The Best Aquafaba Cookbook!

Aquafaba is one of the hottest and trendiest ingredients in the food world today. This miracle ingredient  is nothing more than bean water, coming from the humble bean. Yet it can create anything from elegant French macarons to homey scrambled eggs.

This magical elixir is the subject of vegan food blogger. Rebecca Coleman's new all vegan cookbook Aquafabulous (Robert Rose Publishers 2017). This cookbook is completely devoted to aquafaba, or bean water that comes not only chickpeas but also from navy beans and cannellini beans, The  recipe book is perfect for hard core , serious vegans, who have eschewed all meat, eggs and dairy products.What is great about the book is that it has recipes covering everything from breakfast to dessert. Mostly aquafaba is used for meringues and macarons, but there are all sorts of easy to create dishes and treats.A plus of the book is that Ms Coleman answers the many questions about the liquid. She  assures home chefs that their sweet desserts won't have an overpowering bean flavor.There is also an explanation of the different beans used in making a light or dark meringue along with the surprise of using tofu water to also create aquafaba.She also has a list of the important ingredients that are musts in any vegan pantry.There's also three different recipes for making homemade aquafaba, using  stovetop, slow cooker and pressure cooker methods.The last two methods do require an extra step of boiling, but this is minor.

I absolutely love this cookbook!! I had no idea that bean water could be so versatile. I have been wanting to make homemade macarons with it  - and the book has the recipe - but thought it was only used for this. How wrong! It can be used to make a sub in for real scrambled eggs in such tasty recipes as Breakfast Burritos and a potato -kale frittata. It makes waffles airy and light and pancakes puffy. Aquafaba is also a main ingredient in homemade pasta, creating a feather light dough along with being in a healthy baked mac and cheese.Of course there are meringue and macaron recipes. Ms. Coleman has an excellent one for French macarons filled with a chocolate ganache that I would love to try. There is the other famed meringue recipe, Pavlova that is a combination of heavenly meringue covered in macerated berries. Vegan bakers will love making the lemon meringue pie, sans the usual egg whites. Chickpeas themselves shine in some of the savory recipes too. Anybody, even fervent meat lovers would gobble up chickpea curry, chock full of sweet potatoes, chickpeas and green peas.There is a vegan chicken salad made with mashed chickpeas that's on my radar. It will be perfect for picnics . A meatless loaf with miso gravy is another must make, perfect as a the main course at any holiday dinner. An aquafaba  based ice cream will be the perfect ending to these dishes,.

Aquafabulous is the definitive cookbook for this amazing ingredient. Buy it and create not just out of this world macarons and meringues but a wide variety of tasty and healthy savory dishes.It's amazing what this humble and simple ingredient can create.

May Gifts From Mom to The Bride To Be

It's May  and we all know what that means - gift seaso for moms and future brides. Between Mother's Day and the start of bridal shower season,, everyone from kids to coworkers have to think of an interesting and memorable gifts. The best bet? Kitchenware. It's not only practical, but fun.

What to get those mothers and brides who like to cook? There's a plethora of items that would excite any cook.Cookbooks are always a good start , especially for those home chefs who love to experiment with different cuisine.You can also buy accompanying accoutrements and create a theme. Have a tangine pot along with basmati rice and spices to go along with a Morroccan themed cookbook. Think a pasta maker paired with an Italian cookbook  or a crepe pan to go with a book on French cooking.Another great idea for the modern home chef is a tablet stand . After all many home chefs and bakers now get their recipes from the web. Unfortunately, many of the tablets don't have stands and hotly have to lay flat on a usually messy table. This is where they get doused with flour or splashed with water or gravy. Keep them from this with a lucite stand that elevates them and also makes the tablet easier to read. Target has them for as low as thirty dollars and can be bought in either black or white , either one going with any kitchen decor.It even has a stylus pen so no greasy or floury fingerprints . For five dollars more there 's the stand that comes on top of a paper towel holder.This actually holds the tablet at eye level - so no bending down anymore to read it.

There are also some great no-tech gift ideas too. Nothing beats a lovely set of all cotton dish towels.I recently received a pair of them from my very best friend of almost forty years.

As you can see they are not just pretty,a throw back to a simpler time in cooking and in kitchens.It's also practical, being made with a very sturdy , moisture absorbent cotton. The top ecru ones are crocheted and would even make lovely place mats.These are easy to make for  those who know how to knit and crochet.. My towels came with this

A really elegant bottle of dishwashing soap. It's an aromatic blend of lavender and rosemary that not only leaves dishes clean has my smelly kitchen sink with a fresh , garden scent.

May brings flowers but it also brings Mother's Day and the start of the bridal shower season. Pick gifts that are not only pretty but practical. Thye'll be appreciated for years to come.

Baby Foods

Notice something about your foods? Like they're getting smaller?That's because they are. As palates are expanding, dishes are shrinking.Portions are getting tinier and tinier.

The trend may have started with White Castle , the favorite East Coast hamburger chain.They introduced mini hamburgers called sliders.These were small sandwiches that were quarter of  the size of a regular hamburger. The chain sold bags of a dozen by the dozen. They were great for kids because they fit in small hands and weren't overwhelming to eat. It took restaurants and diners a long time to catch on.It's been only the last twenty years that most eateries are now offering them. Now they come in all different styles from pulled pork to chicken to even crab cakes. Sliders are easy to make at home. Just use freshly ground meat such as ground chuck to make a smaller, meatball sized burger. As for the rolls ,King's Hawaiian Rolls are the perfect size for creating these mini marvels. As with regular hamburgers , served with a slice of cheese, bacon, lettuce and tomatoes. The rolls can also be used for making grilled cheese sliders along with mini versions of Sloppy Joes. You could even do a breakfast one with eggs, cheese, and bacon. To get a compact eggs, cook them in them in egg poaching rings for the perfect miniature.

Other dishes are getting smaller. Many restaurants are serving timbales of rice and polenta with a smattering of stew or gravy. Again home chefs can make these at home using timbale molds and cooking the grains into small shapes. They are a perfect way of introducing the kids to more sophisticated tastes without them wasting food. Try polenta timbales in a puddle of chicken cacciatore or pork with mushroom gravy.. Rice timbales can be the perfect base for salmon or sole in lemon butter sauce. Timbales can also be delicately fried baskets of dough, filled with quiche or the onion custard used in the Swabian dish zweibelkugen, onion pie.They can also be filled with spinach and mushrooms for a spin on a classic Julia Child recipe, spinach tart. These make great hors d'ouevre's but an even better main brunch dish, especially with a side of fruit. Fruit itself can be turned into miniature delicacies, thanks to melon ballers and sharp knives. A lemon or orange filled with fruit salad is a fun way to start or end a meal.Apples can be hollowed out too and filled with a mix of minced apple, caramel and crushed walnuts for a tiny but tasty end to a meal.

Baby sized versions of favorite dishes are always a fun and novel way to eat. Try  a plate or  sliders
or an lemon bursting with fruit salad. You'll then realize good things really do come in small packages!!

Leeks On Toast - Pure Heaven

Leeks are flavorful and fragrant. They're a cousin of garlic, hence their strong taste and aroma which adds to any dish. Imagine cooked ones on toast, dripping with butter and Parmesan cheese. This is one of my family's favorite recipes, coming from my great aunt's in-laws from Biella, Italy. Leeks on toast have been one of my all time favorite ones, one I could eat it every few days if I could.

Leeks are an easy cook. They are expensive though , being almost nine dollars for just a bunch of three.They have to be thoroughly rinsed in cold water  to get the sand out(they grow best in sandy soil - for those who want to add them to their vegetable garden). Wash for two to three minutes. They then need to be cut into half inch pieces and then cooked in salted water for about twelve to fifteen minutes. They'll look like this

They're kind of soupy looking but there's a reason for it. but let's get to the recipe first. There will be a portion drained and reserved for the toast. This is about a cup of drained leeks,. Drain the excess water back into the pot. 

As the leeks are cooking, toast eight slices of white bread. Any good sandwich  bread such as Pepperidge Farm will do the trick. Once toasted, place the slices on an ungreased cookie sheet. Evenly spoon cooked leeks over the slices, followed by a liberal sprinkling of Parmesan cheese and a fat knob of butter. Bake for ten  minutes in preheated 325 degree oven Farenheit. 

This is the finished product

They are bites of pure pleasure with the almost garlicky greenness of the leeks married to the melted butter and baked Parmesan. It's seriously the most perfect taste!

As for those leftover leeks and water,wait until they're cooled, then drain. Keep the leeks for leeks on toast or soups. Keep the leek water for soup. It's more flavorful than vegetable stock and would be a great addition to potato soup or even making an onion soup with it. Some home chefs add potato peels to it for more flavor and depth - that's up to you.

Leeks are the most wonderful veggie on earth. They're fragrant and flavor. Use them for vichyssoise or better yet, spoon them on toast and bake them with butter and Parmesan cheese for a truly yum moment!

It's Asparagus Season!!!

\One of the best things about late April and Spring is that it's peak season for one of nature's most delicious veggies - asparagus. This flavorful spear is excellent grilled or par boiled, served in soup and salad. It's also a wonderful canvas to work with, using lush ingredients to create a special dish.

David Tanis wrote about it inhis column  City Kitchen yesterday's New York Times Food section. This is asparagus season and there are many different types. He reminisces about eating the wild variety which grew along an irrigation ditch on a California ranch. It has the same look, taste and texture as the cultivated kind, It's more feral,  and not really wild, being indigenous to Europe.There's also white asparagus, big in Germany at this time of year.What's coming into the farmer's market this year is not coming from there but from Peru. They are tasty but take a bit longer to cook. For many home chefs in North America, the quick cooking green variety is the most preferred.It does come in different sizes., from pencil thin to jumbo fat with a nice medium in between. Any size should have smooth, shiny skin and tightly closed tips. Asparagus is versatile and can be served raw, charred or the preferable parboiling. The best way is simmering the stalks in salted water, drained at the right moment and served warm.

There are some good recipes included. Mr. Tanis gives us shaved asparagus salad with ginger and sesame. This may take some getting used to  since it's using the raw spears.It's pealing each one with a vegetable peeler and then cutting the asparagus into very thin - but  not paper thin - slices.Think the width of a thinly sliced onion.. They're then placed in a salad bowl and seasoned with salt and pepper.The dressing is a fiery mix of jalapeno, rice vinegar , ginger and garlic. Brown sugar is the surprising sweet factor. He also gives us the exotic dish of charred asparagus with green garlic chimmichurri sauce. It's first making the sauce which consists of chopped  parsley and chopped green garlic.Oregano and olive oil are also added. You do need the pencil thin asparagus that will be cooked on a grill or in a very hot cast-iron pan.It needs to be lightly oiled and salted first.It should not only be charred but burnt and blistered first. After cooking the sauce is poured on top of it.It's then topped with crumbled feta.The last recipe is steamed asparagus with pistachios and browned butter. It's just steaming the spears and then making a brown butter sauce that has the added zing of lemon juice. The asparagus is quickly bathed in it and then pistachio nuts are sprinkled onto the buttery spears.

Take advantage of the abundance of asparagus right now. Try it in a variety of different ways , from raw, to charred  to just simmered and served with a butter sauce. All are delicious.

Salt Tricks

Salt is one of  the most important seasonings. Without it, our foods, both savory and sweet would be blah creations.Yet many home chefs don't really know how to use it or how to vary with different types. There's so many uses and different ways to salt food - and not necessarily with a sprinkle of NaCL.

Samin Nosrat, now a regular contributor to the Wednesday's New York Times Food section wrote about it today,Many home chefs are afraid of salt, fearing it for health, but sometimes fear adding too much can ruin a dish.Yet it is needed as the great chef James beard, once asked "Where would we be without salt?" To be honest , stuck with bland , unexciting food. Salt's relationship with food is multidimensional. It has its own particular taste  while balancing and enhancing the flavors of other foods.That's why it's even needed in baking because it enhances the cake's main flavor and sweetness.Does this mean throwing all cares to the wind and increase our salt intake? No, according to Ms. Nosrat, it means we have to learn how to use salt better. Add it in the right amount at the right time in the right form.Also just don't add a pinch at the beginning of cooking a dish and then forget about it. A dish must be tasted throughout its' cooking. The mantra is taste and adjust. Just use small pinches instead of handfuls as to not have too salty a dish.

Many home chefs use different types of salt but don't really know what they are. Common table salt is small and dense , making it very salty. Thanks to the added iodine, it has a slightly metallic taste. It also contains anticaking agents to prevents clumps from forming or dextrose a form of sugar to stabilize the iodine. A better choice is kosher salt and the best brands are Morton's and Diamond Crystal,  the same companies that make table salt. These are perfect for sprinkling over foods. The crystals are actually hollow and crumble easily. Sea salt is the trendiest and it's what's left behind when sea water evaporates.Sometimes classified as solar sea salt, there are the unrefined and more expensive ones such as Maldon, fleur de sel and sel gris, These come in flakes and should be used as more as decoration for lettuces or, caramels or even atop cupcakes. Don't toss a handful of this into the pasta water. Use everyday salt for that. As for salting, it's all about the wrist wag.Ms.. Nosrat suggest grabbing the salt in an upturned palm, then letting it shower down with a flowing wag of the wrist.

Cooking and baking need salt to be tasty and layered. Pick out the salt needed . USe it wisely and accordingly so that dishes will pop with flavor.

A Proper Washing Up

One of the lost kitchen arts is properly washing up after a meal. nhome chefs have no clue about how to hand wash china or stemware. Everyone, home chef or not, should have some knowledge of it. It will come in handy , especially if the dishwasher goes on the fritz or they move out of their mom's house,

One of the first things to consider is what dish detergent to use. Dawn is one of the best.A little goes a long way so one bottle can last to two months, even if you wash dishes three times a day. Not only, that it's gentle , with a line that features skin softening ingredients along with ones that features blends of scents that act like aroma therapy when you wash dishes. They also have a free and clean line that has no perfumes or dyes.Another good one is Seventh Generation that is all natural, Stop & Shop also has a good dishwashing soap too, that is gentle yet strong.The next step is donning rubber gloves to protect hands and nails. This is good if you've just had a manicure and don't want to ruin it. The gloves can be bulky though, and they can cause dishes and glasses to slip and break.Now the icky part - cleaning off those orts of food. Use a fork and just scrape everything into the garbage or directly into the backyard compost heap.. This prevents clogging which can lead to an expensive visit from the plumber later on. Fill the sink with hot water.It has to be very hot yet tolerable. Hot water not only sanitizes germs, but also helps in degreasing pots and pans.

Now you're all set to load the sink. Put the bigger items in first so they can soak. These are the plates, mugs and items such as pots and pans that are caked with food. Start with the silverware. It's the germiest snce it's goes in people's mouths. Plunge one piece at a time into the water while vigorously scrubbing it. Study it before putting it in the drying rack.If there's still food on it, rescrub. Use your fingers or steel wool to get it off. Wash other items such as cups and glasses that also come into contact with mouths.Regularly change the water because it will get dirty fast. Now it's time for the pots and pans., Add a little more soap and water to pans that still have burnt food stuck onto them and allow them to soak.Afterwards dry utensils, dishes, pots and pans with a clean dry  terry cloth dish towel. Some people prefer microfiber towels. They do wick away moisture very quickly and wash and dry faster than regular dish towels. The feel though, is funny.I prefer terry cloth because it 's gentle on plates and glasses surfaces and they wash and dry just as nicely as the microfiber. You can also let dinnerware air dry too. Remember to rinse out your sponge too, as well as cleaning the sink to rid of it of any food bits and soap. If the sink is dirty, bleach it ..It could easily get stained from red wine, coffee and tea being dumped in it before hand,

Properly washing dishes and utensils may be a lost kitchen art but it's a vital one. It pays to know how to clean dirty plates and glasses.Use time honored methods for sparkling results.