Are you a cookbook person? I am. Actually, more specifically, I am a book person. I love books. I love bookstores. I love books on shelves. I love book covers. And cookbooks, especially those with beautiful photography, are really one of my biggest weaknesses. But I have to tell you that my cookbooks have been extremely under used, and I’m quite embarrassed by it. Because as much as I love books, finding one specific thing out of many, many books is too hard. It’s just so much easier to grab my laptop, fire up google or even better, food blog search, and find a recipe that is exactly what I’ve been looking for. So the books, sit there, on the shelf, untouched. It is too sad.

I guess it must have been a couple of years ago, I had a crazy thought to build a website to help me start actually using my cookbooks. The point of the site would be to let people create a simple catalog of the cookbooks that they own to help them search through the recipes in those books. Anyone using the site could enter the recipes from one of their cookbooks and then be able to search it from then on out. The scale of the web would mean with enough users, each person would really only need to spend time entering one or two of their own cookbooks, and before long, there would be a very good sized catalog. Or, if all of that failed, at least I’d have a site that I could enter my books and search them.

So, in fits and starts, I eventually built it. It’s called GobbledyBook, and it’s free for anyone to use. I’ve kept kind of quiet about it because, to date, just about the only person who has used it has been me and it’s always a little nerve wracking to have other people start playing with your baby.

I’ve used it quite a bit already. In fact, I’ve entered over 4,500 recipes in more than 40 of my cookbooks. And even though that is only a small part of my cookbook library (yes, I am one of those freaks), it’s already come in handy to help me find the right recipe and actually cook from my cookbooks! Woo Hoo!

The basic scenario is pretty simple. Say, I want to make some bread pudding. I know I have a lot of bread pudding recipes in my cookbooks, but which ones? I’m sure that Donna Hay has a recipe, but I own 6 of her books. With GobbledyBook, I can simply type bread pudding into the search box, and it shows me 26 recipes out of my cookbooks and what page the recipe is on (Donna Hay has a Marmalade Bread and Butter pudding in Modern Classic Vol. 2, page 146, by the way). You can also see a full list of ingredients for the recipe as well as comments. (To actually cook the recipe, you have to go to the cookbook… I’m not trying to steal from cookbooks, just make them easier to use).

Or, maybe I need to bring something gluten free to a pot luck? I can browse all gluten free recipes, and then narrow down the selection by what ingredients I have or the type of food I like to cook, like Italian. I can limit the search to just cookbooks I own, or any cookbook that has been indexed. Then, I just go grab the book off of the shelf (or order it from Powell’s or Amazon!) and get cooking.

It’s also been wonderful for helping me figure out what to do with the ingredients in my market basket each week. Once I get tired of my old standards, I just plug in a couple of ingredients and see what other dishes I can make. Like, for example, this Swiss Chard Frittata that I made for lunch today.

Actually, this is a combination of two recipes… a basic baked frittata and a swiss chard tart recipe from Sunday Suppers at Luques. I didn’t quite have all the right ingredients for the tart, but I did have (most of) the makings for the pine nut relish that tops it. So, keeping with the basic seasonings of the tart, I skipped the crust, bumped up the egg and turned it into a lovely (and gluten free) lunch treat (recipe below!)

Anyway, back to Gobbleybook. As it turns out, I wasn’t the only one with the problem of using their cookbooks, or the idea to solve it. Late last year, another site launched called Eat Your Books. With a slightly bigger staff (than my 1, so anything is bigger!) and interns helping out with the data entry, their catalog is significantly bigger already. Good for them! I’m sure if I hadn’t spent the last couple of years building my own site, I would totally sign up.

There are some differences between GobbledyBook and Eat Your Books though. First and foremost, GobbledyBook will let you catalog your own books, so you don’t have to wait for someone else to add your book. You can just do it yourself (and you’ll most likely find a few great recipes to bookmark along the way… I know I have).

GobbledyBook is also free to use. There are no sign up fees or subscriptions fees, and it is my intention to keep it that way. You sign in with your Facebook account, and you are good to go.

GobbledyBook also lets you enter the data the way you want to and the way the recipe is written. If the recipe calls for spring onions, you enter spring onions. Behind the scenes, we’ll match up ingredients that are the same (so if you search for scallion, you’ll see recipes for green onions as well. Search for soup and you’ll see recipes that are bisques). I’ve had numerous searches on Eat Your Books fail because I didn’t use quite the right search term.

So, if you find yourself wanting to make your cookbook library a little easier to use, I hope you’ll give GobbledyBook a try and enter a cookbook or two. To entice you a bit more, I’m giving away a $50 gift certificate to your choice of Powell’s or Amazon to the first person to catalog 500 recipes!

PS: GobbledyBook is a labor of love. It’s been a long time since I’ve done any “real” software development, so you may, at times, find a glitch or two. If you do, I hope that you let me knows so I can keep making the site better!

I’m becoming a big fan of shiso since Amy planted it in my garden this summer. It’s minty, grassy flavor is just the thing on a hot spell like the one we are having this week (seriously, 103F in Seattle? I did not move here for weeks like this!) So, I was happy to help out with Design Sponge’s In The Kitchen with this recipe for Ginger Shiso Syrup.

What I really love about this syrup (or really, any herbal simple syrup) is how many different things you can do with it. Add a little to something fizzy, citrusy and if you are so inclined, boozy, and you have the perfect drink too cool you down on a day like today (Ginger shiso mojitos anyone?). Or, stir some into a fruit puree, freeze and you have a remarkable sorbet. Or, if you kitchen isn’t hot enough to bake without the use of an oven, try it drizzle over some fruit on a pound cake. Ooo, mama.

For these recipe, head on over to Design Sponge. And for even more summery herby recipes, check out Summer Fest!

I know celebrating Cinco de Mayo has become a much bigger thing here in the US, but hey, any chance to have a party is good enough for me and there’s not much of a better way to celebrate it than with margaritas.

Except, maybe with margarita doughnuts!

Imagine for a second. Fresh, warm cake doughnuts with the lightest, tenderest crumb and a just enough crispness to the crust scented with just a hint of lime, and then glazed with a tangy zippy Tequila Lime glaze and sprinkled with Fleur de Sel. Or, perhaps, filled with the most wonderful lime curd. Sounded good to me!

I can’t really take credit for this wonderful marriage of cocktail and pastry though. I was completely inspired by T’s post a few weeks ago for Margarita cupcakes. I was one of the lucky recipients of that leftover lime curd she made, and while I didn’t actually try one of the cupcakes, I’ve been dreaming of them ever since.

But instead of making cupcakes, I decided on doughnuts. If you are wondering why, I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’m working on a new cookbook for Sasquatch Books. This time, I’m not just photographing it, I’m writing it as well. And the subject? Yep, you guessed it: Doughnuts! The whole cookbook will be about doughnuts. There will be raised dough and cake dough, gluten free dough (with help from Shauna) and vegan dough, fried and baked, and even if it kills me, there will be a honey cruller recipe to rival Tim Hortons. So, you can expect to see a few doughnut recipes around here over the next several months.

If you’ve never made doughnuts at home before, I think you’ll find it’s far easier than you think. You don’t need a fancy doughnut making machine, a deep fryer or even a special cutter (although it is always nice to have an excuse to buy new kitchen toys). I’ve spent the past couple of weeks making batch after batch of doughnuts with nothing more than a biscuit cutter, rolling pin, a large pastry tip (turned upside down to punch out the hole), a big pot on the stove and a good thermometer*.

Oh, my Kitchen Aid mixer with the dough hook comes in handy too, but it’s mostly a nice to have, not a necessity. Particularly not for these easy cake doughnuts.

This doughnut dough recipe is based on a recipe from a little book by Dorian Parker, Doughnuts: Over 3 Dozen Crullers, Fritters and Other Treats, that I found while doing research. There are very few cookbooks out there with doughnut recipes, and almost none that are exclusively doughnuts. Although it was copyrighted in 1994, this book looks more like it came from 1449. It is adorable with cute little illustrations (which are sometimes repeated) throughout and quaint, old-fashioned recipes. Ms. Parker postulates that this recipe is very similar to that of the original Dunkin’ Donuts recipe. For the margarita doughnuts, I left out the nutmeg, replacing it with lime zest. The doughnuts themselves cook up a lovely golden brown with a nice crumb. They are a little heavier than I imagined, but they stand up well to the strong flavors of the glaze.

It’s best to make doughnuts in very small batches, because they are really best eaten the day (and the hour) they are made.

Margarita Doughnuts
Makes about 8 doughnuts and their holes

Doughnuts
2 cups pastry flour
1/4 cup rice flour (or, all-purpose if you don’t have rice flour)
2 t baking powder
2 eggs
1/3 c sugar
1 T unsalted butter, softened
a pinch of salt
1 T lime zest
1/3 c milk
canola oil, if frying

Tequila Lime Glaze
1 cup icing sugar
juice from 1 lime
a drizzle of good tequila

Optional Garnish
Lime curd
Lime zest
Fleur de Sel

If you want to make these with the lime curd filling, pop on over to Eating Suburbia for the lemon curd recipe and simply replace the lemons in the recipe with limes.

Sift the flours and baking powder together. Set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and butter. Add about 1/2 of the flour mixture to the egg mixture, along with the lime zest and salt. Then, add the milk and stir with a wooden spoon until the flour is absorbed. Add the remaining flour and continue to stir until you have a soft dough. Add a little more flour if the dough is too sticky. Shape into a ball, and cover with plastic wrap (or seal the dough in a ziplock bag) and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Place a fine-weave (not terry) towel on a baking sheet and dust lightly with flour (You can also use parchment, but I’ve found cloth works slightly better). When the dough is done resting, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and roll to 1/2 inch thick, or about the width of one of my fingers (I don’t know what size hands you have!) Cut out the doughnuts with a lightly floured cutter. You can use a biscuit cutter or even a glass, but they should be about 3 inches in diameter. If you are making regularly shaped doughnuts, use a smaller cutter (1 inch) or the back-side of a large pastry tip to punch out the hole. If you are going to fill the doughnut with the lime curd, just press down the center until it is as thin as you can make it without actually breaking through (it’s going to rise up a lot when you cook it). Set each doughnut and its hole on the floured towel, and cover. Once you are done cutting them all out, let them rest for about 15 minutes.

Now is a good time to make the glaze. Sift the icing sugar to break up any big chunks, and then add the lime juice. Stir a little to moisten, and then add the tequila a teany-tiny bit at a time, stirring until you get the right consistency for the glaze. It should be fairly thick, but just pourable.

Start to heat your oil to 375F (or your oven to 375F**). You need about 2 inches of oil in the pot. I like to use a small dutch oven… while I can only fry one (two at the most) doughnuts at a time, it uses less oil and is easier to clean up. And, since I’m only making a few doughnuts in a batch, a few extra minutes to do batches isn’t really a problem. When the oil is hot enough, carefully drop in a doughnut and let it cook about 1 minute on each side. The dough should turn a light golden brown… if it is dark, your oil is probably too hot. Flip the doughnut over and cook for another minute. (Doughnut holes may take a little less time, but follow the same procedure) Use a slotted spoon to lift the doughnut from the pot, let it drain off the oil, and then place on a paper towel to absorb any remaining oil. Repeat. Let the doughnuts cool for about 5 minutes.

To glaze, you can either dip the tops or use a pastry brush to lightly coat the tops. If you are using the lemon curd, fill the little indentation that you made. Then, add the lime zest and Fleur de Sel as desired. These are best if served immediately.

*A good thermometer is critical to get the best results for any deep frying. You need one that is fast, and you need one that is very accurate. You may have a candy thermometer on hand already. If you do, it’s a good idea to do a quick check to make sure it is reading correctly. After a few batches of doughnuts that were browning far to quickly, I realized that mine was off badly… somewhere in the neighborhood of 100F. To test your thermometer, bring a pot of water to a boil and see what reading you get. It’s a good idea to go from very cold (a glass of ice water, for example) to the boiling water as well, as that will give you a good sense how long it will take your thermometer to read. I quickly came to the realization that I needed a new one, and after a little research broke down and spent the $90 on a Thermapen. I can’t tell you how happy I am that I did that. It may seem crazy when you can buy a new Taylor candy thermometer for about $15, but the one I was using that was 100F off? It is less than 1 month old. If you are doing any temperature sensitive cooking, it is well worth it to invest in a great thermometer. That said, if you don’t have one, you can get a good guess at the temperature by dropping in a small piece of bread… you want it to sizzle and brown in about a minute. Be sure to pull the bread out of the oil though before adding your doughnuts or it will burn and give your oil an off-taste.

**These doughnuts can be baked for about 15 minutes at 375F, but you’ll want to keep an eye on them as it is very easy to over cook them and then they aren’t particularly good. The crust won’t be quite as nice baked as fried (I’m still working on a way to remedy that problem) and the bottoms are flat, but once you glaze them you’ll hardly notice.

I live in a world where I don’t think much about the prices of food. Much of the food that we have around the house is left-over from some photo shoot I’ve done and in that world, all I’m worried about is whether it is the right product and whether it looks great. Another large percentage comes to me weekly in the form of a CSA delivery and it’s hard to know exactly how much the zucchinis were versus the apples. The rest are other things that I tend to think of as necessities and I buy them based on things like sustainability rather than price. It takes a pretty shocking price tag on something for me to really take notice (over $20 for Mac and Cheese at Stumbling Goat?!? Hello!)

I’m lucky to live in this world of so much wonderful food. Not everyone is, and I that’s why I decided to participate in the Hunger Challenge this week. Between thinking about what food I will make, reading the comments here and watching the discussion on other participating blogs, I don’t think I’ve ever spent so much time thinking about the cost of food.

It has reminded me of when I was growing up and my family did think a lot about how much money we had to go around for the month. And it’s funny to me how much has changed in the way we think about splurges then and now. It’s entirely possible that this is just me, but when I was a kid, craving the latest in junk food as most kids do, I always believed that we couldn’t afford it. The junk food and fast food was the expensive stuff. Now, I’m wondering if it was just a ruse… a very good one… played on me by my mother. As a child, it’s easier to accept “we can’t afford it” than it is “no, that’s bad for you.” So, we never had pop or chips or frozen pizza around the house (we did, however, have Kraft dinner… the one junk food staple that seems has always been cheap. We’d mix it with tuna and mushroom soup or eat it on its own, usually with ketchup). A big dinner out for me was going to Pizza Hut. That was a huge splurge, only warranted by straight A’s on my report card.

But we did eat well at home. Food was mostly made from scratch and we used fresh herbs (usually grown in big pots on the patio) and olive oil. When our house allowed it, we raised rabbits for their meat, and Rabbit Cacciatore was one of my favorite dishes. My father and step-mother even pulled together all of their recipes for the kids as we went off to college… they called it the HOG cookbook… for “Hard times, Old times, Good times.” It’s a collection of recipes that are good but frugal. My dad (who is a bit of a geek like me), recently pulled the whole thing together into a website which you can check out if you are so inclined.

Maybe food costs just really are different now than when I was growing up. Today, it seems that people tend to think it’s a splurge to buy spices or fresh produce or good cooking oil. And it is hard to argue with that. Making food from scratch takes time and investment. It’s a choice that someone has to intentionally take because it’s harder than just grabbing the frozen dinner or the can of soup. To get the bigger payoff, you have to go without some thing in the short term. There are ways around some of the big upfront costs of stocking a pantry… Madison Market has an incredible bulk food section where you can buy small quantities of things like olive oil, flour and spices at reasonable prices and it is always possible to find deals on produce, especially when it is produced locally and in abundance.

But, to take advantage of that, first you have to know about it, second you have to take the time to get to the store fairly regularly and third you have to have the time to plan and cook. None of the recipes I’ve made this week are particularly challenging, costly or even time consuming in and of themselves. But it would be much harder to eat the way that I have this week if I were working full time or had a whole family of kids around to feed. I might be able to stick to the budget for the week or a month or even longer and feel like I’m eating well. But, I have more time, more equipment, more resources that support me than most people out there, even those not on a limited budget.

Now, I’ve rambled on quite a while here about a few of the questions and thoughts that have been going through my head this week… and I think that stirring up those thoughts, and asking ourselves what we can do to help, is really the point of this challenge. Please keep up the great comments! They’ve given me a lot to think about!

Now, onto the food accounting…

Tuesday, I was semi-planning to make a risotto to have along with a nice little tilapia fillet that I found at Metropolitan Market. But, I got hungry in the afternoon, and made a big bowl of popcorn (my favorite junk food) which filled me up a bit longer than I thought it would. So dinner started late, and I decided to make it a bit simpler. I pan fried the tilapia with just a bit of salt, pepper in a tiny bit of organic olive oil (picked up in the bulk section at Madison Market… $1.56 for more than enough for the week which will replace oil I used earlier to hopefully be more in the spirit of the challenge) along with a quick medley of red pepper, onion and zucchini on a bowl of rice ($3.67 for the meal). It was simple, quick and delicious.

Yesterday, I was light on food day during the day… I had a photoshoot to do on location in the middle of the day, which lead me to skimp some on breakfast (espresso, toast) and lunch (an apple). The photoshoot was for Edible Seattle (always a great time), but I had to say no to the homemade chicken karaage that was being made! Sad! (but… the recipe will be a great budget recipe when it comes out in a few months… keep your eyes out for it!). For dinner, I made a recipe from a cookbook I recently picked up, “Beaneaters and Bread Soup” (Lori de Mori; Jason Lowe). This is a fantastic cookbook. It’s packed with beautiful stories about Italian artisan’s, and even more beautiful photos. I just want to live in this book.

I knew there would be a great, frugal recipe in there that would be perfect for this week. There are many, but I decided on a white bean with tomato sauce recipe… the original recipe includes Italian sausage, but I used a couple of slices of bacon instead (I love that you can buy bacon by the piece… I never make it through a whole package).

Again, the recipe is super simple. I used a can of Northern White beans because I hadn’t planned far enough in advance to use dried ones. Toss in a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary, cover, and bake for about 20 minutes. While that is heating, toss the bacon (chopped in narrow strips) into a hot pan and cook for about 3 minutes. Add a bit (1/4 cup for the 2 slices of bacon I used) of canned tomatoes (ideally San Marzano’s… my normal San Marzano’s run about $6.99 for a 32 oz can… but I found some for only $2.99 which were still very good) and a splash of olive oil. Season to taste with salt, black pepper and chile flakes if desired. Once the beans are hot, gently stir in the tomato sauce.

On the side, I made some steamed asparagus with a bechamel sauce on toast. This sauce is absolutely luxurious without being at all pricey. It’s simply milk, butter and flour (with a bit of seasoning). Warm the milk (about a 1/2 cup) and set aside. In another pan, make a roux of butter and flour (equal portions of each… a little less than 1 tablespoon for the amount of milk I used). Cook on low for a few minutes stirring constantly. You don’t want it to brown like you would a roux for a gumbo. Then, add in the warmed milk and stir until smooth (you can stir in more milk, a little at a time, if you want it to be thinner). It should be like velvet. Add salt and pepper to taste (a little nutmeg is a nice addition too).

This amount was far more sauce than I needed for my 6 pieces of asparagus ($1.99 per pound right now!). In fact, I really made far too much food for this dinner entirely… and Cam got to eat the left over 1/2 of beans when he got home from his trip late last night. Not bad for $2.80.
Adding everything up, plus this morning’s breakfast of Oatmeal ala Philip (except with nutmeg in place of the cinnamon and a half pear instead of the raisins), I’m currently at $20.53 for the week, just a few cents below my budget. Tonight’s dinner is posole, which looks like it might push my budget some, but I’m making it for 2 of us and I’m expecting there will still be left-overs that I can polish of for Friday’s lunch.

Coincidentally, as I was leaving Madison Market yesterday getting bulk stuff to replace the stuff I had been using from my pantry, I picked up a copy of Real Change. The story on the front cover? “A bigger slice of the pie: Activiest Joel Bert on food snobbery, class bias and the persistence of hunger in America” If you get a chance, help someone out by picking up one of these papers, and take a read of that article which I found particularly relevant this week… and has given me even more to think about.

I’m not big into Valentines Day… I’m so unaware of it, that this year, forgot to even notice it and booked myself to work. Cameron actually had to say to me, you know, it is Valentines Day today. Oh, yeah.

But, it has turned out to be such a beautiful day… a lovely bit of sunshine just begging me to set work aside for a day, and get out of the house. Which is what I’m just about to go do.

But first, I had to say, even though I’m not a big valentines day kind of person, I am quite enamored of a good bar of chocolate.

And when the lovely folks at Vosges recently sent me a sampler of some of their latest flavors, I found myself developing the most unusual of crushes. There were all kinds of wonderful flavors. The Habana has plantain chips and milk chocolate, and is just a tiny bit salty. Then, there is the Vosges’s take on “you got your chocolate in my peanut butter” that manages to satisfy the Reeses lover in me… it’s all comfort and wonderful without being at all snooty. And I certainly wouldn’t turn my nose up at the Dominican Republic Deep Milk Chocolate or Dark Chocolate bars.

But the bar that really grabbed me may surprise you. My new chocolate crush is on a dark chocolate bar with walnuts and organic enchanted mushroom. Yes, you read that right. Dark chocolate, walnut and mushroom. (and no, they aren’t THAT kind of mushroom).

I was skeptical at first. Why go do something like ruin a beautiful piece of dark chocolate… one that is perfectly tempered, making a perfect snap when breaking off a square. One that when at that perfect temperature softens like velvet. I’m not usually even a fan of nuts in my chocolate… I don’t like anything to get between me and the melty goodness. So, mushroom and chocolate? But, as it turns out, it’s just a lovely combination. The walnuts and mushroom are so subtle they yield along with the chocolate imparting a deep earthiness, and rounding out the bittersweet leaving me with a simple, mmmm and a craving for more. With each subsequent bite, my intrigue grows. Maybe it’s all those antioxidants, or as Chinese tradition asserts, the Reishi mushrooms is the mushroom of immortality. In fact, after nibbling my way through a full square, I’m feeling pretty darn peppy.

So, with that, I’m going to to take advantage of the lovely bluebird winter day we are having here in Seattle today, and spend a bit of time with my own sweetie… the one that I really have a crush on. Chocolate can only hold my interest for so long, you know. Happy Day everyone.