My Ass Would Like to Thank the New York State Board of Law Examiners

I am a savory girl, a salt girl. I know, I know, we have gone over this before. Now, I am not a dessert girl. Yet somehow the combination of salt and sweet, makes dessert an entirely different ballgame. There's something about sea salt sprinkled on top of chocolate that just turns it into something completely new and entirely sublime. It's pretty much the reason why I found the caramel-chocolate matzoh so addictive, it was the crunchy studs of salt that heightened everything else on board.

That is why this article in the New York Times this week, at any other point this year, would have immediately driven me to drop everything, make dough and will myself not to eat it while it was supposed to be "resting" in the fridge. I somehow would have found it in me to let [at least most of] the dough rest for the 36 hours before scooping it out onto baking sheets and gleefully sprinkling sea salt on top. Yet, because of this bar exam, I could do no such thing. I could not taste the dough after twelve, after twenty-four, after thirty-six hours; I could not eat, um, just one of them before giving the rest away to my dear, dear friends (because yes, that is precisely what I would do with a batch of warm, gooey, salt-topped cookies). There is no time for 36 hours of resting time and scooping out and baking of cookies. And for that, NY Board of Law Examiners, my ass thanks you. Oh yea, my thighs thank you too.

If any of you have found the time to make the recipe, please do let me know how it turns out!*

* Translation: Please find the time to make this, and allow me the pleasure of discovering for myself how they turned out by sending them in a care package delivered to my door.

Finding Sanity in Simplicity

I would like to start off by apologizing for my absence. It's been a rough couple of weeks - first my camera stopped fully functioning (still doesn't really work, but I'm making due for now), then my computer stopped working, then the hard drive had to be replaced, and then I really had to start working.

This bar exam thing is really a doozy. The studying seems endless, and sometimes pointless, and yet there is no choice but to keep truckin' on. Everybody says that the intensity really builds up after the July 4th holiday, and yet I am starting to feel as if I can't possibly handle another month of this (or 24 days, to be exact - eek!).

At the same time, this whole studying thing is allowing me to get into a routine, where I am eating healthy (and well), walking tons, and sleeping well. This hasn't been terribly hard thus far - there's really only so much I can possibly study each day. As the day of the test draws near, though, I can't help but worry that the eating well part is going to drop off. The time that I have been taking out of pretty much each day to prepare myself a nice meal is something that I fear will be one of the first things to go as the intensity skyrockets.



Some things, though, are just so simple, and yield such a big reward, that the busiest among us can find the time to make them happen. No-knead bread, which took the food blogging world by storm after Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery shared his recipe with Mark Bittman and the New York Times, is one such thing. There is honestly nothing more comforting or rewarding than baking a loaf of tasty, chewy, crusty homemade bread. Especially when the physical work put into such bread takes no more than 3 minutes total, making it, by far, low-maintenance dough you could possibly imagine.

The dough is mixed the night before baking, left on the counter without the faintest cry for attention, until the next day, when bubbles have formed along the surface. The time commitment therefore is about 75 seconds on the first day, though this creeps up a bit on day two, when the dough must sit and rise for another two hours before baking for about 45 minutes. There's obviously no requirement that you sit around your house and watch the dough rise for another couple of hours, but in reality that's what's likely going to end up happening, though these two hours are a great time to go to the gym, take a nap, or even learn the fundamentals of the law of contracts and sales, or, you know, something fun.



Having been a yeast-o-phobe for so long, this dough is incredibly forgiving. No-knead bread is no misnomer; this bread gets it's amazing texture and moisture from the large amount of water in the dough and an incredibly long rise. There's no kneading, period. The reward is exponential considering the effort and cost put into it. This bread is among the best I've had in an incredibly long time, the crust is perfect, chewy without being too hard, and the huge crumb and large holes in the bread itself give it an amazing texture.

This month is going to be among the worst I've experienced in a very long time, and quite possibly the worst I will experience in my legal career. But, hey, at least criminal law is that much better with a side of homemade bread, warm from the oven.

No-Knead Bread
The New York Times, November 8, 2006
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

I have made this bread with both all-purpose and bread flours, and I prefer the texture of the bread flour version ever so slightly, though both loaves were delicious and gobbled up without complaint. It's a great accompaniment to pretty much anything - I have taken to eating it in hunks with cheese, pate and other yummies, though it's unbeatable just coated with a thick layer of butter and some coarse salt.

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic - [I used cast iron with excellent results]) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

In a Moment

Once upon a time, I shunned red meat. It happened a couple of times, for a couple of years at a time. Even during the periods in which I was a veritable carnivore, I never really took to lamb. However, at this exact moment, I cannot even begin to imagine why I would ever do such a ridiculous thing. It was probably because my mother can’t stand it, so I just followed her lead and declared myself against eating this poor little animal. I came to, though, and am I ever happy I did.

Lately I’ve found myself eating lamb more than I possibly could have imagined a mere year ago, no doubt to make up for all the lost time. While a rack of lamb is a nice special treat every once in a while, it is expensive to eat often (and really, just not all that good for you). When I get the hankering for lamb, but don’t want to spend a lot of money or a lot of time making it, I have been turning to a refreshingly simple and delicious recipe.

Lamb and mint are well-known companions, yet for some reason this mint is often turned into a ghastly, terrifying jelly form. Why would somebody do such a thing? Mint has such a great, crisp, clean flavor, once that pairs so excellently with the gaminess of the lamb. Why turn it into a textural malady, into a greenish glop on the side of the plate that will likely (hopefully) go ignored?

Mint is given a proper role in this dish, one that allows the flavor to pop, a lovely complement to the strength of the feta, the subtle kick from the garlic and the earthiness of the lamb. The dish is so simple and effortless that it can be prepared on a moment’s notice, which is quite fortunate for me, since I rarely find myself with more than a moment now this bar exam business is in full swing. Its flavors are so classic and simple that you might find that moment popping up quite often.




Lamb Sausage Patties with Fresh Mint, Feta and Garlic
Molly Wizenberg, Bon Appétit, February 2008

This recipe has really become a sort of go-to for me. I have a feeling the result might be the same for you.

1 1/2 pounds ground lamb (shoulder recommended)
2 large garlic cloves, pressed
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Place lamb in large bowl. Sprinkle garlic and salt over lamb. Gently toss lamb to blend. Combine feta and mint in small bowl.

Divide lamb into 12 equal mounds. Using damp hands, shape each into ball. Working with 1 ball at a time, poke thumb into center to make a hole. Press 1 teaspoon feta-mint filling into hole. Pinch hole closed, then press ball between palms to flatten into 3/4-inch-thick disk. Repeat with remaining lamb and feta-mint filling. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Transfer to baking sheet. Cover and refrigerate.

Preheat oven to 250°F. Heat olive oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Working in 2 batches, cook lamb sausages until browned on both sides and cooked to desired doneness, about 3 minutes per side for medium. Transfer sausages to rimmed baking sheet and place in oven to keep warm. Serve hot and enjoy.

The Fat Kids Brunch Club

As law school was winding down and the weather was looking up, a few of us decided that Wednesday afternoons were not for spending in school. Instead, we would travel up to the South Loop and hit up some brunch. We dubbed ourselves the Fat Kids Brunch Club, since there was really no reason for us to gorge ourselves the way we usually did at said events. Though the FKBC only met a couple of times, they were two quite enjoyable experiences.

The first meeting of the FKBC occurred at the Bongo Room (as would all subsequent FKBC meetings were Sara to have her way). We each ordered our own meal and split an order of pancakes in what would become a theme of these meals together. I'm typically not one for ordering pancakes, since they're so easily and cheaply made at home, but it's a bit more justifiable when you're sharing with friends.



Though the Bongo Room is a brunch spot, and a local favorite at that, I had sampled a few of their breakfast offerings at their Wicker Park location prior to this visit. Not feeling quite in the breakfast mood myself, I went for the Smoked Chicken Asian Salad, which featured smoked chicken breast, honey roasted peanuts, snap peas, yellow and red bell pepper, shredded carrots and rice noodles above mixed greens, all finished with a sesame vinaigrette. The salad was pretty well balanced, if a little standard, though the smoking of the chicken was done with the skin still on, so it achieved a nice moist quality. The noodles were a bit thick for how delicate the rest of the salad was, and had been advertised in the menu as glass noodles. I think the original menu offering would have been better suited to the salad, since it would not have overwhelmed the other ingredients as much. Overall, though, it was a pretty good salad, and a quite large one at that.



The pancake order was a pumpkin pancake topped with a maple glaze (at least I think it was maple, though I could be totally wrong). The pancakes themselves were great (not to mention partially devoured before my camera could get to them) – fluffy and sky-high, with the perfect balance of pumpkin pie spices that I love so. The glaze, though, was incredibly overwhelming, leading me to burrow underneath the top layer with my fork in hopes of retrieving some dry pancake. The rest of theFKBC members, though, seemed to really enjoy the glaze, so I will leave it at that.

The atmosphere at the South Loop Bongo Room location is a bit different from that of the Wicker Park location, mostly owing to the South Loop location’s larger square footage. There are large windows and a great deal of sunlight pouring through them, making the small amount of artificial light from the bulbs nearly unnecessary.

The second meeting of the Fat Kids Brunch Club occurred, after some persuasion of
Sara by myself, Simone and Mel, at Orange, which also has couple of locations further up North. The space is kind of bizarre, as it is in the bottom floor of an office building with no bathrooms of its own, forcing its patrons through a complex maze of hallways and foyers when nature beckons. It was a bit dingy, sparsely decorated, but not unpleasant since it was spacious and full of light.



This time, I went for the Pan Seared Oatmeal, mostly because it was too intriguing to pass up. Essentially this dish is steel cut oatmeal, which has been cooked with apple cider, cream and spices, forced into a dense block and pan-seared served drizzled with apple cider reduction and mixed dried fruits (in my case it was apricots, golden and regular raisins and apples – I’m not sure if they switch this up). It was an interesting concept, and I think it was executed as well as could be. It was astonishingly dense, and a half of the serving filled me up beyond belief. There was something going on there that was throwing me off a bit though, and I cannot seem to put my finger on it, though I have a strong suspicion that it was the texture. I had expected something more supple, with a bit more creaminess and wetness to it, and I really had expected it to come to my plate in a round, and not a square. In the end, I’m glad I tried it, but I’m not sure I would order it again, nor am I sure that the way I imagined it would have been a success.



The pancake order for the table was a special, peaches and cream, a downright classic. The pancakes were your standard, run of the mill, buttermilk pancakes, but they had great flavor and texture. They were topped with some peach slices and a cream-like sauce with a texture reminiscent of yogurt. I thought it was pretty decent, but there could have been a lot more, especially with two large pancakes – there was just not nearly enough to sufficiently cover the pancake, especially if you’re not eating them as a stack.

Orange apparently offers orange-flavored coffee, the idea of which I find repulsive. Needless to say, I went with the ordinary coffee. The water though, is served with cucumbers in it, which happens to be something I quite enjoy. Both experiences were very enjoyable, though I’m sure they were heightened by a significant degree by my company. I have not dined at the other Orange locations, so I cannot say which of the two I prefer, though friends of mine really enjoy the outpost on Clark Street. As far as the Bongo Room goes, I prefer the original Wicker Park location, hands down, the atmosphere is superior and the window seats make for great people watching.

Bongo Room
1152 S. Wabash Ave. (between E. 11th St. and E. Roosevelt Ave.)
Chicago, IL 60605
(312) 291-0100

Other Location:
1470 N. Milwaukee Ave. (between N. Honore and W. Evergreen St.)
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 489-0690

Orange
75 West Harrison St. (between S. Federal and S. Clark St.)
Chicago, IL 60605
(312) 447-1000

Other Location:
2011 W. Roscoe St. (between N. Seely St. and N. Damen Ave.
Chicago, IL 60618
(773) 248-0999

3231 N. Clark St. (between W. School St. and W. Belmont Ave.)
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 549-4400

A Red Velvet Goodbye

Last weekend, two of my very dear friends moved away – from Chicago to Michigan. The whole weekend was full of reminiscing and celebrating, especially since Stephen had just graduated from law school. It was sad, yet exciting, and would have been far more sad were there not an expiration date on my time in Chicago already firmly set.

Since I often know how to best express myself with food and baked goods, I found out from Diane that Stephen has a very soft spot for red velvet cupcakes. I had never made red velvet before, nor had I really ever understood the crazy appeal of them – I’m not huge on chocolate cake, and I have been trying to stay away from processed foods, so dumping entire containers of red food dye into the batter didn’t seem like the best idea. After all, is a red velvet cupcake not just a mild chocolate cupcake masquerading itself as something far more special? People love them though, and lines form outside of Magnolia bakery in the city for them (among various other types of cupcakes, of course – but their recipe calls for buttercream frosting on their red velvet – what’s up with that?).




So I went ahead and made them anyway. And - they changed my mind. They were moist - incredibly moist actually, probably owing to the buttermilk - and amazingly light, with just a tinge of chocolate flavor. The chocolate was not in the least bit cloying or overwhelming, just slightly discernable, without enough presence to really turn somebody like me - who isn’t usually into chocolatey-rich desserts - off. The cream cheese frosting – that’s the kicker. I’m pretty sure it’s impossible NOT to like cream cheese frosting.

Being a red velvet novice – never really having even eaten more than one bite of red velvet at a time, I was unsure how these stacked up against other such cupcakes. Stephen, Diane and everyone else agreed, though, and they were met with rave reviews, so I guess I did something right. They departed with a few leftover cupcakes – something for them to remember me by.



Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes 24 cupcakes

I think cake flour is integral to this recipe – my box says that it is 27 times finer than regular, all-purpose flour, which means that the resulting cake was that much lighter and airier. I made 2/3 of this recipe, which led to some complications with measuring, but I still wound up with 18 beautiful and moist cupcakes.

For the cupcakes:

3 ½ cups cake flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa (not Dutch Processed – I used Hershey’s and it worked marvelously)
1 ½ teaspoons salt
2 cups canola oil
2 ¼ cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
6 tablespoons red food coloring (3 ounces – three bottles of individually-packaged red food dye)
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
1 ¼ cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 ½ teaspoons white vinegar

Adapted from Elisa Strauss’ “The Confetti Cakes Cookbook” via Smitten Kitchen

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place paper muffin liners in the indents of two muffin tins. Alternatively, butter the sides of each muffin indent generously.

2. Whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl.

3. Place oil and sugar in a large bowl and beat at medium speed until well blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. At low speed, very slowly add red food coloring. (Note: do this carefully, since it might splash and it will stain if it gets on your clothing.) Add vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.

4. Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with mixer running. Beat for 10 seconds.

5. Divide batter among muffin tins (fill about ¾ of the way full – a little bit more if you’d like bigger cupcake tops, but be careful when you remove them from the pan so that the top doesn’t start to split from the bottom), place in oven and bake until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean, about 20 minutes (Check a couple minutes early, mine were cooked perfectly at 18 minutes). Let cool in pans 20 minutes. Remove from pans and place on wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
From Smitten Kitchen

This recipe makes enough to frost each cupcake quite generously

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature (buy the kind in the block)
½ cup butter, unsalted, room temperature
3 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl. With a handheld electric mixer, beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla. Beat, on low speed to combine. If too soft, chill until slightly stiff, about 10 minutes, before using.