Harry Potter is undoubtfully a marker of our generation and what it means to have grown up in the ‘90s and 2000s. We’re not the “Baby Boomers,” we’re the “Harry Potter Generation;” and, hey, I’m okay with that. Few other books or series have been the complete phenomenon that is Harry Potter, spurring books, movies, and a theme park — not to mention Robert Pattinson’s career (well, I mean, nothing’s perfect). Rowling’s work has created a magical world that people can take refuge in, allowing readers to lose themselves in the corridors of Hogwarts and helping millions find a love for reading. I’m proud to say that I’m a member of the Harry Potter Generation and that these books were there as I was growing up — I bet the Boomers are feeling a little jealous right now, don’t you?

I still remember reading The Sorcerer’s Stone for the first time in elementary school. I was amazed by the world that seemed so real. But what really got my attention was the food. After wishing more than anything that I could fly or have a wand, it was the Hogwarts’ feasts that I most wanted in my life. Rows of seemingly endless dishes and desserts was (and still is) a dream of mine. I could just imagine myself being at the holiday meals — pretty much a Thanksgiving dinner on steroids. So needless to say, I deemed it necessary to recreate a little bit of this magic by making what I consider to be the quintessential Harry Potter recipe: treacle tart.

While I didn’t officially know what was in treacle tart until last night, I always considered it synonymous with the books. So fun fact for all of you who don’t what’s in it: it’s actually a tart filled with a “golden syrup,” a molasses-like liquid and breadcrumbs, which gives it a chewy texture similar to pecan pie. Who would’ve guessed? Not me; I honestly thought it was chocolate. Nonetheless, I decided to make this traditional English dessert to celebrate the final movies in the Harry Potter series, hoping I can steal a little bit of the House Elves magic.

Ingredients:

Tart Crust
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter
2 large egg yolks
½ heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling
1 cup light molasses
2 ¼ cups fresh breadcrumbs
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 egg

1. To begin, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Break the 2 sticks of butter into chunks and scatter over the mixture, combining until none of the white powder is visible.

2. Now, beat the two egg yolks with the cream and vanilla extract. Add this to the flour-butter combination, mixing until the dough forms a cohesive ball — if it’s too dry, add a tablespoon of cream. Take the dough, divide it into two equal portions, and form them into disks. Wrap these in plastic wrap and chill for a minimum of 3 days.

3. While the dough is finishing its chill, start on the filling. In a pot, warm in the molasses until it starts to get runny. Now, combine the heated syrup, breadcrumbs, lemon zest, and lemon juice, mixing well.

4. Preheat your oven to 400F and take the dough out of the refrigerator.  Flour your counter (or table) well and roll out one of your disks into an 11-inch circle. Now, fold into quarters, brushing off excess flour, and unfold it in a 9-inch tart pan. Carefully, press the dough into all the crevices of the fluted sides. To finish, trim the excess dough so that it’s even with the rim of the pan.

5. Roll out your second disk until it’s roughly 1/8 inch thick. Cut the dough into strips to eventually top the tart.

6. Pour the filling into the dough-lined tart pan, smoothing out the top with a spoon or spatula. To create a lattice top, lay half of your dough strips in one direction and the other half perpendicularly. Trim the overhang. Brush the top with a beaten egg to ensure a golden and delicious crust.

7. Finally, bake for 10 minutes, then turn down the oven to 375F and bake another 25 minutes, or until the crust is browned and the filling starts to puff up in the center.

8. Enjoy! I suggest serving with vanilla ice cream and freshly whipped cream.

The tart was delicious and definitely very Harry Potter-y. So, what I suggest is that everyone takes a break from homework and studying, put on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (a random, yet perfect choice), make this dessert, and transport yourself to a magical world.

Note: The recipe was taken from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook.

If your fall Saturday mornings are anything like mine, they start with an 8 AM “alarm” of blaring speakers playing the Michigan fight song and a voice from down the hall failing to attempt mimicking a sports announcer, “it’s gaaaaame day”.  I pull my pillow over my head to drown out the noise.  Unfortunately, that move is extremely unpractical since the noise doesn’t go away and it’s never been easy to fall back asleep while suffocating yourself. So, I crawl out of bed and open my door to see multiple roommates have already showered and began blow-drying their hair. I’m behind.  Luckily, the night before I’ve picked out all of my blue and maize apparel and gear to blend in with the masses of crazed students. Once I’m fully dressed, the excitement takes over.  All I want to do is teleport to the pregame location and get the tailgating started. But wait, a day full of walking, talking, watching, standing, and possibly some other fun activities doesn’t allow much time for a meal.  Although I’m in a rush to tailgate, I’ve made the mistake of skipping breakfast before. Not today. Last night, I prepared some grab and go mini quiches that just require a short ‘nuke. The protein from the turkey sausage and egg and the carbohydrates from the phyllo dough coat my stomach to ensure that I remember the entire football game, and better yet- make it there.  Your friends will be impressed with the presentation and the taste when you hand them one of these muffin-sized breakfast treats.  Only you’ll know, you secretly only had extras because there are six cups in the muffin tin and you didn’t want an uneven bake.   Next, I pour my coffee drink into my M Go Blue mug to sip on during the morning. The caffeine gives me the jolt of energy to start conversations with the hundreds of friends, fanatics, family, and randoms I’m about to run into. The hidden “spike” of the coffee gives me an excuse to discriminate those doomed visitors boasting unfamiliar colors.  Now, here are the recipes to create the perfect football Saturday, balancing yum and fun. Go Blue!

Mini-Quiches

What you’ll need:
  -Giant muffin tin (=6 muffins), greased
  -9 eggs, whisked (can substitute equivalence of egg beaters)
  -1/4 cup milk
  -6 precooked turkey sausage links, chopped
  -6 asparagus stalks, diced
  -1/2 red bell pepper, diced
  -1 1/2 cup Gruyere cheese (can substitute whatever cheese you have on hand)
  -6 phyllo dough sheets
  -Salt, pepper, and vegetable oil to taste

How to prepare:
Fold one sheet of phyllo dough in half to create a double layer.  Line each muffin tin with one folded sheet and push slightly into bottom. Cut off excess phyllo dough on ends.  Sauté asparagus and red bell pepper over medium-high heat on stove with a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil, salt, and pepper.  Spread vegetables evenly into each phyllo covered muffin cup. In a separate bowl, combine eggs and milk and pour evenly into muffin cups. Next, top with chopped turkey sausage and sprinkle with cheese. Bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or until egg is cooked thoroughly. Enjoy now or place covered quiches into refrigerator and warm for 30 seconds in the microwave in the morning.

Spiked Coffee (Must be 21 to drink)
 Individual serving size

-1 cup brewed black coffee
-1 shot Bailey’s
-1 shot vanilla vodka

Mix all ingredients together in a coffee mug. Stir gently and heat in microwave if needed.

Award winning actress, country music star, and rapper, Gwyenth Paltrow is now trying her hand at a new trade: cooking. Over the summer the star that we know and love from blockbusters like Iron Man and Shakespeare in Love released her first ever cookbook, My Father’s Daughter, in honor of her departed father. Inspired by Bruce Paltrow’s love of food, along with the healthy/organic/unprocessed foods movement sweeping the nation, GP offers a collection of recipes meant to promote celebration and “togetherness.” After a section explaining how to use the book followed by GP’s guide to adequately stocking one’s pantry—don’t worry, suggestions for affordable substitutions are provided alongside the crazy ingredient list—the recipes are organized into eight sections: soups, salads, burgers and sandwiches, pastas, main courses, side dishes, breakfast, and desserts. Though some critics complain that, like her blog “goop,” GP’s cookbook is a little too preachy—presuming to tell us regular folks what we should be eating, without having the credentials to back up those claims—GP did have professional help from chef Julia Turshen. Other critics such as David Liebowitz and Kate Gerlach praise GP for her simple and tasty recipes, claiming that My Father’s Daughter would make a useful addition to anyone’s pantry. And with a foreword by Mario Batali professing Paltrow’s “passion for the delicious” it’s hard not to at least give My Father’s Daughter a chance. I’m happy to add her yummy Kale Chips, homemade Veggie Burgers, Lalo’s Famous Cookies, and Chicken Milanese to my recipe box.

As we move from summer into tailgate season it’s the perfect time to switch up some favorite backyard BBQ dishes to new and refreshing tailgating snacks.  One favorite of mine is the classic bowl of chips and salsa.  Chips and salsa are always a huge hit with everybody, and is especially exciting for me to see on the grazing table since I have to eat gluten free.  Also some major pluses to this easy appetizer (just 6 steps!) is that it can be thrown together at the last minute and is super cheap, making it affordable on any college budget.  Here’s an amazing salsa recipe that I had the other day at a BBQ and would be perfect before any Michigan victory!

Ingredients:
1 can white corn
1 can black beans
1 red onion
1 avocado
1 jar salsa
1 container of limejuice
Handful of cilantro

Steps:
1)     Chop cilantro (add amount to taste)
2)     Chop red onion into fine pieces 
3)     Slice avocado into fine pieces
4)     Rinse black beans in separate bowl
5)     In large bowl combine all ingredients and mix
6)     Enjoy!

I made the “tamarind-glazed pork burger with red cabbage saw and grilled pineapple” from The Good Stuff cookbook last weekend and it blew my taste buds away. Without hesitation, I can say it was the best burger I ever tasted. The complexity of flavors and textures practically danced together in my mouth in perfect harmony. What I especially liked about this burger was how many parts of it were made from scratch. For example, when making the red-cabbage cole-slaw, not only do you pickle your own carrots and daikons, but you make your own mayonnaise for it as well. Although producing everything from scratch made the burger that much more special, it took a good three hours from start to finish. In order to cut down on the prep time, I’d simply prepare the slaw and glaze the day before, which would also allow the flavors to really meld together nicely. I recommend this burger to anyone but just a fair warning: after eating this, you may never be satisfied by another burger again.

When you think of a crock-pot, you might picture soccer moms, old couples, or big families, but consider this:

1. Savory, homemade meals
   
2. You can leave it cooking all day and have dinner ready for you when you get home
   
3. Easy to prepare
   
4. Usually big enough to make food for a whole house full of people
   
5. Stew, meatloaf, chili, soup, chicken wings, pasta, desserts and much more
   

As a college student, this sounds pretty awesome. I hate having to pick up a muffin and a coffee at the library to hold me over until I get home to make something quick or buy something. Imagine: Before you go to bed, prepare your ingredients (cut your veggies, defrost your meat, etc.) and before you leave for class just throw your ingredients in the crock-pot and turn it on. By the time you get done with all your classes, clubs, activities, and have sufficiently worked up an appetite, you’ll have a hot homemade dinner waiting for you. You really can make a lot of great recipes (including awesome desserts!) in a slow cooker, and, usually, they are super easy.

This also works well if you have roommates because most slow cookers are made to serve big families. Split the cost of groceries so that the price of ingredients is not too bad for everyone, switch turns being the one to prepare, and all of you can have great meals all the time.

Just the other day, I was able to tackle what could normally be a difficult feat with my slow cooker: I made a perfect roast for two in 2 ½ hours while studying. Just so you can see how easy it is, here’s the recipe:

1 ½ lbs beef chuck roast
1 small onion cubed
2 potatoes cubed
2 carrots cut in 2 in. sections
1 clove garlic minced
¼ cup water
¼ cup red wine (optional)

1. Salt and pepper to taste (you salt and pepper the roast very well and then salt the veggies before you put in the meat).
   
2. Put the vegetables in the crock-pot and lay the meat on top. Then add the liquid. Set to about 2 ½ hours (or see the manual of your particular model for suggestions).
   

This article is part of our New Cooks page, a safe and inviting place where no one will mock you for burning that ****ing quiche.

We are fortunate in this day and age to have quality ingredients for affordable prices.  Many dishes today were considered delicacies a century (if not a few decades) ago because of how hard it was to get the ingredients.  But today they’re readily available.  We also have large, powerful organizations dedicated to ensuring the quality of almost every ingredient—meat and produce especially.  So, the next time you go to the supermarket, consider whether someone a hundred years ago could have found those ingredients. 

Here’s a list of ingredients you should keep stocked in your pantry. These can be used in a lot of recipes and they keep nearly indefinitely (if they are stored correctly).  A lot of these come from Mark Bittman, author of Food Matters, The Food Matters Cook Book, and How to Cook Everything.  The latter two are cookbooks, and I would highly recommend them to anyone.  Trust me:  He knows what he’s talking about.

1. Extra Virgin Olive Oil. A good value brand that’s a little higher quality is DaVinci Olive Oil.  But if you want to spend less, the quality will probably suffer.
   
2. Vegetable Oil or Corn Oil. Useful for oiling pots and pans in baking and sautéing.
   
3. Rice (both long grain and short grain).  Arborio is great short grain rice, and you can find it at most supermarkets.  The most well-known long grain rice is Basmati, but it’s also more expensive.  The taste is nuttier and the texture is fluffier.
   
4. Pasta.  There are so many brands that choosing pasta can be confusing. I usually buy De Cecco or Barilla, but that’s just me.
   
5. Beans (dried and canned).  My big two are cannelini and kidney beans (for risotto and chili, respectively).  There are so many it’s hard to keep track of, but the most popular ones are cannelini, black, red, and pinto beans.  But really, buy these on an as needed basis, get a feel for what recipes you like to make and then buy them in advance.
   
6. Spices and Dried Herbs. Vital for an aspiring gastronome, so remember the big three: oregano, basil, and thyme.  Again, your taste will really determine what you stock.  If you don’t know what you like, try buying a small spice wheel and experimenting.
   
7. Flours and Cornmeal.  Depending on what you’re making, you’ll buy either cake, all-purpose, or bread flour.  Pay attention to which one you buy!  You could end up with nice dough or a liquid mess depending on which one you use.
   
8. Canned Tomatoes.  Fresh is better, but these work for sauces and other dishes.
   
9. Canned or Packaged Stock. Chicken and beef stock are used in many recipes, sauces for instance.  Vegetable stock is also available for those of you going vegetarian.
   
10. Aromatic Vegetables.  Onions, garlic, carrots, and celery.  These are absolute musts if you want to try Italian, French, Spanish, or even Creole cooking.  They are also the bases of Soffritto, the foundation of countless Italian recipes.  There is a French equivalent on Wikipedia called Mirepoix that is very similar to the Italian Soffritto.
    
11. Baking soda, Baking powder, and Cornstarch.
    
12. Eggs.  Eggs are used in making pasta, cakes, breads, desserts, and many more.  Plus, they’re great sources of protein, vitamins and minerals.  Be careful with eggs.  Keep them cold and don’t keep them longer than two weeks.  Old eggs can be really nasty.
    
13. Parmesan Cheese.  This stuff is amazing. It’s like the Swiss army knife of the kitchen.  It’s salty and savory, and, when it melts, it makes a great binder in sauces.  Buy some!  If you want to buy something special, look for Parmigiano-Reggiano. It’s the real version of parmesan cheese from Italy.  It will be a block, almost always a wedge, and it will be very hard.  You will need a cheese grater.
    
14. Nuts and Seeds. A very efficient source of protein and fats.  Your cookies and salads will thank you.
    
15. Lemons and Limes.  Useful for making vinaigrettes, sauces, marinades, and some beverages, if that’s your thing. Also, there are bottles of lemon and lime juice for sale.  Be careful with these: some may be more concentrated than others. Check the label for recipe equivalents.
    
16. Vinegar. Used in many marinades, every pickling solution, and loads of salad dressings.  It is versatile and comes in about a bazillion varieties. Take your pick. 
    
17. Butter.  Margarine is also a cost effective alternative, but you will need one of them in the kitchen.  
    
18. Sugar and Honey.  If you’re big on baking, get granular and confectioners’ sugar.  Honey comes in a few varieties, but the ones suggested by Cooks Illustrated are orange blossom or clover honeys.  Both of these are lighter in flavor, it doesn’t overpower other flavors.
    
19. Long-lasting Fruits and Vegetables.  Apples, oranges, potatoes, etc.  These are great for snacking, and they’re healthy and surprisingly rejuvenating—except for the potatoes.  Don’t snack on those raw. Bad idea. 
    
20. Condiments.  Ketchup, mustard, mayo, etc.  Your choice really depends on what you like to make and eat.
    

Other ingredients should be bought on an as-needed basis.  I mentioned in the beginning of the article that produce and meat are inspected and approved for us, but they don’t keep as long.  So buying those ingredients once a week is probably your best bet.  Stocking milk, frozen vegetables, fresh herbs, bread crumbs, and other desirables would be a good idea as well.

Now, there has been a lot of talk about organic, free trade and numerous other more “noble” and “healthy” types of ingredients.  Harold McGee, one of the foremost authorities on the science of cooking, clears this up pretty well in Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes.  It has no recipes, but it goes over the specifics of preparing ingredients in anything from appetizers to desserts.  I recommend it for anyone who wants to explore techniques and cooking further.  Here’s a list of food labels if you want to eat more conscientiously:

Organic refers to production without use of industrial fertilizers, pesticides, genetically modified crops, or most additives.  Many antibiotics are kept out as well.

Sustainable products are those produced with minimal damage to local and global environments as well as wild populations.

Humane products take quality of life into account.  Companies labeling their products as humane try to reduce suffering of animals as much as possible throughout production.  Free range chicken is an example of one such product.

Selective products do not use genetically modified crops, certain hormones or antibiotics, feeds, preservatives, or other additives.  Breeding high quality strains of produce is a selective process.

Fair Trade products ensure farmers in third world countries receive fair prices.

Local is self explanatory:  the products don’t travel far.  Farmers markets are great sources of local food.  In fact, Ann Arbor has a great Farmer’s Market at 315 Detroit Street in Kerrytown on Saturdays from 8am to 3pm.  Yes, even in winter.

So, now you should have an idea of how to begin stocking your pantry.  If I missed anything you think someone should have, go ahead and leave a comment.

Winter is here, and that means biting cold, bitter north winds, and enough snow to choke a Yeti. But it also means that one has the perfect excuse to consume inordinate amounts of hot chocolate without feeling too much guilt. So the winter weather may not be so bad after all, especially for daring chocolate tasters. 

Now, when it comes to hot chocolate, there is a plethora of choices that are available to the discerning chocolateer, and one of the most interesting and daring choices is Xocolatl (pronounced chuck-o-LAH-tay) Chocolate, by Dagoba Chocolate. 

Xocolatl Chocolate deserves special mention because it is so unlike most chocolate mixes, and it is most definitely not for the faint of heart. Containing cacao powder, bits of pure, dark chocolate, cane sugar, chili, and cinnamon, it is a concoction that definitely “kicks it up a notch,” as Emeril would say. It is more like drinking a cup of fire than a cup of hot chocolate, and one should take that warning quite seriously.   

Such hyperbole aside, Xocolatl Chocolate is seriously quite spicy, and it makes for one memorable chocolate experience. Based on the uber-traditional chocolate recipes out of Aztec Mexico, Xocolatl Chocolate stays true to chocolate’s roots. The ancient Aztecs had no access to sugar in their land, and so they used what was available to them—vanilla, chilies, and cornmeal—to flavor their drink, which gave it its distinct, bitter flavor, and Xocolatl Chocolate reflects this tradition. True, Dagoba does include cane sugar in their mix, but this is hardly noticeable, and it does nothing to make the drink anything like the European version of it. The Nahuatl (Aztec) word “xocolatl,” roughly translates as “bitter drink,” and that is a very apt description of Dagoba’s drink, for it is bitter, spicy, and definitely not what the average chocolate consumer is accustomed to drinking. 

The Spanish Missionary Jose de Costa once described Aztec chocolate as being “loathsome to such as are not acquainted with it, having a scum and froth that is [a] very unpleasant taste,” and although I would not go so far as to say that this drink is loathsome, I would say that it is most definitely an acquired taste. Xocolatl Chocolate is in an entirely different league from European chocolates, both in taste and conception, and one should bear that in mind before trying this drink. To put it quite simply, Xocolatl Chocolate runs altogether counter to what the popular idea of chocolate is in our culture, but I do think that it is worth a try. If one is especially daring, or if one wants to try to melt their face off after an especially cold winter’s day, Xocolatl Chocolate, by Dagoba Chocolate, is worth a shot.  

Having recently lived in New York for a few months last summer I was thrilled when I heard that Sarabeth’s Bakery, a mouthwatering bakery I’d come to love in Chelsea Market, was releasing a cookbook. The cookbook itself is beautiful. 305 pages, 296 of which are full of recipes for cookies, cakes, breads Ice creams and jams. The other nine pages? Conversion charts and a full index to make your life easier. The photos are simplistic and beautiful with funny bakery staff poses popping in from time to time. The pages have a beautiful over arching design and look more like poetic prose than a recipe. 

The pages, full of promise, I had a hard time choosing my test recipes. Croissants or English Muffins? Chocolate chubbies or a pumpkin pie? I finally settled on Chocolate Clouds and Rosemary Focaccia bread. The Chocolate Clouds had a promising photo of golden brown chocolate chip cookies with a cracked top leaning against an old fashioned glass of milk. Always a cookie lover I dove into this recipe head on. The results were sadly less than extraordinary. The first batch started off promising but sank in the oven and became chewy and granular. I attributed it to an error in my cook time (I knew I was a bit late in getting them out of the oven) and two days later, gave it another try. The results were more or less the same, less chewy but the cookies still sank in the oven. 

I’m not ready to condemn this recipe, I believe that there is most certainly a chance that I over beat the dough or perhaps botched something else small. Still it was disappointing and I cannot figure where exactly things went wrong.

My next recipe trial was a stunning success. The Rosemary Focaccia was fairly easy to fix and turned out a a huge, beautiful loaf of focaccia. The recipe contained only 6 ingredients, all fairly easy to get, and was surprisingly simple. Though heavy on the olive (which would be a plus in my book) the rosemary balances out and enriches the flavor beautifully. 7 steps and a comparatively short amount of dough rest and proof time later the dough was in a half-sheet pan and ready to go in the oven. The cook time was only twenty minutes and I nearly burnt myself trying to eat it before it cooled! The smell was wonderful. The loaf came out perfectly browned and dimpled. The texture was wonderful the olive oil having prevented the bread from becoming too dry. I ate a third of the huge loaf that night. It’s certainly a great recipe to make and share with friends! 

My final opinion was that this cookbook contains a great deal of promise. The breads are well thought out and described. The cookies I trust will improve (I’m particularly hoping the chocolate chubbies are worthwhile!).  I look forward to tasting each of these scrumptious recipes and hopefully Sharing them with my friends and family!

Let’s say you have a recipe you would like to cook for some friends.  You have all the ingredients laid out before you, and the recipe is on the computer in front of you.  You’re ready to start.

So, what’s next?  Do you cook the meat or the pasta first?  How do you cut the vegetables?  Do you julienne or allumette?  And what the heck is allumette anyway?

A slew of questions can assault you when you start cooking.  You might not know where to start when you have all your ingredients in front of you.  But don’t worry, I’m here to help.  Or at least this article, and hopefully series of articles, is here to help.  I’m going to cover the basics of cooking from everyday guidelines to how to cut ingredients.

First things first, do you remember that saying “cleanliness is next to godliness?”  Well, it’s true.  A clean, organized kitchen is easier to work in and safer.  Wash your hands, wipe down surfaces with a disinfectant, and for goodness sake clean out the refrigerator.  There are a multitude of bacteria and molds that can transfer to freshly cooked food.  They can cause this annoying thing called food poisoning.  Think it can only happen in third world countries?  Wrong, salmonella and streptococcus can exist in your kitchen too.  I don’t want to scare you, but these illnesses can be very serious.

Knives, sharp knives, are the backbones of kitchens.  They’re for everything from slicing vegetables to chopping ribs apart.  Every job has the perfect knife, and if you’re really serious about cooking, you need only three: a chef knife (also called a French knife), a bread knife, and a paring knife.  One more thing: the sharper your knife, the better.  A sharp knife is easier and safer to use.  Why?  Because with a dull knife you’ll be pushing really hard to cut through, say, a chicken breast. If you slip, that knife will go flying, into either your fingers or your friend, and there will be blood.  So invest in a whet stone or a good knife sharpener.

So, keep your kitchen clean and your knives sharp.  Just doing these two things will make cooking easier and safer.  I’ll have more later, but that’s all for now.  Next time, we’re going to cover basic knife safety and culinary knife cuts.