Iced Coffee-- A Summer Treat

The weather is getting warmer, and it is time to get out my Toddy coffee maker.  I use the Toddy cold-brewed system throughout the spring, summer and early fall for iced coffee and other coffee treats.

I’ve you’re not familiar with the Toddy system, here’s how it works:  after inserting the small rubber plug into the plastic brewing section from the outside, you insert a reusable filter into the well at the bottom of the brewing section. Then, in increments according to the directions, you add a pound of coffee and nine cups of water.  Then you just set it aside on your counter for 12 hours (I like to cover it loosely with a dishtowel to keep anything from falling or flying into it).

At the end of the brewing time, remove the rubber stopper and quickly set the brewing section onto the glass carafe.  Allow the coffee concentrate to drain, and you have about 6 cups of delicious, acid-free coffee concentrate.  Store it in your fridge.

To make coffee, Toddy recommends a ratio of one part coffee concentrate to 3 parts water-- but you can adjust that ratio to your taste, just as you can choose the coffee you prefer and the coarseness of the grind (I recommend a medium grind, not as fine as for a drip coffee maker or for espresso, but not as coarse as for a French press). 

My Favorite Pot

A young man approached me hesitantly in the kitchenware section of a big box store.  "Excuse me, but do you cook?" he asked.

When I confirmed that I did, he asked, "Could you recommend a pot?"

Apparently, he and his girlfriend had just moved into their first apartment and had no pots or pans. Overwhelmed with the choices presented, the young man decided to ask someone who might be more experienced which one to buy.

What to tell them? If I were starting over, I'd buy nothing but those great Italian pots whose handles fold back on themselves for storage.  Imagine not having to make room for pot handles!  (I don't like to hang pots, or store dishes, in the open in the kitchen.  If not used regularly, they get fuzzy with a combination of dust and airborne liquid and fat). I'd also buy nothing but those wonderful collapsible silicone measuring spoons and cups, even mixing bowls and colanders-- everything lies flat for storage. 

But this couple was looking to invest in one pot.  I thought about it for a moment, remembering the month I had once waited for a stove to be installed, when I cooked everything, including boiled eggs, in my electric wok.  Just one pot?

My recommendation was a chicken fryer with a cover. 

They sometimes call these by other names, but these wide pans with fairly deep sides and a cover can be used for virtually anything.  I use mine for, among other things, cooking asparagus (they lie flat) or corn on the cob, boiling angel-hair pasta (the nests don't tangle with each other), and making chili (the broader surface allows for more room to brown the meat).

You can use it for a pan of scrambled eggs or for frying up pancakes, for cooking long strands of spaghetti (again, they will lie flat) and for making soup.  You can boil a full dozen (or more) eggs in it at the same time, and of course, you can use it to fry chicken.

My mother had an electric frying pan that was square, about 12 inches on a side, and she made all kinds of meat-based dishes in it-- chicken a la king, chili, spaghetti sauce. But she didn't use it for vegetables or pasta (I do).  I think my chicken fryer is the successor to that pot. 

If I had only one pot, that would be the one I'd buy. 

If I could have two, I'd add a one-quart pot for small projects (including a single fried egg-- it doesn't require a frying pan, especially if your pot is non-stick-- the egg can easily be flipped out onto a waiting piece of toast). And a one-quart pan can be used to boil water for a cup or two of tea, to boil an egg, to heat up some soup, or to cook a serving or two of cereal.  It is the perfect adjunct to the chicken fryer.

And if I could add an oven pan, the one I would buy would be a 9 by 13 inch roasting pan with a fitted rack.  You can put a little water in the bottom, insert the rack, and use it for broiling.  You can skip the rack and use the pan for roasting a chicken or baking a casserole or lasagna (pinch some aluminum foil over the top if you want a cover).  You can bake a cake or brownies in it-- even cookies if you are willing to maneuver to get them out. 

I have a kitchen overflowing with pots and pans, bowls and plates, all the dishes I inherited from my mother and both grandmothers, plus all the things I've acquired myself over decades.

But if I had to get by with only one pot, I could. It would be that chicken fryer.  And after all is said and done, those three together-- the chicken fryer, the one-quart pot, and the 9 by 13 inch roasting pan with a rack-- would be really be sufficient for almost everything I make.

The Vidalias Are Back!

I found some of the new crop of Vidalia onions at my grocery store last night. 

I can’t believe that we here in the Midwest never heard of Vidalia onions until about 20 years ago.  How does one live without these sweet onions, so good you could actually peel one and eat it like an apple.

They are terrific on a hamburger, or cut into a tossed salad. Or toss one into your blender with fresh tomatoes and cucumber and a little olive oil, some wine vinegar, and salt and pepper, and it's gazpacho.  (Serve this Spanish soup cold, with chunks of bread floating in it.)

Vidalias are also wonderful in salsa cruda-- just dice up a Vidalia and some fresh tomatoes, a seeded jalapeno pepper or two, and some cilantro.  Combine with salt and pepper to taste, grab some tortilla chips and dip away. (This dip gets better if you let it sit for an hour or so at room temperature so the flavors can meld.)

Omit the cilantro and peppers and drain off the juice and you can use this on slices of Italian bread as an easy bruschetta-- essentially just diced fresh tomatoes, diced Vidalia onion, and salt and pepper to taste.

But my favorite way to eat Vidalia onions is on a sandwich.  Slather some really good bread (I favor fresh baked San Francisco style sourdough bread myself) with softened butter. Top with slices of Vidalia onion (I like it in thicker slices, but a stack of thin ones would do as well).  Add salt and pepper, cover with a second slice of buttered bread, and enjoy one of the more delicious indulgences you’ll ever experience. 

Bring on the breath mints! 

The Lilac Scavengers

Driving home from an errand early yesterday afternoon, I passed what-- to me-- was a travesty: a huge pile of apparently thriving lilac bushes, cut down in full bloom, roots, stems and all, and stacked up on the parkway.

I am the kind of gardener who never cuts my own flowers, preferring to let them persist as more enduring beauty in my yard.  Besides, lilacs seldom last very long indoors (you have to crush the stems so they can take in water, and that doesn’t always work)-- and when you can find them for sale, they are often horribly expensive.

But I am not one to pass up such bounty, even in my upscale suburb where you might think we’d have more dignity than to pick discards off the curb (and you’d be wrong!)..  I raced home, grabbed my pruner and a bucket, and raced back.

I was busy filling my pail with those gorgeous full blooms when another neighbor showed up with a scissors.  And then another.  This find was too good to waste!

After gathering as many lilacs as my bucket would hold, I went home and spent the better part of an hour finding appropriate vases, trimming and crushing lilac stems, and arranging the blooms.  There were so many that my kitchen and living room took on the look of a Martha Stewart magazine cover.

Apparently my (our) act of salvage was what Martha might have called a "Good Thing."  When I drove past on another errand a couple of hours later, there was not a trace of those lilacs.  Branches, blooms, leaves, roots-- they had been cleaned up and hauled away, leaving the parkway naked, as though they’d never existed.

But this morning, mine are still there, in their vases, in full glory, and my house smells divine.  One neighbor’s destructive act is another’s (or several others’) good fortune.   

Foods That Serve Other Purposes

Looking to go green and save a little money on cleaning supplies?

White vinegar, which is quite inexpensive, can be used for cleaning as well as for cooking. Consider buying it by the gallon.

Another food item that has multiple uses is baking soda.  You can use it, alone or with vinegar, for cleaning. You can brush your teeth with it in a pinch. And of course, a box of it placed in the refrigerator every six months can absorb odors, keeping all your refrigerated food fresher.  (Pour the contents of the old box of soda into various drains to clean them.  Just follow with either vinegar or boiling water.)

And whenever you squeeze a lemon, use the leftover hull to wipe down your counters or cutting boards. The acidity of lemons is naturally antibacterial.  Sprinkle a little salt on first, and you can rub out stains.  Then just rinse with hot water. 

Wisdom From My Grandmother

My grandmother fed not only her own family, but half the neighborhood, throughout the Great Depression, without the help of foodbanks or handouts.  She was a very frugal shopper, and a very creative cook.

We may not be at the point of breadlines yet, but hard times in the stock market may have led to some hard times in the food market of late.  Here are some things I learned at my grandmother’s knee, which may help those of you whose food budgets have lately taken a hit.

Rule 1: If it costs too much per serving, it isn’t “convenient.”

A budget priced frozen dinner can sometimes be found on sale for as little as $1.25 to $1.50.  That’s fine if you live alone, and if it fills you up. If it leaves you hungry for the rest of dinner, or if you have a family of five, you can do a lot better for a lot less.

Rule 2: Buy on sale whenever possible, but don’t overstock your pantry or buy things you wouldn’t ever use.

If you keep feeding your pantry or your freezer, but never use what you’ve bought, you haven’t really saved any money.  Power lines and freezers fail, resulting in loss of-- or the immediate need to cook-- all that frozen food.  And if you leave a can in the back of the cupboard long enough, it will explode. 

Buy food to use it.  If it is just going to find its way to the back of your freezer or cupboard until it is outdated, you’ve wasted your money. 

Rule 3: Keep certain things on hand all the time

Unless you bake often, you don’t need more than a small amount of flour-- five pounds at most-- around the house.  The same holds true for sugar-- it isn’t good for you anyway.  And a pound of salt lasts a really long time, so having more than two pounds around the house is overkill. 

What do I need in my cupboard all the time?  Garbanzo beans (which I use for making hummus or in chili or in soups, salads and appetizers), chicken broth (I prefer the non-fat, low sodium variety) which I use both in cooking and as comfort food if I have a cold, diced tomatoes (which go into all kinds of recipes), kidney beans (which I use for chili), and tuna (I prefer the canned to the packaged, and prefer the kind that’s canned in olive oil to the water-packed variety, but that’s a matter of taste.)  Anything else in the cupboard is likely to stay there for a fairly long time, so I probably shouldn’t buy it. The same is probably true for you. 

I also keep dried barley and dried lima beans around, because I use them as soup ingredients all winter long.  And then there’s pasta. Pasta goes on sale all the time, so you don’t really need tons of it, but if you have enough on hand for a week’s worth of meals, you’ll never go hungry.

Rule 4: Don’t buy what you won’t eat.

If you hate brown rice, you won’t eat it, so you aren’t saving money buying it. 

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try different foods, only that you will know-- once you’ve tried them-- whether you like them.  If saving money is your objective, the only reason to buy a different variety of a favorite food is because it costs less, in which case perhaps you can force yourself to like it. 

But we take our comfort where we can, so forcing yourself to eat something you don’t like is just another facet of the harsh world closing in on you. 

A couple of places to cut corners

Sodas are expensive, and generally a waste of money.  So are snack foods.  But drinking plain water and snacking on an occasional carrot stick can make you feel deprived. 

However, tea is relatively inexpensive, and recent studies have shown that there may be real health benefits from drinking many different kinds of teas. Not, of course, if you load them up with sugar-- so learn to drink tea the way the Asians do, without added sweetener. It’s an acquired taste, but it is easily acquired. 

Brew your tea by the pot.  If the tea in the pot becomes more concentrated, you can dilute it by adding more hot water.  If there is leftover tea, you can store it in a jar in the fridge and drink it instead of cold soda-- or even use it to fill your reusable beverage bottle, which should replace bottled water for you if you are trying to save money.

And what makes a good, cheap snack to chomp in front of the television?  Popcorn! 

If you have an air popper, resurrect it.  Air popped popcorn is the least expensive snack you can make.  It just requires popcorn-- no oil, no butter.  Invest in a shaker of popcorn salt and salt it while it is still hot, and the salt will stick.  (You don’t need butter on it.  It’ll be healthier if you leave it off).  You can also microwave popcorn-- but if you’re going to do that, you are better off investing in a microwave popper than buying expensive microwave popcorn.