the SIMMER blog

tuna beet tartare

If you're looking for something elegant to serve to guests, sometimes the answer is counterintuitive: don't cook. Cut.

 
You see steak tartare in a lot of restaurants, and it's definitely possible to make at home, but tuna tartare is a little less daunting, and when I found this tuna-beet tartare recipe in Michel Richard's Happy In the Kitchen, I knew it'd be perfect for two things: a) blogging about, and b) serving.

So really all you do for this tartare is cut cubes of beet, tuna, and jicama, and then toss them in a dressing of soy sauce, lemon juice, and olive oil. That's it. Oh, you do roast the beets first. And add some chives at the end. Chefs do love their chives.

 
There aren't a lot of tricks to this recipe, other than taking your time, but three helpful tips:

the kitchen daughter tour info

One of the questions I'm getting most often at this point in the book lifecycle is "When and where are you going on tour? Do you know yet?"

Answer: well, I kind of do and kind of don't!

What I don't know 100%: where my book and I are going to be showing up in person, at bookstores and libraries and conferences, for talks and signings. Plans are still coming together on the personal appearances, and I'm looking forward to announcing things as they happen.

What I do know: I have several in-person appearances scheduled so far, every one of which I am SO excited about! You can find the up-to-date listing of where I'll be and when (NYC! DC! Iowa!) on this page at jaelmchenry.com: News and Events. 

The other thing I know: My book and I are going to be making 20+ appearances online in April and May, and many of these appearances will be part of a book blog tour arranged by the lovely Lisa at TLC Book Tours. You can find out more about the tour, including what blogs I'll be visiting on which days, at the tour announcement page here.

So don't worry -- I am going to be all over the place, and I am going to tell you all about it.

(If you want another way of keeping up on TKD news, you should also check out the Kitchen Daughter Facebook page -- lots of updates there as they happen.)

blessed are the cheesemakers

Buckle up, friends! This is a do-it-yourselfer the likes of which we haven't seen around these parts since that whole duck prosciutto episode.

Since two of my favorite things in the world are a) making things from scratch that are readily available for sale elsewhere and b) cheese, you may be surprised it has taken me this long to make cheese in my own kitchen. But honestly, for most cheeses, it's kind of a crazy undertaking. You have to buy rennet or curds, there's often aging involved, and it certainly isn't a cost savings. But when I went to the Astor Center class on pizza-making a few months back, I happened to get a little hands-on cheesemaking experience as well.

We made mozzarella and ricotta in class. For the mozz, you buy the curds from Murray's, but all you need to make ricotta is milk and acid (like lemon juice, or vinegar). And then imagine my joy when I found this on Serious Eats: directions for doing it in the microwave. Yes, part of the joy of doing it yourself is tackling the process, but if the shortcut produces results that are just as good, I'm all for it.

So. Whole milk. Salt. Into the Pyrex. I made one batch with vinegar, but it's slightly more photogenic to make it with lemon. (More on the lemon thing in a sec.) Like so: 

 

Pop the liquid into the microwave and rig up a strainer with a few extra layers of paper towels:

 

As you heat it, the acid pulls the milk solids into curds -- tiny, tiny ones -- and things start to separate. (Yours won't have the black specks; I used truffle salt just for fun, but the flavor didn't really come through, so salt-salt is a better call.)

in good company on SheKnows!

Here's some of that good news I made reference to yesterday -- thrilled to be included in author Melissa Senate's "5 Debut Books to Watch" on SheKnows! As many of you know, it is SO hard for debut authors to get noticed these days, so I am super-thrilled to have The Kitchen Daughter singled out in this way.

Here's the list, with four more names you'll be hearing more and more over the coming months: Eleanor Brown, Sara J. Henry, Rebecca Rasmussen, and Sarah Jio.

(And if you aren't sure where you've heard Melissa Senate's name before, the title of her latest book may sound familiar: The Love Goddess' Cooking School. Delicious!) 

comfort food

Sorry it's been quiet around here this week. Lots of awesome and exciting Kitchen Daughter news, but not quite ready to share, and more importantly -- I've been down with a bad stomach flu, and unable to keep food down for a couple of days. And believe me, there's nothing odder for me than looking at food and thinking, "No, I don't want any of that."

But I'm back in the swing of things now. And easing back into my culinary escapades with my favorite comfort food, polenta with butter and cheese.

Lots of cheese.

Give it a good stir, and dig in. 
 

(Believe me, I've been known to eat this plenty of times when I'm perfectly well, too.)

wordless wednesday lvii

 
 

randy susan meyers interview at writer unboxed

If you haven't yet picked up the international bestseller The Murderer's Daughters, now's your chance: it's out in paperback. What's more, it was just named a Target Club Pick, so you can also nab it at your local Target while you're out picking up moisturizer and Twizzlers.

Why else should you pick up The Murderer's Daughters? One more reason: it's an amazing book.

I was lucky enough to interview author Randy Susan Meyers about her book, her writing process, and other authorly topics. The interview runs today over at Writer Unboxed. Click here to read.

the bad kind of bullseye

No recipe today, and not exactly a tip either, but a definition of a term. Have you heard of a meat "bullseye"? It looks like this:

 

And you don't want it. If you cook a large piece of meat, like a beef or pork tenderloin, straight from the fridge, the outside will get charred dark brown just fine pretty quickly, but that heat won't be able to work its way to the center of the meat. The inside will stay raw for so very long. If you like your meat rare (as I do), it might seem like a good thing at first, but that spot in the center isn't rare. It's raw. And maybe even still cold. Not so tasty.

The fix is in the picture itself -- which, while not a super-optimal way to treat a nice piece of meat, will at least get your dinner on the table in 10 minutes instead of 40. If you find yourself pressed for time with a tenderloin that's all bullseye, cut it into inch-thick slices and cook those slices in a pan on the stovetop. Like so.

 

(This set of beef tenderloin slices worked out just fine in the end, and in a nice flavorful sauce too. The secret ingredient: Blue Chair Early Girl Tomato Marmalade.)

wordless wednesday lvi

 

cookiebar 2011: bring on the world peace

I should have known what was happening last week when I suddenly started to get hits on this year-old report on Dorie Greenspan's CookieBar pop-up.

They're baaa-ack.

Sandwiched neatly between Groundhog Day and Valentine's Day (just like last year), Dorie Greenspan and her son Josh are selling some of the city's greatest cookies out of -- yes -- a hair salon.

And those cookies are glorious.

 

Most of the same cookies are available again, with a few tweaks. This year they added Jammers, a shortbread-jam-crumble concoction that rejiggers pie proportions into a perfect little balanced cookie, tender and crumbly and buttery and just sweet enough. There's a pear-pineapple option or the one we tried, strawberry-raspberry.

 

And of course there are Chunkers. OF COURSE.

 

And the one so glorious it's right up there in the title: World Peace.

 

Get 'em while the gettin's good. Cash-only. Open through this Friday, February 11, in the Mizu hair salon, Park at 59th. Each day they start at 10 and go 'til the cookies are gone.

My guess is that's going to happen faster and faster every day.