Mango pie!

I start work in a few days and even though it's temporary and part time I'm taking advantage of my empty days lazing around and cooking. Can't complain too much.

This is a tasty little pie. Similar texture and flavor profile as pumpkin pie but it's lighter, more refreshing. Inspired from The Kitchenista Diaries.

Mango pie

Note: mangoes and pie crust can be prepared at least a day ahead of time.

3 large, very ripe mangoes
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cardamom
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 eggs + 1 yolk

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Place pie weights on top of your crust and bake for 10 minutes or until crust is lightly golden. Cool completely.
3. Lower oven temperature to 375 degrees.
4. Prepare the mangoes.

•  Bake the mangoes whole, unpeeled in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour. Let the mangoes cool and then peel, separate fruit from the pit, and puree. It should yield around 2 cups of puree.

5. Put the mango in a saucepan and turn the heat to medium. Cook the mango, stirring constantly until it thickens and looses some moisture.The mango should completely separate and slowly ooze back together when you drag your spoon across the bottom of the pan.
6. Take the pan off the heat and stir in both sugars, spices, and butter. Stir until sugar dissolves and butter melts.
7. Whisk together the vinegar, cream, vanilla, and eggs in a large bowl. Slowly pour in the mango mixture and whisk to combine.
8. Pour into your pie crust and bake for 35-40 minutes.

For the crust

1 1/4 cups flour
6 tbsp butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
1 tbsp + 2 tsp cornstarch
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1 egg
1/4 cup cold water

1. In a large bowl combine dry ingredients and whisk together.
2. Cut the butter into the flour until the butter is pea-sized.
3. Make a well in the middle of the flour and crack the egg into it. Using a fork, gently mix the egg into the flour.
4. Add water and stir until the dough comes together. If it is too dry, add more water a tablespoon at a time.
5. Knead the dough once or twice, cover in plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
6. Roll dough out about 3/4 inches thick on a lightly floured surface.
7. Put dough in pie pan. Trim the dough so it hangs about 1/2 inch over the edge of the pan; crimp edges.
8. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before baking.

Evolution?

This might be turning into a food blog. Heh. I've cooked so much these past few months, often creating my own recipes, and they're good! I post my recipes for posterity, something I can refer back to when I make it again. Recipe development does not exist in a vacuum so most everything I cook is tweaked or inspired by other stuff I've tried and loved.

Vegetarians and vegans love to name dishes after meat-stuff even though it has no meat-stuff in it  and that's annoying..........but I'm calling this recipe broccoli pâté. LOL that is annoying and it sounds gross. I've never even had pâté. But this broccoli is so soft and tender and luscious it feels like  rich-people pâté.

Mushy vegetables have a bad rap; for the most part it's deserved. But when you cook vegetables to the brink with loads of olive oil and garlic, sure they're mushy but they're unbelievably delicious.

Please note: cut up your broccoli into similar-sized florets. DO NOT toss stems—peel off the stems' outer layer with a veg peeler or a pairing knife and chop them up.

Broccoli pâté with bread crumbs and a poached egg

For the broccoli (adapted from the first half of Merrill Stubb's Broccoli, lemon, and parmesan soup ):

1/4 cup olive oil
5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 lbs broccoli (see note above)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Boil your broccoli for 5 minutes and drain well.
2. Heal oil in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Fry garlics and red pepper in the oil until garlics become lightly golden.
3. Add the broccoli and stir to coat. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Turn heat down to your stove's lowest setting and cook, stirring every 30 minutes of so, for at least 1.5 hours.
5. Stir in vinegar and Parmesan. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper.

For the breadcrumbs:

1/2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup unseasoned breadcrumbs
1/8 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add breadcrumbs and stir until breadcrumbs absorb all the butter.
2. Stir in salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
3. Cook until breadcrumbs turn a dark golden and become fragrant. Set aside.

For the poached egg 

Put it all together!

Scoop broccoli into a bowl and sprinkle a handful or two of the breadcrumbs over it. Put your poached egg(s) on top and finish with freshly grated parm and a few grinds of pepper.

It's the little things

I got the job I moaned about a few posts down. Feels really good! The company has money and it shows through in the office space. Employees use nice computers, there's a fridge with beer in it, there's a ping pong table (it's not even a start up!), all rooms are soaked in natural light. Tastefully done, mind you. My last office job at a nonprofit was in a rinky-dink office space where the elevator never worked, the heating system was always fucked up, and only like, 3 people in the whole office had access to color printing. There was one, and only one, single-stall "Employee only" bathroom; how many times did I walk out of that bathroom after taking a shit and see a manager waiting to use it? More than once. The space was right downtown and walking up to the front door often meant skidding past a stranger's vomit from the night before and breathing in piss-rot air.

This new place though. It's on it's own compound. I like it.

Everyone I'm working with seems friendly and open and I'm eager to get to know them. It's a tight group already and I know they're hiring more tech writers....there will be a shift in the dynamic, no doubt, (though I suppose I won't notice) and I hope tensions don't run high.  
I just want you to like me. Please.

Recipe...again!

I love reading through this old blog. My writing is full and emotional.....sometimes unbearably so. I was reading so much when I wrote more regularly and it shows. I really should start reading more. 

 Anyway! Here's another recipe. This is a lovely cream sauce that doesn't feel too heavy though it's plenty decadent.

ETA: I submitted this recipe to Food52's "Recipe You're Most Proud Of" contest. View it here.

Fennel and white wine cream sauce 

1 cup onion, sliced very thin
1 1/2 cup fennel, sliced very thin
3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup white wine
1 tbsp whole grain mustard
1 tbsp lemon zest
pinch of ground nutmeg
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
salt and pepper to taste

Serves 4

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Heat the butter in a dutch oven (or any other heavy-bottomed, oven-safe pan) over medium heat until it foams.
3. Cook onions, fennel, garlic, and red pepper flakes until the fennel and onion wilt completely. Raise the heat to medium high and cook until onion and fennel start caramelize around the edges.
4. Pour in wine and cook until all liquid evaporates.
5. Stir in mustard, lemon zest, nutmeg, heavy cream, and chicken broth. Add a few pinches of salt and plenty of fresh ground pepper.
6. Bring sauce to a rapid simmer and then put in oven, covered, for 30 minutes. Give it a few stirs halfway through cooking.
7. When the sauce is out of the oven, stir in Parmesan cheese. Taste and correct for salt and pepper.
8. Serve with fettuccine or any other flat, thick pasta.

A recipe

Over the past few months I've had fun developing recipes. Most of the time they're fine—they're at least edible—but I always finish the meal with nagging thoughts of next time I'll add more of this and a little less of that and cook it for 3 minutes longer. However! My most recent creation was delicious and when I make it again I'm not changing a thing.

Smothered cabbage tart

This tart comes together quickly and easily. It does require a fair amount of prep; though you can make the cabbage and the pastry dough at least a day ahead of time.

For the tart:

1 batch Venetian style smothered cabbage (recipe below)
1 tart crust (recipe below)
1/2 cup cream
1 egg
1 tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Prick the bottom of your chilled crust with a fork and line with foil. Fill with pie weights
3. Bake crust for 10 minutes or until the crust is barely golden. Allow to cool while you assemble the filling for the tart.
4. Turn oven down to 350 degrees.
5. Whisk together cream, egg, and thyme.
6. In a large bowl, mix the cabbage, Parmesan, and cream and egg mixture together. Taste and correct for salt and pepper.
7. Pour the filling into the crust and bake for 30-35 minutes.

For the Venetian style smothered cabbage (adapted very slightly from Marcella Hazan):

2 pounds cabbage, finely shredded (use savoy or green)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup onion, diced
1 tbsp garlic, chopped
1 tbsp + 1 tsp red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, heavy-bottomed pan (a dutch oven works perfectly).
2. When the oil begins to shimmer, add onions and cook until they turn a deep golden. This takes about 20-30 minutes.
3. Add garlic and cook for 3 minutes.
4. Add cabbage, vinegar, salt and pepper. Stir to coat and cook cabbage until it wilts.
5. Reduce heat to low and cover pot. Cook for at least 1.5 hours, stirring occasionally.
6. When the cabbage is done, adjust seasoning as necessary and add an additional teaspoon of vinegar

• Note: If you do not make the cabbage ahead of time, let it sit for at least 20 minutes before assembling the tart.

For the tart crust (adapted from Smitten Kitchen):

1 1/4 cups flour
6 tbsp butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
1 tbsp + 2 tsp cornstarch
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1 egg
1/4 cup cold water

1. In a large bowl combine dry ingredients and whisk together.
2. Cut the butter into the flour until the butter is pea-sized.
3. Make a well in the middle of the flour and crack the egg into it. Using a fork, gently mix the egg into the flour.
4. Add water and stir until the dough comes together. If it is too dry, add more water a tablespoon at a time.
5. Knead the dough once or twice, cover in plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
6. Roll dough out about 3/4 inches thick on a lightly floured surface.
7. Put dough in pie/tart pan (if using a pie pan, trim the dough so it hangs about 1/2 inch over the edge of the pan; crimp edges.) and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before baking.

Congratulations to me

I mused in my last post—way back in October—that I needed self discipline. My days needed a routine so that I didn't idle away the time. And I succeeded. Maybe a day or two after I wrote that post I decided to become a technical writer. I heard about the profession through a new friend and after a hellish 9 months at Harpoon I did not want another directionless, in-between job. I wanted a career. I wanted to write. I wanted to make money. Choosing unemployment was a luxury and I wasn't about to waste it.

Over the past three months I've taught myself a lot of new stuff (coding, authoring tools, general tech writing lingo and culture) and while I may have decided to become a tech writer out of practical reasons, it's evolved into something I really really want to do. And I want to do it well. I want to be an amazing tech writer. I want learn as much as I can, write as much as I can, read as much as I can. I want to excel.

I have an interview this Thursday for a three-month contract position at a healthcare company in Watertown. It's a second round interview—the first was over the phone—and I'm proud of myself. I networked and found out about the job. I wrote a kick-ass cover letter and got an interview. In the interview I was prepared, confident, and I know I made a good impression.

Sad to say but I'm not sure the last time I've felt this proud of myself. My relative successes at school, past jobs, etc always felt like something I fell into, something I never really earned. Maybe I had other people's expectations breathing down my neck and driving me away from failure; it never felt mine. But not now. This little success is all mine.

Even if I don't get the job, it's a confidence boost. I can apply for jobs and know that my hard work impresses (some of) the people who read it. They might just give me a chance.