Author Archives: Renate Valencia

Why you need a hand blender

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Hand blender

Word up:  part with the $20 it will take to get a hand blender, aka immersion blender, into the house.

There are things I can do easily with this guy that make it one of the most-used kitchen gadgets I own.  To be honest with you, I have two.  I got my father one some years ago and it came back to me when he passed away.  Thus, my own, which was stained red from a tomato product years ago, is used for things with natural dyes, and the other one is kept looking pretty.

Unless you plan on catering or otherwise making large quantities and/or feel more comfortable having something made by KitchenAid, I would not bother with the ~$50 KitchenAid model, though it is nice that its blending shaft is stainless steel and won’t turn purple or red, which the white ones will do, believe me, if you work with beets or pasta sauce.  I suggest you get the 200 watt Braun, which I have not been able to kill after years of hard use and dishwasher cleaning.  Given that the power (wattage) of the Braun and the KitchenAid (KHB100) is identical, the only thing you’ll give up is the stainless steel and about an inch of blending shaft length.  Note that the KitchenAid KBH300 costs about $100 but is the same blender with a boatload of attachments.  Since I have no intention of attempting to use my immersion blender for anything other than immersion blending, I don’t need all that stuff.

Here are a few things you can use this for:
1)  Thickening bean or veggie soups by blending all or part of the contents right in the pot
2)  Giving body to homemade tomato sauce so it’s not half tomato chunks and half liquid
3)  Blending thickening agents (and veggies cooked with meats) into cooking juices, which will result in smooth gravies
4)  Making cold sauces and spreads with things like roasted peppers, eggplants and nuts
5)  Making fresh mayonnaise
6)  Repairing broken sauces, like an anglaise
7)  Making baby food

The first item on the list is alone worth the cost of admission because it prevents the need to transfer hot liquid to and from a blender.

When you use a hand blender with hot liquids, just be sure to get enough immersion so you don’t splatter things all over yourself and get burned.  Practice with cold water, and try to use containers that give you height.  The little cup these units come with are great for blending small amounts of dressing, and you can stand the blender in the cup on your countertop when not in use.  The blade is on the end of a cylindrical piece that disattaches from the power unit, and can be cleaned in the top rack of a dishwasher.

I first used this tool in culinary school, though pro units are over three feet long and can puree gallons of soup quickly.  Professional cooks call these monsters “burr mixers, ” which may be an anglicized version of the brand name “Bermixer,” used by European manufacturer Dito Electrolux.  This is only a guess, and I’m trying to prove it.

For an interesting look at the invention and history of this appliance, check out the Bamix website.

Chalk up yet another great idea to the Swiss.

UPDATE on 28 September 2009:  I saw Cuisinart SmartStick handblenders for $30 at Costco today.  They have a stainless steel blending shaft and come with a bunch of attachments, though note that they are no more powerful (at 200 watts) and only a scant half an inch longer than the little Braun I discussed.

Tonina’s pignoli cookies

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Italian pine nut cookie

If I were being walked to my execution tomorrow morning and had to choose one type of cookie to eat tonight, it would be Italian pignoli (pine nut).  Soft in the middle and chewy outside with the strong flavor of almond paste that is its main ingredient, this cookie is special – and very much like a good macaroon.  As a German-American, I grew up eating marzipan in various animal and fruit shapes, and this is also close enough to that confection to hit home with me.

I used to buy these in Italian bakeries in Queens, and recently asked my friend, Tonina, who still lives in Astoria, if she had the recipe.  Lo and behold I am now able to enjoy pignoli cookies again – and without spending $18 a pound!

The downside is the cost of ingredients.  If you cannot make your own almond paste, you must find a reasonable source, because you’ll go broke buying those dear little packages in the supermarket.  If you live in my neck of the woods, know that Berkeley Bowl sells it in bulk for $6.95 a pound, which is an incredible price.  I buy the pine nuts at Costco and store them in the fridge.  You should do the same, else they will be pricey and go stale, respectively.  If you buy those tiny packs of pine nuts you’ll be spending a fortune, so do find a source of bulk nuts.  Also, this recipe has only a few ingredients, so make sure they are of a high quality!

Pignoli Cookies (courtesy of Tonina Derosa)

8 oz almond paste
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 medium egg whites, lightly beaten
8 ounces pine nuts
Extra confectioners sugar to finish (note that I don’t do this)

1)  Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
2)  Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper, or use silicone linings
3)  Place the pine nuts in a bowl
4)  In a food processor, break the almond paste up into small pieces and then pulse with the sugars and flour until mixture is finely ground
5)  Add the egg whites a little at a time, until dough comes together.  Depending on the humidity, or the size of your egg whites, you may not always need the entire quantity of egg whites
6)  Using a teaspoon and slightly wet hands, scoop up a spoonful of the dough and form into a round with your palms
7)  Drop round into pine nuts and roll until lightly coated
8)  Arrange on baking surface 2 inches apart
9)  Bake 20 to 25 minutes and then cool (note that the baking time may vary depending upon the size of your cookies and how you like them)
10)  Dust with confectioners sugar, if desired

Albany Bowl’s restaurant

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Entrance to Albany Bowl in Albany, California

I admit it:  I love to bowl.  I hold the key to locker #1 at Albany Bowl (540 San Pablo Avenue), the bowling alley in Albany, California, a city with only about 17,000 people but boasting both a pool and a bowling alley, for crying out loud.

They keep it nice in there.  It’s sparkling clean but still has that retro feel, what with all the black and white photos of famous visitors, a dark, secluded bar, pool tables and a pro shop.  Patrons include various league members there to practice, and kids from the Albany school system walked over in groups.  While there are video games for teens who use the Bowl as a hang-out, it never gets out of control because management keeps a lid on it.

Since I had to go renew my locker for another year, Matt and I thought we’d have something to eat at the cafe, which serves Thai food in addition to the usual suspects, like burgers and cheese fries. There’s a counter and a half-dozen or so tables, and you order from a board behind the counter.  Honest to God, you can get a very decent pad Thai at Albany Bowl for $7.50.  There are ample shrimp and tofu cubes in this large, hot portion of noodles served with a slice of lime on the side and ground peanuts on top.  Matthew ordered the cheesesteak for $6.95, which had plenty of meat, cheese, and, I think, green peppers and onions, but he got mad when I wanted all the details so I left it alone.  His sammie came with criss-cut fries, which was a nice touch.  We also shared a fried calamari for $6.75, served with sweet/hot sauce.  It was all strips (no tentacles) but nice, thick, non-uniform pieces that were not overcooked and not greasy.

Fried calamari at Albany Bowl in Albany, CA

The food here is cooked to order and handed to you right out of the tiny kitchen, so you can’t go wrong, and the proprieters of this little diner are super-friendly, too.  If I were you, I’d check it out and bowl a couple games, too.

Albany Bowl is a remnant of a mostly-lost world, where cocktails, Brunswick machines and Formica tables still happily coexist.  While the smoking part of the equation is no longer allowed, they do have free wi-fi.

Lunch at Berkeley Bowl West

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Matthew at Berkeley Bowl West cafe

Berkeley Bowl West (920 Heinz, Berkeley) is a good place to have lunch, but we like to buy stuff in the market and bring it into the cafe, rather than buy cafe food.  The eating space is much nicer here than at the Shattuck location, because it’s in another building and you don’t have the hustle and bustle of shoppers all around you as you eat – though it does get crowded at lunch.

So far we have not been thrilled with the cafe food, but they may just need some time to work out kinks.  My Mom had a Cuban sandwich there a couple weeks ago that was so skimpy and cold (they never pressed or grilled the thing) I though she was going to have a conniption.  I dragged her back there when Matt and I went so she could see the kinds of things we select.

Here are the things we like:

1)  The store-made sushi, in particular the spicy tuna roll.
2)  The egg salad at the deli, which Matthew loves.  We get a container and then select a couple of rolls from the bread department to go with it.
3)  The turkey meatloaf from the deli counter.  The texture is gluey, but I like this stuff.  I swear there is the flavor of liver in there.  Despite the fact that many people in the food business never order meatloaf from anywhere (you never know what evils lurk in a product that is ground and formed), I get it here.
4)  The Chinese food at the hot food counter.  You can’t go wrong, for the most part.  The potstickers are pretty good.
5)  The pecan roll.  At a buck fifty, I can’t believe they even make money on this thing given the volume of pecans on top.  They can be had at the pastry counter and are usually in the cafe, too.
6)  A little piece of cheese from the cheese counter.  (This is another place the rolls come in into play…)

Take your goodies across the little divide to the cafe, grab some utensils and napkins and set up shop.  You may purchase a beverage, but we usually just have water.

Oh, before I forget:  the house-made potato chips at the cafe are to die for.  Even my Mom had to admit this.

Red Lentil Curry

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Red Lentil Curry in a red bowl

I purchased a large bag of red lentils recently and was looking for a good red lentil curry recipe when I came upon this one, posted by Emma Maher, on allrecipes.com:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Red-Lentil-Curry/Detail.aspx

From the looks of the allrecipes.com legalese, I may not be allowed to post the text of the recipe – and who has time to decipher all that? – so please forgive me for sending you to another site.  However, this is an excellent curry and I highly recommend that you give it a try.  It’s a savory, complex and substantive dish, which, if served with rice and some chutney and a thick plain yogurt, would make a good dinner.  If you made the curry paste I posted yesterday, it will work well in this recipe.  Meat eaters, fear not; nothing watery or wimpy here.