CHICKPEA SEWING STUDIO

Fancy a frite?

I would like to share with everyone one of my very first childhood love: frites. I have always adored potatoes, especially when fried and recently more than ever I need them. They are my one and only, comfort food.

That said, a good frite is hard to come by and sometimes I have to go get a veggie burger from one joint and fries somewhere else. I should say Thomas has to, since he is charged with the meandering fast food runs. Taking pity on him I decided to make our own, and Frites Night was born (were born, Wednesday and Sunday).

The selection of deep fryers (friteuse) is pitiful when you are impulse buying and want it for tonight on a Sunday night (the first of the hallowed frites nights). After much driving around (Thomas again) and tired cell phone discussions, I had to put the Chuck Taylor's on and get myself to Target were I purchased a Tefal Uno on clearance. It looked European enough and had a firm closing top which was a condition of mine. Also it was really cheap, not that I am, but still.

Here is the recipe, tried and true. Tasty and Crispy, everything...

ingredients:

Canola oil, (Peanut oil is supposed to be better but it costs a bundle and you will need a least two quarts, did I say I wasn't cheap?)

Yellow Idaho potatoes

Gros sel (kosher salt)

In the morning (or the night before): peel and cut the potatoes into sticks, rinse them well. In a bowl cover them with water and place them in the fridge.

When the time comes, heat the oil to 320 degrees and dry your potatoes with a dish towel. Place the potatoes in the oil a first time for 15 minutes. Take the frites out and heat the oil to 390 degrees. Place the frites in again for 5 to 7 minutes. Take the frites out, place on paper towels and add salt.

Voila, the crunch can be heard even when you chew with you mouth closed, as you should girl!

Cooking, cooking, cooking...

I am sorry about the lack of good posting around here! The sewing machine is still in it's bag and although I bought some 4 yards of Essex and brought back a sea of Liberty  from France, I have had a severe case of the lazy thimble...
Instead I have been producing an extraordinary amount of dirty dishes, trying out recipes and resurrecting my sourdough starter. It was feeling under the weather and the bread was turning flat-ish. After a few days on the counter top getting fed often, it's back to its old self and the bread is tasty as ever... I just got tired of paying in excess of $4 per loaf next door for something I eat so much of, so, so, much. 

Tomorrow I promise myself, I will take out the sewing machine and try to work on a few Ideas for The Sewing Republic. My brain feels slow but I think I can still come up with something cute...

Updated:

The bread on the picture is made with the New York Times recipe for the famed No-knead Bread. I use my own sourdough starter which I "birthed" the same year as I did Finn, haha. I used the advice contained in The Bread Bakers Apprentice to create it from just water and flour. It's a pretty pricey book but most libraries have it in their catalogue.

The platter is from Ikea, it's new and  adorable!

French Cooking

I have noticed that there is such thing as the it cookie. Macarons are the it cookie. They also happen to be one of the most arduous pursuit in patisserie.  I have an aunt that can bake hundreds of "petits fours" in one night for her daughter's birthday party and even she doesn't venture anywhere near the fierce macaron. It's very simple, when you are French you don't bake croissants, eclairs or macaron. That would be presumptuous. Not here, here it's totally cool and impressive. If I could make any of this well, my self worth would crack the glass ceiling... of domesticity.

I digress. The same beloved aunt I was just writing about sent me a set of Canneles molds, the silicone kind. Canneles are another kind of "petits fours", rare outside of the South West of France, where I am not from.  The molds are nearly impossible to find in the US, although Williams Sonoma has the copper version for the very rich/dedicated amongst us. They arrived yesterday, and were immediately put to work. The recipe is not quite my favorite, yet even the baby devoured them. I will be exploring the subject further as soon as I can get my hands on THE family recipe.

Sunday Stash (six) and a New blog

In the cold-medicine induced haze that was today, I started a new blog. The veggie baby will be my space to post recipes, stories and advice I may have given or received about feeding my vegetarian baby. the idea is to develop recipes that can be eaten by everyone in the home regardless of ages ( sometimes with a few extra ingredients). 

It's not so fancy yet, 'excuse our dust'!  Tomorrow if this darn cold subsides I will write all about a 'pasta diner' recipe I came up with today, all I can say is that it contains winter squash and TVP but you wouldn't think so...

Back to Sunday Stash, it has to be this fat quarter of course!

It's a piece of Iota's garden, and I just will never be able to cut into it!

Peppermint Marshmallow

The marshmallow are ready to be shared with friends and neighbors, that is if I can whip out a few more batches. Here is what I learned from this first experiment:

1. The martha Stewart recipe is a good one but they are using this huge (13"x17") dish to make theirs very thin. I used an 8"x8" Pirex and that makes a good height for the cubes. I will try to double the recipe and use a 9"x13" Pirex.

2. A teaspoon of peppermint extract would be enough.

3. The red marbling didn't seep in, which bugs. I will use something larger than a toothpick next.

4. Yes, getting them out of the dish is hard, the sides stick, but once you have those peeled, the bottom just follow. Each time I had a sticky surface out of the dish I immediately sifted powdered sugar on. I think it's just moderately difficult to cut them out and that shouldn't deter you from trying. I will use parchment paper next time.

5. They taste AMAZING, the texture is that of actual Guimauve.  I want to try them out with more exotic flavors, like rose or orange blossom.

Zig-zag Quilt, quilted.

The zigzag quilt came back home to be bound and i think this one is my favorite, both the pattern and the quilting done by Holly, the resident quilter from the shop. Taking pictures of detailed quilting is difficult so I hope you forgive the lousy picture bellow:

On the kitchen front, I made Peppermint Marshmallows this morning, the inspiration came to me while reading this book.

I adapted a Martha Stewart recipe by combining this one and this one. I really didn't want eggs, and will relentlessly look for a supermarket that will sell vegetarian gelatin. They are cooling right now, but licking the bowl was something of culinary bliss!

On the Spare Change front, all the packages have been sent last week. I saw this today which could be just perfect for our squares.

Five words: too much on my plate!

I always start the morning thinking of all the things I would like to see done by the end of the day. Filled with great expectations I ambitiously take some fabric out and start dreaming of a little baby book, a back for a work quilt.etc...

Well it's one pm in the afternoon, Finn is waking up from his nap and all I have accomplished so far is lunch, some little cakes and a fire. OH! and I have passed the 100 th envelope for Spare Change!

First Harvest

We planted our garden late this year. The weather stayed cold long into the spring so much so that we built the raised bed under a freezing rain. Our hands were blue and stiff. Of course in the classic Utah fashion the temperatures went from the low fifties to the nineties from one day to the next. This ensures that if you forget to water once you might loose the all lot.
Against all odds we have the beginning of an harvest, the first bit of which we ate last night ( with delight).

 

The no-knead bread was ready in time for dinner, made with unbleached white organic King Arthur flour and kosher salt.

Put it all together et voila!

On a last annoyed note, has anybody out there had as much trouble as me with the photo quality on typepad? I just can't take the bad resolution anymore!

Further breadmaking exploration

The no-knead bread obsession isn't weakening one bit...and now I want to try it with a sourdough stater. I read here that it can be done. The main issue? I don't have a starter-started. Well never mind, Karin and I are attempting a classic sourdough recipe. We mixed the first step yesterday at about the same time, each of us in radically different geographical environement. Altitude and Humidity wise Utah/East Coast couldn't be more opposite.I think that could really be a factor in the final taste. I am following the instructions from this web page, Karin is using slightly different quantities. We chose this simple mixture of flour and water instead of milk and yogurt or grapes because it's vegan and we won't need to stock our fridges with milk at all time, which simply will never happen here I guarantee it!
I created a Flickr set to document the process day by day. If it all works out I will have some very enticing bread pictures a month or so; but if it fails I promise to show the pathetic moldy result too...

Heavenly Crust

I was totally inspired to make this bread the moment I laid eyes on this post at Two Little Banshee. It's the best crust by far I have ever achieved and the texture of the 'mie' ( inside white part) is exceptional. I still can detect a faint yeast taste that never fails to drive me nuts. ( After cooling, the bread tastes great). I am so pleased with the rest of the recipe that I am determined to try a new batch tonight. By the way, do start it at night because it needs 18 hours to rise! If all goes well maybe I could add some blue cheese and nuts, yum.

Link to the recipe.I also recommend reading this companion article in the NY Times that will give you a lot of inside on why the dough is so stinking runny!