Food List 2011

This year includes quite a few on the “things I’ve always wanted to do but have always pushed off” list, including perfecting my grandmother’s famous chocolate chip cookies and making something I see on a tv show (did people actually do that, before the internet was there to provide the recipes?).

Some items are on the list to help me get over my fears (did you know I’m terrified of cooking rice?) and some to built up that arsenal of everyday, lifelong recipes to whip out at a moment’s notice.

So here’s to 2011!

1. Make sushi
2. Make croissants from scratch
3. Make rice 10 times
   (1) Basic white rice (no recipe)
   (2) Wild rice edamame salad
   (3) Saffron pilaf with raisins (no post)
   (4) Coconut brown rice (no post)
   (5) Coconut basmati rice
   (6) White wine pilaf
   (7) Wild rice bowl
   (8) Red rice with bacon
   (9) Arroz verde
   (10) Egyptian lentils and rice
4. Perfect Gram’s chocolate chip cookies – Prelude, Part I, Conclusion (success!)
5. Make jam – Learning to can
6. Make a roll sponge cake – Lemon roll cake (no post)
7. Make a perfect poached egg – Part I, Conclusion
8. Find a reliably good chocolate cake recipe – Part I, Part II, Conclusion
9. Develop a menu of 15 go-to cocktail recipes
   (1) Gimlet
   (2) Vodka tonic
   (3) Kir
   (4) Sparkling wine with bitter orange
   (5) Leslie’s Americano
   (6) Negroni
   (7) Margarita
   (8) White Russian/Cuban
   (9) Whiskey sour
   (10) Manhattan
   (11) Old Fashioned
   (12) Salty dog (or greyhound)
   (13) Cuba libre, Nica libre
   (14) Martini
   (15) French 75
10. Make pasta carbonara
11. Make fresh ricotta – Homemade ricotta
12. Make one thing out of every cookbook we own
    (1) Pancetta, rosemary, and goat cheese pizza – Pizza by Silvana Franco (no post)
    (2) Slow-cooker chicken with tomatillos, potatoes, jalapeños, and fresh herbs – Everyday Mexican by Rick Bayless
    (3) Banana cream pie – Tartine by Chad Robertson (no post)
    (4) Roasted chickpeas – How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman
    (5) Snickerdoodles – Great Cookies by Carole Walter
    (6) Moroccan tomato lentil soup – The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins (no post)
    (7) Braised lamb shanks – The Art of Simple Cooking by Alice Waters
    (8) Braised tuna pot roast with capers and tomatoes – All About Braising by Molly Stevens
    (9) Lemon Poppyseed Pound Cake – The Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker (no post)
    (10) Something yucky – I’m not telling you
    (11) Orange-cardamom ice cream – The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz
    (12) Something sub-bar – Again, not telling
    (13) Spinach and tofu paneer – This Can’t Be Tofu! by Deborah Madison (no post)
    (14) Koulouri-Cypriot village bread (seeded white bread) – 100 Great Breads by Paul Hollywood
    (15) Saffron pilaf with raisins – Savoring Pasta & Rice from Williams-Sonoma (no post)
    (16) Spring vegetable and herb fritters – Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison (no post)
    (17) Provencal snow pea and tomato saute – Cooking Provence by Antoine Bouterin (no post)
    (18) Buttermilk blueberry muffins – The Grand Central Baking Book by Piper Davis and Ellen Jackson
    (19) Coconut brown rice – New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant by The Moosewood Collective (no post)
    (20) Sauteed peppers with anchovies and black olives – Marcella Says … by Marcella Hazan
    (21) Chicken piccata – Martha Stewart’s Cooking School by Martha Stewart
    (22) Tequila-braised corn – From Asparagus to Zucchini by the Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition
    (23) Lemon and ginger Scottish cream scones – A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg
    (24) Tiramisu – Culinaria Italia from h.f.ullman
    (25) Pasta carbonara – Italian from Williams-Sonoma
    (26) Popovers – Ratio by Michael Ruhlman
    (27) Omelettes – Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child (et al)
    (28) Tortilla soup – Mexico: The Beautiful Cookbook by Susanna Palazuelos
    (29) Brown sugar apple crisp with rum-soaked currants – Rustic Fruit Desserts by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson
    (30) Pear-riesling sorbet – Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream at Home by Jeni Britton Bauer
    (31) Fig pancetta salad – The Rustic Table by Constance Snow
    (32) Rosewater vanilla mini-cakes – Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan and Julia Child
    (33) Chicken and dumplings – America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook by America’s Test Kitchen
    (34) Sourdough english muffins – Dungeness Crabs and Blackberry Cobblers: The Northwest Heritage Cookbook, by Janie Hibler
    (35) Red rice with bacon – Saveur Cooks: Authentic American
    (36) Arroz verde – Savoring Mexico by Sharon Cadwallader
    (37) Pommes Anna – Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Vol. II) by Julia Child (et al) (no post)
    (38) Cream wafers – Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book
    (39) Nutty roasted sunchokes – All About Roasting by Molly Stevens
    (40) Egyptian lentils and rice – Mediterranean by Jacqueline Clark and Joanna Farrow
13. Can something – Learning to can
14. Make something I see on a tv show – Pommes Anna (no post)
15. Make my Gram’s cheesecake
16. Work through at least half of the links I’ve saved
    (1) White cheddar scallion cornbread Madeleines (no post)
    (2) Roasted chicken and bread salad (no post)
    (3) Butternut squash lasagna (no post)
    (4 & 5) Crunchy peanut cole slaw and Thai-style chicken legs
    (6) Citrus galette with blood oranges, kumquats, and mint
    (7) Slow cooker carnitas
    (8 & 9) Crustless mini quiche and cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread
    (10) Plum pudding cake with honey and cinnamon
    (11) Cooked cream cheese frosting
    (12) Chewy chocolate cookies
    (13) Salted peanut butter cookies
    (13) Chocolate bread
17. Bake chocolate bread
18. Bake a good rustic seeded bread – Koulouri-Cypriot village bread
19. Make gougeres
20. Make crackers – Cornmeal Parmesan crackers
21. Pickle something – Pickled watermelon rind (no post), Learning to can
22. Make graham crackers – Graham crackers and tragedy
23. Make chocolate pudding
24. Make at least two things in the slow cooker
    (1) Slow cooker chicken with tomatillos, potatoes, jalapenos, and fresh herbs
    (2) Slow cooker carnitas
25. Throw a dinner party (sort of)

Have any suggestions? Want in on anything? Just let me know!