DIY Almond Milk

I never realized it was this easy to make almond milk (or any kind of nut milk).   Although I've never really been interested in it before (the only non-dairy  milk I've ever gotten into was soymilk),  my plan to embark on this "detox cleanse" made it inevitable that I consider it.   I've been reading "Clean" by Alejandro Junger lately, and I saw his recipe for a basic nut milk.  Out of the blue, today, I decided to try it out.  Total preparation time was less than 10 minutes (excluding the 3 hour soaking) and I got really really excited about it.  Once again, endless possibilities! This made me look forward to detoxing more :)

The recipe:

Basic Nut Milk


1 cup of nuts, soaked for 3 hours in purified water  (I used leftover slivered almonds)
1 teaspoon vanilla powder or extract  ( I ran out, so I used equal amount of maple syrup)
1 to 2 teaspoons agave syrup or brown rice syrup
3 cups purified water


Drain nuts, discarding water.  Place in blender with vanilla powder/extract, sweeter and 3 cups purified water. Blend for about 3 minutes.  Strain through fine strainer or cheesecloth.  Store in refrigerator, Lasts for 2 days.


(Source: "Clean" by Alejandro Junger, M.D.)

I took a photo of my attempt at almond milk below.  Amazingly easy.:)

Shallots vs. Onions

I've always thought that shallots were just tiny onions---different, but interchangeable.  I never really looked into it;  whenever a recipe called for shallots and I don't have them (thing is, I usually don't have them), I just directly substitute onions.  For some reason though, today, I got curious.  Making this thai red curry, I decided to research the proper substitute for shallots.  I was surprised to find out that garlic was involved.  Apparently, the combination of 2 parts onions and 1 part garlic would mimic the taste of shallots.  I did not know that, and frankly, I was glad to learn that today.  :)

Dreaming of Tuscany : How to Make Tuscan Bread

Tuscany in December is unusual but still beautiful.  The days are shorter and it can get wet and chilly most days, but as with anything, you learn to cope, and discover a host of other things to enjoy.  In our case,  it's ribollita, a hearty Tuscan winter soup made with beans and good old Tuscan bread.

In this post, I will talk about my first attempt at making Tuscan bread, just because this cold, winter day in New York, bread seemed like a good idea, and seemed like a comfort to make.

I don't particularly like bread (I'm a rice person) but bread-making, I find therapeutic.  Something about creating something that looks nothing like the ingredients that you started with, inspires my motivation to create.  I found a recipe on Tuscan bread here, and basically followed that recipe except I substituted whole wheat flour for most of the flour requirements.  I read in a post that whole wheat flour will not yield the same results as regular flour, but in my case, I thought it worked out pretty well.

The thing I was most excited about in this recipe, is making the biga.   I know that in bread making, letting the yeast mixture stand is pretty standard, but I've never heard of letting it stand this long (close to 24 hours).  Apparently it is pretty standard in Italian bread making, and it makes your finished product deeper and more complex in flavor--something that I really wanted to do in recreating our Tuscan bread experience.

The first time I made the biga, it didn't rise at all.  I attribute that to the inaccurate measurement of the flour amounts in the mixture.   Without a kitchen scale, it is pretty tough to measure out flour in grams; according to my research there's no exact equivalent in cups.  It largely depends on a lot of environmental factors such as moisture content of your particular bag of flour,  so it took me a while to be at peace with the amounts that I put in.

My second attempt at the biga, I saw the difference.  The yeast mixture, after a couple of hours, really does come alive.  I put it in a plastic container with a lid, and a few hours in, it broke free of the container and was almost alive, crawling on the countertop of my kitchen in all its sticky goodness.    I went to bed that night hoping I won't wake up to a dough-covered apartment.

I made the bread about 18 hours after I let the biga stand, overnight.  It turned out to be almost exactly like the Tuscan bread we had in our vacation.  Drizzled with some good quality Italian olive oil (which we had just bought at the Italian store in Chelsea market), it was pure heaven.  :)

Chicken Breasts with Balsamic Vinegar and Capers

I knew I was going to have chicken for lunch today, but I had no idea what kind yet, until I remembered a friend told me that chicken marinated in balsamic vinegar was delicious.   I had no idea what her recipe was, and she's on the other side of the world, so I decided maybe it's time for me to experiment in the kitchen. 

Here's what I came up with, and surprisingly, it turned out really good.  Simple but immensely satisfying. :)

I cooked for one, so just adjust accordingly.  I feel this is one of those recipes that don't really need strict amounts or strict measurements. 

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast fillet

Olive oil

1/8 - 1/4  cup balsamic vinegar

one garlic clove, crushed.

2 sprigs fresh thyme

pinch of sugar

salt and pepper

capers

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and grease an ovenproof baking dish with a little olive oil.  

Season  chicken with salt and pepper, and rub olive oil all over it to tenderize.  Combine balsamic vinegar, crushed garlic clove, thyme and sugar.  Pour all over chicken and let sit for at least 10 minutes.  

Transfer chicken to baking dish and add the capers on top (amount depending on your taste).  Bake for about 15 minutes or until juices run clear.  Serve immediately.

I was surprised this turned out delicious.  I drizzled the pan juices over the chicken, and had it with some brown rice.  The sweet, salty  and tart flavors just all surprisingly come together.  Not bad for a kitchen experiment, although, to be honest, even if it didn't turn out to be quite as good, I probably would have eaten it anyway. :)

First Attempt at Meringue

There are literally two ingredients to this one : sugar and egg whites.   Nothing can be more simple than that, right?   But as with life, sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to perfect.   

The key to making perfect meringues, I've learned, is perfectly whisked egg whites.   Especially if you're whisking them by hand like I did,  you have to know the exact moment when you're supposed to stop.   According to the recipe I followed, a good rule to go by is to stop when the eggs don't fall when you turn the bowl over.   I've managed to get to this point, after whisking for about 20 minutes (great arm workout).            And then you whisk the sugar in, slowly, to achieve this silky smooth consistency.   The recipe called for caster suger, but wanting to make it more healthier, I used my favorite raw turbinado sugar, which I ground up in a blender for it to combine easily with the egg whites.  

Spooning the silky smooth mixture over the baking tray was tricky; I seriously did not know how to make them look pretty.  I just spooned them over individually, hoping they'd expand into something pretty and appetizing when they come out of the oven but as you can see in the photo,  I didn't really do a very good job.  After two hours of slow baking, they come out of the oven looking exactly how they did when they went in, just a little fluffier.  Makes me wonder, how did they do those pretty little meringue twirls in the bakeshops, like little miniature ice cream cones?  I must experiment with that next time.  

My brown sugar meringues turned out delicious, but not perfect.  I want to make them look better next time--much like how my grandmother's meringues used to be.   A quick google search on meringues tells me to invest in better ingredients, and to pay attention to the temperature of the egg whites before whisking as it apparently affects the texture and ability to whisk of the egg whites (as is the age of the eggs, etc).   That's very very interesting to me.  See what I mean about simple things being hard to perfect. :)