rice porridge

serves 5-6 (in small portions)

1 1/2 cups dry brown rice
3 cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract - optional
3/4 cup milk or rice milk
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup vanilla sugar or regular kind

boil water, add rice, extract, and olive oil, cook covered until water is almost all absorbed, stirring periodically.

add milk and sugars, and stir continuously over low heat until the whole business has roughly the texture of oatmeal.  

top with honey, garnish with dried fruit if desired.  om nom nom!

oreo truffles/chocolate balls of doom

ingredients:

• one standard package of oreo cookies (not double-stuff, for our purposes we don't care about the frosting)
• one 8-ounce package of cream cheese
• about a package of semi-sweet chocolate chips, or whatever other kind of chocolate suits your taste
• (optional) if you're feeling fancy, white chocolate for drizzling

instructions:

1. crush the oreos. a food processor is best; a blender works fine; if you are guerilla-cooking in a dorm room, a plastic bag and something heavy will do.
2. mix the crushed oreos and the cream cheese. you have you use your hands, otherwise it just doesn't work. you should end up with a thick paste somewhere between the consistency of dough and modeling clay. (tasty, right?)
3. mold the paste into marble-sized balls. this takes forever. you will end up with a lot of them. these are your truffle fillings.
   
4. put the fillings in the freezer while you melt the chocolate chips (it makes dipping easier).
5. dip the fillings in the melted chocolate and place them on wax paper. i've found that rolling them between two spoons is the most efficient method.
6. chill in the refrigerator (not the freezer, it gives them freezerburn) until the chocolate hardens.
7. if so desired, melt some white chocolate and drizzle over the top.
8. store in the fridge until serving.
   

makes about two large platefuls.
prep time: 90 minutes, ish.
cautions: they're messy to make, they take a long time, and the smell of cream cheese mixed with chocolate is so sugary you will probably not want to eat any when you're done. but somebody has to make them, and everyone who eats them will very likely love you for it.

the "i'm in france where they don't believe in oreos or cream cheese" variant: substitute a more-or-less equivalent amount of any chocolate cookie you can find, the crumblier the better. substitute mascarpone for cream cheese. it makes the filling mushier and harder to handle, so freeze them longer before dipping. they don't taste the same, but they still taste pretty awesome.

Chicken Scallopini

Here's a main course I plan to make for you all in the fall, but if anyone wants to try it out before then, by all means get cooking! The pictured instructions pretty much cover everything, but you might want to include some vegetables and/or rice along with the chicken to make more of a balanced meal.

Scropino Dessert Drink

Origin: Little town named Sacile at the foot of the Italian Alps

Fundamentally, you make lemon sorbet (the recipe listed below works well) and mix it with milk (and if you aren't in the sub-free house and want the original drink, add a tiny-weeny bit of vodka). 2% or whole milk is best, to counteract the water in the sorbet. The sorbet mixes best right after being worked in the icecream maker, but if you have to freeze it first, then let it soften for a while and break it up briefly in a food processor or something. You really don't want the lemon juice to be coming out of the ice though, since that will curdle the milk - but you need small slightly soft pieces for best mixing. The drink consists of 1/2 to 2/3 sorbet and the rest milk. Pour in glass or serving container, and mix as well as possible.

It makes a light, refreshing drink, and if you get a suitable balance of milk to sorbet (taste-test a small amount first to determine proportions), it's usually pretty well liked. Serving size is very flexible and depends on the amount of sorbet you have.

Kelsey's Meyer Lemon Sorbet

Makes about 1 1/2 pints.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 heaping tablespoon grated Meyer lemon zest (they actually do write "heaping," so make sure that it heaps)
1 1/2 cups meyer lemon juice (from about 12 Meyer lemons) OR the juice from about 10 regular lemons, chilled

Directions:
In a small, heavy saucepan, combine the water and sugar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and the syrup is clear, about 1 minute.

Remove the syrup from the heat, add the lemon zest, and set aside to steep for about 30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, 2-3 hours.

Add the lemon juice to the syrup and stir to combine. Pour into an ice-cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer the sorbet to a freezer-safe container. Cover and freeze the sorbet until firm, at least 3 hours or up to 3 days, before serving.

Notes: If you do not have Meyer lemons, replace the Meyer lemon juice and zest with regular lemon juice and zest (you will need 5 or 6 large lemons). Because ordinary lemons are tarter than Meyer, you will most likely need to increase the sugar by 3-4 tablespoons.

alison's favorite lemon curd

serves: quite a few, as a spread on pastries. eaten with spoons... well, we won't talk about that. one batch is generally sufficient, unless it's for a gathering of unfathomable size.

juice of 3 large lemons
3/4 c sugar
3 large eggs
zest of 3 large lemons
2-3 T butter

ZEST THE LEMONS BEFORE YOU SQUEEZE THEM. seriously. zesting spent lemon halves is a gigantic pain in the a$$. you want 1/3-1/2 cup of lemon juice, though a bit more won't hurt. lemon juice and zest (at least a tablespoon, but use as much as you can get) should both be fresh from real lemons - none of this bottled juice nonsense.

whisk together lemon juice, eggs, and sugar in a large glass or metal bowl. set the bowl up over a pot to make a double boiler. turn the heat on high and whisk constantly. you'll see a foam start to form - keep going. whisk like a crazy person, or you'll end up with lemon scrambled eggs, but make sure to cook until the mixture is moderately thick (as in, coats your whisk).

remove bowl from pot/heat. whisk in lemon zest, cut in butter, whisk until uniform. let mixture sit at room temperature until set, or refrigerate for up to a week. nummy on scones, bagels, matzah, toast, as a filling in donuts... or hey, on a spoon.

VARIATIONS:
pomegranate lemon curd - replace lemon juice with pomegranate juice, continue as per instructions, using lemon zest
other citrus curd - grapefruits, tangerines, blood oranges, and limes all work very well with this recipe.

lizzie sauce!

the ubiquitous spicy tomato sauce that you've all come to know and love!

serves: uh... a lot if you're using it as pasta sauce, though it also works as pizza sauce or tomato soup. if you're doing tomato soup for sunday night dinner, i'd do double or even triple this recipe. as pasta sauce, you can make 1-2 batches, and then freeze it in reasonably-sized blocks.

ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil
3-6 cloves garlic, chopped finely
(1 med.-sized onion, grated - optional)
2-3 tablespoons dried basil
1-2 tablespoons dried oregano
(1 tablespoon dried rosemary - optional)
(a few anise seeds, crushed - optional)
1 teaspoon or so cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes
**heat the olive oil, add the garlic (and onion, if you're using it), saute until caramelized. do not burn or brown!! add the spices, simmer for just a minute til it starts to smell delicious.

1 very large can Pastene's Kitchen Ready ground tomato
1 equally large can Contadina tomato sauce
1 small can tomato paste (garlic or herb flavor, if you like)
**add liquid tomato products, then paste, stir to combine. use water to rinse cans, then add water to sauce. make it slightly waterier than you want it, so that you can let it simmer longer.

1/2 cup (or slightly more) sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
**add, stir, let heat until flavors combine. TASTE. add salt if needed, or cayenne pepper. if you've added too much sugar, you can counteract it with a tiny bit of white vinegar. keep adding basil and oregano til it tastes right.

IF MAKING PASTA SAUCE: eat. you're ready to go.

IF MAKING PIZZA SAUCE: substitute tinned or fresh diced tomatoes for the tomato paste.

IF MAKING TOMATO SOUP: add 1 tablespoon or so of dill. garnish with cheez-its (garlic parmesan kind!), or eat with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Ragu (Italian meat sauce)

Origin: little old lady in Ferrara, Italy ... hence the really vague amounts.
Serves: 3-4 people

Ingredients:

A small amount of grated carrot
Some sliced up onion
Olive oil
Ground beef or mix of ground beef and ground pork (around 300 grams for this serving size)
Tomato pulp of appropriate density for sauce
White wine or milk (very small amount)
Salt to taste
Seasonings like oregano or basil to taste


Directions:

1. Cut up onion and carrot finely. The traditional flavor doesn't have very strong onion taste, but you can add it to taste. For a large batch (ie: Sunday Night Dinner), 2 small onions and 8 carrots is reasonable.
2. Cook meat pretty thoroughly (might take around 5 minutes for the original small size batch, would be longer for enough sauce for a large group to eat) in a frying pan, or for a multiplied batch, in the pot in which you will want to cook the sauce.
3. When the meat is well cooked, remove it from the pan/pot and drain out some of the oily juice.
4. Heat up on low-medium heat a small amount of olive oil (around 2 tablespoons for the small serving size, more obviously for a large group), and sautee the onion and carrot
5. Add tomato pulp to the sautee, then add half of a small glass of white wine and/or milk and mix in thoroughly.
6. Add the meat back to the sauce, as well as salt, and any green seasonings desired like basil or oregano, all to taste.
7. Cook on a low flame until the liquid is almost gone. You want it be more like meat coated in sauce rather than floating in it. You'll know when it's done (according to Ferrarese style) not only when there is little liquid left, but when you can see a slight sheen of the oil on the meat. Add a little bit more oil or cold butter so it doesn't become too dry. When mixed thoroughly, it is ready to serve.

When made for Sunday Night Dinner, we used about 5 pounds of ground beef, 2 onions, ~8 carrots and 3 large cans of tomato.

"Gourmet" Raspberry Chocolate Cake

Equipment: Oven, cake pan, mixing utensils

Ingredients:
-Chocolate Cake mix
-Raspberry Jam

Instructions:
-Bake the cake according to the instructions.
-Use raspberry jam instead of frosting.
-Eat and marvel at how delicious it is compared to plain chocolate cake.

Happy Eating!
(This is my last dessert entry ever, promise.)

Stir-Fried Random

Ethnic origin: hacker culture/East Asia
Difficulty: Elementary
Serves: 2 refined ladies, or 1 Viking
Price: Cheap (<$1/person)

This is quite simple to make when you're on your own and don't have a lot of cash lying around. In theory, this is best made in a wok, but a frying pan works perfectly well. If you're at your parents' house, or have a lot of food lying around for some other reason, you can use whatever's in the fridge and needs to be eaten. Essentially, throw it in a frying pan, cook it 'till it's done, then eat it!

If, on the other hand, your fridge is empty, you'll want to pick up the following: ramen (not the cup kind, the rectangular kind, normally used for soup); vegetables (frozen mixed works well, as they're already cut up); and some protein (eggs and/or meat - ground beef works well, but you can use anything small enough to stir-fry).

The following makes one Cap'n-sized serving, equivalent to about two cereal bowls. It's pretty solid food, so most o' you landlubbers will get two lunches out of it. Those of you who have mastered the ancient art of multiplication can feed as many people as necessary simply buy buying and cooking more ingredients.

Equipment: Frying pan or wok, of a size appropriate to the amount of food you're making
Instrument suitable for stir-frying, such as a wooden spoon or cooking spatula

Ingredients:
1 Package Ramen
1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs
3/4 Cup Frozen Vegetables
(Optional Seasoning:)
1 Cube Boullion (beef or chicken - preferably matching the ramen)
Powdered garlic, onion, and/or chili to taste
Soy sauce
Parmesan Cheese

If your ramen came with a seasoning packet, put it aside. Put the ramen in just enough water to cover it. Undercook, then drain (in a microwave, about 3 minutes should do it; you can also do it right in the frying pan if you're feeling bold.) The idea is to have the noodles be flexible but chewy, as they'll be cooked more later. Set the noodles aside for now.
If eggs make you nervous, crack them into a small bowl, then use a fork to mix well in advance.
Pour the oil in the frying pan. Crumble the boullion and mix it in, or, if you insist on perfectly even seasoning, dissolve it in a small amount of hot water, then add it to the oil.
Over medium-to-low heat (just enough to keep up a nice sizzle), perform the following steps:
If you're using meat, fry it most of the way now.
If you're using frozen vegetables, break into small chunks and put them in now.
Start stir-frying the ramen. Just keep it from burning until you see it get a little softer and start to change color. If it starts to dry out, add more oil or soy sauce.
If you're using room-temperature vegetables, stir them in now.
Add dry seasonings (except parmesan cheese). This is where the packet of ramen seasoning comes in handy - if you're not in a fully stocked kitchen, it's all you really need.
Just before everything looks to be done, clear a small space in your frying pan, lower the heat a bit and add the eggs. Scramble and break up into tiny chunks, then mix the eggs with the rest of it.
Remove from heat. Serve and add soy sauce/cheese to taste.


This is something that, I find, tastes pretty good even if you don't use what you'd call quality ingredients, so, it's pretty economical. Also, the 1 cup of veggies is a guess - I never actually "measure" per se, so much as keep adding things until the proportions look like something I would want to eat. But, the 2-eggs-to-1-package-of-ramen thing works pretty well.
Keep in mind that frozen veggies have a bit of water in them, which helps keep things even; if you're using dry, fresh vegetables you'll probably want to add more liquid periodically, even more so than may already be necessary. Also, the assumption here is that you're using peas, corn, and/or chopped mixed frozen vegetables; if you want to use broccoli, or some such, it may require more cooking (i.e. put it in earlier.)

Let me know if anyone actually tries this, and what variations you use. I myself found out the hard way that pearl onions, while potentially delicious, can induce a feeling of SUDDEN LARGE UNCOOKED VEGETABLE if you just throw them in along with everything else.

Happy Eating!

Welcome to the Xenia Cookbook!

Dear Xenians and Friends of Xenia:

The purpose of this blog is to record and share the recipes known and loved by our community of friends, whether they were made at Sunday Night Dinner, or as baking experiments, or just something that you feel everyone will enjoy and that should be added to the Cookbook for the sake of posterity. The cooks and bakers at the house are asked to share their recipes and cooking tips often enough that someone recently suggested this blog as a way to conveniently do just that. Hopefully, it will work well enough that any future Sunday Night Dinner cooks at a loss for something to prepare will have this as a resource to fall back on.

When posting, please title the post with the name of the food, and include the full recipe and expected serving count. Also, please tag recipes with labels like "main course", "desert", "salad", etc. and anything else you think might be relevant (ie: the ethnic origin of the food) for easy searching. Thanks! Pictures of your food would also always be welcome!