause. Whisk until chocolate is melted, then add vanilla to taste. Enjoy; we like ours topped with whipped cream or mini marshmallows.

Notes:

• I just splash the vanilla in. I'd guess 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons for this batch.
• To make an individual serving, use 1 cup milk, 3 Tbsp chocolate, and a smaller splash of vanilla.
• We usually use skim milk, but the creamier milks are more luxurious.
• Speaking of luxury, for a more sophisticated drink (dessert?) use whole milk, or milk with part cream, and add bittersweet chocolate. If you don't have bittersweet, make some by substituting unsweetened baking chocolate (chopped or shaved) for part of the chocolate chips (1:3 ratio).
• I usually heat the milk (4-6 cups) in an 8 cup glass pyrex measuring cup in the microwave. After whisking the chocolate and vanilla, it's easy to pour into mugs. For larger batches I use the stovetop and serve with a ladle.

Comments

Oops! My other blog is set up to email me when someone comments on a post. I thought this blog was also set up to email, so I never looked back at old posts. Anne let me know that I've missed several of her comments, and I see some others that I've passed by.

So I am sorry to have missed your thoughts. You've not been neglected on purpose!

I haven't posted in a while, but I have a lot of ideas... and recipes... I'm planning on some new features, too--tools of the trade and favorite ingredients are some categories I want to explore.

I know we all have crazy busy lives, but this one seems crazier lately. And one of my Lenten disciplines is a 10:00 p.m. bedtime, which doesn't leave much room for posting. As you can see, I'm already late tonight!

Crisp Topping

This is a versatile topping for fruit crisp. For apple crisp, we put a standard apple pie filling (like Betty Crocker's recipe for a 9" or 10" pie) into a 9" glass square pan, then sprinkle this on top. I've adapted the recipe from one in Some Like it South! by the Junior League of Pensacola, Florida.

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup flour

Combine and crumble over fruit. Bake at 350 degrees until fruit is tender and topping is brown; check at about 35 minutes.

Notes:

• Even if you love crisp topping, do NOT increase the amounts! I've already done it! I gave this recipe to my sister years ago, and she automatically increased everything, forgetting that great minds think alike. She wondered why the fruit/topping ratio was so low. ;-)
• This is a good give-away dessert. When I'm taking a meal to a family, I avoid giving them dishes that need returning. I put the pie filling in a plastic freezer bag, and the topping in another bag, along with instructions. The family can dump them into the pan and enjoy the smell of a warm dessert, too.