Air Fryer Chips

 One of the best aspects of owning an air fryer is that you can make fried treats without all that oil and calories. One of the best is potato chips, the perfect snack or side. They're easy to do with very little prep time.

I had two Russet potatoes that were just begging to be cut up and made into something tasty.Why not chips that have the crunch of a regular potato chip but with the mealy thickness of a French fry. The idea came from a recipe from Taste of Home.I had them sliced into varying thicknesses just to experiment.

The two spuds yielded two bowls of chips as you can see. It was then soaking them in a cold water bath for fifteen minutes.

Then draining them and then another cold water fifteen minute soak. Doing such removes the starch , ensuring for a crisper chip.

Afterwards they were patted down with a paper towel.

I coated them in olive oil and also sprayed the air fryer basket with Acme's O Organic brand of olive oil spray. This gave the chips  a milk, not overpowering flavor. They were also liberally salted with sea salt.

It was then frying small batches at 370 degrees Farenheit for twelve minutes, breaking every six minutes for flipping them over,.

It was a lot of work (two hours for about seven batches!!!!!) but definitely worth it.

The fries were a combo of a chip and a fry , with crunchy edges and a meaty, creamy inside. Of course I had mine with a good dollop of ketchup but they were also yummy on their own. These are definitely make agains, maybe as a snack or a possible side to vegan chicken nuggets or Beyond Burgers.

Create these air fryer chips for a tasty treat. They are a delicious way to enjoy a classic without all the calories and grease. Make a batch or two or three today.

A Slew Of Sweets

 Creating goodies is one of the most fun things to do in a kitchen. They're even more so when you have a  slew of recipes to work off of. Luckily the New York Times Cooking section put out a mini cookbook of sorts featuring all things baked , sweet or both.

This keeper was part of yesterday's New York Times Sunday issue. There are many good recipes, perfect for snacks, dessert and Easter.They can work at Spring showers or grad parties too, along with warmer weather get togethers. There are twenty-four recipes in total. Most are baked, but some are made thanks to a stove top, food processor or fridge. There are the traditional ones such as The World's Best Chocolate Cake, a lush devil's food with a creamy dark chocolate ganache icing and the plus of an espresso spiked marscapone cream. Chocolate chip cookies are there too.They are the classic New York Times version with their mix of bread and cake flour along the addition of  big chocolate disks. A lovely and classic recipe is Kentucky Butter cake, perfect for an Easter dessert. This has a cup of butter in it along with buttermilk taken from Nell Lewis of surprisingly Platte City Missouri. A glaze of more butter, melted and mixed with confectioner's sugar and vanilla is poured into the holes poked in the finished product. A dusting of confectioner's sugar tops it. There's also Puppy Chow and a traditional shortbread crust too.

Then there are the unique recipes. Shortbread afectionados should try the pretzel shortbread made with half a cup of blitzed pretzel crumbs added to the traditional recipe. There are tea cookies made with Earl Grey tea and spiked with orange zest for a zingy flavor. Those who like mochi should try their hand at the butter mochi bars with a passionfruit glaze. It's the mochiko flour that gives it that marshmallowy texture. For another kind of flour is semolina used in the Namoura, the Lebanese cake contributed by Amanda Saab which she got from her Lebanese grandmother. It's made with whole milk yogurt and semolina flour and flavored with syrup made with vanilla, granulated sugar and lemon juice boiled down into a syrup.Another tasty dessert which is a spin of the classic Hispanic one is a tres leches bread pudding. This is mix of heavy cream, evaporated milk and whole milk mixed with eggs and poured over buttery brioche.This can be served warm or cold with fresh made whipped cream.if you;re having breakfast for dinner finish with sheet pan chocolate chip pancakes. These can be topped with whip cream and fruit or maple syrup and butter. Another spin on the traditional are peanut butter cookies with miso for a different flavor or tapioca with lemongrass.

This issue is the perfect treat book. Make any of these for a fun and soothing bite. They're a fun day in the kitchen.

A Bite With The Tattooed Chef

 Cooking for one is never easy. It's not worth the chopping or peeling, then frying or sauteing. Luckily there is microwave bowls and not your run of the mill ones. These are good for you.

I recently discovered Tattooed Chef, during a shopping trip to Target. I was looking for something healthier than the usual fare and something I could just microwave. I came across these

I've had both and they are a great alternative to what's out there. I've also tried their cauliflower pizza bowl with plant protein pepperoni. These heat up within minutes and  are really delicious, My favorite is the cauliflower mac and cheese bowl.It's creamy cheddar cheese poured over riced cauliflower and topped with panko breadcrumbs. The veggie hemp bowl is another good choice, rich with good for you veggies. There is kale , sweet potatoes, hemp and chickpeas over riced cauliflower. A turmeric and almond dressing dresses it ,giving it more oomph in flavor. 

The company, started by chef Sarah Galletti in LA has other dishes, reflecting her LA upbringing and Italian heritage. Hers is the rare company that uses its' own fruits and veggies in the products.it is a true farm to table experience. which is why her bowls taste like they're homemade. She also offers cauliflower gnocchi, a lighter alternative to the potato version, along with zucchini spirals and organic greens , a mix of seasoned zucchini, haricots verts, broccoli peas and leeks.There is also a cauliflower crust pizza and of course more bowls. The emchilada and Buddha bowls are definitely on my radar as is her Mexican street  style corn with cojita, and her cauliflower veggie burgers.Her riced cauliflower stir fry is a nice alternative to the original. There are also breakfast (or snack) bowls containing granola, a  mix of berries including the ever healthy acai and chocolate chips. A fun snack or dessert is her  cold brew and dark chocolate bowl, livened up with granola and strawberries. Most dishes are around five to six dollars at Target. They're also sold at Walmart, Stop and Shop and Costco.

Look to the Tattooed Chef for a better dining for one option.The bowls are good for you and your taste buds. They're a great way for dinner alone.

What Happened To Longevity

 Years ago appliances lasted forever. You could keep a stove or fridge for decades, Not anymore. Now it's considered lucky if they last five years. What's happened? What's going on with our kitchen ware?

This is what I have been thinking ever since my Magic Chef microwave billowed out  black smoke last week. I only had it for two and a half years.It was only a little ways past its' warranty. What happened? This was a brand that my mother picked for a stove that lasted close to sixty years. I thought for sure this was the case for the microwave. a long life for a microwave. I used it often but not every day.It was cleaned so there were no clogged vents to cause any problems. It seems that Magic Chef just used inferior materials. Yet what does that say about their other products? Will their fridges go on the fritz after two or three years of use? I wonder if these newer generations of ranges will last as long as the one we had.My microwave was replaced with Walmart's Home Essentials brand.

It looks the same as the Magic Chef and actually works better. It cooks and reheats better and in less time too. It's perfect for popcorn, leaving less unpopped kernels than the other.

It may not have the roomy height of the other but it does the width  which is perfect for my larger microwave pots. I just hope this one lasts more than two years. It does make me wonder about my fridge  which I've had for eight years and my oven for just over five. It could be that manufacturers are making inferior grade models so we can go out and  buy new ones every few years.

Why aren't today's appliances lasting like they used to? It's due to manufacturers seeming to want us buy new ones every two or three years. It's not quality anymore.It s how long will they function before they die on us,.

In Praise Of Chocolate Chips

  Chocolate chips rule as much as baking snobs hate to admit it. These tiny little morsels shouldn't be discounted. Their tininess can add a big impact and flavor to any dessert recipe.

Regular contributor Genevieve Ko knows this and wrote about the tasty nibbles in yesterday's New York Times Food section.It's partly for nostalgia's sake. How many of us always snuck a few while making homemade Toll House cookies? Yet there are other reasons too, namely composition. The bars that some chefs use is high in cocoa butter which makes it more fluid when melted. It's perfect for coating bonbons, look at that shiny , snappy shells coating truffles and caramel. However what works for candy making doesn't necessarily work for baking according to Jacques Dahan, president of the chocolate company Michel Cluizel USA. Bakers want less cocoa butter for baking chocolate.Cocoa butter may give the recipe more  fat but so does dairy add ins like butter and milk. It is also expensive which is why the mass produced chocolate morsels have less of it. They have more cacao solids instead. These also yield more flavor too. Also you need a stronger flavor when mixing the chips with other ingredients like you'd find in a brownie recipe. In a flourless chocolate cake they shine through the creaminess of the butter and the richness of the eggs. They also help bind the other ingredients together in absence of flour.

Another plus to using chocolate chips is that they hold their shape in a hot oven. They give structure and height to chunky cookies and banana bread. There's no worry of them melting and creating gullies in the treat's surface. It was Ruth Wakefield, a Massachusetts housewife who first created the chips in the 1930's and the cookies named after the famed Toll House Inn. She sold the idea to Nestle for only a dollar and since then other companies have copied idea. To be honest there really isn't  the best. They all taste good, They all bake well.Donald Wressell, an executive chef at Guittard Chocolate Company suggests sampling a wide range first.This is what pastry chef  Jacqueline Eng and owner of New York's Partybus Bakery, She feels like she is a bread baker first so she experiments with the sweet ingredients. She feels that approaching chocolate can be intimidating because you can deep dive into sourcing beans from other counties. The best way is to just taste them and decide what works. she finally decided on Callebaut 54 percent cacao pellets. However during the pandemic she used chocolate chips from her local grocery and still received compliments on her cookies. 

Chocolate chips rule. They are perfect for baking yummy cookies or tasty banana bread. It doesn't matter what brand is used, they deliver a great taste and texture.

The Fake Or The Real Thing

 Can a chicken be cloned? Or a filet mignon copied? They may someday soon and wind up in our supermarkets. It may sound like a science fiction story but it's true.

Regular contributor Kim Severson wrote about this new facet of the food industry in today's New York Times Food section. Cloning has been around for decades, and a form of it is interesting a number of people.Ms. Severson spent time at Upside Foods in San Francisco. The scientists there take healthy cells from chicken ad create cutlets that even taste better than the actual birds. They soon will be experimenting with beef and lobster. The idea for this came from Dr. Uma Valeti, a cardiologist who helped start the company in 2015. He was convinced that the same medical technology used to grow stem cells or repair a human heart  could now grow food. Now tissue engineers and scientists  in several countries are trying to transform stem cells in the pricey Wagyu steak, oysters and sushi-grade salmon. Nearly three billion dollars in investments are funding this , the money coming from such giants as Archer-Daniel-Midlands and the Brazlian meat giant JBS. Bill Gates and Leonardo di Caprio, a big environmentalist are also funding it as is the Agriculture Department and Qatar Investment Authority

Despite their potential good, lab grown meats have their down side. Opponents say that the process ignores both culture and nature. It could be scientifically risky,  creating potential allergens and untested byproducts.It could also create waste that would be a biohazard. Stem cell meats also ignore the time tested regenerative agricultural practices in favor of unproven gains of environmental gain. Alan Lewis, one skeptic who works for the Natural Grocers health food chain. He questions why eat this meat when you can have the plant based ones. The leap to consume synthetic protein seems entirely unnecessary. How does synthetic meat come into being? It begins with stem cells from an animal biopsy, an egg or even a feather. These multiply rapidly in a stainless steel tank called a bioreactor or cultivator. The cells feed on a complex broth that contains nutrients like carbohydrates and amino acids. There's also some type of unnamed growth factor that can turn into muscle fat or connective tissue.  Taste and nutrition are controlled by cell selection and the broth they grew in. Some find the meat tastes better than the real thing and chefs like Jose Andres and Dominqu Cren are behind it.Yet only one in ten Americans would try this while only a third in Britian said they would give it a shot.

Is cultured chicken, beef or lobster the food of the future? Possibly. If plant based burgers  can make it , then so can this,

Bahr's Big Time Moment

 One Super Bowl commercial can make or break a product. In this case there is a by  product that did well  and it's Bahr's the much beloved seafood restaurant in New Jersey's Atlantic Highlands. It's on the map any way thanks to its' great food and great atmosphere.

Bahr's has  been a part of the jersey shore for one hundred and five years.The original owners, Jack and Florence Bahr were not in the seafood industry. They owned and operated a small neck tie company in Newark's Ironbound or Dutch Neck section, The only connection to the sea was that Jack';s grandfather was a tall ships captain. After their business suffered several robberies, the Bahr's went south to the Highlands where they purchased a small boat rental company.The Bahr's and their four children sold bait ,rented towboats and cooked dinners for fishing parties that came down by the local train. Soon they were offering lobster and fish dinners.. The menu was expanded to include their famed Manhattan clam chowder along with dishes reflecting their German heritage. They have attracted all sorts of celebrities from the famed swimmer Gertrude Ederle to actor Ernest Borgnine in the fifties. Recently Bahr's was alluded to in Ronan Farrow's 2019 Catch and Kill: Lies, spies and A Conspiracy To Protect Predators. According to Farrow former spies used to meet regularly , discussing what to do with the author after his expose on Harvey Weinstein. The latest brush with fame is a Chevrolet commercial featuring Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Robert Iler reprising their Sopranos  characters Meadow and AJ Soprano  meet in front of the iconic sign and eatery.

Yet go to Bahr's not for its' celebrity cache but for the wide variety of seafood and German dishes. One of their best is the Manhattan clam chowder, a savory classic, rich with large ,chewy clam bits and redolent of herbs such as rosemary and sage. Another must have is their shrimp cocktail , an icy cold but flavorful appetizer of plump shrimp with cocktail sauce. I am also a big fan of their lobster.It's just good with  butter sauce, perfect with tender tail and claw meat. It's usually served with their homemade cole slaw and homemade biscuits. It's also great at Moby's served with a side of fries that you can also dip in the butter sauce. Keep in mind they also offer scallops along with flounder and salmon. Their chef has a creative streak, evident in his seafood chili , a mix of fish, tomatoes and clam broth and his lobster pot pie, a dish that brings you back to the Gilded Age. Puff pastry covers a creamy melange of lobster cream sauce, carrots and peas.They also have  a plate of wurst along with filet mignon and Florence's pot roast recipe. You may be too stuffed afterwards to enjoy a treat but Bahr's has a good selection of pies, cakes and creme brulees.

Bahr's has always attracted a good deal of attention .It s mainly for its' excellent seafood and home cooked sides. Go to this iconic restaurant for just that - not for its' refound celebrity cache.