Toasted Coconut Marshmallows

Week: 9
Ingredient: Manischewitz Toasted Coconut Marshmallows
From: Martin's, Harrisonburg, VA
Recipe: Toasted Coconut Rice Krispies Treats

I found this week’s ingredient in one of those seasonal displays at the grocery store. This one was for Passover. Beside the matzo and the gefilte fish, there were bags of Toasted Coconut Marshmallows. As far as I am concerned, marshmallows have approximately three uses:

1. S’mores
2. Hot chocolate
3. Rice Krispies Treats

So what exactly does one do with coconut-covered marshmallows?

And why in the world did I buy them? I must have been disobeying that classic rule (never shop for groceries when you are hungry) because even copious amounts of coconut—which I love—would not make me want to eat marshmallows plain. I see them as little fluffy pillows of sweet blandness. They are not bad—just boring. (Actually, I have heard that homemade marshmallows are unbelievably delicious compared to store-bought ones, but that is not really relevant in this case.) A covering of toasted coconut adds some flavor, but I do not think it is enough to elevate the marshmallow to an eat-out-of-the-bag snack.

Anyway, something made me buy them, and they have been sitting in my pantry taunting me with their mediocrity ever since. I had to do something with them just to get rid of them. Since I could use the whole bag quickly and easily by making Rice Krispies Treats, that is what I decided to do.

Whenever I make Rice Krispies Treats, I never follow a recipe, and I always add peanut butter. Without the peanut butter, I find the treats to be just like marshmallows—sweet and bland. I was hoping Toasted Coconut Rice Krispies Treats would have some flavor ...

... And they did, but I was still disappointed with the results. There just was not enough coconut. Or perhaps they needed an additional flavor, such as nuts or chocolate. That’s it—they needed nuts and chocolate! Oh yeah ... I’m thinking pecans and dark chocolate. Mmm ...

Conclusion: I could have made Toasted Coconut Rice Krispies Treats with regular marshmallows simply by adding toasted coconut. The special marshmallows were not necessary. However, if you have ever avoided marshmallows because you are suspicious of the source of the gelatin in them, Manischewitz marshmallows are for you. It tells you right there in the ingredient list that they are made with kosher fish gelatin. Yummy! Don’t you feel better knowing that?

Chorizo

Week: 5
Ingredient: Chorizo
From: Martin’s, Harrisonburg, VA
Recipe: Jalapeño Chorizo Tacos (improvised)

I have to confess that I was totally unprepared to try something new this week. I would have gone to the grocery store yesterday, but the approximately two feet of snow we got between Friday and Saturday thoroughly ruined any weekend plans I may have had. So, I was forced to get creative with what I had on hand.

Fortunately, a couple weeks ago I bought some chorizo. I have had chorizo a few times at Mexican restaurants, but I had never tried it at home. I remember that I did not really know what I was looking for when I bought this chorizo. If I had read the Wikipedia article on chorizo beforehand, I might have been prepared to face the many kinds of chorizo they had at the grocery store. Without that knowledge, I opted for the chorizo that looked the most natural. That ruled out the ones that looked like red hot dogs and the ones with less appealing ingredient lists. In the end I selected a smoked chorizo that came in two long links.

I do not remember why I had nearly a pound of fresh jalapeños in my refrigerator, but that was also fortunate. With some leftover tortillas, it was clear to me that I would make jalapeño chorizo tacos. And so I did.

You have heard those stories where someone asks her grandmother for a special recipe, right? And, of course, there is no recipe. Grandma just throws a little of this and a little of that together, does her magic, and it comes out right. Well, that is how it was with my jalapeño chorizo tacos. I cannot tell you how I did it, but they came out great. I promise I am not trying to brag here. I am no professional chef, and I make absolutely no claims that my tacos were authentic Mexican cuisine. No, what I am saying is that it was like I was on autopilot, and at the end, there were delicious tacos. I think that means, according to the Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition, I am competent, and maybe even proficient, in at least some aspects of cooking. (Sorry. I just had to throw in a little geekery!)

Conclusion: Chorizo is full of fat, but what good sausage is not? It added a nice smokiness to my tacos, but its other flavors were somewhat masked by all the jalapeños and other seasonings I used. Nonetheless, I am sure it could add great flavor to many other dishes. I will definitely use chorizo again.

Capon

Week: 3
Ingredient: Capon
From: Martin’s, Harrisonburg, VA
Recipe: Roast Capon (improvised)

Since I already described my failure to roast a capon, there is not much adventure left to relate. My actual capon roasting experience turned out to be just like roasting a hen, only bigger. So, here are my observations about roasting poultry in general …

1. I like my new roasting pan. It is heavy-duty and spacious enough for a big turkey. I especially like the sturdy handles; they make it easy to move the heavy pan + bird from the counter to oven and back. I can also use it on the stove—perfect for getting all the flavorful brown bits left in the pan into my gravy.
2. Rack ’em up. A roasting rack keeps the bird off the bottom of the pan and out of the juices. No more soggy bottom!
3. Rubbing a chicken with butter is weird. I know butter makes everything better, but how is rubbing a raw chicken with butter a good idea? Seriously! It never works right for me. I end up with as much butter on my hands as on the chicken, and the butter is spread over the chicken in randomly-placed lumps rather than an even coat. There are so many things that can go wrong: butter too cold, chicken too cold, hands too warm, chicken too wet, cook too impatient …. I do not want to stop buttering my chickens, but there must be a better way. Maybe brushing melted butter on the chicken is the way to go. Another option would be to make a lovely compound butter, chill it well, slice it thinly, and tuck it under the skin. I think I will try that next time.
4. Turkey basters are not just strange kitchen tools with no purpose. I do not have a baster. I tried to baste the capon by tilting the pan to pool the juices and spooning the juices over the meat. The rack got in the way, and it was hard to get much juice on the spoon. I also burnt my hand because I was using a short-handled spoon. Clearly a baster was designed to solve this problem. I am pretty sure I could still live without one, but now I am actually thinking about getting one. Crazy!
5. Meat thermometers are smarter than me. At least when it comes to knowing when poultry is done. When I roasted the capon, the meat was a beautiful brown color at least 30 minutes before the “thickest part of the thigh” reached the right temperature. So, appearance is not a good indicator for doneness. Maybe I am crazy, but I think finding the “thickest part of the thigh” is a bit tricky; it is hard to tell exactly where the end of the thermometer is. I have tried a few different thermometers, and now I have settled on the instant-read kind. With an instant-read thermometer, I can quickly check two different places in the thigh and hope that one of them is the thickest part. The only drawback I see with instant-read thermometers is that you have to guess at some of the timing. If your chicken needs to be 3 degrees warmer, how many minutes will that take? I ended up taking my capon out of the oven to check the temperature quite a few times near the end of cooking.
6. Turkey lifters are helpful. There have been many times when I tried to move a roasted chicken from the pan to a platter without lifters, and it has always been precarious. I inevitably end up burning myself, making a mess, and/or marring the chicken’s appearance in some way. Lifters make moving hot poultry stress-free.
7. I always have leftover chicken at the wrong time. You know how lots of recipes call for cooked, chopped or shredded chicken? Well, whenever I want to make one of those recipes, I never have cooked chicken on hand. Whenever I have cooked chicken on hand, I cannot find any of those recipes. Murphy’s Law, I guess.

Conclusion: The first thing that struck me when I took the capon out of its packaging was how much fat there was. All that fat led to great results! With no special treatment, the capon turned out beautifully. The skin was brown and crispy, and the meat was flavorful, tender, and moist. I highly recommend roast capon for the mouth-watering aroma that fills your kitchen while you are cooking, the succulent meal it provides, and the leftover bones which can be used to make delicious, homemade stock. I do not know how readily available capons are most of the time, but I would definitely opt for one over a roasting hen if I had the choice.

Turnips

Week: 2
Ingredient: Turnips
From: Martin’s, Harrisonburg, VA
Recipe: Mashed Turnips

Last night was a disaster! No, not the turnips; they turned out fine (more on that later). I am more interested in sharing about the conflict and resolution that played out in my little dinner party drama last night.

If you have read a few of my previous posts, you know that I have been planning to cook a capon. My new roasting pan arrived a little over a week ago, so I started making real plans. I invited some friends over for dinner on Saturday night. All week, I made my preparations: picking recipes, cleaning house, grocery shopping, advance prep work, etc.

Saturday afternoon, everything was in order so that I could start cooking. I pulled my capon out of the refrigerator to sit at room temperature for thirty minutes before going into the oven. I softened a stick of butter in the microwave, peeled some garlic cloves, and washed my fresh herbs. I adjusted my oven racks to fit the shiny, new roasting pan. I put a clean tablecloth on the kitchen table. I spent some time reviewing recipes, and I turned on the oven to preheat. I took the capon out of its packaging, and removed the giblets ...

Well, the perfect dinner party ended right there because I did not actually remove the giblets. I tried to remove the giblets. After getting past the thick wire that bound the legs together, I found the giblets were frozen solid in the cavity of the fat, castrated rooster that was supposed to be my dinner. Blargh!

Apparently four days in my refrigerator was not enough time to thaw the frozen 9-pound bird. When I discovered my dilemma, it was too late even to think of trying the cold water method to thaw the capon quickly. There was really no wiggle room in my schedule. Besides, Cris was already at my house doing some electrical work. (Thanks, Cris!) I could not push dinner back to who knows when. I needed a plan B.

There are plenty of options when a dinner fails: go out, order in, make do with what you have ... Somehow, all those options were so unsatisfying when what I was looking forward to was a good, home-cooked meal shared with friends. In the end, I stuck with my original menu but with one substitution: pan-fried pork chops instead of roast capon. Not bad for plan B (although it did require a quick trip to Red Front). The pork chops were quick and easy, but very tasty. I served them with a bottle of wine that I bought because the label was pretty (Juan Gil Jumilla 2003—beautiful dark color, soft and smooth, deep, rich flavor, slightly sweet, with a little spice—delicious!). We also had a green salad with apples, walnuts and a maple vinaigrette. The cauliflower gratin was to-die-for (probably literally with all that butter, cream, and Gruyère). And Andrea’s desserts—eggnog cheesecake and butterscotch pudding with bananas—were outstanding served with French pressed coffee.

I really cannot complain about the meal. The only problem is that now I will have to cook the capon mid-week, and I have no dinner guests lined up. However, I am sure I will manage. Now on to the turnips ...

There is not much to say about the turnips. I consulted a few cookbooks, and they said you could prepare turnips in basically any way you would prepare potatoes. So, I boiled them, drained them, mashed them, and added a little butter, salt, and pepper. Voilà—mashed turnips, a simple preparation that allows the flavor of the turnips to shine through. The flavor was pleasantly pungent, and the texture was slightly stringy. Not bad, but I think I prefer mashed potatoes. I might experiment sometime with adding a few turnips to my mashed potatoes to give them a subtle pungency without losing the superior texture of the potatoes.

Conclusion: I probably did not give turnips a fair shot. So soon after the disappointment of the semi-frozen capon and the jubilation of the cauliflower gratin, mashed turnips were too mundane to excite more than passive acceptance. Sorry, turnips. Better luck next time.