Half Assed Kitchen

Simple syrup

It seems almost silly to write a post about simple syrup. Simple syrup is so easy, so basic to cold, sweetened drinks, that a whole entry devoted to sugar water could be construed as ridiculous. 

The other day, though, we were in a coffee shop and we saw simple syrup for sale. And we thought, Pshaw! A person can make simple syrup in five minutes for about five cents.

The science behind simple syrup is this: in hot beverages like coffee and tea, sugar granules dissolve quickly thanks to the heat. In cold beverages, however, like lemonade, iced tea, and a plethora of cocktails, the sugar doesn't quite dissolve, settling at the bottom in a gritty film. Either that or you have to stir until your arm falls off.

So, since summer is not technically over yet and there are still cold drinks to be had, we're going to tell you how we make simple syrup.

Rating: 1/8 assed

Here's what you need and how you do it

2 cups granulated sugar

2 cups water

Mix in a sauce pan. Stirring almost constantly, bring to a boil. The longer you boil your syrup, the thicker it will become. Turn off heat and let cool. Once cooled, pour into a cute bottle or jar. We used an old Trader Joes' olive oil bottle that we cleaned and from which we soaked the labels.

Store in refrigerator.

Here are just a few ways to use your simple syrup:

Strawberry Mojito from White on Rice Couple

Perfect Lemonade from Simply Recipes

Laughter in the Rain from Martha Stewart (A cocktail we particularly need here in Seattle.)

How we store fresh basil

 

There are several different ways to store fresh basil. We've read about placing cut basil in a plastic bag with damp paper towels and stashing it in the fridge. We're heard about chopping the leaves into bits and putting them in ice cube trays, then freezing for later use. But our personal favorite is this:

Snip off the ends of the stems, as you would fresh flowers

Fill a jar or glass with cool water and push in stems

Fit a plastic bag loosely over basil

Store on counter at room temperature. (Storing in the refrigerator can turn leaves brown more quickly.)

That's it. With this storage method, your fresh basil should be good for 1 to 2 weeks.

Easy treats

Check out these darling pies on sticks from Luxirare. We would definitely go with store bought crusts (rolled out even more thinly than packaged, according to Luxirare) and jam (thickened with a little cornstarch) as the filling. We would probably even skip the sticks and serve as small, handheld pies. We're half assed that way, after all.

Real Simple has some great ideas for sundae toppings here.

And a swoon-worthy recipe for baked fudge from NPR.

If you give any of these a try, please report back and let us know how they turned out.

Image courtesy Real Simple.

Tempting recipes--just a click away

Here are some recipes from around the 'net we've been wanting to try. They don't seem horrendously difficult and hoo-boy, do they look good.

First up: Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies from Noble Pig. Hurt us.

Then: No-Knead Dinner Rolls from The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Always a fan of the no-knead tutorials.

Also: Simmered Chinese Chicken from the Foster Farms website. We get seriously weak-kneed over Chinese Chicken.

Mmmm: Caramel Cake from Bay Area Bites. We wonder if this tastes anything like Sanders' (a great Detroit sweets spot). We''ve been looking for a substitute since our childhoods.

Refreshing: Red Leaf Lettuce, Watercress and Cucumber Salad with Buttermilk Dressing at the always brilliant Epicurious. We had to throw in a salad. And this one looks easy, tasty and like a nice diversion from our vinaigrette rut.

Dry brining your turkey

Becky Luigart-Stayner; Melanie J. Clarke

We have to admit, we want to try brining our turkey this year. Everywhere we look brining is touted as the best way to keep your turkey moist and to infuse flavor.

However.

The idea of dealing with the 12-pound bird and a vat of salmonella-y water that will most likely slosh onto the floor and down our fronts is a little daunting.

We just learned about dry brining, and it seems like the perfect solution. All you need is salt, a large plastic bag and the bird. No spills. No yuck.

The L.A. Times covers it better than we ever could. Here's the link.

One caveat: you need to start today. Or, at the latest, tomorrow.

Happy (Dry) Brining!

45-minute roast turkey

Short on time this Thanksgiving? Check out Mark Bittman's 45-minute roast turkey over at Oprah.com. You have to be stalwart enough to cut out the backbone, but apparently the bird ends up juicy and the skin crisp.

The recipe is here.

An easy-ass way to dress up your meat

Rub it with a little love.

Yeah, it sounds the slightest bit dirty, but this stuff, by Seattle chef Tom Douglas, is good. Especially when you have some chicken breasts, salmon filets or a couple steaks sitting around but no idea what to do with them.

Made with no artificial ingredients or preservatives.

Also, an unsolicited endorsement.

Did you know?

That many grocery stores will sharpen your knives for you FREE while you shop?

That buying minced garlic in a jar is way simpler and just as tasty as picking up an entire head of garlic? (Unless your recipe calls for roasted garlic, in which case you'll have to get the whole head). (And why does that sound dirty?)

That kids will often eat things they wouldn't normally touch with a 10-inch long candy stick if it's wrapped and baked in Crescent Roll dough?

That adding a small amount of cocoa powder and red wine to a tomato-based sauce illuminates multiple gastronomic dimensions you can't get with onion and garlic alone?

The Six O'Clock Scramble--a good resource for busy cooks

Way before Half Assed Kitchen was launched, we subscribed to the Six O'Clock Scramble, a service that, every week, provides recipes and shopping lists for relatively easy, nutritious dinners. In fact, some of our favorite dishes are modifications of recipes we found when we subscribed to The Scramble.

This is a completely unsolicited recommendation, but if you're looking to simplify the vortex that is shopping for and preparing meals (and who isn't?) consider checking out Aviva Goldfarb's Six O'Clock Scramble. It comes out to about $5 a month.

And it's worth a try.

2-ingredient muffins, slaw and baked apples

Hungry Girl, over at Yahoo, posted a handful of 2-ingredient recipes back in March. We tried the chocolate brownie muffins and, for expending less effort than it takes to check our mailboxes or lint-roll our bedspreads, they were good. 

She claims they're guilt free. We say they're merely Reduced Guilt.

Find out how to make the muffins, plus sweet 'n sassy slaw and soda baked apples by clicking here.