The Humble Kitchen

I ran across this recipe on the Gourmet website. The only problem with the recipe is it only makes about 22 of these luscious little dumplings. I have doubled the recipe so I can stash some in the freezer for later. My daughter and I sit in front of the TV and set up a dumpling factory. The only real challenge is keeping the cat away, Muenster is her favorite cheese.

For the dumplings:

To serve:

• sour cream
• chives

Melt butter in heavy pan, add onions and a good pinch of salt. Cover and cook over a medium flame for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once onions are softened, uncover and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes. Onions should be soft and nicely browned.

Meanwhile cover the diced potatoes with water and a good amount of salt, and bring to a boil. Cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain thoroughly and mash. Stir in onions and grated cheese.

Place a rounded teaspoon of the filling in the center of a wonton wrapper. Brush edges with water and fold in half to seal. Make sure to squeeze out any air pockets. Keep going ’till you’ve used up all your wrappers and/or filling.

To cook, heat oil in a non stick saute pan over medium/high heat. Place dumplings on their side in a single layer. Cook for a few minutes until nicely browned. Flip dumplings over, add 1/3 cup water and cover immediately. Cook about 5 minutes until water has evaporated and dumplings are warmed through. If any water is left in the pan, cook uncovered until it had evaporated and the dumplings have browned on the other side.

Serve with sour cream and some snipped chives.

To freeze remaining dumplings, lay out in a single layer on a sheet pan and freeze until hardened, then transfer to a plastic bag. You can cook them the same way you would the fresh dumplings.

-Jennifer

I can’t help but be reminded of that wonderful and short lived tv show Pushing Daisies. It was an ideal blend of fantasy, word play and pie. I am reminded of it because I have a fridge full of cheese, just like the former synchronized swimming aunts of Chuck, who referred to the fridge as a cheese box.

So what does one do with all those oddly shaped remains of cheese? The dried up ends and fuzzy bits, the mystery cheese whose label is long gone, the warehouse store buy that seemed too good to pass up despite the fact that you have no use for a block of cheese the size of your head. Look no further. Here is your answer.

• 1 pound of various leftover cheeses
• ¼-½ cup dry white wine or vegetable broth, or a combination of both
• 1 clove garlic, or more to taste
• handful of parsley (optional)
• freshly ground black pepper

Assemble your cheese. Just about any cheese will do. Here I’ve used Fontina, Gruyere, Manchego, Monterey Jack, Chévre, and Gouda, because that is what was in my cheese box. Once you’ve trimmed all the scary bits off that cheese, you must leave it at room temperature to soften up a bit. If you’re using hard cheese it’s best to grate it, or at least cut it into a fine dice. Softer cheeses can be rough chopped. In a food processor finely mince the garlic. Place your cheese in and pulse a few times to mix. Add the torn parsley and a few grindings of pepper and pulse again.

Now pour in about ¼ cup of your wine or stock. Pulse a few times and add more if the mixture seems too dry. What you want is a chunky yet creamy mixture. Be careful not to over mix, you don’t want a paste. Taste and if it seems lacking in salt you can add a pinch, but most likely you won’t need any.



Place into the vessel of your choosing and refrigerate. It will taste better once it’s had some time to mellow. Eat it with crackers, apple slices, crusty bread. Put it on some toast under the broiler for a moment until warm and oozing. Deliciously frugal.

-Jennifer

I had a brisket I’d picked up at the farmer’s market kicking around and I decided to give pastrami a try. Last year around this time I attempted to do a corned beef, and it was far too salty to be enjoyable. I wanted to try again but this time use a more trusted source for the recipe. Everything I have made from the book Charcuterie has been amazing, so I started there. This is for a brisket just over 2 lbs.

For the brine:

2 quarts water

¾ cup kosher salt

½ cup sugar

½ tbls pickling spice

¼ cup packed brown sugar

⅛ cup honey

Combine all the brine ingredients in a saucepan and heat gently until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Let cool to room temperature, then chill in a container large enough to fit the brisket. Once cold, place brisket in the brine, placing a plate on top to keep the meat fully submerged. Refrigerate for 3 days. Remove beef from brine and pat dry. Lightly toast and coarsely grind ½ tbls each coriander seed and black pepper corns. Rub onto brisket. Now it’s time to smoke the meat. I lit up a chimney full of charcoal while a few handfuls of wood chips soaked in water. Once the charcoal was glowing I placed it along one side of my lidded grill, and placed the drained chips on top of the glowing coals. The brisket goes on the cool side of the grill, lid on. The smokey fire lasts about half an hour, and I only wanted the pastrami lightly smoked, so I stopped there. You could certainly have another chimney of charcoal ready to go, and more soaked chips, and smoke it further. Once it’s as smokey as you’d like, place the brisket in an inch of water in an appropriately sized oven safe pan. Cover with foil and bake in a preheated 275º oven for about an hour and a half, or until it is fork-tender. We sliced it thin against the grain, served it on dark bread with hot mustard, emmenthaler and sauerkraut.

-Jennifer