Countdown to Kelly Ripa: Day 27

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As you may have heard by now - because I've been telling pretty much everyone I come in contact with - I've been chosen to go with a group of 15 food bloggers to New York for a special cake decorating event with the incomparable Kelly Ripa, to benefit the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. The wonderful people at Foodbuzz and Electrolux are putting together this event, and I have to say, rarely have I been so excited.

Now, of course, I'm excited to be raising awareness of a good cause - more on ovarian cancer and the pressing need for more research dollars in a few days. And a free trip to New York always puts a smile on my face. Meeting celebs, that's fab.

But the real reason I'm thrilled about this event is that I need serious help in the cake decorating realm. I'm a cook, and everything I make tastes great. But presentation? Not my strong suit. In fact, I have shed many a tear of frustration over the application of frosting. But no more - Kelly Ripa will lead me by the hand into the land of fondant and buttercream. Or, if not Kelly herself, whoever is actually running that part of the event.

So today I am taking out my cake decorating set, which looks just like the photo above. Yes, I own them, the bags and the couplers and the tips. I almost know how to put them together. But for today I will let them sit on the counter while I concentrate on slow, even breathing and recite my mantra for the day:

I must not have temper tantrum on camera. I must not have temper tantrum on camera. I must not have temper tantrum on camera.

That should work, right?

Every day from now until February 9th I'll be posting about my preparations, including practicing icing rosettes, writing in chocolate, the sure-to-happen "Oh crap, what am I going to wear?" panic, and important information about ovarian cancer and how you can help me raise awareness of this important women's health issue. Check back daily to see how I'm getting ready for the trip. Less than a month to go!

Got a question you want me to ask Kelly Ripa? Leave it in the comments section. I'll pick the best 20 and sit down with her when I'm in New York. Yay, girl talk with Kelly Ripa!

Decorating cakes for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund

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I got fantastic news today via this email from Foodbuzz:

Dear Featured Publishers,

We're excited to announce the 15 Foodbuzz Featured Publishers selected for the Electrolux program! These 15 bloggers will join Kelly Ripa in NYC for a special cake decorating event to generate support for and awareness of the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, whose mission is to fund research to find a method of early detection and ultimately a cure for Ovarian Cancer.

We were overwhelmed by the entries, and the support our community showed for such a great cause. We wish we could select everyone, and thank all those who took the time to apply.

Please join me in congratulating the following bloggers. We will all be supporting you in your commitment to generate support for the OCRF!

A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa

Bake at 350

The Cooking Photographer

Daydreamer Desserts

Smoky Mountain Cafe

In Erika's Kitchen

Evil Shenanigans

Salty Seattle

The Inner Workings of a College Graduate

Megan's Munchies

CakeSpy

Carrots 'N' Cake

No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner

My Kitchen Addiction

RhodeyGirl Tests

Cheers,
The Foodbuzz Team 

Isn't that great? I am so thrilled to be included in this group. The event itself should be fun (I LOVE Kelly Ripa), but I'm really pleased to be able to help such a good cause - the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund!

Mexican chilaquiles breakfast casserole recipe

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Today is my older son Emery's eleventh birthday. Cue swirling cliches: how big, how fast, how grown up, and so on. Yes, there's all of that. And then there's the menu.

As you may remember, Emery is the child whose first original recipe involved bitter lettuce and truffle oil. Whose proudest accomplishment to date may very well be the soup with Asian greens he made all on his own. Whose birthday party last year involved a small-plates dinner party for ten 10-year-olds. This year his birthday dinner involved his two closest friends, one of whom eats gluten-free, and he designed a menu that met her requirements (Italian ragu over polenta cakes, roasted cauliflower, sauteed spinach with garlic, vanilla ice cream). It seems only fitting that he would have a special breakfast request on his birthday. Thus, the "chilaquiles" casserole pictured above.

I was trying to remember, this morning, when and why I started making this casserole. I can't figure it out. If I had to guess, it was probably born of both inspiration (everyone loves Mexican!) and desperation (how am I going to use up this leftover [fill in the blank]?). But however it came into being, it's a classic in my house. Mexican flavors, a handy vehicle for many of the small bits left in the refrigerator after the weekend, do-ahead ease - perfect for both school days and brunch parties alike.

All measurements below are approximate and flexible, as are most of the ingredients. Think of this as the canvas with background. The specific colors - those you get to choose.

I got crap for posting this before from the "You must never leave food at room temperature!" police, but I will mention again that I mix this up in the evening, put it in the cold oven overnight, and use my timer to bake it in the morning before everyone gets up so it's ready at breakfast time. I have never had a problem doing this. I realize it violates restaurant health code policies. Make your own decision.

Mexican chilaquiles breakfast casserole

• 2 cups crushed tortilla chips (measure after crushing)
• 2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese (or Monterey jack, or cheddar, or...)
• 1 cup leftover cooked meat (ground beef, shredded pork, roast chicken...)
• 1 can black or pinto beans
• Any or all (or none) of the following: shredded raw zucchini, chopped green onions, leftover cooked vegetables, grated raw carrots
• 1 28-ounce can mild green enchilada sauce (or medium, or hot, or red, or...)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together all ingredients until well blended. Pack into a baking dish and pop into the oven for about an hour. Serve with sour cream, salsa, guacamole, or hot sauce. Or all of the above.

Hungarian pork sauerkraut stew (Szekelygulyas) recipe

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Important things I have learned about Hungarian food in the 17 years I've lived with (and 13 years I've been married to) a Hungarian:

1. It involves lots of peppers, both fresh and dried - you've heard of the famous Hungarian paprika, I assume. It's in everything. And the stuff you get in the grocery store labeled "paprika" is just red dust. It tastes nothing like actual Hungarian paprika, which you'll find at gourmet stores or which a Hungarian will be proud to smuggle into the U.S. for you among the dirty socks in her suitcase.
   
2. At some point, if you know any Hungarians, someone will try to feed you korozott (pronounced KOO-roo-zoot, more or less). You must like caraway - really like caraway - to like korozott, a sort of cheese spread with many family variations. I've seen it most often with cream cheese, sour cream, paprika, and caraway, always caraway.
   
3. The savory dishes generally don't take that long to prepare, but they often need to cook unattended for a while - lots of variations on stew.
4. Every culture has its pancakes and dumplings. I have learned to make good palacsinta (like crepes), although my mother-in-law's are better.
   
5. Hungarians really like dessert, which often involves ground nuts in some way.
   
6. I'm not a huge fan.
   

This is sad, the last, because my mother-in-law is a good cook, and I should probably be trying to learn more from her. But very few of the actual Hungarian dishes I've eaten have grabbed me.

The stew pictured above, however, is another story. We went to a potluck a few weeks ago, and our neighbor Larry showed up with a huge Dutch oven full of it. My in-laws were with us at the party and recognized it immediately - szekelygulyas, a pork stew with sauerkraut.

Larry, it turns out, is not Hungarian. But he grew up in New York, in the Yorkville section of Manhattan's upper East side, way over near the river in the 70s and 80s (the streets, not the decades). He lived near Paprikas Weiss, then a famous Hungarian deli and food importer, and his neighbors, mostly Hungarians, taught him to make this dish, which he carried with him to southern California.

I love cabbage in all its variations, and Larry's stew had a soft coral-colored sauce and tiny nuggets of tender pork. I had to have it. I had to make it. Here's my version, which, truth to tell, was not as good as Larry's. But I'll work on it.

Szekelygulyas - Hungarian pork stew with sauerkraut

• 2 Tbsp oil
  
• 3 large onions, diced
  
• 3 lbs pork shoulder or butt, cut into 2-inch cubes
• 3 Tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 3 large (32 oz) jars sauerkraut, rinsed and drained
  
• salt and pepper
• 2 cups sour cream
• 2 Tbsp flour

Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven or stew pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and saute about 5 minutes, until the onions are softened and starting to brown around the edges. Add the pork and saute, stirring occasionally, until the meat has started to brown - you don't need to go for the deep sear you'd want with other kind of stews. Add the paprika and tomato paste, stir to combine, and cook 2-3 minutes more.

Now add water to come about halfway up the meat, bring to a simmer, cover the pot, and let the stew cook until the pork is tender, about 2 hours. The exact time will depend on what kind of meat you used and what size you cut it, so check it after an hour and a half, but honestly, there's really no way to overcook the meat. It will just get better.

When the meat is tender, add the rinsed and drained sauerkraut, stir to combine, bring back to a simmer, cover again, and let cook another 45 minutes or so. Taste and add salt if you need it, plus lots of freshly ground black pepper. Turn off the heat and move the pot off the hot burner. Stir the flour into the sour cream, then add the sour cream to the stew. It's important to do this off the heat or the sour cream will curdle; you want the sauce to be nice and smooth.

Serve over hot buttered noodles. This dish is far better the second or third day; just make sure when you reheat it that you don't let it boil, or, as I said earlier, the sour cream will curdle.

11 things food blogging has taught me

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Well, it's been a year (plus a few days) since the birth of this blog, and a year (minus a few days) since I started as the LA Cooking Examiner over at Examiner.com. A year in which I've shopped, cooked, photographed, chronicled, compiled, and edited.

And other things happened, too: I made new friends. I went back to work full-time after eight years as a full-time at-home parent. My kids are one year closer to first dates, first kisses, driver's licenses, high school, college, real life. Yesterday was the 17th anniversary of the day Michael and I met. Milestones and progressions. But the biggest event in my own life this year, the biggest new thing I took on, was becoming a food writer - something I had wanted to do for a long time, something I'd talked about doing for a while, and something I finally decided to tackle this year.

So today, the last day of 2009, I thought I'd make a list of the things I've learned during this year of writing about food. I warn you, it's a list of personal discovery. No recipes. Hope that's okay.

1. I am not likely to write any recipes that involve separating eggs, white chocolate, whole fish, or organ meat (with the exception of chicken livers). In order, lazy, dislike, lazy, dislike.  

2. I am still scared of pie crust, or, more accurately, of the rolling pin. But I'm working on it.

3. Put me in front of my pantry and refrigerator, and even if we haven't shopped in two weeks, I will pull together a pretty tasty meal. It will include capers.

4. I really like vegetables. When I went through my archives the other day for my LA Cooking Examiner article "New Year's resolutions: Eat more vegetables," I was truly astonished at the number of vegetable recipes I've written this year. Every single one was a dish I loved eating. Who knew? And this from a girl whose mother served only frozen veggies - yes, really, particularly that mix of carrots, peas, corn and green beans. All the time. Sorry, Mom, you know I love you.

5. Nothing makes me happier than having the people I love at my dining room table. The fact that my family and friends support this crazy desire to cook all the time and test my creations on them, that they're willing to try anything, that they give me honest feedback, and that they tell me how much they like it when I cook for them - it fills me with joy.

6. I am really lucky to have married a guy who is "party compatible." He likes being the host. He likes that when people come over there's always interesting food on the table. And he's always willing to do the stuff I'm not as good at: bringing folding chairs and tables up from the garage, making sure everyone's got a glass, staying out at the party while I fuss in the kitchen. Also, when we remodeled our house 10 years ago, he designed me the most functional, comfortable, and beautiful kitchen I could have asked for. It's not the biggest, nor the most elegant, but it is truly a cook's kitchen. Lucky, every day.

7. I will love truffles (the fungi in the photo at right, not the chocolates) for the rest of my life.

8. My photography skills are, at best, mediocre - and I'm okay with that. Truthfully, I do get a bit jealous when I see food bloggers with the big cameras, the big lenses, fiddling with the white balance, knowing that they can lighten shadows and change backgrounds and whatever else people do in Photoshop. But I have to do the cost-benefit analysis. I have a full-time job, two kids, a husband, three blogs, and a definite need for eight hours of sleep each night. I'm a writer, not a photographer. So I'm learning to get the most out of my point-and-shoot, use a sheet of printer paper to reflect light, do basic editing in the program that came free with my version of Microsoft Office, and that's that.

9. Although it surprises me, I am now willing to write boring, SEO-friendly headlines so that search engines will find my articles more easily. So much for journalistic standards. Welcome to the new world. Adapt or die.

10. I am territorial in my kitchen. We were lucky enough to have two different professional chefs prepare elegant, multi-course dinners in our home this month. Both times, watching other people take over my kitchen gave me hives. I thought I could handle it. I could not. Next time, Xanax.

11. Writing is better than therapy. The single best thing food writing gave me this year was the ability - no, the mandate - to sit, focused, uninterrupted, and concentrate on one thing at a time. As those of you with jobs and children and husbands and houses know, working moms are the queens of multitasking. I'm right up there with the best of them, but that doesn't mean it's good for me. Everyone needs time to think about One Thing. When I'm writing - about food, about my kids, whatever - I am thinking about the story in front of me, how it moves from beginning to end, whether the words I type truly reflect the thoughts in my head, the voice that goes with my name. When I'm done, I read what I've written and I smile. Yes, that's me.

Happy new year to everyone - may 2010 be the start of a wonderful decade for all.