It’s that time again – another Two Spoonfuls post!

This time we’re sautéing along with Alton in

Chapter 4 of I’m Just Here For The Food.

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Alton’s tips for a perfect sauté:

1. Prepare all foods: cut, chop, etc…

(Chopped carrots and zucchini.)

2. Add cooking oil after the pan is hot.

3. Add aromatics (onion, celery, ginger, etc..) and toss for 30 seconds.

(Minced fresh ginger.)

4. Add firm vegetables or meats and toss until half cooked.

(Carrots.)

Then add high moisture ingredients like tomatoes, etc..

(Zucchini, salt and pepper.)

5. Add final flavors: ie citrus juice or vinegar.

6. Toss with salt and pepper.

7. Top with grated cheese, nuts, bread crumbs, herbs, etc…

(Toasted sesame seeds.)

(Done and delicious!)

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Alton’s sauté recipes can be done with a handy non-stick pan, and I was very tempted to do just that.  The reason?  Lets just say that over the years I’ve made several attempts to try this technique using a real, authentic metal sauté pan.  It’s so disappointing to prep a beautiful piece of food and gently placed it into a pan, only to have half of it stick there and fall apart.  And lets not even talk about the amount of elbow grease it takes to scrub that pan clean after the food and pan have fused into one entity.

But this time I decided to be brave, dust off my metal sauté pan and give it a go.

And, following Alton’s steps…. look!

When I was finished, that sauté pan was clean as a whistle.

: )

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Here are some fun sauté recipes that you could try:

Alton Brown’s Glazed Carrots,

Emeril’s Quick Vegetable Sauté,

Alton’s Fungal Sauté (Yum!).

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Now, how ’bout we see what’s been

happening over in Ginny’s kitchen?

Jenn : )

It’s time again for this Two Spoonfuls girl to get herself into the kitchen!

Today we’re going to explore the technique of Searing,

with some guidance from our culinary mentor, Alton Brown.

What is searing?

Searing is a method of cooking during which heat (usually high) is applied to a food’s surface, creating a flavorful brown crust on the outside.

Myth:

Searing “seals in flavors” or “seals in juices”. According to Alton, searing is a means of creating a delicious brown crust, but is not a way to seal anything in.

Need proof?  Check this out:

The best searing surface:

Cast Iron. There are many surfaces (copper, stainless steel, etc..) that can be used for searing. I’m calling Cast Iron the best one because it can get very hot, it provides even heating, it stays hot, it’s economical (I bought my cast iron pan at a hardware store, nothing fancy), and it also provides small amounts of dietary iron to foods cooked on it. The only maintenance a cast iron pan needs is to be seasoned or “cured” once a year with solid vegetable shortening, to seal it against rust.

What you’ll need:

Good air flow (there may be a little smoke.)

Some kind of splatter guard (there’s going to be some sizzling going on here.)

A pair of tongs for flipping.

A spray bottle of oil, or some Pam.

Salt for seasoning.

A flat surfaced food item to be seared.

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In I’m Just Here For The Food, Alton gives half a dozen recipes using his searing method.

Which is:

1. Decrease the difference in temperature between the pan and your ingredient

by setting your food on the counter up to 30 minutes before searing.

2. Don’t be afraid to get the pan hot.

3. Season your food with salt while your pan heats.

4. Have your mise-en-place ready, because the searing will go quickly.

5. Cook the nicest side of the food first – it will brown the quickest and look the best when flipped.

6. When you put the food in the pan – leave it alone. Don’t move it around.

7. If you’re searing meat, let it rest for 5 minutes under foil once it’s out of the pan.

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Last night I made dinner using Alton’s Seared Portobello Mushrooms* and my own Cheesy Polenta.

(* I really don’t want to make Mr. Brown angry, so I’m not going to copy his recipe here. I will tell you that the only ingredients are portobello mushroom caps, olive oil, salt and pepper, and that by using the searing method above, you too can re-create this easy and tasty dish.)

Searing sliced portobello for a nice golden brown.

Seared Portobello mushrooms with onions, Cheesy Polenta and side salad.

This dinner is easy to make and fairly economical.

Two portobello mushrooms were about $3.

I doubled the mushrooms so that I could have leftovers for a second dinner tonight.

After the mushrooms were done searing, I added chopped onions to the pan, with a sprinkle of salt, and cooked them until golden. The next time I make this dish, I’ll add chopped chive or parsley at the end – just for a little extra color.

For the polenta, I used approx. $0.35 worth of cornmeal from the grocery bulk section.

Polenta is a filling, inexpensive food that pairs nicely with many other foods.

Here’s a copy of my Easy Cheesy Polenta for you to download!

Now, how about we make something for dessert?

I have a dear friend who’s expecting her first baby this spring.

So I asked my friend Ginny if she’d make something special for me to give as a gift.

Isn’t this bootie, bib and blanket set beautiful?

The tiny booties are adorable.

Jenn : )

This year, I’ve gotten it in my head to start preparing for the holidays early. I know that I’m going to be very busy as it gets closer to the end of the year, who knows what the economy will bring, and with many friends and family on the other side of the country – it wouldn’t hurt to start setting aside gifts now.

Last year, in keeping with the Buy Handmade pledge, we did alot of our shopping on Etsy and local small businesses. This year I’d like an even greater percentage of our gifts to be handmade – including some made by me!

Not too long ago I posted about this great canvas fabric that I purchased at The Quilting Loft.

The one on top is called “Sprig Canvas Green: 2007 Jessica Jones for J. Caroline Designs”.

The blue and green is called “Peapod Blue/Green Circles: 2007 Jessica Jones for J. Caroline Designs”.

Both of these fabrics had washing instructions on the bolt,

and the clerk recommended serging them before washing.

Here is what I did with them:

I cut them…

I stitched them…

I ironed them…

I pinned them…

And by the end of the day I had made four Market Tote bags!

Two will be Christmas gifts for my mom and two will be gifts for my grandparents.

They hold alot!

Two in this gorgeous green sprig pattern.

And two in this eye-catching peapod pattern.

The pattern I used was fantastic.

The bags were fun to make and not difficult at all.

These bags are reusable and washable, so my relatives will not only have a handmade gift from me, but they will be helping the environment by not using plastic or paper grocery bags.

By following the easy, step-by-step instructions, before I knew it – I had made French seams! That’s a technique that I’ve been hearing alot about but I had never tried before. Now I know how to create them and they are wonderful!

I got this great pattern from my friend Ginny and she has made it available to everyone through her iSew shop. I made the very basic bag, but her pattern also includes instructions for various pocket sizes and an additional exterior decorative band.

So, if you’ve been looking for a gift for that hard to buy for person – well, get ‘em going green with a gift of a reusable Market Tote. They’ll thank you, and so will the environment! : )

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Just one more quick note: I am getting ready to send out Issue #1 of my e-newsletter,so if you haven’t already, be sure to sign up!

Cheers!

Jenn : )

Earlier this week Josh and I went over to Evolution, where my business cards are being printed. We did a press check on the color for the back of the cards. I had to give the okay on the color, and I got to take one of the sheets home with me. The card stock is an oatmeal color that has tiny threads in it. This will be the back of the cards, soon we’ll do a check on the fronts.

Yay – I can’t wait to see them finished!

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If you saw my last post, I’ve been having some problems with uploading photos to my blog. For the last couple days I haven’t been able to upload them at all. Josh and I have gotten around this by using a program called Ecto. Ecto works with Flickr to not only make photo uploading easier, it also decreases the amount of time it takes to publish the entire blog post. Another problem I was having was that, on occasion I would upload my photos, type up all my text and get everything spaced and arranged the way I wanted it – only to discover that I wanted to include one more photo. If I then added any additional photos – all of the spacing in the blog post I was working on would be undone. Everything that I had typed would be mashed together in one big paragraph and I’d have to redo all the spacing. (Blog posting takes enough time as it is without that kind of hassle!) Ecto lets you create your entire blog post independently of Blogger. I can click and drag photos and play with the layout to my heart’s content and then publish. Adding photos doesn’t effect your text. Whew! I think this is going to work out much, much better!

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Since I couldn’t do any blog posting myself, I got to catch up on a bit of blog reading.

I was over at Mrs. Kwitty’s blog and saw that she’s been doing some spring cleaning, which inspired me to do some, too.

Mrs. Kwitty has been reorganizing her rick-rack collection (which is quite impressive, I must say!) and by coincidence, my own rick-rack has outgrown the glass jar I’ve been keeping it in.

Weeks (or maybe months?) ago I thrifted a long wooden box that was filled with projector slide boxes. Yesterday I decided that it would be perfect for keeping my rick-rack in. I lined the bottom with pretty paper and here it is:

Much better!

(Josh is using the slide boxes to keep Legos in.)

Thanks for the organization motivation, Mrs. Kwitty! : )

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Pooh what have you gotten yourself into?

Oh, this baby blanket is very warm and snuggly soft!

This lovely set is for friends of ours who have their first baby on the way.

When I saw this blanket, matching booties and bib in Ginny’s Etsy shop,

I had to scoop them up!

They are so pretty and well made! Right now Ginny has some very cute bibs in her shop.

I’m especially fond of this one !

Cheers!

Jenn : )

Jenn : )

Jenn : )

Jenn : )

It’s a little Monkey Key Chain from Ginny over at iSew!
She made it to match my Gadget Monkey, Daisy : )
(psst! Here’s where you can get a Gadget Monkey, too!)


And if the cuteness wasn’t enough…
I also got this lovely gift of coffee (if only you could smell it – ummm!)

This afternoon I’ll be baking cookies and then getting back to my mini quilts.

And tonight – the premiere episode of Hell’s Kitchen – loooove it!

: ) Jenn