The Cutting Board Diaries a life of modern inconvenience

Time 2020-11-10 21:06:29

Web Name: The Cutting Board Diaries a life of modern inconvenience

WebSite: http://tomhirschfeld.com

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Recently, for what seems like the millionth time, I sat down and watched the original The Hustler. Not because of the story, although it s a great story; or Paul Newman s blazing good looks, although his blue eyes are piercing, even in black and white.No, this time I was watching the Great One: Jackie Gleason. He completely captivated my attention. He s not in many scenes, but he steals the ones he s in, hands down. You can almost see Newman studying him right there on-screen, as though his blue eyes are fixed, mesmerized, on the great acting Gleason is doing.Their first scene together might be one of the best in any movie. Gleason comes up the stairs, enters the pool hall through a set of double doors, and there he is: the presence, the clothes (who else could wear that hat?), the je ne sais quoi. Newman s eyes might pierce, but watch the banter between the two and notice the moments when Gleason smiles and his eyes are nothing less than sparkling. That sparkle in Gleason s eyes has fascinated me for months. I ve gone back and watched old footage of him on talk shows and other clips of him talking with folks. I thought je ne sais quoi was about the best way to describe the sparkle, but then I realized it was much more. Continue reading All afternoon and from inside his parent s house, as Bill and I sit outside in the comfort of  lawn chairs talking, trumpeters one after another run through their scales, do re mi fa sol la ti do, over and over again.  The notes drop from the open windows like fall leaves from the trees.  It could get annoying, it doesn t, and after a bit the repetition becomes soothing. I reach out and flip open the lid on the large orange ice chest.  Into the ice laden water goes my hand and it quickly goes numb.  I fish out a cold beer, pass it to Bill then promptly repeat the fishing expedition for myself.  It is easy to look forward to the time Bill and I spend with each other,  we have known each other a long time, and besides at the very least it is always nothing short of unforgettable.Like today, my friend and I often sit in lawn chairs out in the grass just a few feet from the back porch of his parents house.  Sunglasses shield our eyes from the bright sun until it finally tucks itself behind the steep hill that rises upward at the back of their yard.  Even then the sun won t actually set for another hour.  So the landscape becomes a black wall of matchstick trees lit by the yellow glow of evening right up until the sky burns out and the back porch light kicks on.  Mostly, Bill and I sit and talk a lot about nothing but we do it well.  Even so we manage to garner a few epiphanies over the years, some shared, some not, this one wasn t.As a high schooler I hated running scales while practicing the trumpet.  I thought they were pointless, boring, and stupid.  I should be practicing the music, memorizing it note for note, if I want to play it well.   But sitting here, two or three beers into my thoughts, remembering what an awful trumpet player I really was, all of the sudden, all these years later,  I understood, I got it.Bill s dad was a world class trumpet teacher at the university.  He is retired but he still gives lessons to advanced students.  His biggest lesson, the one he repeats over and over again, the one I heard him tell his last student for today,  if your mind leaves the sound of the horn, obstacles will appear. I have heard Bill Sr. say it so many times before but today it hit me differently, it s exactly what we don t do when we teach people how to cook.  We give people a recipe, much like a piece of sheet music, and expect the cook to be able to play.  While we know there are those that have the skill set there are many, many more who don t.  We try to pretend it doesn t matter, it s just a recipe after all but it does because the cook never builds the skill set to play at a level satisfactory to their own liking.  Hence obstacles appear which prevent real enjoyment.   I ll wager it happens in cooking all the time.And in this is where the conundrum lies.I count myself lucky in that I honed my kitchens skills for years in a commercial environment.  I can never fully express how much the experience has added to the happiness I feel when I am in the kitchen.   Simple things like cutting onions for onion soup might take me minutes while others are in tears for hours, or maybe because I sautéed boneless skinless chicken breast by the thousands I know when they are just the right color of brown and that anymore coloring will make them chewy and dry and how with the push of my fingertip I can tell when they are no longer pink in the middle but still juicy and edible without fear of food born illness.I don t think of anything I do as special but I know sometimes friends look on with amazement and wonder while I look back at them through my own naivety as if everyone knows how to do these things.So the question for me becomes how do I translate my joy to others, how do I create a  desire in others to build the skill set needed so they can create the kind of food they like to eat, create it with efficient, quality results and excitement.It is frustrating for me in moments such as this, not because it makes me mad but rather because I love being in the kitchen and  I want people to share in this same joy while being in theirs.When I started cooking I copied, to the T, recipes of every famous chef and cookbook author whose food I liked.  I cooked from cookbooks day-in and day-out.  Even when I am cooking full time at a restaurant when I come home I turn around and cook at every opportunity.   At first it is hard to build the confidence to cook even with step by step directions at my side but as I progress my fear of cooking without any guidance diminishes.  I am convinced my abilities improve because I learn solid cooking technique until I know how to sauté, braise, roast, grill, and poach.  My knife skills improve and I work on plating.  I want nothing more than to learn to cook.My style at first is a conglomeration of  all those I mimic until one day my style of cooking just is .  It is easy for people to tell whose food they are eating and before long I find myself edging up to the stove and cooking from experience.  I don t even remember the day it happened because it just did.  I wasn t born a chef.  I started out life as a photojournalist and I never thought I would be anything but but when I decide I want to learn to cook I dive in head first, I expect to come out with a filthy apron, I am passionate about it, and I know I won t stop until I am good at it.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... I don’t know why but I always find the silence during heavy snowfall deafening.  It s a wonderful time for reflection.Amy moves about uncomfortably in the hospital bed.  I look down at the pulse monitor on her forefinger.   It is a bright red beacon in the darkness.  On her arm closest to me I let my eyes follow the faintly lit trail of her IV line to where it disappears into her taped and bruised hand.  This time they only had to stick her with the IV needle four times before they found a vein that didn’t collapse.A gray and black leopard patterned blanket, a blanket Lynnie gave to her mom for good luck, covers Amy’s legs.  Three days of treatment again, but this is day three, 4 more hours to go and then we are done for the year.  Every set of completed treatments feels like an accomplishment, no more waking the girls up early to get them to before school care, no more waking up at 2am, panicked, and thinking I overslept and we missed an appointment, or watching the EKG machine obsessively, knowing what each reading means but we are done and in a few hours Amy will begin to come out of it.I pull the car into the driveway and park.   It won’t be long before Vivian gets off the bus.  I have enough time to get Amy into bed so she can sleep, the treatments are exhausting .  An hour after Vivian gets home Lynnie will get off the bus.  Today is really no different than any other day, the ketamine treatments are a part of our life now.  We get through each day as any other family might and like everyone else we jump each hurdle as it presents itself.It’s in the passing moments of mindlessness that I find myself reconciling our new life, and much like someone stuck in an abusive relationship I am constantly creating ways to make it livable while ignoring the obvious.Vivian is upstairs reading and Lynnie is playing with her guys, she is having an interesting conversation with them but I am only sort of listening.   In the pantry I collect up ingredients.   I load up my arms, a Cambro full of flour, another of sugar, on top of them I lay a bag of brown sugar and a jar of green and red Christmas sprinkles.   When I get everything together I call the girls and we begin measuring ingredients.  It’s time to make some Christmas cookies.As 2017 exits, we are ending the year much as it began.I try to give Amy s days structure.  It is around 1:30 in the afternoon when I wake her.  I bring her coffee in her favorite Klimt mug, sugar in the bottom until it forms an Appalachian sized hill, half and half to cover, and to the top with strong, hot, coffee.This afternoon I don t have the time because we are making cookies, but on the afternoons when I don’t have lots to do I lie in the bed next to Amy while she sips her coffee and we talk.  We relish these afternoons.  Sometimes we talk about pop culture, on others it’s about something we read, there are days when we laugh hysterically, some afternoons are spent bringing her up to date on the kids school stuff but it’s on the days we talk about how lucky we are, even in this worst of moments, that we both feel fortunate.  We know that with a few simple turns of fate our situation could be wholly different.  We know we are the exception and not the rule, the fact that I can stay home with Amy while, we hope, she begins to recover is a luxury, that her illness hasn’t depleted our savings is because we have and can afford good health insurance.We also know we have an amazing family always at the ready to help in anyway but on top of that we have great friends who continually call or text to ask if we need anything.  I will likely turn down the help but it is more with the knowledge there might come a time when we will need it rather than we don’t want it.  Besides when you reach out it lets us know there is a world outside of Amy’s disease and on bad days sometimes it is the best thing that happens.It is still snowing, it is a lighter snow, and I am thankful.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... I don t make anything fancy for Thanksgiving.  I like, and my family likes, a good homey kind of Thanksgiving.   One that we have eaten in some iteration for as long as I can remember.I figured out a long time ago my food is far better when I don t try to hide behind fancy.  Don t get me wrong I like fancy and I enjoy cooking gourmet meals but in my early days of cooking I would hide behind fancy instead of doing the hard work of using good culinary methods and sourcing quality ingredients.  If you do the later homey becomes fancy and incredibly delicious.My definition of quality ingredients has varied over the years but I think I have finally landed squarely in the Jacques Pépin camp.  What I like about Chef Pépin is he uses what is best in the moment.  Summer fruits in winter? To which I am quite certain he would say,  don t be afraid to use frozen because they more than likely taste far better than anything in the fresh produce department.  I feel the same way about green beans.  I didn t always, but a well sourced bag of frozen Frenched green beans far out ways the hassle of blanching fresh beans and frozen is worlds ahead of canned.I provide the usual suspects at my Thanksgiving table, like this casserole, but I choose my ingredients and cooking methods carefully so as to get the best out of each dish.  In the recipe I call for making a velouté, a mother sauce in the culinary world.  (For folks around Indianapolis of the right age and if you ever ate at the LS Ayres tea room you will more than likely know this sauce as Chicken Velvet Soup.  There, the secret is out, I just taught you how to make chicken velvet soup using this green bean casserole recipe, simply leave out vegetables and you have it or, for that matter, leave in the onion, carrots, and celery.)For Thanksgiving, this is a dish where I would have all the ingredients ready in advance.  If I felt the need I would get it into the casserole dish on Wednesday but I would leave off the potato chips or onions, until right before I am going to bake it in the oven.2 TBS. unsalted butter2 ½  TBS. all purpose flour⅔ C. yellow onion, minced½ C. celery, minced1 ½ C. chicken broth, unsalted (or turkey stock-hint, hint)2 TBS. heavy cream1 pound frozen Frenched green beans, thawed in a colander to drain excess waterSalt and fresh ground black pepper2 oz. potato chips, crumbled (you can use crispy onions here too)Place a medium sized heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium heat.  Add butter and let it melt.When the butter has melted add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon to make a roux/paste.   Stir constantly but gently until the butter/flour mixture smells like popcorn and turns from yellow to golden. Add onions and celery.   The roux will clump up around the vegetables.   Cook the vegetables for 3 minutes.Add the broth to the pot, turn the heat to high, and stir continuously until the liquid comes to a boil and thickens.   Reduce the heat to low and allow the sauce to cook and thicken.   Taste, add pepper and salt, stir, and taste again.Combine the sauce with the beans and spread into a buttered gratin.   Spread the crumbled chips over the top and bake at 375F for 35 minutes or until bubbly and brown.Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... I went to my regular restaurant, the one I favor over all others. I ordered my favorite dish only to be disappointed. It lead me to wonder why it wasn t as good as usual. In my head I worried the quality of the restaurant was slipping, are they ordering a lower quality product that isn t as flavorful? To be fair I stopped and thought it might be me, maybe my taste buds were off that night. It happens.I think a lot about taste, not so much about the five taste receptors; bitter, sour, sweet, salty, and umami but more about the law of diminishing returns. Take for instance today, I am making a tomato soup that clearly states in its recipe title it s the only recipe I will ever need. I hope it s that good and it may well be delicious but I also know after I eat it 5 or 6 times I will more then likely move on to another recipe for tomato soup, say, the world s best tomato soup. Knowing my taste buds become familiar with tastes, if the food on the plate in front of me becomes to familiar at some point it is less likely to excite me. I also know there are people who don t care. They eat simply to survive, their interest lies elsewhere, or they want the familiar. I don t.How many times have you eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Are you ever excited to eat them anymore? As a kid I could eat them breakfast lunch and dinner if my mother would have let me but they began to wear thin and I started to eat ham sandwiches or turkey, sometimes a grilled cheese. As an adult there are times I get a kick out of eating a PBJ but they never seem to match the intensity and joy of eating them as a child. I compare it to going back to the neighborhood sledding hill as an adult only to find what at one time seemed like the Rocky mountains now looks more like a speed bump. Childhood can make experiences larger then life.Peanut  Butter, Butter, and Lingonberry Jam SandwichesWhile I am and always have been enamored with simple foods that use honest ingredients it doesn t mean I don t stray from time to time. My cooking has become more about good technique and nurturing rather then showmanship. In a way simple food is like going back to my childhood experiences without fear of being disappointed.1 brioche hamburger bun or 2 slices of brioche, toasted almost burnt1 1/2 tablespoons Skippy Natural Peanut Butter2 unsalted butter pats, about 2 teaspoons at room temperature1 tablespoon lingonberry jam or red currant jamMaldon Sea Salt (this is a big flaky sea salt meant for finishing dishes)When the bread has cooled enough not to melt the peanut butter spread the peanut butter evenly across the bottom bun.  On the top bun smear the butter and top it with the lignonberry jam.Sprinkle the peanut butter with Maldon salt to taste.  Smush the top bun onto the bottom and serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... If you are like me, you have made what seems like hundreds of variations on beef stew; the classic tomatoey American version, a Korean version, Chinese, Irish, with beer, or with wine. It’s all done in the name of variety and the constant quest for new flavors to excite the taste buds. We do it in order to make dinner ever more interesting, because let’s be honest, if you only cook the same 5 or 6 meals and present them over and over again at some point they become lackluster and boredom sets in. This is not to say, as a cook you need to know how to cook a hundred variations on beef stew because you don’t. If you are like me though you are curious, always looking for upgrades, and it is nice to have some surprises in your back pocket when you need them.While I call this a French stew it is far from a classic daube.  Daube’s make use of lots of red wine, olives, and orange peel. This stew does not. What this dish does do is keep flavors separate. By cooking the meat on its own, roasting the vegetables, then combining them only when it is time to serve the dish some very wonderful flavors only become present when everything is in the bowl.Let me say a few things about clay pot cooking.  Clay is unique, so if you have a clay pot stored in a cabinet somewhere begging to be used then this is a great place to start and here is why.  Cooking in clay pots feels like cooking.   The smell of the clay as it heats, the aroma that reminds you of the last meal you cooked,  the cracks in the glaze, the smell of olive oil as it heats seems basic in an elemental way.  It is comforting.  It s as if you a are connected to every cook that came before you and every meal too.When you heat clay on the stove the culinary history of the particular pot makes itself well known very quickly. Often pots are dedicated to certain kinds of cooking like curry, or rice, or beans. They are used for meals made with similar spices.  They are the original slow cooker and you can find them being used all around the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Asia and throughout South America.The recipe doesn’t require cooking in a clay pot for it to be good but it does add to its mystic. It can be cooked in a slow cooker or in an enameled Dutch oven on the stove top.Clay Pot Beef Stew with Roasted Vegetables (serves 4)2 TBS. olive oil2 pounds beef brisket, trimmed of fat and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes1 1/2 TBS all-purpose flour3 medium yellow onions15 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole3 cups homemade beef broth of sodium free beef broth1 1/2 teaspoons Herbes de Provence1 tsp. kosher salt2 tsp. Japanese tonkatsu sauce or Heinz 571 bay leaf2 tsp. flat leaf parsley, minced3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1 1/2-inch cylinders7 fingerling potatoes, washed and halvedPeel and trim one onion.  Halve it and dice both halves into a small dice.Place a 3 1/2 quart clay pot or enameled Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add olive oil and let it become hot.  Add half the beef and brown it on all sides.  Remove the meat to a tray.  Repeat with the remaining beef.Add the flour to the oil and stir with a wooden spoon until the flour begins to color and smells nutty (do not taste the roux it will burn your tongue off.)Add diced onions and garlic.  Stir.  The roux will stick to the vegetables and clump.  This is as it should be.  Add the hot broth while stirring. Continue to stir until the liquid comes to a boil.Add a 1/2 tsp. kosher salt, Herbes de Provence, tonkatsu, bay leaf, parsley, and a few grinds of fresh ground black pepper.  Add the brisket back to the pot, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and let it gently bubble until the brisket is tender but not falling apart.  About 4 hours.About 1 1/2 hours before the brisket is tender heat the oven to 425 degrees.  Peel the remaining 2 onions and cut each into 6 wedges.  Place the onions, carrots, and potatoes into a bowl.  Toss with enough olive oil to coat them.  Season them with salt and fresh ground pepper.  Toss them again.Spread the vegetables out onto a sheet tray and roast them for 1 hour or until they are brown and blistered.  Remove them from the oven.To serve place a sprinkling of vegetables into the bottom 4 bowls, ladle over meat and broth over the vegetables and them top with some vegetables.  Sprinkle with parsley and serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... I don’t get the allure of risotto. Years ago at culinary school, every student revered the dish except me, and slowly I ve come to hate it. It s overrated.I ve practiced making it at home with the guidance of some of the best cookbook authors of the day. I stand at the stove as instructed, stirring, hot broth on the back burner, and all of the ingredients at hand. Inevitably after the required 19 minutes of stirring, ladling, and coddling as instructed, I have a pot of hot, goopy rice, but I am never impressed.I never get tired of cooking, but eventually I did tire of making risotto.I had given up ordering risotto in restaurants long ago for the same reasons I quit making it at home. But on a chance, just like the dollar I dropped into a slot and pulled the arm as I walked by, I ordered it. I took the gamble and it too payed off, just like the $1600 slot earlier in the day.I don’t eat at restaurants often. Not because I don’t enjoy them because I do it’s more that my wife, Amy, and I splurge when we go out to eat. A few times a year we spend lots of money at a few restaurants. A weekend in Napa or New York City is perfect for this. This time we headed to Las Vegas where there are lots of great restaurants tucked within a confined space. We made plans to hit several famous chef’s restaurants. It’s what we do when we go to Vegas. Others gamble, we eat.On a whim, we decided to go into Le Cirque, the off shoot of the famous New York City restaurant. Le Cirque is whimsical. It ’s dinner under the big top, draping curtains hanging from the ceiling like a technicolor circus tent, highlighting a huge chandelier centered in a huge circular room. No corner table. Gaudy at best but it pairs perfectly with Cirque Du Soleil playing one ring over.As I glanced at the veritable circus around us, the ringmaster balanced hot plates on his arm and delivered them to our table. The risotto dish set in front of me was the most exquisite rice dish ever. Tender rice but with a spring to it. The acidity of the white wine, added and burned off au sec, is a perfect match for the Parmesan and the starchy rice. Brothy, but not too much so. Fine dinning at its best. It is out of place in Vegas: to simple, not garish enough. Still, that rice dish will hold a place at the front of my mind for the rest of the weekend and follow me around for a long time to come.I arrived back home with renewed determination. I had to figure out how to make risotto like that. It s like a three-ring circus in my kitchen: ingredients spread all around while I m stirring and ladling and stirring and measuring and stirring some more. Another carefully measured attempt ends yet again with disappointment. How could it not? I can make a perfect pot of rice, but I can’t make risotto. No amount of hope can fix that.I did my best to just move on. There are so many wonderful foods in this world; there is no point in getting hung up on any one failure. It’s not like anyone notices a gaping risotto hole in my cooking repertoire. And what if they did? It’s only risotto.But I do. I notice. And for me it is an empty pan smoking over high heat. Cooking is what I do. Making food the best that I possibly can is what drives me. Once my palate has experienced something new and exciting there are no lengths to which I won’t go in order to replicate that experience.And so I head back to the stove with another recipe for Risotto Milanese, seeking yet again that illusive pairing of a creamy texture and toothsome rice. I carefully ladle in the broth, stirring and stirring and seeking to master the ultimate balancing act.Perfect Risotto Milanese (serves 4)2 tsp. unsalted butter1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced1/4 cup dry white wine1 cup arborio rice1/4 tsp kosher salt2 3/4 cup homemade or sodium free chicken broth1/2 tsp saffron2 TBS. unsalted butter, cold1/2 cup Parmegiano-Reggiano cheese, grated1 TBS. chives, mincedPlace a 4-quart pressure cooker over medium high heat.  Add the butter, and when it begins to bubble, add the onions.  Sauté until the onions begin to soften.Add the dry white wine and bring it to a boil.  Reduce the wine by half and add the rice and stir to coat.  Add salt, chicken stock, and saffron, and bring the liquid to a boil.Lock the lid into place and bring the pressure to high.  Once the pot is to pressure start a timer set for 7 minutes.  Remove the pot from the heat and use the cold water release method to drop the pressure.  Remove the lid.Stir in the chilled butter followed with the Parmesan.  If the risotto is stiff, add more broth 1 TBS. at a time until you reach the desired consistency.  Divide the rice into 4 bowls, garnish a little more cheese and chives.  Serve immediately.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... I don’t know when it came to be that chefs and cooks decided that your veggies needed to be cooked al dente. While I know they retain more of their vitamins when cooked a minimal amount I also know it’s not like the vitamins just vaporize into thin air but instead I am pretty sure, and take note I am not a scientist, that they wind up in the cooking broth.Either way and no matter how you slice it I like veggies that can stand up to multiple cooking methods giving me choices as how best to enjoy them. I like green beans blanched then sautéed al dente but then I also like them long cooked. That doesn’t mean I want mush because I want something that still has character and a bite.So after cooking green beans and eating green beans pretty much all my life with potatoes or onions, and even bacon and onions I was looking for a change. This last summer I found a wonderful recipe for okra that was stewed and I liked the recipe so much I made it two or three times.The other night I was thinking how good that recipe would be with green beans and, actually even easier and less time consuming then the okra. So here is a link to the original article and recipe from the New York Times’ Recipes for Health by Martha Rose Shulman http://tinyurl.com/7ebxpk3 just in case you have any interest in the original okra recipe which I will make again this coming summer.Middle Eastern Braised Green Beans  (Serves 6)1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil2 cups onion, thinly sliced3 cloves garlic, minced1 teaspoon all spice1/2 teaspoon sugar1 1/2 pounds green beans, clipped and cleaned1 teaspoon pomegranate molassesjuice of half a lemon14 oz chopped tomatoes2 teaspoons tomato pastekosher salt and fresh ground black pepperPlace a large heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil and once it is hot add the onions. Season the onions with a pinch of salt and some pepper. Sweat the onions until they begin to soften trying not to brown them.Add the garlic and once it becomes fragrant add the all spice and sugar. Then add the beans and stir them to coat with the oil.Now add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. Cook on medium until you hear the pot sizzling then reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for an hour remembering to stir about every twenty minutes. They may take longer the an hour but not much.Taste, adjust the salt and pepper and serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... ©Tom Hirschfeld 2016 all rights reservedJust about anything can be cooked in a pressure cooker. It does lots of things well. Stews, roasts, soups and one pots all come to the table hot and delicious. Even so, what really keeps the pressure cooker on the stove top is the basics. A pressure cooker cooks beans, grains, rice, and stocks effortlessly and it cooks them perfect every time. A pressure cooker is a natural in the kitchen. Not only that, as everybody knows, the pressure cooker saves time and when it comes to cooking beans it saves lots of time.Bean MythsWe live in a world of bean myths. A world where bits of anecdotal information is passed from one generation of cooks to another. Dried beans carry suitcases full of informational baggage around with each and every pound. But what is truth and what is fiction and how should it all be sorted out?Dried beansThere are a lot of choices when it comes to the kinds of beans you choose to cook. There are all the traditional beans -‑ black, pinto, garbanzo, navy, and kidney but there are also limitless kinds of heirloom beans with fancy names like Tiger Eye, Eye of the Goat, and Snowcap. There are even more.When combined with a grain, more often then not rice, beans make a complete protein. This makes beans one of the least expensive healthy foods to put onto the stove. Combine them with a few spices and herbs and it becomes a flavorful dish the whole family will love.To buy the best beans frequent a grocery that has a high turnover of dried beans. The newer the bean the better it cooks. Beans that have been around for a long time might not ever soften no matter how long you cook them. It pays to pay a little extra for good quality beans.There are other legumes too. Split peas, lentils, and field peas cook up just as wonderfully in a pressure cooker as any of their cousins mentioned above. These legumes don’t need any kind of soak either, they can go right into the pot and cook in no time at all.To Soak or Not to Soak?This is a personal question. It is up to the cook whether or not to soak the beans overnight. In pressure cooker you do not need to soak the beans but there may be reasons why you want to.One reason would be how are the beans going to be used. If they are to be pureed soaking isn’t necessary but if they are to be left whole a pressure cooker often splits beans leaving them cracked. If this is important then soak the beans.Under pressure dried beans are cooked in minutes. Not something that can happen when they are cooked traditionally. The question becomes one of digestibility. If the beans are soaked a good deal of the gas causing chemical, phytic acid, is leached out into the soaking water which is discarded and fresh water is then added for cooking. If gastrointestinal issues are a factor presoaking is mandatory.So while you can eliminate the soaking water when pressure cooking here is another reason it might not be a good idea. Almost any presoaked bean cooks in 10 to 14 minutes in a pressure cooker. That is what is amazing. Cooked delicious beans in such a short amount of time!A Quick SoakIf you should forget to soak you beans you can still get a pot of beans to the table with a quick soak. Simply put the amount of beans you want to cook into the pressure cooker and for every 1 cup of beans add 4 cups of water. Bring the water to a boil and lock on the pressure cooker lid. Bring to pressure and set a timer for 2 minutes. When the timer sound turn off the heat and let the beans sit for 20 minutes or until the pressure has released. Drain the soaking liquid and proceed.SaltThere is an old wives tale about salt and beans. It says that salting beans extends their cooking time and makes the beans tough. It does not. Salting beans is paramount to great tasting beans. It is best to salt them during the soak time. About 2 teaspoons of salt per 4 cups of water is sufficient.FoamingFoaming is always a concern when using a pressure cooker. Foam carries particulate which can lodge and clog the pressure valves. It is best to add a tablespoon of oil or fat to the cooking liquid. This will help to prevent foaming. It is also best to use a natural or cold water release beans for the same reasons.When To Add AcidsTomato sauce and vinegars are often added to beans for flavor. The acids in these products can cause the beans to toughen and take longer to cook. It all depends on how much you add. A can of tomato sauce is going to affect the cooking time, a tablespoon probably not. Nevertheless, it is always best to add any of these products toward the end of the cooking time.Baking SodaThere is no good reason to add baking soda to beans.A Simple Pot Of Beans2 cups pinto beans, rinsed and picked over for debris soaked in 8 cups of salted water for 4 hours to overnight1 small yellow onion, peeled, small dice (about 3/4 cup)3 garlic cloves, minced (about 1 TB.)1 tsp. kosher salt1 bay leaf[1/2] tsp. fresh ground black pepperDrain the beans into a colander and strain. Rinse the beans.Place the beans into a 6 quart (5.51l) or larger pressure cooker. Add enough water to cover the beans by about 1-inch (2.5cm) about 5 or 6 cups.Add onion, cloves, garlic, salt, bay leaf, and pepper to the pot. Bring the water to a boil over medium high heat (traditional)/high(electric).Lock on the lid, bring the pressure to level 2(traditional)/high (electric). Set a timer for 10 to 12 minutes.After the time sounds either perform a natural or quick release. Serve or cool and refrigerate beans until needed.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... I melt for this pasta.  I always have.As a kid I grew up on heavy, roux laden Fettuccini Alfredo.  It was the rigor of the day and it was served everywhere and with everything mixed into the noodles, from shrimp to broccoli.  Unfortunately, and even though it was a childhood favorite, cream based pastas in the Midwest were bad, no, they were awful.Fettucini Alfredo in the Midwest became a Parmesan cream with noodles.  Sometimes more soup then pasta.  The Italian heritage of the dish suddenly was nowhere to be found.  Alfredo in Italy is simply a pasta of butter and Parmesan cheese much like carbonara but without using egg yolks as an emulsifier.  When the noodles are hot out of the cooking water butter and parmesan are tossed with the pasta and melt into a beautiful, silky coat for each noodle.  Fettuccini Alfredo in its Italian form has nothing to do with buckets of cream reduced or thickened with a flour and butter roux.In the same breath, Carbonara had its day too but it also comes with its own set of problems.  Eggs used to enrich the bacon lardon and Parmesan base often become gloppy and sometimes make the pasta more dry then wet while at other times, because to much egg is used,  the dish ends up with the noodles stuck together in a pasta pancake better cut with a knife then twirled onto a fork.   When made right carbonara can be sublime but when done wrong it can be one of the worst pastas in the world.   Making carbonara involves proper technique and quality ingredients if the finished pasta is to be anywhere close to extraordinary.This pasta is not a carbonara but neither is it an Alfredo.  It is what I like to think of as a Midwestern hybrid.  Something we do really well here in the middle states, for better or worse, we make dishes to our liking.  For me,  I like several things about this pasta.  To begin, I like the use of ham instead of bacon.  There is no rendering of any fat and yet the typical Midwestern farm ham, piquant with its rosy cure, matches perfectly with the peas, garlic, and pasta.  While the recipe calls for cream it uses far less then one might imagine and the use of starch heavy pasta water to thicken the sauce is a perfect alternative to a classic roux or eggs.  While they might look like an unnecessary garnish,  the parsley and chives are important in flavoring the final dish and should be added in the last minutes of cooking.©Tom Hirschfeld 2016 all rights reseervedMidwest Carbonara (Serves 4)1 tablespoon unsalted butter (55g)1 tablespoon garlic8 oz. ham, small dice (225g)1/2 cup heavy cream (110g)1/2 cup pasta water (110g)3/4 cup frozen peas (170g)1/2 cup sugar snap peas (110g)1 tablespoon parsley, minced1 tablespoon chive, mincedkosher saltfresh ground white pepper1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated (110g)1 pound vermicelli pasta (450g)Place a 6 quart (5.51l) pot, filled with 4 quarts (4l) of water, onto the stove. Add 2 tablespoons kosher salt and bring the water to a boil.While you are waiting for the water to boil heat a 14” inch (35.5cm) over medium heat. Add unsalted butter and let it melt. Add ham, stir then add garlic.When the garlic becomes fragrant but not brown add cream. Bring the cream to a boil and turn off the heat.This is about timing. The vermicelli only takes minutes to cook but if you are using a different noodle that takes longer adjust you timing.Add the vermicelli to the boiling water and cook according to the package instructions.Place the cream back onto the stove top and turn the heat to medium high. Bring the cream to a boil, add peas, season with white pepper.If the cream reduces to fast add pasta water by the 1/4 cup. Use pasta water because the starch will thicken the sauce.Drain the noodles when the finish cooking. Add noodles to sauté pan, carefully toss them with the cream. Add half the cheese and carefully toss the noodles with the cream. Taste, add salt if necessary, and a few grinds of fresh ground white pepper, half the chives and parsley. Carefully toss again taking note that it will be hard to get the peas and ham to mix into the pasta. This is okay.Pay attention in order to keep the pasta from scorching on the bottom of the pan.When everything is hot, use you tongs to place the pasta onto a large platter. Top the pasta with remaining peas and ham. Sprinkle on the remaining cheese, and top with remaining chives and parsley. Serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... I remember the first time I saw a bison up close and personal. It was out on the rolling prairies of South Dakota. No, it wasn’t wild. Reality is, I am not sure there are to many of those left. Maybe in Canada and Yellowstone but beyond that I think most herds are domesticated, sort of.When you walk up on a buffalo it is like you stepped back in time, especially if they are starring at you head on. They are huge animals yielding in the neighborhood of four hundred pounds of meat. You heard that right four hundred pounds. I can’t imagine killing one of these with a bow and arrow.  I have a hard time trying to imagine how the Native Americans did it.It is interesting to note at one time Indiana had bison that followed the Buffalo Trace on their east/west migration through the southern portion of the state. The trace was one of the first roads used by animals and people alike.The mushroom ragu is really what this dish is all about.  I love buffalo, I can eat it plain without any toppings, but the simple addition of this simple ragu makes the whole dish.The ragu is an umami bomb.  The deep earthiness of the mushrooms, combined with the red wine and soy, and cooked on the stove top until all the flavors are intensified by reduction makes it a great combination.  Not only is it good on red meat but it also is delicious on salmon and monk fish.If you don t want to mess with buffalo, of course this recipe would be great with beef.  I like to pan sear the sirloins but the grill works great too.  Use whichever works best for you.Serves 4one (1 1/2 to 2 pound) buffalo sirloin5 cups assorted exotic mushrooms2 heads garlic, roasted, see step 51 teaspoon marjoram2 tablespoons soy sauce1 cup red wine1 tablespoon unsalted butter1 tablespoon canola oilparsley for garnishPlace a 14 inch saute pan over medium high heat. Let it get good and hot. Then add the oil. Add the oil first to keep the butter from burning.Now add the mushrooms. Spread them out across the pan and let them sit without shaking or turning them so they get good and brown. Season them with a heavy pinch of salt and some pepper.When the mushrooms are good and brown flip them and do the same to the other side. Add the shallots and the butter. Let the shallots soften.Add the wine, soy sauce and garlic. Bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce the heat and cook until the wine is almost all absorbed by the mushrooms.Meanwhile heat a cast iron skillet or if you are using a grill you should already have it going, over high heat. Add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan and cook the sirloin caramelizing both sides of the steak to the internal temp you want it to be.Let the steak rest, slice and serve with mushrooms on top. Garnish with parsley.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... If your weekend was anything like mine then you are comfortable having put summer to bed, tucked-in snugly with the knowledge it will sleep tight until it awakens again next year. Windows will close, doors are shut, and the nuanced smells of long simmered foods become more prevalent.I can t imagine a life without seasons.  Not because I like the hot and cold but because they are markers, clear delineations that it is time to get on with life, a deep breath of reflection before pushing on, no summit to conquer, no eye on a prize, just a moment to reflect on the journey.I am back to doing what I love—cooking, my way.   This time of year I always cook Asian cuisine.  It is such a departure from what I have done all summer, cooked from the garden, be it mid-western or southern foods, or farm favorites.  Now I go to the Asian grocery and buy up bok choi, pigs liver, shiso peppers, lemon grass, and Chinese celery.  Foods that I have done without since last fall.For a few months I will get my fill, until winter.Asian Spaghetti (serves 4)This is great for weeknights.  The sauce like many gets better with age and can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days (you can even double the recipe and freeze half.)  Then simply make your noodles, warm the sauce, and serve.1 tablespoon vegetable oil1 lb. ground beef1 medium red onion, fine dice (about 1 cup)3 celery stalks, trimmed, fine dice (about 1 cup)1 tablespoon ginger, minced1 tablespoon garlic1/2 cup Hoisin sauce1/2 cup canned chopped tomatoes with juice1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice2 tablespoons soy sauce1 Fresno red pepper, chopped3 Shiso peppers, chopped1/4 cup cilantrorice noodles, cookedSet a 3 quart (3l) enameled cast iron pot, or any heavy bottomed pot onto the stove.  Turn the heat to medium high.  Add oil and let it become hot.Add the ground beef, break it into small pieces and let it brown.  Add red onion, celery, ginger, and garlic.  Stir, let the vegetables soften and become fragrant.Add Hoisin sauce, tomatoes, lime juice and soy.  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to simmer and let the liquid reduce until it thickens, about 15 minutes.  Taste and adjust the seasoning.Place the hot noodles onto a platter, top with sauce, and sprinkle the peppers and cilantro over the top.  Serve with a nice stir fried vegetable like bok choi in oyster sauce.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Years ago, when I was first starting out in the restaurant business, I put together a business plan.  The idea came to me early one morning while rolling out Danish dough in pastry class.  Lots of ideas came to me while I was in pastry class.  I think it was all the coffee and sugar.  At the time it was just talk and I had no real notion of putting them into place.  But this particular idea stuck with me.  I wanted to open a diner, and not just any diner, but a classic 1940 s Silk City diner.  To me the Silk City is the the Cadillac-Airstream-Harley-Davidson of diners.  I located an empty one just up the road.  It had recently shuttered its doors and gone out of business.  I thought I might get it for a steal.The Duroc Dinette, that is what I was going to name it because it was to have a pork heavy menu.  I would move the thing to Indianapolis if I had it my way and open in a neighborhood where it was much needed.  A dear friend even owned a lot in a prime location downtown and I was talking to him about giving it up for a reasonable sum and he was ready too.I don t know why I didn t push it any further other then in those days I didn t have much confidence in my abilities.  At that point I had never worked in a restaurant.  I wanted to get a few years under my belt before I made the leap.  As is the case with many of these things you drift in other directions.   A plan gets put into a file and it never gets pulled out again.I still love diner food.  I especially like the desserts at diners.  Diner desserts are interesting because they are streamlined much like a diner itself.  In a diner food cost have to be kept down but that doesn t mean the food is short on flavor.  The desserts are always somewhere between kitsch and homey, lots of gelatin and coconut but mind you that doesn t mean the refrigerated glass case full of pies won t grab my attention like I hope this delicious chocolate chiffon pie grabs yours.For the crust:12 chocolate graham crackers2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder1/4 cup unsalted butter plus 2 tsp.For the chiffon:1/4 cup water1 tsp. instant espresso powder1 envelope unflavored gelatin4-oz. 72% dark chocolate or unsweetened chocolate3/4 cup whole milk3 large eggs, separated1/2 cup sugar1/8 tsp kosher salt2 cup heavy cream1 tsp. vanilla extract1/4 cup powdered sugar.1. In the bowl of a food processor pulse the graham crackers, cocoa powder, and butter until a fine crumb is formed and a crust forms when you push the crumbs firmly to the side of the processor bowl.2. Dump the crumbs into a pie pan. Starting with the edges press the crumbs firmly into the pan. Bake the crust in a heated 350˚ F oven for 10 minutes.3. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.4. While the crust is cooling, combine water, espresso powder, and gelatin in a small bowl and let the gelatin bloom.Add milk and chocolate to a small sauce pan and place it over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and stir until the chocolate has melted. Remove from the heat.5. In a mixing bowl combine salt, half the sugar, with the egg yolks. Add 1/4 cup of the cream and while whisking add the hot milk and chocolate mixture.6. Pour milk mixture into the gelatin mixture and whisk until smooth and the gelatin has completely dissolved.7. Clean all the pots and pans.8. In the bowl of a mixer begin whipping the egg whites until they become stiff. Slowly add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and continue to whip until the whites become glossy and stiff.9. Fold the egg whites into the chocolate filling until not trails of white remain.10. Pour 3/4 of the chocolate filling into prepare pie crust. Refrigerate the pie and the remaining filling.11. To make the whip cream whisk the remaining 1 3/4 cup of cream until it begins to stiffen. Add powdered sugar and vanilla extract until and continue to whip until stiff peaks form.12. Whisk the extrea cold chocolate filling. Fill a pastry bag fitter with a star tip with the filling and pipe a it around the outer edge of the pie.13. Fill the the circle you just made with whipped cream being sure not to cover up the piped chocolate.14. Grate chocolate over the top of the pie and refrigerate for another hour.15. Cut the pie into pieces. Serve cold.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Is it the heat in August, or the midday cicadas—grinding, grinding, grinding—that reminds me of the time of year?  The horizon, corn pollen and gravel dust, is smudged.  This is the first August I can ever remember going outside after lunch to find it refreshing instead of repressing.  The sun is as bright as on a crisp fall afternoon and the humidity is nowhere to be found—grinding, grinding, grinding.I like to hear the corn grow and without the humidity there is nothing from which the growing pains can echo.  An ambulance, siren blaring, leaves town.  The sirens grow louder until the emergency vehicle turns north on the state highway.  The sirens begin to fade.It has been like this all summer and  I am being robbed.  I like the heat.  It is the humidity and heat that makes my vegetables grow.  I have nothing growing in my garden this year.  By rights I should be eating okra.  I should have so much zucchini I have to feed it to the chickens.  I should be looking forward to garden succotash and fried chicken but my lima beans died long ago in the continual down pours of early spring. I should be picking fresh field peas and pole beans but I never even got the baskets down from the cabinet.  I should be cutting sweet corn from the cob and freezing it.I rock gently in an easy chair on the front porch and eat a pimento cheese sandwich.  From out across the fields I can hear the announcer for the high school football game calling plays.  I think back to all my first days back at school.  I feel the butterflies in my stomach,  another summer grows quite.Pimento Cheese(Makes 2 cups)3 cups cheddar cheese, grated (about an 8oz. block)2 teaspoons yellow onion, grated on a micro plane3 tablespoons jarred pimentos plus 1 tablespoon pimento juice2/3 cup mayonnaise1 tablespoon Nathan s mustard1 tablespoon cider vinegar1 tablespoon Tabasco sriracha1 tablespoon ketchupfresh ground black pepper to tastePlace all the ingredients into a mixing bowl.  Stir gently with a spoon until everything is combined.  Let sit for an hour before serving.  Store in the refrigerator tightly covered.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... In a sense, to smush, press, or mash a sandwich could feel redundant but it s not.  It is a tool employed to make certain kinds of sandwiches better.  Case in point, a Cuban, panini, a shooter s sandwich, and pan bagnat.I love all these sandwiches.  Classics, each and everyone.In the heat of summer, I rely on the pan bagnat, which when translated means bathed bread.  It is a vegetable based sandwich from the south of France, it is light and I find it refreshing.  Often the ingredients list is patterned after a Salad Nicoise subbing in anchovies for the tuna.  For me I like to use omega-3 oil rich sardines but use whatever tinned fish you fancy.The sandwich is built in layers, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, and then some sort of weight is put on top of it.  At my house the sandwich gets sandwiched between sheet trays and the milk and juice jugs set on top compress it.  Because the sandwich is lightly salted and weighted after a couple of hours under pressure a lot of liquid is released only to be soaked back up by the bread.And that s the genius of this sandwich.  In my experience it never gets soggy but instead it becomes meltingly tender, the juices mingle, and in the end this makes for a perfect sandwich on a hot summer day. sandwich, french, sardines, vegetables, summer Pan Bagnat (makes 1 sandwich)a 6-inch (15.25cm) piece of French baguette1 tin skinless, bonleless, sardines in oil1 small cucumber, peeled1 medium sized tomato, sliced5 or 6 thinly sliced red onion rings, skin removed8 picholine olives or olive of you choicesalsa verdemayonnaisekosher saltfresh ground black pepperSlice the baguette in half lengthwise.  On one piece of the bread coat the interior with mayonnaise.  On the other spread out a tablespoon or two of salsa verde.Using the peeler, peel thin strips of cucumber, 10 or more of them.  Lay them in an even layer across the salsa verde side.  Give the cucumbers a sprinkle of salt.Top the cucumber with the sardines, on top of the sardines lay out the tomatoes.  Season the tomatoes with a sprinkle of salt and fresh ground black pepper.Top the tomato with red onion.  Place the olives onto the mayonnaise so they stick.Place the olive/mayonnaise bread on top of the sandwich.  Wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and then either place a brick on top, a sheet tray with weight, something heavy.  Let the sandwich remain weighted for at least three hours to overnight.To serve remove the plastic wrap, slice on the diagonal, and serve with a glass of chilled dry white wine.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Something as simple as good corn on the cob shouldn t be elusive.  There shouldn t be any big secrets but there is and it is this, the best corn on the cob in the world is cooked in a pressure cooker.   It couldn t be simpler to do  and the results are divine.I live in corn country.  If there was a vortex for the center of a corn universe I am at ground zero.  And if not the exact center I am still close enough that if it shook in the middle of the night it would knock me out of bed.  What I am saying is in the Midwest we know corn, and all you have to do is visit any state fair to know I am telling you the truth.We roast it, boil it, we scrap it off the cob, we make it into pudding, make chowder out of it, we slather ears of it with mayonnaise and sprinkle it with any number of spices, and we even deep fry it like it is a corn dog.But when a real treat is in order, in the heat of late-summer,  we set up a table under the shade tree, even put a table cloth on it along with plates and silverware.  Then we grill some thick cut pork chops, cut thick slabs of ripe homegrown tomatoes and lightly salt them, maybe a green salad with a sugary vinegar and oil dressing, and  we steam perfectly rip ears of sweet corn under pressure, slip the ear out of the husk from the stalk end and roll the perfectly steamed ears through sun softened sticks of butter.Pressure cooking an ear of corn does something magnificent.  It gives the kernels a snap, and by leaving the husk on the ears develop a robust corn flavor, much like wrapping tamales in a dried husk.  It tastes like corn should, pure and simple.This slideshow requires JavaScript.The Best Corn on the Cob in the World(serves 6 to 8 people)When buying ears of corn look for husk that are vibrant and fresh.  It is also always best to cook sweet corn the same day you buy it.8 ears of sweet corn still in the husk (buy ears that fit your cooker)1 cup water1 stick of unsalted buttersea saltfresh ground black pepperEquipment: a 6 or 8 quart pressure cooker with a steamer basket1. Set an ear of corn onto a cutting board.  Using a good chef s knife trim the stalk end back so that there is no stalk showing just kernels, about a 2-inch piece.  Repeat with all the ears of corn.2. Place each ear of corn cut end down into the steamer basket.3. Place the cooker over medium-high heat.  Add 1 cup of water and bring it to a boil.  Slip the steamer basket with the corn into the pot.4. When the water returns to a boil, lock on the lid, and bring the pressure to level 2, or high.  Once pressure is reached lower the heat while maintaining pressure.5. Set a timer for 6 minutes.  When the timer sounds perform a quick or cold water release.6. Remove the lid and use a pair of tongs to lift out the steamer basket.7. Using a dry and clean kitchen towel grab and ear of corn by the silk and push the ear out of the husk toward the stalk end.  The silks should come along with husk and the ear should be clear of silk.  Repeat for all the ears.  Serve immediately with lots of butter, salt, and fresh ground pepper.(A tangent: If you own a pressure cooker you are in luck, if you don t then you are going to want one. So go buy one, I am serious, and I don t peddle stuff on here.  Not only do pressure cookers cook things well they are going to help save the planet one meal at a time by conserving energy, water, and time.  If you like that sort of stuff, conservation, then you have to get one.  A 6 or 8 quart stove top cooker will feed your family delicious meals for years to come.)Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... I often wonder what makes a recipe so good it goes viral. I am sure it s lots of factors. Sometimes it s the recipe itself, other times it is what the author expresses in words through their post, and sometimes it is simply because the author is very famous. This recipe, originally posted on the blog My New Roots, has shown up on lots of other sites and was even a Genius Recipe on Food 52, and rightly so.  At the very least it has gone viral in my circles.There are lots of things to like about this bread, like stacking it with thinly sliced crisp cucumbers, topped with oily mackerel, shallots, and parsley like in the picture above.  I also like it with thick cut bacon and peas shoots, or simply toasted and topped with butter and lingonberry jam.  It is delicious bread.  I even bake it on my Big Green Egg to give it a more authentic, and Danish, baked-in-the-dying-embers of a wood fired oven flavor.My only problem is if I make the loaf of bread following the original recipe it comes up short. I heard the same words of disappointment from others who tried it too. The bread can be fussy, difficult to cut, crumbles, and becomes dry.  Many I know have given up making it.One of my favorite ways to top this bread is with thin slices of cucmber, mackeral, parsley, and shallot.I am sure the loaf bakes up perfect and to the satisfaction of many people every time. It doesn t for me, but I understand when it comes to cooking and baking there are so many variables that to place fault elsewhere is simply not taking responsibility for ones own abilities. After all, it is up to the cook to get what they want from a recipe.  It is why you need to know how to cook rather then simply follow directions.  Just like different musicians playing the same piece of sheet music. The song sounds very different depending on the players abilities.  It is only because there are so many things about this loaf of bread I like that I stuck with it, experimented with it, until I got the loaf of bread I wanted, until I heard the song I wanted to hear.I didn t change much, although I used pumpkin seeds instead of sunflower and ground psyllium instead of seeds and I ground a portion of the oats and pumpkin seeds to create a finer crumb in the end product.  And while I use coconut oil in some recipes I didn t use it here nor did I use maple syrup but instead brown rice syrup was substituted.   For me all these small touches made for a more manageable loaf in the end.The fact is, made from the original recipe this loaf of bread is delicious, the taste is very satisfying, nutty, feels good to eat, and it is nourishing.  I simply made adjustments which gave me the product  I wanted to eat.  Rest assured though,  for those on a restricted diet, and those that aren t, this seed bread is an important find.  It s worth practicing to get it right.Seed bread packed into a pate mold and waiting to be wrapped up for a rest before baking. Notice the parchment handles.This recipe creates a less delicate loaf.Seed and Grain Bread (adapted from My New Roots)1 cup unsalted pumpkin seeds (1/2 cup coarsely ground)1/2 cup golden flax meal, ground1/2 cup walnuts1 1/2 cups rolled oats ( I generally grind 1/2 cup coarsely in a coffee grinder )2 tablespoons chia seeds3 tablespoons powdered psyllium1 teaspoon kosher salt1 tablespoons brown rice syrup or whatever syrup you have and want to use3 tablespoons spectrum vegetable shortening (it s palm oil and non-hydrogentated) or unsalted butter1 1/2 cups hot water1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Using your hands work the mass until the shortening or butter and the other ingredients are evenly distributed.2. Line a pate mold, or small loaf pan, with parchment. To remove air bubbles, literally, pack the dough into a 3 x 4 x 10 pate mold. Wrap the whole thing in plastic wrap and let it sit for 1 to 2 hours.3, Heat the oven to 350˚F. Remove the plastic wrap, place the loaf pan onto a baking sheet and bake the bread for 25 minutes.4. At the end of the baking time remove the tray from the oven and using excess parchment paper as handle lift the loaf from the pan. Place the loaf, with the parchment still under it, back onto the sheet tray and bake the bread for another 20 minutes.5. When the timer sounds, roll the loaf so that a new side is flush with the sheet tray. Bake another twenty minutes. Do this until all four sides have been baked against the sheet tray.6. Remove from the oven and let the bread cool completely before cutting.7. The bread is best toasted. Store in the fridge wrapped in plastic wrap.Note: recently I baked a loaf on my Big Green Egg. It is a fantastic way to bake this loaf. Much like it might be baked in a shop in Europe using the dying embers of a wood fired oven.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Something like you find at a pizza shop, made of Romaine and iceberg  lettuce cut into chunks, mini-wedges meant to soak up a heady dressing and topped with everything but the kitchen sink, this salad is a simple summer salad.It doubles as a full on dinner salad or as a side.  It is laced with shredded red cabbage and carrots added every bit as much for taste as color.  It is topped with your hearts desire, in this case crisp cucumbers, muddy black olives, protein rich eggs,  raisiny grape tomatoes, and sharp red onions.  I even threw in a little bit of last nights roast chicken but chopped ham, bacon bits, or whatever you have on hand works good too.Sometimes I like it dressed with Thousand Island, other times Ranch, and occasionally Catalina but whatever I use it is always homemade.  Today I made a Blue Cheese Vinaigrette.  Feel free to use whatever dressing you like but I am begging you with what remains of summer to make them homemade.Blue Cheese Vinaigrette (makes 1/2 cup)1 TBS. shallot, peeled and grated on a micro-planer1 tsp. garlic, grated on a micro-planer1/2 tsp dried oregano3 TBS. red wind vinegar1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled (don t like blue cheese, use goat cheese)1/8 tsp fresh ground black peppera pinch of kosher salt1. Combine all the ingredients in a pint Ball Mason jar.  Screw the lid on tightly and shake like hell.note: this dressing is best if made in advance.  An hour will suffice but as it ages it gets better and better.Thousand Island Dressing (make 1 cup)2/3 cup mayonnaise3 TBS. ketchup2 TBS. bread and butter pickles, minced1 TBS. shallot, peeled and minced2 tsp. pickle juicepinch of kosher salt1/8 tsp fresh ground black pepper1. Place everything into a mixing bowl.  Combine with a whisk.  Store in the refrigerator in a tightly sealed glass jar.Garden Salad (serves 4 as a side salad or 2 as an entree)1/2 large head iceberg lettuce, cored and cut into 1-inch (2.5cm) chunks (about 2 cups)1 romaine heart, outer leaves removed, core discarded, and cut into 1-inch (2.5cm) chunks1/3 cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced (8 rounds)1 medium carrot, peeled and grated on the large wholes of a grater (about 1/4 cup)1/2 cup shredded red cabbage10 California black olives8 grape tomatoes, halved8 thinly sliced rings of red onion, minus any paper skin2 hard boiled eggs, shelled and quartered1. Place the greens in a large salad bow.2. Attractively arrange the vegetables over the top of the greens.  Dollop with 1/3 to 1/2 cup of dressing.  At the table mix the dressing into the greens and vegetables using a pair of salad tongs.  Serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... (Arcadia, Indiana)  The barn yard is silent tonight. After a day of carefree sex, pecking Blackie the Rabbit on the head for eating chicken feed, and scaring the children when they try to collect the eggs, Rusty the Rooster is dead.Long considered the venerable dean of a cadre of free range cocks, he ruled the roost with an iron spur and the swagger of an overqualified pimp. In his career, having been responsible for the care and well being of twenty hens, he was known for his short temper and violent outburst against challengers large, small, and of any species. He wrangled snakes, ate rats, and came face to face with coyotes all the while walking away to live another day.Of intimidating size and broad girth, Rusty could be seen day-in and day-out in his suit of feathers the color of a dark moonless night.  So dark in fact, his feathers shone with the rainbow sheen of a crude oil slick. His muscular chest puffed out in pride for his flock he wandered the barnyard with a sure footed masculinity not seen since his predecessor Red.He held many positions on the hen house floor before winning the coq au vin coin toss in which Rhode Island Red lost his head and was steeped in red wine. Now top cock, Rusty took his promotion seriously until middle life when he became an egg addict of such voraciousness he was banned from the hen house in desperate need of a spin dry. Eventually gaining control of his addiction he was let back into the hen house but it was widely known and no secret that he had occasional relapses.His reckless lifestyle took its toll.  Loosing toes to frost bite after a long winters night out and part of his comb in an early morning scuffle with a racoon he eased into old age believing he was still in charge.  He could be heard making light of his nick name, Starting Gun, knowing he was shooting blanks and was smart enough to turn over his duties to a younger rooster without a life threatening scuffle of which he assuredly would loose.  He was at peace with his place in life.Whether it be at sunrise, or in the middle of the night after an owl sighting, his cock-a-doodle-do carried far and wide and was sure to wake anyone within range when they least wanted to be. It was on these days everyone wished he didn’t do his job so well.He went as peacefully as any chicken in the throws of a heart attack could. Rusty the Rooster is survived by Boots the Hen, the only hen this side of Cicero Creek to wear feather chaps, and a whole host of other nameless conquests. Services will be held at the ass crack of dawn in a private ceremony where he will be buried out by the old apple tree alongside his friend and long time companion Mr. Blue fin, the beta fish.Rusty the Rooster is at rest and so shall we.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... I ran out of booze last night.  It is a rare occasion that I would let that happen but I did it on purpose.  Even though I miscalculated by a day or two and because I have no intention of replacing it for a while, this does nothing but allow me to start my fitness challenge early.I am still not comfortable with those words, fitness challenge but I decided to take on the task for a lot of reasons.   There is money that will be donated to school lunch programs for one but mostly because I started my fitness journey almost 1 1/2 years ago and I have hit the wall over the past months.  As with everything in life lots of things get in the way, we loose interest, or gain interest in other pastimes but nonetheless it is easy to move onto other things.I kept chiding myself though.  I wasn t ready to give up on my fitness goals, I am not ready to settle for less then what I told myself I would accomplish,  nor am I ready to go into a maintenance mode where I don t loose what I have gained but don t gain anything either.  I want more.Of course if you know me, or haven t been around me for a while,  you would know these are foreign words coming out of my mouth but somehow I have really taken to the idea of being healthy from an exercise standpoint.So the journey continues and for the next 90 days I am going to lift myself up each day and exercise, go the the gym, and run.  I am also going track my diet, make sure I am on track to eat healthy well rounded meals so that I don t hurt my, uh hum, 50 year old body.I think you will see I don t plan on changing my diet a whole lot.  I do want to track my macro intake so I know my percentages of carbs, fats, and protein.  I want a good balance.  I also have no intention of weighing myself.  This challenge is about Body Mass Index (BMI) for me, it is not about losing weight.  The goal is to change my body shape by gaining muscle mass and building a stronger core.My ultimate goal isn t that I might live longer but my hopes are I will live better. Poached Eggs, Roasted Asparagus and Crispy Prosciutto4 eggs1 bunch of asparagus4 pieces of prosciutto, real prosciutto is cured with salt only and the ingredients list should reflect that, if you are trying to avoid sugar or additives make sure you read the list.olive oilred wine vinegar1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees.2. Place the asparagus onto a sheet tray and drizzle it with olive oil.  Roll, or toss them around being sure to give them a good coating of oil.  Salt and pepper the asparagus.3. Separate the thin slices prosciutto and place them on top of the asparagus making sure to keep them from overlapping.4. Fill a 3 1/2 quart sauce pan 2/3 full with water. Add 2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar.  Bring the water to a boil then reduce the heat to low.5. Place the asparagus and prosciutto into the oven.  Roast for 15 minutes, or until the prosciutto is crispy and the asparagus tender.6. Crack your first egg into a small bowl.  Using a slotted spoon stir the water vigorously so you create a water spout/tornado kind of effect.  As it slows carefully lower the small bowl to the center of the vortex with out letting the bowl touch.  Gently pour the egg into the center of the vortex.  Let it spin.  Poach the egg for 3 minutes.  Remove it to a plate and continue to poach the remaining eggs.7.  When you have finished poaching all the eggs place them all back into the water to gently warm them.  Don t leave them in the water to long or they will become hard.8. Plate up the asparagus and prosciutto, top with two warm eggs and serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Some people collect cars, for others it is playing golf, for me, it’s barbecues. I don’t collect them per se but rather I cook with them. Their value isn’t termed by condition but in hours of use. Much like a cast iron skillet I can gauge the worth of a good smoker by the black patina that coats its inside. While many men might spend their weekends under a car, I prefer to smell like hickory rather then gasoline and motor oil. It’s how I get my kicks.So you can imagine my excitement to I discover I won a Big Green Egg! Yea, I won. I never win anything but Debra Smith at SmithBites pulls my name from a hat of entrants and I win, I never win.  Nevertheless, it is like getting the Most Improved trophy in grade school.  I sort of treat it like that, it sort of looks like that and I couldn t be any happier then to be a proud owner of one.  Hell, I park it in the garage if that tells you anything. I don t even put my car in the garage, the garage is for my tractor, and now the grill.The whole time I am assembling my grill I think about what I am going to cook first.  A steak, a brisket, venison, burgers, pork chops, butt steak, I go through all the possibilities and my head spins in anticipation.  The dogs look on with concern for my well being,  TrixieB even comes over and gives me a lick on the face and some big sad eyes of worry.As I said, I don t collect grills.  I have three.  One is a smoker, that is all it does, it smokes meat, charcuterie and hams at low temperatures.  My other grill I hand made.  It is a street food kind of contraption meant to cook fast and furious.  It is for meat on a stick, small stuff that cooks through quickly.  Both serve their purpose.  So maybe I don t consider my self an aficionado but I do consider myself an expert.  It was my station each day at the restaurant.  I worked the grill day-in and day-out for seven years.  I can cook a steak, a boneless chicken breast and any kind of fish you can imagine but, like professional ball players who sometimes hit a foul ball, I do sometimes miss the mark but rarely, and I mean rarely, do I over cook a steak.My point being, I am excited to try what many consider to be the Mercedes of grills, the Big Green Egg but I am a little apprehensive having never used one.  Don t think I wasn t a little more then cautious too,  I bought a high end Wolfe stove and it s a piece of crap, so I know just because something has a name doesn t mean it is going to work but I have to be on my game also.  I am approaching this with a certain err of caution.But then it hits me.  Friends often accuse me of using appliances differently then anyone else, most recently crock pots were entered as evidence into this court of opinion.  So I asked myself, why would I grill a steak?   It took all of a second to answer my own question, why not sear cauliflower steaks in a pan on the grill?   That was easy enough, decision made.Here is why I wanted to cook cauliflower steaks.   The Big Green Egg people claim a lot of things about their grill.  You can cook pizza on it, bread, grill steaks or smoke brisket is what they say.  Which I get, it is sort of like a wood burning oven.  It is ceramic, it holds heat, and it gets very, very hot but can also hold a low temperature for a long time.  It holds a lot of promise.  So my thinking is, I want to put a cast iron pan on the heat, see how hot it gets and how well it sears.  I know, I know, you can cook with a cast iron skillet on your stove.  True, but my stove won t impart a smokey flavor to whatever I am cooking.  And that is it,  that is what I want to find out, is what is the smoke flavor of the Big Green Egg going to be like.  It is the one character trait I am most interested in.  Will it be bitter and heavy or will it be just right.  When it comes to vegetables the right amount of smoke goes a long way.  To much and you have a very bitter ash tray kind of experience that will keep you from tasting any other part of your meal.  And seriously,  antacids are no kind of dessert.I am not going to bore you with blow by blow cooking details other then to say the grill is great.  It lights fast, it gets very hot quickly and it imparts a great flavor to whatever you are cooking.  My cast iron casserole heated quickly, I actually thought it might get to hot and burn the cauliflower before it became tender on the inside, but it didn t.  It cooked the cauliflower with a perfectly light kiss of smokey flavor.  Since then I have roasted chickens to great applause from the family, from me too.  A tri-tip roast delicious, pork chops amazing, cauliflower steaks a home run, and the Big Green Egg, a real winner.Seared Cauliflower Steaks (serves 2)2 small heads of organic cauliflower1/3 cup flat leaf parsley, minced1 small garlic clove, grated on a microplane1 tablespoon lemon juice1 anchovy, rinsed1/4 cup Asiago cheeseextra virgin olive oilhalf a cup of salted almonds, chopped1. Build a charcoal fire for direct heat grilling in your grill.  You want it to be very hot.  Place a large cast iron skillet right in the middle of  the grilling rack.  Cover the grill.  What happens when you cover the grill is the heat builds, the pan becomes very hot and the lid keeps a little bit of smoke flavor circulating.2. While the grill is heating make the salsa verde.  In the bowl of a mortar and pestle combine the lemon juice, garlic, anchovy, and parsley.  Beat it up with the pestle.  Add a two finger pinch of salt, a dash of black pepper and a few glugs worth of olive oil.  Stir to combine, taste and add more oil it the salsa is to tart.  Stir in the cheese.3. Trim the stalk ends of the cauliflower.  Using a good sharp knife cut one steak each out of the center of each head.  To do this turn the floret side of the cauliflower down.  Hold it firmly and place you knife onto the stalk.  Cut through to the florets.  Roughly gauge and inch in width and make another cut leaving yourself a nice center cut cauliflower steak.  Repeat these steps with the second head of cauliflower.  Use the loose outer edges of the cauliflower for another dish.4. Drizzle the steaks with olive oil and season them with salt.  Take them out to the grill.  If you have a thermometer on your grill it should read about 600˚ F.   Nevertheless when you open the lid the cast iron pan should be beginning to smoke and when you place the cauliflower into the pan it should sizzle.  Cook each side until of the steak until it is very deeply caramelized.  Remove the steaks from the pan.5. Drizzle the steaks with the salsa verde, top with almonds, minced parsley and serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... You don t need a recipe.  You can make these from scratch and it will take you less then 10 minutes.  Of course that doesn t include grocery time, I am making the assumption you did a little pre-planning.  Although when I made this the other day it came out of leftovers, no planning required.  (Don t want to make the tzatziki, sub in ranch dressing and go for it.)Pile good quality corn chips onto a plate.  If you are making the ranch/tzatziki sauce scoop about 1/2 cup of mayonnaise into a bowl, just eyeball it don t dirty a measuring cup.  Add a splash of buttermilk, milk, or kefir and whisk it to make a smooth dressing.  To thick, thin it out with another splash of liquid.  Add a half a tablespoon of chopped dill.  No dill, use dried oregano just make sure to let it sit and hydrate in the dressing for a few minutes.   Again just put it into the palm of your hand, does it look like half a tablespoon?  Toss it in, add salt, pepper and a little lemon juice if you want.  Stir it again then set it aside until you get the rest of the ingredients together.Slice some grape tomatoes in half, cut some olives, pit them if you have the fancy kind but pitted California black olives work fine.  Chop some cucumbers, I like the baby kind but big ones work too.  Any kind of cooked chopped-up ground meat works here.  Don t have any animal protein around, drain a can of chickpeas and rinse them.Drizzle the chips with the tzatziki, top with everything else, add a bit of crumbled feta, a sprinkle of minced parsley and green onion, if your heart is in it, and serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... It s not for a lack of eggs.  I raise chickens, I have more eggs then I can use most days.So what drives me to this dish.  I especially like sprouted tofu, a lot.  It s not just tofu though. I like the process, the feel of the tofu as I crumble it between my fingers onto a plate, the precision of cutting the potatoes into tiny squares so they cook faster but stay crispy on the outside while remaining creamy in the interior, the smell of the curry powder when I sprinkle it into the hot pan, or the sizzle of the tomato sauce.I like this dish because it requires a few minutes to make but isn t complicated to get to the table.I like it because it is doable on a weekday morning.I like it because it feels nutritious to eat, as if it is resetting something in my body.I like it because after eating I am still hungry for the day.Curried Tofu Scramble (2 servings)10 ounces sprouted firm tofu, crumbled1 russet potato, scrubbed and diced into 1/4 inch squarespeanut or grape seed oil1 green onion, thinly sliced1 jalapeno, chopped1 tablespoon curry powder1/4 cup tomato saucekosher salt and fresh ground pepper cilantro, optional1. Place a 12 inch non-stick skillet over medium high heat.  Add enough oil to the pan to generously coat the bottom of the pan.  Add the potatoes.  Season them with salt and pepper.  Gently toss the potatoes in the pan until they are brown on all sides, crispy but still creamy in the center.2. Add the tofu, jalapeno, and green onion to the pan.  Season again with salt and black pepper.  Stir to combine the sprinkle the curry powder over the tofu.  Stir again being sure to evenly stain all the pieces of tofu with the nice yellow color of the curry.  Add the tomato sauce and stir.  If need be add a tablespoon or more of water.3. Once everything is heated through, the right consistency, and seasoned to your liking divide the scramble onto two plates, garnish with cilantro and serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... I have been, and will continue to be a believer in simple good recipes that follow great technique.  I often feel as though complicated directions and hard to find ingredients set us up for disappointment and failure. Don t get me wrong.  I understand the law of diminishing return.  That today s worlds best recipe will be boring tomorrow.We need to search out new tastes, techniques and flavors but it is also important to return to the classics.  For me, I also like to share my childhood favorites with my children.  These rolls are a part of me.  They connect me to my past, and by sharing them, they connect me to my children. Continue reading Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInReddit This recipe is a throwback. It was extremely popular in the 1990s along with duck confit and tuna steaks, seared rare. I still see it now and again on menus, but it has largely disappeared due to overexposure; we became bored with it simply because it was everywhere.But, it s been long enough. Let s dust off the recipe for barbecue chicken pizza and give it another taste. I can practically make this pizza in my sleep it was a bar special at a restaurant I worked in, and I made so many of them that I still have dreams about it.I also realize that I no longer cook like I did at the restaurant. I only have four mouths to feed at home, and the prep for any given dish needs to be relatively quick.As such, I m a firm believer in this theory: If you are going to take the time to make one of something, you might as well make two or more. This belief holds water especially when it comes to baked potatoes, doughs, and most of all, whole chickens.To save time, it also helps to organize and think like a chef this involves weekly menu planning and daily ingredient prep.These simple steps help me to run an efficient home kitchen, reduce overall waste, and improve time management. Before I adopted this philosophy, I wasted an awful lot of time.I still cook what I want, but I make those decisions on Monday when I menu plan. Ultimately, I aim to complete the prep work for five meals while cooking the first three dinners of the week. That means that planning ahead can be a lesson in patience: If I want to eat this pizza, I have to wait until the end of the week when most of the prep is done. But once you are in the habit of planning ahead, you ll find yourself with more time  and better dinners. Barbecue Chicken PizzaAuthor Notes: I make my own pizza dough, and I always make enough for two to three pizzas. I divide the dough into portions after the first rise and freeze what I don t want to use immediately. When I want to use the frozen dough, I simply thaw it (this counts as the second rise), roll it out, and assemble the pizza. This particular dough is based on Alice Waters recipe from Chez Panisse Pasta, Pizza, and Calzone . It is the same dough I always use and trust.Makes one 10 x 12-inch pizza3/4 cups warm water2 teaspoons active dry yeast1/4 cup whole wheat flour1 3/4 cup bread flour1 tablespoon whole milk2 tablespoons olive oil3/4 teaspoons Kosher salt2 1/2 to 3 cups mixed onions, sliced2 cups shredded chicken1 1/2 cup Gouda (some people like smoked Gouda but I find it too strong)4 ounces fresh mozzarella1 to 2 serrano peppers, sliced into thin rounds1/2 cup Memphis-style barbecue sauceOlive oil, for sautéing the onionsKosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste1 tablespoon parsley, chopped1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped1. Combine the water and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer or mixing bowl. Let the yeast dissolve, then add the rest of the ingredients. Use the dough attachment on a stand mixer (or a heavy-duty wooden spoon) and mix the dough until smooth; add more flour if the dough seems too wet, but don t add more than a 1/4 cup at a time. Place the dough on the counter and knead until smooth and elastic. Place the dough into a bowl, cover it with a damp, warm towel, and let it rise for 2 hours, or until it has doubled in size. 2. Punch the dough down and knead it for a minute. Divide the dough in two, place one half in a plastic bag, and freeze it. Place the remaining piece back into the bowl, cover with the damp towel, and let it rise for another hour. 3. While the dough is rising for the second time, place a sauté pan over medium heat. Add a glug or two of olive oil to the pan and then add the onions. Let the onions wilt, get gooey, and caramelize slowly. Remove them from the heat. 4. After the second rise, remove the dough from the bowl and flatten it out into a small disk. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. 5. Heat your oven to 500° F. This is a good time to use your pizza stone; if you don t have one, use a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. 6. Roll the dough into a 12- by 10-inch square, place it onto a piece of parchment paper, then put it onto a peel or sheet tray. Pour 1/3 cup of BBQ sauce onto the center of the dough. Working from the middle and, using the back of a spoon, spread it in a spiral motion until the sauce reaches the edges of the dough. 7. Combine the remaining BBQ sauce with the shredded chicken and stir until the chicken is evenly coated. 8. Spread a layer of red onions onto the pizza, followed by the chicken, Gouda, mozzarella, and finally, the serranos. Sprinkle some freshly ground pepper and salt over everything, then slide the pizza onto the stone. 9. Reduce the heat to 450° F. Bake for 15 minutes. Once it has browned to your liking, remove the pizza from the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes before cutting. Top with cilantro and parsley and serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Finally, the long standing blanket of snow has begun to recede and melt back into the dark earth, but not without leaving behind a disheveled landscape like lifting an area rug you have meant to clean under for the past year. It is ugly outside, and depressing too. It is the worst time of year. The melt-off signals the beginning of the end of winter, but the skeptic in me knows that the weather is more than likely crying wolf. Either way it sets a spark to the natural cycle of things.A bee flying in the orchard still bare of leaves, lands on my arm, walks around a moment, then looks up at me with sad puppy dog eyes and flies off. A couple of raccoons out during daylight forage the field for last season s spilt corn. At the wood s edge an opossum trips on a branch and falls fifty feet before landing with a thud in the remnants of a wet snow bank. I realize it is time to join the others as well to come out of hibernation, to replenish.But I have a problem. I am sick of kale. Even my beloved collards put me off. The hell with you turnip and rutabaga, for you’ve left a bitter taste in my mouth. I push bowls of Brussels sprouts away as if I am a child again, and my mother is trying to force feed them to me (she even threatens me with no dessert). I have eaten my greens in all forms, and I can’t stand them anymore. I have hit the winter vegetable wall. With the exception of but a few, the only way vegetables are still palatable is with heavy cream and bits of bacon.Through it all, somehow potatoes taste good more then good amazing. Anything resembling a jar of sunshine helps (like last summer s canned tomatoes with basil tucked into the red pulp). Going outside helps, too, because the musty smell of thawing earth and the gentle heat of the midday sun gives me hope for what is to come. Luckily, any food on a platter that resembles comfort is still a hit at the table such as these chicken legs, tenderly covered with a parchment lid and slow cooked in a Dutch oven until they become sticky. A dish that s good anytime of the year, but especially welcome during the wait until spring.Tips for Better Braising:1. Always caramelize the protein. Mind you, many times the vegetables are caramelized too, but not always. The deeper the caramelization, the deeper the flavor of the finished dish. Be mindful of the fond (the brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan) don’t let them burn. The ideal braise includes a beautiful fond, which occurs when the bottom of the pot is schmeared with brown bits of cooked-on-goodness that releases into the sauce when you add liquid. For good measure, always use a wooden spoon and scrape along the bottom of the pot to make sure that nothing is left behind.2. If a recipe calls for vegetables, always add more. If a recipe calls for 1-cup of mirepoix, don’t be afraid to add 2 cups. A braise, as far as I know, has never been hurt by too many vegetables.3. A parchment lid is one of my favorite kitchen cooking methods. I don’t know the exact science behind it other than that it works (and makes your food better). It allows, at least in my mind, the food that sits atop the liquid to brown and caramelize while preventing the liquid from evaporating.4. Just because meat is cooked in a liquid doesn’t mean it won’t dry out. Have you ever eaten a piece of pot roast that is so hard to swallow that it gives you the hiccups? It is most likely because the roast was too lean or overcooked. Be mindful of cooking times and fat content.5. If a braise only calls for a mirepoix to be used in the broth, at the end of the cooking time I will oftentimes remove the meat, degrease the braising liquid, and purée the vegetables to make the sauce creamy without having to add even a touch cream.Serves 4 or moreFor the chicken legs:olive oil8 to 10 chicken legs, skin-on1 cup celery, diced1 1/2 cup yellow onion, diced1 1/2 cup carrots, thinly sliced on a bias12 to 18 garlic cloves, chopped1 cup dry white wine2 cups tomato purée1 cup vegetable broth or water2 bay leaves1 1/2 tablespoon rosemary, minced1 1/2 tablespoon flat leaf parsley, mincedKosher salt and fresh ground pepper1. Season the chicken on all sides with salt and pepper. Heat the oven to 375˚ F.2. Place a large sauté over medium high heat. Add enough olive oil to the pan so that the bottom is just coated. Add the chicken legs and brown them generously on all sides. Adjust the heat as necessary. Add the carrots, celery, and onions to the pan. Season them with salt and pepper. Let the vegetables brown. 3. Once the veggies brown add the garlic and rosemary. Stir the veggies around and once the garlic is fragrant nestle the chicken legs comfortably with the veggies. You want you veggies and chicken spooning. Add the white wine and let it reduce to almost nothing. While the wine is reducing use a wooden spoon to scrape up all the good bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add tomato and vegetable broth. Bring the liquid to a boil, cover with a parchment lid, then slide it into the heated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour.For the mashed potatoes:6 to 8 russet potatoes, depending on their size, peeled and cut into 1 inch rounds6 tablespoons unsalted butter1/3 cup whole milk, possibly morekosher salt and fresh ground white pepper1. While the chicken is in the oven make the mashed potatoes. Place the sliced peeled potatoes into a large pot and add enough cold water to cover them by 4 inches. Add a tablespoon of kosher salt. Place the pot over high heat and bring it to a boil. Once it is boiling reduce the heat to keep the pot from boiling over. After about 15 minutes check the potatoes to see if they are done by inserting a kitchen knife into the middle of one of the larger pieces of potato. If the larger ones are done you are assured the smaller ones will be too. The knife should easily pierce the potato. 2. Drain the potatoes into a colander. Let them steam for a few minutes to rid themselves of excess moisture. Then using a ricer, a mixer or a stand mixer with a paddle attachment either rice, or mix the potatoes till broken down. Add the butter and mix some more. Season the potatoes with a touch of salt and fresh ground white pepper. Add the 1/3 cup of milk. Mix and then taste for seasoning. Adjust the seasoning as necessary and add more milk if the potatoes are too stiff. Be careful as to how liquidy you make the potatoes. Error on the stiff side because the tomato gravy will loosen them up a lot as they co-mingle on the platter. 3. Plate the potatoes onto a large platter. Top the potatoes with the chicken legs then the carrots, onions and celery. Ladle the tomato gravy over all and sprinkle on the parsley. Serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Whenever a simple, delicious dish like this spicy chickpea curry is placed next to me at the table, it doesn t just make me happy; I become protective of it in a selfish, rabid dog sort of way.This recipe is based on Indian khatte channe, which is grounded on good Indian home cooking but to be fair, it could also have easily been born out of a 1970’s hippie cafe in which cheap eats and a flair for the exotic were popular. In fact, Moosewood Restaurant and its cookbooks always come to mind when I cook this stew. But no matter where it came from or how it found its way to my table, I can tell you that there is a lot to like about this pasta, from the first forkful of twisted noodles loaded with tangy sauce to the last spoonfuls of creamy chickpeas.I could start with the fact it is vegan, but that will scare some of you off, just as if I said it was gluten-free. In this case it is both, but the good news is that after you try this dish, it won t really matter.What does matter is how easily it comes together and the fact it can easily come from your pantry. When I make this, I head to the pantry with a tray in hand and begin by collecting all my ingredients and equipment.What stands out during the pantry search-and-seizure is tamarind concentrate. It is a bit of an oddball ingredient, but one I always have on hand. Unlike tamarind paste, which requires soaking and straining, this concentrate dissolves easily in water. It has the consistency of molasses, and it gives this stew its characteristic tang. A popular substitute for tamarind is equal parts lime juice and brown sugar, but this only works when a small amount of tamarind is called for in a recipe, so it probably wouldn t work here. If you like Pad Thai and ever wanted to cook it at home, tamarind really is an essential ingredient to have on hand.When it comes to curry powder, I prefer Madras I like the fragrance of kari leaves but feel free to use your favorite. For more heat, you can add more cayenne; just be sure you know how hot your curry powder is before you get too crazy.As always, when it comes to caramelizing onions, I don t know how long it will take for them to become a deep, dark brown. It could be 15 minutes or 45, and maybe more depending on your pan, the heat, and the sugar content of your onions. I do know, however, that you shouldn t cheat yourself; color them deeply, as they are essenial to this dish.Assuming you have done your prep, once the onions are caramelized, this becomes a dump-and-pour procedure followed by a short simmering period just for good measure. Spicy Chickpea and Sour Tomato Curry with PastaServes 6Two 14.5-ounce cans of chickpeas, drained1 to 2 tablespoon tamarind concentrate mixed with 1/2 cup of water (more tamarind will make the dish more sour)3 tablespoons olive oil2 cups yellow onion, julienned1 tablespoon fresh garlic, minced2 cups tomato sauce1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced1 teaspoon turmeric1/4 teaspoon cayenne2 teaspoons Madras curry powder, or your favorite kind1 teaspoon cumin seeds, coarsely groundKosher salt and freshly ground pepperCilantro, green onion, or both1 pound thin long noodles: wheat or rice or gluten free, use whatever floats you boat1. Place a 3 1/2-quart heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons of oil to the pot and then the onions. Season the onions with salt. Cook the onions, patiently, until they begin to brown and become deeply colored. Stir them often enough that the onions on top brown at the same pace as those on bottom. Don’t do this too fast; you want melted, gooey onions, not seared onions. Take your time; it takes a while. 2. Once the onions are browned to your liking, add the garlic. Once you smell the garlic, add the turmeric, curry powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Give it a stir then add the tamarind, tomatoes, chickpeas and ginger. Reduce the heat and let the sauce simmer. Taste the sauce for salt and adjust as necessary. 3. Cook the noodles. 4. Once the noodles are done, drain them, and put them on a platter. Top the noodles with the chickpea stew and top with green onions or cilantro or both. Serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... To be honest I lost interest in New Year s Eve a long time ago. If memory serves me, the last New Year s Eve I celebrated was sometime late last century. For that matter, I am not sure what year it was that I last made it to midnight.It doesn t mean I don t celebrate, I do, I am just not in a rush to do so as the bell tolls. I guess I prefer to ease into it casually, like when my eyes pop open after a good night s rest.But let me just add: I am skeptical of New Year s too. Maybe because we try to inject new vigor into failed promises, or because we also act as though eating a particular meal, either cleansing or lucky, is going give the rest of the year promise. The whole holiday feels dubious to me, with one exception: collard greens.The caramelized smear on the bottom of the pot is an indication you collards are cooked perfectly.As always, combine collards with beans and rice and you can feel as though you are entering the new year at a low with nowhere to go but up. But there is another way of looking at it too. In my family, collard greens are not a one-hit wonder only to be served once during the year. Nor are they a fad. They are steadfast and as honest as the day is long. Sure you could hang out with the pretty people and eat kale, but kale isn t collards. Neither are mustard or turnip greens. For me, because they are like the brainy girl who likes to read, collards are far more interesting. So much so that you want them around all year and with collards around there is no need to go up.But, as always, sometime between Christmas and the new year I will put on the horsehair shirt, become all monkish and reflective, and try to set a direction for the new year ahead. I can assure you, in the kitchen, collards will act as a reliable compass.Five Kitchen Resolutions for the New Year to Make You a Better Home Cook1. Try to follow fewer fads and learn more technique. Take collards, for example. I had always simmered them in the typical manner with pork, pepper flakes, and liquid. While I still love cooking them this way, it wasn’t until I learned to pot-roast them vis-à-vis Thomas Keller that I picked up a new technique. And, I might add, one I am grateful to have in my tool kit.2. It has been a battle this year with getting the kids to eat what is put in front of them, but, rather than forcing them to try new things, I am going to make more kid-friendly meals (that doesn’t mean junk) with the expectation they eat other meals without complaint. I also have this notion that if I feed them exotic foods all the time they will have to deal with the law of diminishing returns in that they will become bored with food. I also suppose I want them to have things left to explore and look forward to as they grow older.3. Break out of your routine and explore other cuisines more often.4. Choose three new dishes to master and do so. You know some say it takes cooking something a thousand times before you really understand how to cook it. While this might be a little extreme, I do like to be able to cook a dish multiple times and have it turn out the same each time. This takes practice.5. Search out and explore five new ingredients.Pot-Roasted Collard Greens ( Recipe adapted from Thomas Keller s Ad Hoc at Home )Serves 48 cups collard greens, stems removed and leaves chopped into 1-inch squares, then rinsed twice and dried1/2 cup bacon lardons1 tablespoon unsalted butterKosher salt and freshly ground black pepperHeat the oven to 300˚ F.Place a heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven (with a tight-fitting lid) over medium heat. Add the bacon and let it start to render, then add the butter.Once the butter has melted, add half of the greens. Season them with a heavy pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper. Stir and turn under the greens so they are coated with fat. Add the rest of the greens and repeat the seasoning and turning.Cover the pot with the tight fitting lid and slide it into the oven. Roast for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, remove the lid, and stir. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Put the lid back on and let the collards set until ready to serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Each year I look forward to making this recipe with the first broccoli from the fall garden. I ll make it several times from mid-autumn to early winter. It requires but a few humble ingredients which, when combined in the soup pot, are as satisfying as knowing you have an uncommitted hundred dollar bill in your pocket.As with many soups of few ingredients, it requires attention to detail, your best technique, as well as quality ingredients. But if you are anything like me, you find as much enjoyment in the process as the reward.The process for me starts with chicken stock made from scratch. I use old hens from my flock each year to make my stock, but any bones would work great. From the carcasses I make a very richly flavored stock which I preserve by canning. I use the homemade canned stock for many soups throughout the cold months. I urge you, if you don t already, to learn how to make good stock even if you don t preserve it by canning.The next step for me is in my garden. I walk the rows of heirloom broccoli looking for tight, almost purple in color, florets. I give them a delicate squeeze for firmness and if they make the grade I get out my pocket knife and cut the stalks. It doesn t stop there: there are the firm, yellow-fleshed potatoes and the pungent basil leaves stripped from thick, late-summer stalks.All the ingredients are laid out on the counter top. I have an urge to stick close to Marcella s original recipe, I want her book close at hand and set it next to the cutting board. Even though I have made this recipe from memory I want to make it as Marcella has it written. I like to do this occasionally, to refresh my memory and taste.I clean the vegetables. With the exception of the potatoes, I cut everything and collect up the ingredients setting them neatly on a sheet tray. Then I move them close to the soup pot so they are at hand.I came late to Marcella s books in my cooking, even then it took time for her to grow on me. She was a champion of home cooking and I was more interested in preparing fancy and complicated restaurant food. I never met her; even so I often call her Marcella as if I knew her. I bet lots of people do this.This slideshow requires JavaScript.We did have a conversation once through social media. She called me out on a picture of a branzino, a Mediterranean sea bass. I had this fancy picture, a great photograph of the fish on a bed of greens with prosciutto and I posted it. I received lots of positive comments and likes. Then later that Saturday night Marcella asked me, What are you doing to this poor fish? She may as well have rolled up a wet kitchen towel and snapped me on the ass. She called me out. What proceeded from the sting was a weekend-long exchange of messages, me going to the grocery to get another branzino and her teaching me how to simply poach the fish in aromatics and serve it with a simple aioli. Her recipe was by far the better.What was important wasn t that she taught me how to cook a branzino, or that she shared a recipe with me, but that she reeled me in. In one fell swoop she made me realize the importance of simple home cooking, that making restaurant food at home is silly, often wasteful and that great home cooking isn t about chasing trends and being a foodie but more importantly how to cook wholesome good food for your family.It might have taken culinary school to make me a chef but in a single Saturday night Marcella turned me into a home cook. Freshly dug potatoes. Caramelizing onions Fresh from the garden broccoli florets. Broccoli and potato soup Marcella s Broccoli and Potato Soup (adapted from Marcella Cucina)Makes 6 servings3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil2 cups yellow onion, juliennedKosher salt and freshly ground black pepper3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced (about 1 tablespoon)2 cups Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, medium dice2 1/2 cups broccoli florets, no stems3 1/2 cups stock, chicken or vegetable6 smallish fresh basil leaves, torn1/2 cup Parmesan, gratedIn a 3 1/2-quart heavy-bottomed pot, combine the olive oil and half the butter. Place the pot over medium heat. Once the butter begins to melt, add the onions. Season them with a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper.Saute the onions until they become golden. Don t rush this step and adjust the heat as necessary to keep them from browning too fast. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.Add the potatoes. Stir them to coat with oil and let them sizzle away for a minute or two. Add the broccoli and do the same as you did with the potatoes. Add the stock.Bring the stock to a boil. Taste the broth and adjust the seasoning. Go easy on the salt though because the Parmesan has lots and will act as seasoning as well.Simmer the soup until the broccoli and potatoes are tender. The broccoli is not going to remain vibrant green, but if it is good broccoli it won t be olive drab either.Once the potatoes have cooked through, add the parmesan, the remaining butter, and the basil. Stir to combine and serve with more black pepper.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Grilling boneless skinless chicken breast presents a set of problems. I m a firm believer that leaving the skin on and the bones in your chicken goes a long way to alleviating tough, dried out breast. But it s an unpopular decision, because of the convenience and the ease with which we can gobble up the boneless skinless kind.There are ways, however, to defend yourself against dry chicken.Bigger is not better when it comes to grilling a chicken breast.They don’t grow them like they used to. Today’s standard meat bird is a hybrid designed to grow big breasts and nice thighs.The birds of yesteryear, however, were all about the thighs, and the breast was almost non-existent. These days it s not unusual to find a double lobe breast that weighs in around two pounds or bigger. Chicken breast can be the size of a turkey breast if you want it to be.But you can get chicken breasts in any size you want. Restaurants, for example, will often serve two 4- to 6-ounce breasts as a single serving because seeing two on the plate makes you feel as if you ve gotten your money s worth. Your butcher should be able to order these small breasts for you. I prefer a single 6-ounce breast per person because it seems like an appropriate portion size especially if, like me, you like to serve lots of side dishes.Shape matters as much as the temperature of the grill.A chicken breast tapers at each end, more so at the tail end than the neck end, which means the tips are either cooked perfectly while the middle is rare to raw, or the tips are burnt to a crisp and the middle is perfectly cooked. It is a lose-lose scenario.I always buy the breast still connected in double lobes.It assures pairs of evenly sized paillards, but I always cut them before pounding them out. It is important to note that sometimes in the middle of a double lobe is a piece of cartilage that needs to be removed. Cut along each side of the center line of fat to get it out.Choose your instruments of destruction.I have four pictured in the photo below; any will work fine. I prefer the flat side of a meat cleaver because it s heavy and gets the job done. If you use a mallet, you will have to start in the middle and work your way to the edges in order to end up with an evenly pounded chicken breast. The pan is a last resort, but it is by no means a slacker.For sanitation and clean-up purposes I like to use multi-layers of plastic wrap. I place a breast to one side then fold the wrap over the top before I get out my daily aggression.Keep it hot, but not too hot.I like the grate to be hot but to use coals that are on their way down from their highest heat. You want grill marks that caramelize without blackening. Chicken flesh becomes stringy and chewy if it is left to dry out on the grill, so use your common sense: preheat your oven if you think you might want to finish cooking the chicken at a low temperature.This slideshow requires JavaScript.(recipe adapted from the Fog City Diner)Serves 4The Adobo Marinade:3ancho chiles3guajillo chiles1/2cup reserved soaking waterJuice of one limeJuice of one orange1/4cup red wine vinegar1/4cup olive oil3garlic cloves, minced1tablespoon oregano2teaspoons thyme2teaspoons cumin seed, groundKosher salt and freshly ground pepperTo finish the dish:4single lobe chicken breasts1red onion, thinly sliced1limeSour creamCilantroCut the tops off the dried peppers and shake out the seeds into the trash can. Place the peppers into a bowl and cover them with hot water. Let them soak for two hours, making sure they stay submerged. Remove the peppers from the water and place them into the bowl of a food processor. Add a 1/2 cup of the soaking liquid to the bowl. Process until you have a pepper paste. Pass the paste through a strainer set over a bowl. You are removing the skins and seeds. Don t skip this step or you will be severely disappointed.Combine 3 tablespoons of the paste with the remaining marinade ingredients and mix to combine. Season it with a healthy pinch of salt and a grind or two of pepper.The marinade can easily be made a day or two in advance and stored in a jar in the fridge. The leftover pepper paste is great for enchiladas, black bean soup or chili. Store the paste in a jar in the the fridge. It holds for a long time.Pound out the chicken breasts so they are of an even thickness, then place the chicken into a casserole. Use half the marinade and coat the pieces of chicken. Let them marinate for two hours. Be sure to flip them after an hour.While the chicken marinates, make the lime pickled onions by tossing the red onion rings with the lime juice. Let them sit for at least 20 minutes.Remove the chicken from the marinade. Place the marinade into a small sauce pan and heat it over low heat. Heat the marinade to a brisk simmer.Fire up the grill to medium-high heat. Grill the chicken breast. Cook them till done. Serve on rice, spoon the hot marinade over the chicken, top with sour cream, then pickled onions, and garnish with cilantro. I can t get enough of taco night. Neither can my wife Amy or my daughters. We love it, and especially me, because I can do everything with the exception of chopping with a knife or the food processor on the grill. It makes for easy clean-up, and who isn t for easy clean-up?I cut my teeth on Tex-Mex in Austin, Texas circa 1984 (does Instagram have a filter for that?). At this point in my life I hadn t eaten that much Mexican food. For the most part it didn t exist in Indiana outside of Chi Chi s and my inner punk rocker wouldn t allow me to set foot inside any place that colorful or where the waitstaff could happily sing Happy Birthday table side.Nevertheless, when I would slide into a booth at one of the many hole-in-the-wall eateries (many of them were Spanish-speaking only), I would order as many kinds of salsa as I could point to on the menu. I didn t know this many kinds of salsa existed, or for that matter soft shell tacos, or the food love of my life, tamales.As I ate my way around both sides of Highway 35, little did I realize I was becoming an addict, to Texas country music, chili, and to Austin itself. It was hard to come home, and once I was back in Indiana it didn t take long before I began jonesing for Texas Hill Country, salsa included. All About Grilled SalsaThe grill is a great way to make an old salsa recipe feel new.I couldn t even guess how many varieties of salsa there are in the world, but I do know I haven t found one yet that can t be made on the grill. I like a fresh raw salsa as much as the next person, but sometimes I like to shift the flavor and it is an easy thing to do on the grill.Chile oils on your hands are not your friend.Be careful with hot chile peppers. I used to go at them in the manly man way and just tough it out, but the night I rubbed my eyes after working with Thai birds I thought a different approach might be appropriate. If you choose to go with bare naked hands in handling them, just realize you will quickly find out just how many places on your body you actually touch and how many places are very sensitive to capsaicin oils.Get in touch with your inner caveman or woman.I used to put my peppers and tomatoes on the grill grate and then one day I just decided to plop them right on the coals. It sears them very quickly while leaving the interior raw the best of both worlds. You can roast whole heads of garlic too, but they need to be left to the side of the coals so they cook and soften slowly or you will burn the cloves which makes them bitter.Liquidy or dry, it all depends on your tomato variety.A lot of fresh tomatoes have a high liquid content. If you use too many tomatoes, your salsa will be watery, which isn t always a bad thing. If you want a thicker salsa, it is a good idea to use plum or San Marzano tomatoes.The finishing touches matter.To the finished salsa I always like to add a drizzle of olive oil for mouthfeel and a splash of acid, be it lime, red wine vinegar, or whatever. Make sure you season your salsa with salt and black pepper.Corn tortillas or flour both can be warmed on the grill, and should be.I prefer corn tortillas over flour and my preference for cooking corn tortillas is right on the grill. They puff up and blacken in spots and become yummo-licous. Just make sure after searing them to wrap them in foil so they stay soft and don t dry out.Choose your toppings accordingly.Almost every person I have ever met who hails from Central America prefers green cabbage, sliced razor thin, to lettuce for their tacos. It gets even better when you dress the cabbage with a touch of red wine vinegar and olive oil. You probably won t find a lot of sour cream or cheese on the table either. I tend to go for authentic Mexican but I like Tex-Mex too. If you want to go for healthy, grill up a bunch of vegetables to use for toppings and forgo the dairy altogether.Makes 1 to 1 1/2 cupsDepending on the kind and size of tomatoes you use, this salsa can be liquidy or firm. You will have to judge. Roma tomatoes have little liquid and work well for a chunkier salsa.1small head of garlic3 or 4roma tomatoes1 or 2heirloom variety tomatoes (Box Car Willies or Wisconsin 55 are good)1poblano pepper or 3 jalapeños or your choice3 to 4half-inch-thick slices of red onion, left intactKosher salt and freshly ground pepperHandful of cilantroSplash of red wine vinegarDrizzle of olive oilWash the vegetables.Place the garlic off to the side of the coals where it will brown the paper skins but not burn the cloves. The garlic will take the longest to cook of everything. Let it get good and brown on all sides.Now place the tomatoes and peppers right on the coals. Let them blister and blacken. Remove them to a tray. Let the juices collect in the tray.Place the grill grate on the grill and grill the onions until they are caramelized and soft.If you plan to grill more stuff, like a nice skirt steak, you will probably need to add a few more coals to the fire. You be the judge.Peel the pepper, being carful not to spill or lose any pepper juices. I remove the seeds and, obviously, the stems. Put peeled peppers, tomatoes, onion, and peeled roasted garlic cloves into the bowl of a food processor. Add the tomato and pepper juices that collected in the bottom of the tray.Add a two-finger pinch of salt, some pepper, half the cilantro, the red wine vinegar, and olive oil. Pulse the processor until the salsa reaches your desired consistency. I like this particular salsa smoother than most but still chunky. Taste the salsa and adjust the seasoning as necessary.Pour into a serving bowl, garnish with cilantro, and serveShare this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... The sacks on the table, dotted with spots of grease and limp from French fry steam, are from Burger Chef. I have a plain cheeseburger. It is the first burger I remember eating. I eat them with glee and in anticipation of the next time my father would pile us into the back of the metallic green Plymouth Fury and drive us the short distance to the shopping center to pick up dinner from the shiny new burger spot.Shortly thereafter, we packed up and moved to the country. Everything changed. That s not to say we didn t get to eat at burger joints anymore we just didn t get to eat at them as often. We didn t eat at Burger Chef all the time to begin with, but at the new house there were no eateries close by.At our new home, the height of my formative years, if we ate burgers, it was from the grill on our porch. The burger meal was best on the weekends when we came off the boat after a long day on the lake waterskiing, tubing, and swimming. We were wet, sunburned, and wrapped in beach towels. As we walked up the hill from the water, fresh-cut blades of grass stuck to our damp feet and, at the top, we sat down to the table on the back porch deck with wet hair and water-freckled arms. A pot of long-cooked green beans speckled with bacon, a plate piled high with boiled corn on the cob begging for butter, thick slabs of sliced Early Girl tomatoes, and a stack of juicy burgers hot off the charcoal grill waited for us, courtesy of my mother.At the table we built our own burgers. Mine was always the same, 1 1/2 slices of American cheese, mayo, thickly spooned onto the top bun, Boston lettuce, and two thick slices of homegrown tomato. By the time I got close to finishing the sandwich, the soft Kaiser roll was soaked with tomato and beef juices, making the last sloppy bites the best napkin mandatory.But when you leave home, you stretch your wings, or at least I did, and you experience the world without the watchful eyes of your parents. You do things you shouldn t and you do things you should. But I figured I d get it out of my system, experience as many possibilities as I could. I won t settle on any one thing until I have none left to try:The Hinkle Burger: Caramelized onions smashed into the patty which is griddled on a big steel flat top. Double cheese means two slices on a single patty, not two patties. College. My first true love. The burger, fries, and blueberry milkshake is a hard memory to run from.White Castle: A plate of sliders, double cheese with extra pickle. The break-up girlfriend. A friend with benefits.And then there is the fall I spent in Austin as a newspaper intern. The jalapeño burger, theschnitzel burger, the Tex-Mex burger, the BBQ bacon burger, the Cordon Bleu burger, and the breakfast burger. Incorrigible. Notches on the burger bed post.The Wheel-In Diner. Post graduation. A goober burger. Peanut butter slathered on a bun, a burger, and your choice of toppings. Here s to you, Mrs. Robinson.The Corner Bistro. Dream big. The big city cheddar burger. Served on a toasted English muffin. As close to a corner office as I want to get.The stuffed blue cheese burger, mushroom and Swiss, bacon California Reuben pizza Cajun 1/2 pounder Swedish meatball foie gras wagyu and ground short rib burger. All delicious but nothing more than meaningless hotel rooms on an endless road trip because in the end, you discover, there is nothing like the comfort of home,  The Lake House Burger.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Look at the three lazy beasts lying on the cool concrete floor of the garage and you might think it s the dog days of summer. If I m in need of another sign, I don t look any further than the Indiana state fair, which starts this week. The dog day heat always coincides with the fair but not today, and maybe not this year.Of the three dogs lying there, not one so much as lifts an ear as I walk by.It has been a good summer, hardly hot at all, with just the right amount of rain. The garden is going gangbusters: I have a basketful of green beans in my hands right now, and we ve come to that moment when we can t give away enough row boat-sized zucchini. The only thing we are short of is chicken, but we re in the midst of raising a second flock for the winter freezer.But today, for some reason, I want to shirk my familial duties and avoid the hot stove, and any other tasks altogether. If I m going to cook today, it will be in the cool of early morning. At the back door I take off my mud boots, put on flip flops, and head to the kitchen. I need coffee. I fill the teapot with water, put it on the stove, and set up the French press.While I m waiting for the teapot to heat, I head into the pantry to retrieve a couple of big blanching pots. While I have a minute to spare, I do some light organizing of misplaced pantry goods and forget why I m there in the first place. The teapot throws a hissy fit and it s not until I m halfway to the stove that I remember why I even went into the pantry.The girls started back to school today; Lynn began kindergarten. It s been seven years since I haven t had a little one underfoot. This morning the only one talking is the fan, whizzing away in the window. The house is full with cool morning air and quiet.After a cup of coffee, I make it back to the pantry for those pots. I told myself that this year, when both girls are in school, I m going to set up a routine for myself. This morning I m going to prep some meals ahead of time. Hopefully, I ll get more done in less time and maybe make a little time for myself.Three serious prep tools:1. Big pot blanching: This is important enough that in The French Laundry Cookbook, Chef Thomas Keller devotes the entirety of page 58 to the process. It s mostly for green vegetables or veggies like cauliflower or white asparagus (while they re white they will still benefit from blanching). The idea of big pot blanching is that you bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a rapid boil. When you drop the green vegetables into the pot, the water should never stop boiling. The salt and heat set the color of the vegetables, keeping them vibrant, while still allowing you to cook green veggies until tender. It also uniformly seasons your vegetables. Chef Keller calls for a cup of kosher salt to a gallon of water. Personally, I find that excessive for the home cook and I have found 1/4 cup of salt to a gallon of water to be sufficient.With most vegetables you need to have an ice bath ready to shock (cool very quickly) the item being cooked in order to stop the cooking as quickly as possible. An ice bath is nothing more than a large bowl filled with ice and cold water. For a large quantity of vegetables, you might have to add more ice.2. Boiling: When you boil a potato with the skin on, you should cook it until a knife slips almost to the middle but experiences some resistance near the center. Drain the potatoes into a colander. Do not run water over them. This lets the potatoes become tender through carry-over cooking. If you were to run hot water over the potatoes, the skins would peel off like paint. Do not halve or quarter the potatoes until you are ready to use them.3. Poaching: There are lots of ways to poach something, but one of my favorite ways is to poach it in its own juices. This always reminds me of sous vide, which is sort of the same thing but without all the fancy equipment. Basically, you ll want to poach in vacuum-sealed freezer bags (which are not the same as regular Ziploc bags, though Ziploc does make vacuum-sealed bags, too). I have also accomplished the same thing by wrapping a chicken in two layers of plastic wrap followed by a layer of foil. It holds out the water and keeps in the juices.Depending on what you re poaching, it may be a good idea to completely submerge the item (as is the case wth a whole chicken). I simply place a heavy, heat-proof plate on top to keep things submerged.Farmhouse Chicken SaladServes 4For the chicken:1 whole chicken, 2 1/2 to 3 poundsA handful of fresh herbs (thyme, parsley, chives, and tarragon)1 small onion, peeled and julienned1 
small carrot, peeled and cutA handful of celery leavesKosher salt and freshly ground pepperFor the salad:1 
juicy lemon1
 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil1 
teaspoon Dijon mustard3 
tablespoons cooking juices (from the bottom of the poaching bag or from the tray on which the chicken was resting)1/2 
cup carrot, grated on the large holes of a grater1 1/2
 cups green beans, blanched in a large pot, then cooled and cut into 1-inch pieces6 
red potatoes, boiled, cooled and quartered   1/2
 cup celery, thinly sliced1/4 
cup sunflower seeds, roasted and salted by youA healthy handful of arugula (wild rocket is good, too)1/4 
cup mix of basil, tarragon, chives, and thyme, minced1/4
 cup blue cheesePlace the chicken, a pinch of salt and pepper, and all the aromatics into a vacuum pack bag, or if you want, just poach it with the aromatics (but you won t have the juices for the dressing). Vacuum seal the bag and place it into a large pot. Cover with cold water by at least 6 inches.Bring the water to a high simmer, around 180 to 200˚ F. Let the chicken poach for 2 hours or until cooked thoroughly. Remove the chicken from the pot, then cut open the bag, being careful not to lose the juices. Let the chicken cool. Once it s cool enough to handle, remove the skin and pick the meat from the bones.For the salad dressing, combine the juice from the lemon with the olive oil and broth or fat. Add the mustard and whisk to combine. Taste and add a pinch of two of salt and a few grinds of pepper. If it s too tart, add more chicken broth or olive oil.With the exception of the blue cheese, combine the remainder of the salad ingredients in a bowl. Season the salad with salt and pepper. Toss to combine and then add the dressing. Toss again, top with the crumbled blue cheese and serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... A lemon cake. That s what I want. Something to replicate the Lemonheads from the snack bar at the drive-in movie theater. The sour pucker is perfect for the late summer heat. You could say I am fond of lemon. I always have been a borderline addict.Sunday is family night and we are going to the drive-in again. We will make a picnic of it this time. I pack the 4Runner with food, sleeping bags, a couple of pillows, some lawn chairs, and bug spray. It isn t a long drive to Mechanicsburg, over one state highway and up another. Other than the Welcome to Mechanicsburg sign, the drive-in theater is the only indication that you re in a town. All the times I ve been here, I m still never sure whether there was ever anything more than the drive-in and one lonesome farmhouse. It s all surrounded by cornfields always cornfields.There are ten or more minivans parked on the gravel road leading to the drive-in and everyone is waiting single file at the tollbooth-style gate. It s always at this moment, waiting to get in, my elbow resting on the open window of the door, the sting of the hot sun on my already sunburned arm, that I look up at the two story, paneled movie screen and silently reminisce. I remember the brightly colored muscle cars of the kids whose parents indulged them. My friends and I would wander the lot with sodas in to-go cups full of crushed ice spiked with Old Crow whiskey and bum cigarettes from each other. The noise of the B movies or horror flicks was background color to our youthful attempts at manhood. No one ever watched the movie; mostly we walked around, flirted with girls, and waited for a fight to break out because a fight always broke out.The line starts to move and inside we follow the other cars, back in to our space, open the hatchback, and get comfortable. The scene could have come from the set of The Bevery Hillbillies: a red pickup truck with a bed full of people sitting in lawn chairs. Kids start playing tag, soccer, and Frisbee in the grass in front of the screen, passing away the time until it s dark enough and the movie begins.I set the cooler, which will also be our table, on the grass. The girls are off to look for their friends. Amy unfolds the chairs and we settle in for dinner and a movie. The herb roasted chicken legs, the potato salad, and the slaw are as good as always. Just as the movie starts I get out the pieces of lemon cake. It s the real star of the show.1/4 teaspoon kosher salt2 sticks of unsalted butter, each gently melted in its own bowl and kept warm, plus more for greasing the pan3 tablespoons powdered dry milk2 large eggs, room temperature3/4 cups whole milk, warm1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract8 ounces powdered sugar3 tablespoons heavy creamPour the sugar into a saute pan large enough to hold the lemons in a single layer. Place the lemons and zest in a single layer on top and then add the water. Place the pan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer.Simmer the lemon slices until the sugar syrup has reduced by half or more and the pith and rind of the lemon appear transparent. Carefully remove the slices and zest to a piece of parchment being sure not to let the pieces overlap. Let them cool.Grease a quarter size sheet tray (9 x 13 inches) with butter. To make the cake heat the oven to 375 ˚ F. Combine the flour, dry milk powder, sugar, xanthan gum, baking soda, minced candied zest, and salt. Combine half the melted butter with the eggs, milk, and extracts. While whisking add the dry to the wet ingredients. Pour the batter into the prepared sheet tray. Make sure the batter is evenly distributed so it rises evenly. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.While the cake is baking, make the icing. Combine the powdered sugar, cream, and remainder of the warm butter in a mixing bowl. Whisk until smooth. Keep the icing luke warm.When the cake has finished baking remove it from the oven and let it cool right in the sheet pan for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off pour the warm icing over the top and spread it out evenly with a spatula. Lay on the slices of lemon and let the cake cool. Refrigerate or serve cold. In the summertime, I want food that is casual, soulful, and unpretentious food that can double as a family meal and an intimate dinner for entertaining. Any dish that almost needs to be eaten with the hands (but not quite) or that can be scooped-up with röti, flatbread, or tortillas and goes well with ice cold beer is a grand slam. Suffice it to say, Caribbean food does all of these things well. And besides, I love island food.Julia Child describes a fricassee as a dish somewhere between a sauté and a stew. Because this definition is so broad, it lends itself to a heated discussion over a cook s creative latitude. Plant this culinary seed in an area with lots of islands and diverse cultural heritage and you end up with a menagerie of spectacular dishes. In the Caribbean alone I can think of several fricassees, like the Cuban classic Ropa Vieja or Jamaican Brown Stewed Chicken, which is more a fricassee then the name suggests.A good fricassee is a rustic dish. It starts with browning the meat usually bone-in to add flavor to the dish s self-created broth and then following with a heady dose of aromatics typically consisting of onions, peppers, garlic, and herbs. Depending on which island you re on, a fricassee might either incorporate lots of peppery heat or be mild, but all will have notes of African or Indian flavors.For my tastes, I like to add a tomato product, be it canned or fresh, and some sort of other acid, such as vinegar or wine. In the case of this particular dish, however, I replace the usual vinegar or wine with green olives and capers.While I have stripped the meat from the bone, it isn t necessary. Being a rustic dish, it would be perfectly acceptable to leave the cut chicken as is. You could easily add more heat or do as I did and separate a mild portion for the kids before adding some hot peppers to the adult portion. The amount of spicy heat is left up to the discretion of the cook who knows firsthand the preferences of the eaters.Be it plain or with the addition of saffron and peas (as in my picture), rice is important to a fricassee. Generally speaking fricassees are not one-pot meals, but rather are served with rice, röti, and a vegetable. The rice shouldn t outshine the main dish: the two should enhance each other in a sort of partnership. In some sense it is like this is like a pasta dish: the fricassee is used as a condiment to the rice in the same way that sauce flavors noodles.I like dishes that don t control my schedule. The final big plus to this kind of food is that cooking it in increments can even improve the final product. I rarely go to the kitchen anymore and cook something from start to finish in one session most days, I just don t have the time. Often, I find myself with snippets, 10 minutes here or an hour there, which I put to use. I may prep everything in between making the girls breakfast and getting them off to camp. After camp drop-off, I might run an errand before heading home to caramelize the meat and sear the veggies. If I have enough time, I ll add the liquids and let the dish finish until the chicken is tender. Then, it can all go in the fridge until dinner, allowing the meal to be as casual as I like my summers to be.Fricassee en Pollo (serves 6 to 8)1 whole 3 pound chicken, cut into 10 pieces1 tablespoon expeller pressed peanut oil1/2 cup red bell pepper, small dice1 cup onion, small dice3 tablespoons fresh garlic, minced1 tablespoon dried oregano1 tablespoon dried thyme1 tablespoon cumin, crushed2 teaspoons paprika2 bay leaves16 ounces crushed tomatoes2/3 cups green olives, halved1/2 tablespoon capers, mincedkosher salt and fresh ground pepper2 tablespoons hot pepper of your liking, mincedSeason the chicken with salt and pepper. Place a large heavy bottomed pot over medium high heat. Add the peanut oil and swirl it around in the pan to coat the bottom. When the oil is hot add the chicken skin side down and brown it deeply on all sides. Adjust the heat as necessary to avoid scorching the oil. Once the chicken is caramelized remove it to a plate.Add the onions, pepper and garlic to the pan. Sweat the vegetables until they just become tender then add the dried spices. Stir the spices into the vegetables and let them toast until they become fragrant. Add the tomato and a cup of water. Season the sauce with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper reminding yourself that the olives and capers are salty so don t season with a heavy hand. Taste and make adjustments.Add the chicken back to the broth and then bring the whole thing to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the chicken is just tender. If you plan to strip the meat from the bones remove it and place it on the same plate you used before. While it is cooling let the sauce reduce until it becomes unctuous.Cook your rice according to the instructions on the bag or box or however it works best for you.Add the pulled chicken (or chicken pieces) back to the reduced sauce. Add the olives, capers and any hot peppers your might want to add. Taste and add more salt if needed. Warm through and serve with rice.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... I always thought my friend Steven was lying when he told me that over the course of a few years he sold enough of his handmade old timey-looking leather fly swatters at the Indiana State Fair to pay for his log cabin and farm, until I myself moved to the country. Turns out he is a way smarter man than I because when you live on a farm, at some point during the summer, and especially if you have animals, flies are going to invade the house. It is inevitable and it is just a part of country life.Like any man, I am always looking for the best tool for the job, and at day s end I usually come back to the one I started with, because only after trying them all do I realize I had the right one to begin with. This is how I have come to understand that the fly swatter is an important time-honored, tried and true tool. One of those that works as well today as it did hundreds of years ago and is so simple even children like to use it.So a couple of months back, when my KitchenAid stand mixer went down for the count it was like breaking a fly swatter, as far as I was concerned. But lo and behold, I was in the throes of Paul Bertolli’s Cooking by Hand, which I took as a sign. I just had to wonder what would happen if I didn’t run out and replace it immediately, but instead went without and cooked like I did when I first started.You see, a KitchenAid is like having a bottle of bourbon hidden in the cupboard. I mean really, as long as the bourbon is there you aren’t going to stop drinking, just like if you have a KitchenAid you won’t not use it. But is a mixer better, was my question, than, say, your tried and true, time-honored hands?A decision was made: I had the shakes, I would go cold turkey and I would cook by hand. Do it the old way. The  “on the fly” theory, I would call it. Now don’t get me wrong I am no blast from the past wannabe. I like my technology, my cell phones, computers, my gas stove and car although the car is black. Nevertheless, I am not about to grow a beard sans mustache and ask you to call me Graber. (Full disclosure: I will, on the other hand, sometimes wear overalls because I am the anti-ass. Yes, when you are the anti-ass, overalls and outdoor labor make sense because when you have no butt you can never pull a belt tight enough to keep your pants from ending up around your ankles when working, and while I know overalls are not the best look although I think they are making a comeback on Etsy right next to the Hobo Wedding  they are practical.)So, as I was saying, I had always heard rumor that making doughs, breads and pastas by hand made them more tender, gave them a better rise in the oven or a more satiny feel in the mouth. I just needed to know.I dove in head first and started out with a couple of yeast breads. One was a very dense whole grain bread and the other was my whole wheat farmhouse loaf. What I noticed right off was the difference in feel.  The whole grain at the end of kneading felt like the wet green block of floral foam that you stick flowers into. You know how when it gets damp and you push on it, it gives a little but seems crunchy and sandy on your hand? The farmhouse loaf is somewhat of a sticky dough and what happened there, how I have come to know the right hydration, is you get barnacle hands. Sounds funny, but these little pieces of dough should sparsely spot your hands and, well, look like tiny barnacles. The wetter the dough, the more barnacles.I quickly moved on to crusts and the resulting pies have been great. They are more tender, have a better crumb and they aren’t any more difficult to make, although you do need practice to get the feel of it.The biggest benefit to cooking by hand though is the girls and I aren’t standing there looking at a paddle attachment go round and round, but instead we are getting our hands dirty and learning about different flours and dough. The elasticity, the hydration and all the other technical stuff which, once you know how a dough should feel, allows you to become more confident and more efficient in the kitchen and build an intimacy with your doughs that allows you to make adjustments by intuition.While I have procured another stand mixer and will use it (probably not for crusts), the one thing I learned that was probably most important and something you will want to remember and just might be the best kitchen tip I can give is: people keep their best liquor hidden in the cupboard and sometimes, maybe that s where the KitchenAid belongs too.This slideshow requires JavaScript. Tips for Making a Pie Crust by Hand1. Never add all the water to the dough that a recipe calls for. Always stop short and, as you work the dough, you will know pretty quickly if it needs more.2. Use a bowl that is three times bigger than you think you need to keep the flour from shooting over the sides.3. Don’t over-knead the dough. There should be a quarter cup or so of crumbles that fall onto and around the crust when you dump it out of the bowl onto the counter. Knead the dough a little more to incorporate them and stop. It doesn’t have to be one homogenous and smooth mass. While the dough rests it will continue to hydrate and when you roll it out the rolling pin will bring it together.4. Rotating the dough 45 degrees between each use of the rolling pin is key to ending up with a round crust.5. Always place your rolling pin in the middle of the dough round and roll away from yourself, then put it back in the middle and roll/pull the pin towards you.For the crust:1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour1 1/2 cup all purpose flour1 teaspoon kosher salt1/2 cup lard1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed and chilled1/2 cup ice cold water1. Sift the flour into a bowl and add the salt. Place the butter and lard into the bowl. Start by squeezing the flour into the butter and lard and then as things start to blend pick up clumps of flour between your hands and rub your hands together like you are trying to warm them up. Do this until the flour looks like course cornmeal. It is ok if there are some larger pieces of butter still in the mix.2. Add the water and using your hands knead the dough right in the bowl until it comes together. Remove the dough from the bowl to a counter top and knead it two or three times. Divide the dough in half, pat it into two rounds then wrap in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge 30 minutes or more. If you let it sit in the fridge for two hours or more make sure you pull it out and let it warm up a little before trying to roll it.3. To roll the crust first dust your counter top with some flour. I then dip one of the dough pieces into the flour bin itself and give it a shake. Place the dough on the counter top and starting in the middle of the dough roll with your rolling pin away from you then put the pin back in the middle and roll, backwards, towards yourself. Now turn the dough 45 degrees so it is oblong and horizontal. Roll with your pin, again, starting in the middle. Continue this process until the crust is 10 to 12 inches in diameter and about an 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Using the rolling pin for support roll the dough lightly around the pin, like a carpet, and place it into a 9 inch pie pan. Roll out the remaining piece of dough.For the Filling and to Finish6 to 8 peaches depending on their size, firm but ripe, look for free stone peaches, meaning the pit comes out easy. I used Indiana red havens which are semi-free and if they are1/2 cup sugar2 tablespoons cornstarchjuice of half a lemon1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg1 egg white mixed with 2 teaspoons of watersugar for dusting1. Heat the oven to 400˚ Fahrenheit.2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and blanch the peaches for 10 to 20 seconds. Remove them to a bowl. Leave the water on because as you are peeling the peaches you may find a peach that needs to be blanched a little longer. Slip the peaches from their skins, halve them, pit them and then slice each half into 3 pieces.3. Place the peaches into a large bowl. Mix the sugar with the cornstarch. This will help to prevent the cornstarch from clumping. Combine the peaches with the sugar/cornstarch mix, cinnamon, lemon juice and nutmeg. Using your hands gently turn the peaches to distribute the sugar and spices. Remove the peaches and put them into the crust lined pie pan. Pour the juice over the top until it comes 3/4 of the way to the top. You may have more juice than you need. If you have less, don’t worry it is fine.4. Roll out the top crust and either cut it into strips for a lattice top or use it whole. Either way brush the edge of the bottom crust with egg white to help attach the top crust. Trim the excess crust. Crimp the crust. Brush the top crust with egg wash and dust with sugar. Place the pie on a sheet tray with edges just in case it bubbles over and because it will be much easier to get in and out of the oven.5. Bake the pie for 20 minutes at 400 ˚F then turn the heat to 350˚ F and bake another 40 to 50 minutes or until the juices are bubbling and the crust browned. Remove and let cool. Slice and serve cold or warm, with cream or ice cream or just skip and go naked.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... I have a simple rule, whenever I figure out what good restaurant cooks like to make at home I follow suit.  It s because most professional cooks like simple but deeply satisfying meals, roast chicken is one of those, it is a cook s meal.  When I say simple I don t mean in flavor and not necessarily in ease of cooking but more that it falls into the category of not being fussy.And really, that is it isn t it, that roast chicken is delicious, very satisfying and not at all fussy. Most importantly though it is easy on the cook and that is always something to grasp hold of and learn how to do.    So this is how I do it, I try not to complicate roast chicken, I use only a few dried spices  and I try to follow some simple guidelines I have come to trust over the years.Roast Chicken Know-How:Season the chicken with salt the day before you want to cook it.  Then set it into a tray with sides.  Place it uncovered into the refrigerator to dry out the skin and soak up the salt.  This drying of the skin makes for a deeply colored crispy skin.  The salt helps keep the chicken moist.Trussing the chicken helps the chicken to cook evenly.  Besides we eat as much with our eyes so why not make it pretty.You can cook the chicken on top of vegetables if you like letting the juices drip down onto them making for a wonderful side dish.  I do this as often as not but I never throw out the pan juices.  The pan juices make a wonderful addition to all sorts of things from pasta to well, anything.Adjust the top rack of your oven so the top of the bird is 5 to 7 inches from the top of the oven.  If it is to close to the top it will brown the skin well before the meat is cooked.Avoid buying birds that are more the 4 or 5% juices added.  The birds that are 12% are brined and they are very, very salty.Save any and all pan juices.  Use them in a vinaigrette to dress a salad, in pasta or in chicken salad but don t waste them.Cost to roast a chicken:  it depends on what kind of chicken and where you buy it but anywhere between 6 and 10 dollars for a 4 pound bird.  It should feed four with the added bonus of making soup from the carcass.Click here for a pasta recipe using roast chicken leftovers: Chicken, Black Olives and Lemon with SpaghettiThis slideshow requires JavaScript.To Roast a Chicken:kosher1 teaspoon fennel seeds3/4 teaspoon dried thyme1 teaspoon paprika1/4 teaspoon black pepper1 chicken, about 4 pounds1. Salt the chicken the day before you want to cook it or at least 4 hours before you want to cook it.  To do this sprinkle salt onto all sides of the bird including inside the cavity.  Place the bird onto a tray with side and put it back into the fridge.2. Crush the fennel seeds either using the bottom of a heavy pan to grind it or with a mortar and pestle.  Combine the fennel with the rest of the spices and, again, sprinkle the spice rub all over the bird including the cavity.I like to slice the chicken before serving. I like to slice the breast off the bone so I have a carcass for soup at the end of the night.3. Let the bird sit at room temperature for a half an hour or up to an hour.4. Heat the oven to 400˚ F.  Place the chicken, still on a tray with sides, into the oven and let it roast for 30 minutes.  Bast the chicken with the pan juices.  Bake another 35 minutes.  Check to see  if it is done.  I can usually tell by the legs.  If the meat has pulled away from the knee bones then there is a good chance the rest of the bird is done.  Wiggle a thigh.  If it seems loose then you are probably good to go.  Tilt the bird backwards and see if the juices running out from the cavity are red.  If  all three of these test are passed letting the bird rest will finish the cooking.   Let the bird rest cover with foil for 15 minutes.5. Carve and serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... You can make meatloaf out of anything, from lentils to venison to duck.  You can get fancy and have the three meat combo made from equal parts beef, veal and pork or even a seafood loaf made from salmon.  The possibilities are endless.From what you choose to make your meatloaf isn t as important as how you make your meatloaf.  The steps you use will ultimately influence the outcome of the final product.Meatloaf, in technical cooking terms, is a forcemeat.  A forcemeat comes in a few variations, from sausage to paté but is really nothing more then ground meat.  Sometimes it is emulsified until it is smooth such as in hotdogs and other times it is left coarse as in Italian sausage.  A binder is needed, bread crumbs, oats, rice might be typical and even eggs are sometimes used.As you can see when making forcemeat you have options.  The one option I don t stray from though is the ratio of fat to meat.  Without the right ratio for fat to meat you will more then likely end up with a dry meatloaf.  While it probably would still be edible it would be less then desirable.  So here is the ratio, 3 parts meat to 1 part fat.Arguably this is tough to figure sometimes but generally grocery stores are good about marking such things as their ground beef with percentages of fat.  After ground beef though it is up to you to figure out.  I just apply a general rule of the thumb, the leaner the meat the closer to the ratio I stay.  Venison for example is very, very lean.  If I am making meatloaf from it I use 1 1/2 lbs venison to a 1/2 lb of pork belly.  On the other hand if I want a pork loaf I just by pork butt and grind it,  it always seems to be somewhere in the neighborhood of the ratio.The other thing about meatloaf is it is designed to use less meat but feed more people or as we say it was meant to stretch out the protein and number of mouths it can feed.  To do this a filler is added.  Bread crumbs and oats are the first two that come to mind.  I used to use only breadcrumbs but over time I switched to oats and have pretty much stuck with oats ever since.  What the filler does is as important as how much fat you add.  It absorbs the fat and juices as the meatloaf cooks, hence retaining moisture.When it comes to seasoning I find 1 teaspoon of salt per pound of meat works pretty well.  After salt you can spice your meatloaf however you want but I would be careful not to over spice it.  You need to find a balance.Turkey Meatloaf with Peas and Gravy (Serves 6 to 8)Turkey can be tricky in that it can become very dry.  I have found if I use equal parts ground thigh to breast meat it stays moist and succulent, of coarse the 1/2 and 1/2 soaked oats doesn t hurt one bit either.  This is currently my favorite go-to-quick-to-prep meatloaf.  Here is why, more often then not I gently sauté any vegetables that will go into the loaf.  I do so for several reasons but the main reason is because I don t like half cooked veggies in my meatloaf.  Sweating them before adding them to the meat keeps this from happening.  The two main vegetables I add to meatloaf are generally onions and garlic.  For this recipe I grated the onion and used garlic powder and it worked beautifully without any extra sautéing.Note: of course you can add peas to the gravy along with the shoots or omit the shoots altogether and just add the peas.1 pound ground turkey breast1 pound ground turkey thigh1/2 cup oatmeal, coarsely ground1/2 cup half half2 teaspoons kosher saltfresh ground black pepper2 teaspoons sage1/4 teaspoon marjoram1 teaspoon thyme1/2 teaspoon garlic powder2 tablespoon grated onion, grated on the small whole of a grater1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly ground1 quart homemade chicken or turkey stock or no salt store bought broth2 tablespoons rice or wheat flour2 tablespoons unsalted butterkosher salt and fresh ground pepperketchup (for the crust)Pea shoots1. Heat the oven to 325˚ F.2. In a 2 quart sauce pan melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the flour and stir it constantly with a wooden spoon until it smells nutty and becomes tan in color.  While stirring, and stirring is very important here to keep from getting lumps, add the chicken stock.  Bring the stock to a boil, reduce the heat and let the gravy simmer till reduced by half.   Taste the gravy and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.3. While the gravy is reducing combine the cream and oats.  Add the seasonings and stir.  Now add the turkey and using your clean hands spend a minute or two mixing the forcemeat until everything is well combined.  It will be sticky.4. Making sure you pat out any air bubbles pack the turkey forcemeat into a 4 x 4 x 8 loaf pan.  Top evenly with a layer of ketchup and bake the loaf in the oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until an instant read thermometer reads 165˚ F when inserted to the middle.  Slice and serve with gravy.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... There are foods in each state that should be considered regional treasures.  In Indiana the two that readily come to mind are breaded pork tenderloins as big as your head and biscuits and gravy.  Here in my home state I have had lots of variations on both dishes.  When it comes to biscuits and gravy though the variations only vary in what goes under the creamy sausage and peppery gravy.  You can count on the gravy staying the same.Now I have traveled.  On my travels I have eaten in many mom and pop diners, hole in the walls, and everywhere in between and I have had subtle variations on the gravy.  In New Mexico for example they use chilis.  Still the base is a cream gravy.There is a place on the outskirts of Nashville, TN called the Loveless Cafe and Hotel.  I am sure it started as a mom and pop place but as it caught on, they make their own sausage, jams and biscuits by hand, with the Nashville stars it became busy.  By the time I enjoyed a breakfast  there the only star you might see was in one of the multitude of photographs on the wall.Nevertheless the breakfast were good,  a nice mix of rural Tennessee, and it didn t take two seconds for me to know what I was ordering.  They offered four different kinds of gravy for your biscuits and the one that caught my desire was the giblet gravy.  It must run in my veins because I can t not order a dish when it incorporates giblets.So here is my Ode to Loveless.  It is a spring dish, it  is what we call Sunday brunch and it will channel your inner granny.  You will be all the better for it.Biscuits with Ramp and Giblet Gravy ( serves 4 )For the biscuits click here.For the gravy:1 quart homemade chicken stock or unsalted store bought2 tablespoons flour, rice or wheat2 tablespoons unsalted butter1 bunch of ramps, white parts only, cleaned and chopped1 each poultry heart, liver and gizzard, chopped finelysaltfresh ground black pepperchives1. In a 2 quart heavy bottomed sauce pan melt the butter over medium heat.  Once it is melted stir in the flour with a wooden spoon.  Use a wooden spoon sometime metal will react with the pot and you will get a gray gravy.  Constantly stir the flour until it begins to color.  Once it is tan, keep stirring to avoid clumps, add the giblets and ramps.  Stir some more.2. Add the stock, be careful it will bubble and spit.  Stir the gravy until it comes back to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low and let it simmer until reduced by half.3. Make the biscuits.4. Taste the gravy and add salt and pepper to taste and stir to combine.5. When the biscuits are done and the gravy hot, serve topped with chives.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... I grow sorrel every year.  That s not true, it s a perennial so it comes back every year all on its own.  So I am not so sure I grow it as much as just let it be.  Either way I have access to it each spring.  The thing is I rarely use it.  It is one of those vegetables where you always say to yourself you will get around to it but never do.  I guess for me sorrel is like when I lived in New York City and I always said to myself I need to go to the top of the Empire Stare Building or get out to the Statue of Liberty and then moved away before I ever did any of those things.Last year though I started to make pesto from sorrel and I found it exciting and delicious but after that I found other vegetables and pretty much left sorrel at the side of the dance floor.This year so far has been different.  I have made a sorrel gratin, creamed sorrel and now this quiche.   Maybe sorrel is a vegetable that takes time to get to know before you can become close kitchen friends. Continue reading Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... I really like chowders and really like French onion soup.  This is the best of both those worlds.  I don t like pasty chowders so I didn t thicken it except for the starch released from the potatoes. One tip I learned from Jasper White s 50 Chowders is to let the chowder rest covered for thirty minutes. It really does make a difference when you allow the flavors to come together.SERVES 4 TO 6For the Soup:For the Soup::3 ounces pancetta, 1/4 inch dice2 cups yellow onion, peeled and julienned2 leeks, rinsed, white parts only, sliced into half moons4 shallots, peeled and sliced1/3 cup celery, 1/4 inch dice1 1/2 tablespoon fresh garlic, minced1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced1 bay leaf2 cups chicken stock2 cups half and half3 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 dice1 tablespoon Italian parsley, minced1 tablespoon fresh chives, choppedKosher salt and fresh ground pepper1. In a 3 quart Dutch oven or sauce pan add the butter and pancetta and place it over medium heat to render the pancetta. Once some of the fat has been released add the onions, shallot and celery. Saute until they are just becoming golden. You don t want them to brown too much or the soup will be brown. Add the leeks, garlic and thyme. Cook until the leeks are just becoming soft. Add the bay leaf and chicken stock. Bring it to a boil and add the half and half and the potatoes. Bring the soup back to a boil and then immediately turn off the heat and cover the pot. Allow it to rest for at least thirty minutes.Parsleyed Oyster Crackers:1 tablespoon unsalted butter1 cup oyster crackers1 tablespoon Italian parsley, mincedFine sea salt and fresh ground pepper1. Heat a small saute pan over medium high heat. Add the butter and once it has stopped bubbling but is not brown, add the oyster crackers and toss the crackers to coat with the butter. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the parsley and toss the crackers gently in order to coat all the crackers with the parsley. Pour out onto a baking sheet and let cool.2. To finish the soup reheat it but don t let it boil. Taste a potato to check and see if it is done and adjust the seasoning if necessary. If the potatoes are not done then cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Stir in the parsley and chives and then ladle into cups or bowls. Top with a few oyster crackers and serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... There are two things I get hung up on when it comes to making Asian food at home woks and procuring hard-to-find ingredients.But I look at it this way: I make Italian pasta at home, so I know I can make any noodle at home.There are a few technical issues that are really the key to stir-fry success. I need to get my pan hot enough, generally impossible to do with a wok because of the BTUs of American stoves and the thinness of the wok metal, but a non-stick skillet will do what I need it to do perfectly.The other misstep is when I try to cram too many ingredients into the wrong-sized pan this is my most common stir-fry failure because I get anxious or cocky. Easily solvable, with a little thing called patience.How to Make Any Stir-Fried Noodles Ratio: 1.5 parts protein, 1 part vegetable, 1 part noodle. For my 12 inch non-stick skillet this means 12 ounces of protein, 8 ounces of vegetables, 8 ounces cooked noodles.1. Stir-fries cook quickly so act like a scout and be prepared. Cut all vegetables small enough that they ll cook fast and line up all ingredients next to the stove in the order they ll go into the pan. (Always dilute soy sauce in ratio of 1 part soy to 1 part water when it hits the hot pan it will reduce, gaining back its strength.)2. Choose your noodle. I find all noodles are good noodles as long as they are long. Cook them to al dente and cool them I like to steep rice noodles instead of boiling them, which only takes about 10 minutes.3. Cook the protein first, adding half the diluted soy after the protein has caramelized. Remove the protein to a plate, wipe out the pan and reheat it.4. Sear the vegetables till tender. Be sure to add the vegetables that take the longest to cook to the pan first. Carrots first, ginger and garlic last.5. Combine everything in the pan and toss just till it s warmed through, adding the remaining diluted soy sauce last.6. Add the garnish here, chives and scallions which in Asian food isn t optional. It is an actual ingredient that needs to be added for flavor.Spaghetti noodles $1.05 for 16 oz.s-$o.5312 ounces ground meat-$3.50vegetables-$4.00oil- $0.25Total approx. cost for this recipe.$8.03Ingredients ( Serves 4  when served with sides or 2 if you serve it only)12 ounces ground beef, chicken or turkey ( I used turkey because I had it on hand)8 ounces of veggies, I used 1 cup snow peas, small dice, 1 cup carrots, grated, 1 leek, about a cup julienned, 1 tablespoon each garlic and ginger, 1/4 cup green onions and 1 tablespoon of chives.8 ounces of cooked and cooled noodles1/4 cup of soy sauce diluted with a 1/4 cup of waterShare this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Everyday my diet pushes further in a vegetarian/vegan direction.  I don t know if it is because I am older,  my tastes changing, or maybe I am I just tired of all the same foods I have spent life eating.If I really think about it, which I am prone to do, I don t think I eat this way to be healthy.  While health is a byproduct and one I will take, I think it is because I am a lover of food.  As one whose tastebuds have been around the block a few times I am always looking for the new and exciting to try.  As my tastebuds gain experience it also becomes harder to get excited about food.It might be connected to my garden too.  I have been lucky enough to have a garden of some sort for well over 15 years now.  With each passing year I get more excited about the growing season.  It gets harder and harder to wait for the first produce.  The other thing I know is the diversity of vegetables I grow has increased the diversity of my diet.  For whatever reason and it does not matter to me, I have developed a fondness for vegan food.I make these lentil patties often with my lentil patty tikka masala recipe.  Today I cooked the lentils in cashew cream and added lemon juice and thyme.Cost to make this dinner: under $15.ooGet the lentil patty tikka masala recipe here.For the Lentils(serves 4)1 cup dried Lentil du Puy, rinsed and picked over for stones1/2 yellow onion, small dice1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger1 tablespoon cilantro, minced2 teaspoons garam masala1/4 cup flour, I used millet flour1 egg3/4 teaspoons kosher salt 1. Place the lentils into a 3 quart pot and cover with water by two or more inches. Add the minced onion. Place the pot over medium heat. Slowly bring the lentils to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the lentils until tender adding a pinch or two of salt in the last 10 minutes of cooking. This should take approximately 30 minutes.2. Drain the lentils. Let them cool but puree them in a food processor while they are still warm. They will be easier to handle when warm.3. Add the remaining lentil cake ingredients and pulse the cakes a few more times until the rest of the ingredients are combined into the mix. Taste the lentil puree then season the puree with kosher salt and a few grinds of pepper. Taste again and adjust the seasoning.4. Let the cakes sit for a few minutes to hydrate the flour. Take a tablespoon of the mix and make a ball. Is it really wet or is it too stiff? You want the mix to hold its shape but not be overly stiff otherwise they can be dry when cooked. It should just hold its shape. Add more flour a tablespoon at a time if you need to letting the additional flour hydrate before testing. Divide the lentils into eight balls.5. Add enough oil to cover the bottom of a heavy bottomed sauté pan by an 1/8 inch. Heat the oil over medium high heat. Test the oil by dropping a pinch of lentil to the pan. It should begin to sizzle right away but not violently sizzle and pop.6. When the oil is ready take each lentil ball and smash it down gently forming it into 1/2 inch thick cakes and add them to the oil. Let each side brown nicely and then remove them to a tray lined with a brown bag to soak up the oil. Keep the cakes warm, either in a low, 200 degree oven or in a warm place on the stove.For the onions:1 large red onion, cut into four 1/2 inch slices the onion wheels left in one piece do not separate into ringsvegetable oilFor the sweet potato fries:4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch julienne slicesoilkosher salt and fresh ground pepperHeat the oven to 425˚ F.While the oven is heating place a saute pan over medium heat.  When the pan is warm add a couple of glugs of oil.  Add the slices of onion and saute them until they have browned.  Remove from the heat.Toss the sweet potatoes with oil.  Season them with plenty of salt and pepper and toss them again to mix in the seasoning.  Lay the fries out onto a baking rack set over a baking sheet.  This will allow the heat to cook the fries from all sides(do this step or you will have limp fries). Bake the fries until they begin to brown and blister, about 20 minutes. Remove one of the largest fries and test it to see if it is tender on the inside.  Be careful sweet potatoes burn easily so keep an eye on them.  Warm the onions in the oven.Top the patties with the onion rings, serve with fries and curry ketchup!Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... This morning little Lynnie keeps yelling and pointing in excitement at the cake I made for last night s Sunday dinner. She is telling me she wants it for her birthday. The heels on the last three slices of the cake have been nibbled. Last night she kept slipping her little hand in and under the wrap so she could pinch and sneak little pieces off. The edges now look like we have a mouse in the house, and I finally had to move the cake to higher ground.We had guest last night for dinner and while making dessert yesterday I recalled making a promise this year to make more desserts. I haven t been. So I started thinking about this commitment while making this cake. I figured I need to sort out my likes and dislikes. Set some parameters and set myself up for success.Most of the time I don t want anything sweet. I am not a big sweets person. When I do a simple, small piece of dark chocolate usually suffices. I don t want anything overly sweet.Not only that, but as with many chefs I have a certain disdain for making desserts. It’s not that I don’t like to make them but that these grumblings occur because I usually wait till everything else is done before I think to make something. It is like opening the dishwasher to to put in dirties only to find you haven’t yet put up the clean ones. I have no explanation for this other than I think it comes with the toque. It s why the gods made pastry chefs.The idea of a dessert that holds the potential of a coffee or tea break snack but can double as an after-dinner treat always appeals to me. I am always out to kill two birds with one stone.I have made this cake multiple times but I haven t made it since I became gluten-free, so I figured now would be as good a time as any. Knowing the kind of cake it is a very buttery shortbread I figured it would make the conversion without suffering. It did. In all honesty I think I like it better gluten-free. The rice flour really gives it a quintessential butter cake texture in a shortbread way.There are technical things I like about it too, or maybe I should say, the lack of technical things. It is a put-all-the-ingredients-into-a-bowl, mix, dump and bake affair. Not a lot of extras to clean up.It holds well too. It is on day three, still on the sheet tray, covered with plastic wrap and pieces keep disappearing.It is a cake of no regrets and, if this afternoon I do have any, they are gone by the time I have finished my last delicious bite and sip the last sip of coffee from the cup. Again, two birds with one stone.Breton Butter Cake (Makes 12 pieces)600grams King Arthur all-purpose gluten-free flour30grams corn starch (1/4 cup)395grams sugar (2 cups)448grams salted butter, yes salted, soft (4 sticks)140grams egg yolk (7 yolks)22grams rum (2 tablespoons)1egg yolk mixed with one tablespoon of milkHeat the oven to 400 degrees F.Sift the flour and cornstarch into the bowl of a mixer. Add the sugar and butter. Use a rubber spatula and scrape every bit of butter off the butter wrappers and put it into the bowl too. Then, using the paddle attachment, mix until combined. Add the yolks and rum. Mix till smooth.Using one of the butter wrappers grease the inside of a 9 inch ring mold that is 2 inches deep or spring form pan. If you use a spring form pan, dust it with flour after greasing and tilt and shift the pan so you get the sides dusted too. Shake out the excess.Using a spatula, scoop the batter into the mold then spread the batter out evenly. You may need to moisten the spatula with a little water to keep the dough from sticking to it.Using the tines of a fork make a cross hatch pattern on the surface of the cake. Using a pastry brush gently paint the top of the cake with the yolk and milk wash.Bake the cake for 45 minutes. Keep an eye on it and if it starts to brown to quickly reduce the heat. The top should brown and it should be firm to the touch. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool completely before removing the ring.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... If my extended family s eating habits are an indication as to what the preferred meat was on my grandparents and great grandparents farm then it is obvious to me I come from a long line of pork eaters. It s not as if this matters or that I need some sort of familial approval for my love of the beast because I don t.  I claim it as my heritage after all but I ll just say it anyway for clarity, I love pork.I love pork for its possibilities, its versatility, and most importantly, it s flavor. From snout to hocks or bacon to ham there are more uses for the pig then any other animal I know and one of my favorite uses is as a seasoning.  My definition and what I mean by seasoning is not simply tossing a couple of strips of bacon in with the green beans and  calling it a day.  No, the pork isn t there for a cameo but instead has an important supporting role, one in which it could be nominated for an award.Don t get me wrong I enjoy a good pork dinner, something like Edna Lewis s Boiled Pork (think Pot eu Feu) really floats my boat but as I try to reduce the amount of animal protein I consume I often look to the example of Italian ragus or Asian dishes where animal protein, quite literally, plays second fiddle to the grains or noodles on the platter. The pork is there to enhance and flavor the dish. Sure this is done for economy, just like adding bread or oats to meatloaf, and who doesn t like save a few bucks or at the very least feed more mouths for the same price. Not only that but if you buy less quantity then you can afford better quality, at least this has always been my way of thinking.When it comes to pork quality matters. If you buy pork that is enhanced with sodium triphosphate, a common practice at big box stores, it won t caramelize very well and honestly the pork tastes bland. It is done to help the meat retain moisture but they add it because the producers have made pork to lean. If you buy pork with a little higher fat content you don t need the moisture retainer. Not only that but when pork is raised in a more sustainable fashion it just taste better. It taste better because of what the animals eat.  It is about the animals diet after all. I am all about how my food taste and if sustainability happens to be a byproduct then, wonderful. I mean when I bite into good pork it immediately transports me to my grandparents farm, sitting outside under a shade tree eating a farm dinner on a beautiful summer s eve and it reminds me exactly how pork is supposed to taste.Over the years I have had different fascinations with different types of cured pork. I mean the list of possibilities is big, you have bacon, ham, Tasso, Serrano, prosciutto, pancetta, guanciale all on top of any number of sausages. All used as seasonings and all just a few of the options that can confront you. The wonderful thing is there are many books that will teach you how to cure many of these products at home (Michael Ruhlman s Charcuterie comes to mind) and many of the processes are surprisingly simple. In fact no special equipment is required other then a good sharp knife(which I don t consider special equipment).Polenta with Peas and Sausage (serves 6)one recipe of Carlo Middione s Polenta Facile10 ounces pork tenderloin, sirloin or loin4 to 5 ounces pancetta2 teaspoons red wine vinegara scrape or two of whole nutmega handful of  parsley leaves3 cloves garlic2 tablespoons tomato paste1 teaspoon dried thyme1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary1 bay leafkosher saltfresh ground pepper1 garlic clove, minced1/2 cup carrots, small dice1/2 cup onion, small dice1/2 cup white wine2 cups pork stock or chicken stock1 1/2 cups fresh peas or frozenchopped chives and parsley1. Lay your pork out onto a large cutting board. Cut the pork and pancetta into thin strips then into cubes. Spread the pork out so it is flat instead of in one big pile. It s ok if it isn t in one single layer you just don t want a big pile. Place the palm of you hand, as shown in the picture, across the blade of the knife making sure to keep your fingers up and you hand flat. This will keep you from cutting your hand if the knife slips. So fingers up! What you are doing is creating a hinge of sorts because you want to keep the tip of the knife on the board and in doing so it lets you apply more cutting force. Run the knife through the pork several times and until you have minced it to a coarse mince.2. Add the garlic cloves, parsley, a teaspoon of salt, a few grinds of pepper and the nutmeg. Mince the seasonings into the pork until you have a fine mince. Add the red wine vinegar and knead it into the sausage. Ball up the sausage, put it in a bowl and let it get funky in the fridge for an hour or two. 3. Start the polenta. I let my polenta cook for almost three hours. I was using an heirloom corn I grew last year called Henry Moore. It took a long time to cook but it was creamy beyond my wildest expectations. So take your time with the polenta, cook any bitterness out of it and let it do its thing. 4. When the polenta is close to being finished start the sauce by placing a large 12 inch saute pan over medium high heat. When it is hot add a glug or two of oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Brown the sausage. Once the sausage is brown remove it to a plate. Be careful not to burn the fond on the bottom of the pan. Add the onions and carrots and cook them gently until they just begin to wilt. 5. Add the tomato paste, dried thyme, rosemary, garlic and bay leaf. Stir until fragrant then add the white wine. Let the wine burn off the alcohol and then add the stock. Season and taste. Bring it to a boil and reduce it by half. Taste again and adjust the seasoning. 6. Add the sausage and peas. Heat until the peas are warmed through. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Add a tablespoon of chopped chives and parsley. Stir. 7. Spread the polenta on a platter, top with the peas and sausage, and serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Seasoning with Pork: Polenta with Peas and PorkSausage When I used to go to the bookstore looking for cookbooks to add to my collection I could spend hours flipping the pages of different books.  It was much like when I was younger and I would buy albums, then CDs, flipping through the alphabetized record bins searching for disk in hopes of finding something new and even more importantly, something exciting. As such I am the owner of an extensive cookbook library, or at least it feels like it to me. Not as many books as in some peoples collections but enough none the less. Back when I was really buying I would head to the bookstores and it was nothing to buy two to five new books at a time.When I got home with my finds I would take them to my night stand and set them down. I would go about the rest of my days business but every night before bed I would thumb through the books looking for the must make recipes. Sometimes straight away I wanted to get out of bed and head into the kitchen. It was hard to contain my excitement and wait until the next day to make a new dish.In time though I began to experience the law of diminishing returns. It began to feel as if the content of the cookbooks I was purchasing was all the same. A trend would hit and everyone would follow suite. Authors would add their little twist to the fad of the moment and publish. The fads would last about two years only to be followed by the next hot trend. Duck comes to mind, slow food, then bacon and now simple scratch cooking, vegetarian and vegan. The later, repentance for our foodie excesses I suppose.All in all, this phenomena is what I have termed the gold rush syndrome . It is where food professionals scurry from one region, type or style of food to the next looking for a nugget in the terroir. One person strikes gold and everyone mines it until it runs dry.  This syndrome came to reflect the foodie mentality for me and I just can t do it anymore. It is tiring, the chase isn t fun anymore,  and once my palette became more experienced it became harder to please.  Even so, there are still books being created that stand out and when I do find gold it is not hard to champion or to shout encouragement and praise. Especially when, from cover to cover, a book is full of useful wisdom.There is no doubt April Bloomfield s A Girl and Her Pig is one one of these great books, one of the best in this years cookbook class and upon giving it a closer look I discovered it is much more.  A Girl And Her Pig resonates with libertarian resolve.  It is apparent Bloomfield is someone who has taken responsibility for herself and her food and harbors no apologies.  The cover is as punk as punk ever was.  It is Abbey Hoffman.  It is Che Guevara.  It is Frieda Kahlo.It resonates with the soul of a chef but it is a book in which a wonderful chef does what really wonderful chefs do, they please.  Which is rare in theses days of pop star chefs.  If Bloomfield has an ego she checked it at the door.    She never leaves you with the impression she is better then you but instead you feel she is one of you. Bloomfield uses a mix of classic recipes that, with time,  have become her own and then she laces the pages in-between with food she loves.  Simple dishes like bubble and squeak and chicken in adobo are obviously a few of her favorite foods but they go well with the restaurant dishes too.  What Bloomfield has done is spend time in the kitchen perfecting classic recipes, using her professional knowledge to create food to her liking and with her touch.  It is this dedication that makes the food in this book so special.Not surprisingly as you get to know her food you get to know Bloomfield. The pages are laced with personal tales of cooking and career and with each turn of the page her passion, which is quietly infectious, builds only to remain with you long after you closed the cover. As such Bloomfield becomes a wonderful voice to have floating around in your head while you are in the kitchen much like a favorite song that always resonates deep within your soul. A wonderful blend of deeply caramelized onions, spicy tomato broth and creamy chickpeas.  Khatte Channe, as it is know in India, is traditionally served with a flatbread but as it is cooked in this recipe it has lots of sauce so it makes sense to serve it with simple steamed rice and some sort of green vegetable.I don t like to use a lot of canned goods but beans are one that I rely on.  They are no fuss, no standing over the stove stirring or adding liquid because they are already cooked.  In fact I think this dish benefits from canned because the peas stand out by not absorbing all the gravy flavors that long cooking would have infused in them .There is some extra expense in buying spices for the dish but if you have an ethnic grocery nearby, either Asian or Indian, you should be able to find the ingredients.  Buy the smallest amount they sell and if you like the spices and find yourself using them to make other dishes then buy bigger quantities.The thing I really like about this dish and these kind of bean dishes is even though it is of Indian descent it still feels familiar, I think of it as soul food.  It is warm with a hint of spice and very much like bean dishes from Central America and Mexico.  The dish is comfortable.Cost to make this meal:three 14oz. cans organic garbanzo beans $1.49 each or $4.472 large onions .74 centsone 14 ounce can crushed tomatoes .99 centsat my local Indian grocery an 8 ounce bag costs $3.oo dollars or 2 teaspoons .12 cents1 head of garlic .99 cents 4 cloves about . 50 centsfresh ginger 3.99 per pound 2 ounces at .48 cents48 oz vegetable oil  $2.99 or 3 tablespoons at .10 centscumin seeds vary in price greatly depending on where you purchase them  1 teaspoon at .25 centsmy recipe calls for tamarind but substitute a 2 tablespoon of vinegar to give the dish its sournessTotal cost range is from  $7.65 to  $9.00 and if you are only serving 4 you should have a couple of lunches.This recipe is adapted from Julie Sahni s Classic Indian Cooking.  If you enjoy Indian food her books are a must for you shelf.Makes 8 to 10 servings3 (14.5 oz.) cans chickpeas/garbanzos (drained and liquid reserved)2 tablespoons tamarind paste mixed with half a cup of water (or substitute 2 tablespoon of vinegar with no water)3 vegetable oil2 cups yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced2 tablespoons garlic, peeled and minced1 teaspoon turmeric1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced finely2 teaspoons curry powder1 teaspoon ground cumin, toastedkosher salt and fresh ground pepper1. Place a 3 1/2 quart heavy bottomed pot over medium heat.  Add 3 tablespoons of oil to the pot and then the onions.  Season the onions with salt.  Cook the onions, patiently, until they begin to brown and become deeply colored. Stir them often enough that the onions on top brown at the same pace as those on bottom.   Don t do this to fast you want melted gooey onions not seared.  Take your time it takes a while.2. Once the onions are browned to your liking add the garlic.  Once you smell the garlic add the turmeric and cayenne pepper.  Give it a stir then add the tamarind,  tomatoes and ginger.  Reduce the heat and let the tomatoes simmer.3. Add 1 cup of  the reserved bean liquid along with the cumin and curry powder.  Bring the liquid back to a boil reduce the heat and add the beans.4. Cook the rice.  5. By the time you finish the rice the beans will be warmed through and the flavors will have come together nicely.  Taste the peas and adjust the seasoning.  Serve over the rice.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... We all know gravy or pan sauce in large quantities might be good for our soul but it isn t so good for our heart health. After all we are doing nothing more then adding flour or cornstarch to the fat in the bottom of a roasting or sauté pan to thicken it and adding back some stock, wine, or cream for volume. So we have deemed it less healthy which to me means it is an occasional treat and as such we reserve serving gravy for holiday feasts or occasional celebrations, and rightly so.So why then when I look into the chicken-less roasting pan that held tonights dinner only a short time ago and I see those beautiful glistening juices that are on the edge of coagulating do I feel like I am throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Don t get me wrong I am no health nut. In fact I have this beautiful physique that could make me the poster child for a Bittman campaign on obesity. I am sure it goes back to my waste not want not way of thinking. Nevertheless all this made me think. When I make my own stock I always cool it down, put it in the fridge and then the next day I lift the disc of fat off the top. I know the stock is pretty fat free, although I haven t calculated it and I have know idea how to do so, but it has to be pretty lean and I also know it has very little salt because I didn t add any. So looking at it in this light I started refrigerating the roasting pan and the next day I remove all the fat cap and what is left is the reduced intensely rich jelly. I use a rubber spatula and scrap all the jelly up and into a small Ball jar. I have already made a plan for its use, did so before I even roasted the pork, beef or chicken, so I know when I store it in the fridge it will be used up in a day or two. I could freeze it but I don t like to collect things like this and my motto is use it or loose it.The jelly is infinitely better then bouillon cubes or stock base and can be used in all sorts of ways. Sometimes I like the jelly to have lots of debris(meat bits and spices) and other times I don t but it is easy to heat and strain, if you need too, just before you want to use it. While you don’t have too I often try to keep in mind the flavors of what I roasted with the flavors of what I am going to make with the pan juices just to make sure they coincide.Pan juice possibilities:Of course it is always good to use the pan juices in soups.  Added to the broth it can give a flat soup the kick it needs.Pasta or noodles of all kinds.For chicken pan juices:  Make a simple fresh lemon juice and olive oil vinaigrette with salt and lots of fresh ground pepper, take a couple big hand fulls of baby Bibb lettuces  and toss it with the dressing.  Just before serving heat the pan juices and drizzle over the salad for a “healthier” wilted salad.For beef:  You could make Grits and debris.  Make a bowl of grits, pour on the warm pan juices and top with a fried egg.For pork:  Ramen noodles. Pasta with Chicken, Black Olives and Lemon(serves 4)12 or 16 ounce box of spaghetti noodlesextra virgin olive oilhalf a can of black olives, drained1 1/2 cups cooked chicken meat4 cloves of garlic, trimmed, peeled and slivered1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest1/4 cup dry white wine1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice2/3 cup chicken stock2 to 3 tablespoons pan juices1 tablespoon parsley, mincedparmesan cheese1. Place a large pot filled with 4 quarts of salted water over high heat.2. While you are waiting for the water to come to a boil place a sauté pan over medium heat.  Add a good glug or two of extra virgin olive oil.  Add the garlic and let it gently cook until it just begins to turn golden, be careful because browned garlic can be very bitter.  Add the white wine and let the alcohol burn off.  Now add the lemon juice, stock and pan juices.  Bring them to a boil and season with salt and pepper.  Taste and adjust the seasoning.  Reduce the heat and let the liquid reduce.3. When the water is at a roiling boil add the spaghetti.  Cook according to the directions on the box, I am guessing 10 minutes or so.  Once the pasta is just tender remove a cup of pasta water and reserve it, drain the pasta and immediately add it to the pan along with the chicken, olives and lemon zest.  Season the pasta with salt and fresh ground pepper.  Taste and make the necessary adjustments.  If it is to dry add a little bit of pasta water.  This is the kind of pasta that should have a broth.  Toss to combine and once the chicken is hot add the parsley toss again and serve with lots of parmesan.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... What thrills me the most about potato cakes like this is the crispy top and creamy interior.  If you use good potatoes the flavor is unbeatable and if you are creative you can even layer the interior with things like roasted garlic, wilted onions, green onions or even chopped frozen broccoli that has been thawed and drained of excess moisture.Yukon GoldsThere are few products that I recommend, or in this case don t recommend, and those are conventional potatoes and canned tomatoes.  I don t like conventional potatoes because they spray them with an anti-sprouting spray which means they have a longer shelf life.  I don t know if the spray is good for you or not but I want potatoes that aren t far from the harvest because I want fresh potatoes.  They taste better and I know they do, it s that simple.  Organic potatoes can t lollygag around and therfore are generally fresh.The two types of potato most readily available at most groceries that would work for this dish are Russet Burbanks(Idaho) or Yukon Golds.  Both brown up nicely and both create a creamy interior.As for tomatoes, I don t like canned tomatoes because the acid leaches out the chemical from the liner of the can.  I only by tomatoes in glass or those nifty carton type boxes.Cost to make the potatoes:one bag of organic russet potatoes $3.49 about 10 per bag or $1.75 unsalted butter .10 centscanola oil  and salt .10 centsTotal cost to make this dish: $1.95Serves 4 as a side dish5 good sized russet potatoes, scrubbed under cold water with a brush1 tablespoon butter, room temperature1 tablespoon canola oilkosher saltwhite pepper if you have it1. Smear the bottom of a 10 inch non-stick skillet with soften butter.  Make sure to spread it evenly across the bottom.  Drizzle the oil into the pan too.2. Slice the potatoes into very thin slices, a 1/16 of an inch would be great but no more then an 1/8 inch.3. Starting in the middle of the pan spiral the potatoes by fanning them.  They should overlap about half the potato before them, if that makes since or you should cover the potato before the one you are putting into the pan by half by the one you are putting into the pan.4. Lightly season each layer of potato with a pinch of salt.  Once the first layer is down you can layer the rest of the potatoes into the pan without detail to fanning them.5. Heat the oven to 350˚ F.  Place the pan over medium heat to begin browning the bottom layer.  This always takes longer then I expect. I also have a baking stone that has a permanent spot in my oven so I also know then the pan goes into the oven it will continue to brown the potatoes.6.  Once the bottom is browned nicely cover the pan and slide it into the oven.  Bake until the potatoes in the middle are tender.  Depending on how many layers you created anywhere from 25 to 35 minutes.7. Remove the pan from the oven with a oven mitt or towel.  Place a pizza tray or the bottom of a sheet tray across the top of the pan.  In one swift motion invert the pan and tray.  Place the tray into the oven and let the cake bake another 5 to 10 minutes to crisp the top.  Serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... These burgers are great bun or no.  The key here, at least for me, is not to use breast only ground turkey which really dries out but a combination of ground thigh and breast. Read the labels  on the packages carefully.Lemon parsley butter is a natural for these.  While you make more butter then you need,  through out the week you can easily use it up.  Simply use the compound butter in all sorts of things like sauteed green beans, broccoli or Brussels sprouts.  It is delicious way to finish off veggies and all you have to do is add it at the end of the cooking time, stir it around to just melt it, and voilà,  an extra punch at the table.Cost to make the burgers:Ground turkey $4.29Curley leaf parsley .69 centsDried herbs and lemon $1.50Butter $2.99 per pound or 1 stick @.75 centsTotal cost: $7.23Makes 4 six ounce pattiesFor the patties:1 pound 3 ounces ground turkey, a mix of breast and thigh2 teaspoons curly leaf parsley2 teaspoons lemon juice1/2 teaspoon dried thyme1/2 teaspoon garlic powdera heavy 1/2 teaspoon saltcanola oil for sautéingFor the butter:1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice2 teaspoons lemon zest1 tablespoon curly leaf parsley, mincedtwo finger pinch of salt1. Combine all the patty ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Using your hands need it all together until it is well mixed.  Let the mixture sit, refrigerated for at least an hour.2. While the turkey is melding, combine all the butter ingredients and mix well.  Set aside.3. Form 4 patties of equal size.4. Heat a heavy bottomed pan over medium high heat.  Add a glug of oil to coat the bottom of the pan.  Add the patties and brown them on each side.  Adjust the heat as necessary so you can brown them but also cook them through without burning them.  Serve topped with a dollop of lemon parsley butter.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Grilled Pork Steaks with Ranch Dressing is yet another great use for the dressing.The only way buttermilk will go to waste is if you if you have a lack of ideas for using it and because of this don t.   It can hang out longer then regular milk because of the live culture but it will eventually go bad.This dressing alone can be used as a base, minus the green onions,  and  you can make parmesan black peppercorn or fresh herb ranch.  Then there are all the other products too, real Southern cornbread, buttermilk pancakes, bread and of course biscuits.Buttermilk is full of probiotics.  Rumor has it the beneficial bacteria will help you to maintain a healthy stomach which helps in fighting off other sicknesses.   This, though, is if you drink it or use it uncooked.  The label should read live active culture in order for you to get the benefits.There is a term in cooking, and at culinary school, that asks for you to cook a liquid or combine ingredients to a thickness that will coat the back of a spoon.  You go about this by dipping the spoon into the liquid and then, while holding it sideways, run your finger across the convex side.  The liquid should hang there for a second or two before closing the gap your finger created.Cost:1 head of garlic .42 cents2 bunches of green onions $1.491 quart Organic Valley buttermilk $3.25 or .40 cents per 1/2 cup30 oz. Hellman s Real Mayonnaise $5.49 or $1.46 per cup12 oz. rice vinegar (do not buy seasoned rice vinegar) $1.48 or .25 cents per 1/4 cupTotal cost to make the dressing:  $4.02 for 12 ouncesMakes 1 1/2 cups plus10 to 12 green onions, trimmed of roots1 garlic clove, minced1/2 cup water1/4 cup rice vinegar3 tablespoons sugar1 heaping teaspoon kosher salt2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice1/2 cup buttermilk1 cup mayonnaise1 1/2 tablespoon pickling liquidfresh ground black peppersalt1. About three inches from the root end cut the green onions.  Reserve the green tops for another use (buttermilk green onion smashed potatoes comes to mind).  Place the green onions and garlic into a small heat proof container.2. Heat the water, vinegar, salt and sugar in a small sauce pan set over high heat.  Bring it to a boil and let the salt and sugar dissolve.3. Pour the hot liquid over the green onions and garlic.  Let the onions pickle for at least two hours.4. Once the green onions are olive drab and soft remove them and the garlic from the liquid.  Mince them fine.5. Combine the mayo, buttermilk, reserved 1 1/2 tablespoons of pickling liquid and lemon juice in a mixing bowl.  Add the green onions and garlic along with fresh ground black pepper to taste.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Serves 4Smothered chicken makes for a comforting Sunday dinner.  It s the kind of dinner that will bring the kids back on Sundays after they have left home to be on their own.  The combination of peppers, onions and celery (known as the trinity in cooking) is very warming and homey.It is a great dish to serve over boiled rice and if you were to serve green beans and biscuits with it you would, or at least I would, be in heaven.Cost to make this dinner entree:package of 8 chicken thighs $4.831 bunch of celery $1.292 onions .74 cents1 head of garlic .49 cents1 bell pepper $1.00Loose cost of vegetable oil, spices, salt and flour $1.00Total cost to make the dinner: $9.35For the spice mix:2 tablespoons paprika1 teaspoon garlic powder1/2 teaspoon black pepperFor the chicken:6 to 8 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs2 cups yellow onions, julienned3/4 cups green bell peppers, julienned3/4 cups celery, juliennedwaterkosher saltfresh ground black pepper1/4 cup green onions, chopped2 1/2 tablespoons flourvegetable oil2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced1. Combine all the spice ingredients in a small bowl. Season the chicken thighs on all sides with salt and then with the spice mixture. You may or may not have extra spice depending on how heavy your hand is and whether or not you season 6 or 8 thighs.2. Place a heavy, large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add enough oil to the pan to easily coat the bottom completely. When it is hot add the thighs skin side down and brown them deeply. Once they are brown do the same to the other side.3. Remove the thighs to a plate. Add the onions, bell pepper and celery to the pan. Season them with salt and pepper. If the pan is to hot turn down the heat and cook down the vegetables until they are brown and soft. Add the flour and sauté everything for a bit longer to cook out the flour flavor.4. Add the garlic cloves and give the veggies a stir. Add the chicken thighs back to the pan and add enough water to cover the thighs by three quarters. The crispy tops should just be peeking out of the gravy. Add all but a tablespoon of the green onions to the sauce.5. When the gravy comes to a boil reduce the heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and tender, this should take about thirty minutes. Season the gravy, stir and taste.6. If the gravy is reducing to fast and getting to thick add more water and stir.  If you added more water bring the sauce to a boil and serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Back when I thought I could eat gluten I was a biscuit hound.  It was nothing for me to scarf down two or three.  I have been known to forgo the rest of dinner for a good biscuit.  I always considered myself a connoisseur, from angel biscuits to crescents or buttermilk to sweet potato I think I have made them all.  Some of them were more fussy to make then others and all always in need of a light hand and a quick touch to keep them from being tough.This biscuit is what I call a redneck biscuit and  I call them this with fondness.  They are a working mom s weeknight biscuit.  They come together quickly and without worry and they lack nothing other then fussiness.  There is nothing in the instructions about overworking the dough, you don t need to look for a cornmeal texture in the flour, there is nothing about spacing the biscuits perfectly or about flakiness or making sure you cut the edges cleanly for a good rise.  No they are pretty much cream, add the liquid, stir and scoop.They are inspired by Shirley Coriher s Touch-of-Grace biscuits which I started making just before I found out I couldn t eat gluten.  They are the kind of biscuits that are gooey in the middle, they aren t layered but are tender and airy.  They are the kind of biscuit you might find at a really good diner.   You can imagine this old dogs disappointment when I had to stop eating them.  The thing is about 4 months ago I started playing around with and making gluten-free biscuits.  While I found many I liked, I went nuts for none.Then I got a burr up my craw and decided I wanted to make Shirley s biscuits but gluten-free.  It wasn t all that tough, or I should say, maybe I got lucky.  I found a recipe on Bob s Redmill and, using it as a base and replicating what I knew about Mrs. Coriher s biscuits, well,  low and behold I struck biscuit gold.In all honesty I like the flavor of this biscuit better then the original.  The sorghum flour has such a great flavor.  One of the big bonus s if there are any left, which is a rarity around here, is they hold well into the next day or two.Saving Grace Biscuits (inspired by Shirley Coriher s Touch-of-Grace Biscuits)1 cup white sorghum flour1/2 cup potato starch1/2 cup tapioca flour1 teaspoon sugar1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder1 teaspoon kosher salt1/2 cup unsalted butter1 1/2 to 1  3/4 cups buttermilk1. Heat the oven to 450˚F.  2. In a bowl combine the dry ingredients.3. Cube the butter and add it to the flour.  Using your hands work it into the flour until there are no big hunks of butter left.4. Add the buttermilk and stir with a wooden spoon,  The batter will be very loose, it should barely hold its shape before  slowly begins spreading.5. Liberally butter an eight inch cake pan.  Using a half cup ice cream scoop, scoop up a ball of dough and turn it out into the pan close to the edge.  Continue turning out biscuits working your way around the outside first leaving room for the seventh and final biscuit in the middle.6. Bake the biscuits for 23 minutes or until browned on top.  When you remove them from the oven they will drop.  That is OK.7. Serve with lots of butter.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... I like this bread because it uses leftovers.  What do I mean by leftovers?  My girls don t like heels and crusts. Sure I could force them to eat them, could throw them out or I could trim them off and save them for other uses.  I could make bread crumbs or, for instance, I could make this loaf of bread.It is pretty amazing when you think about it.  Bread never wears out, you can use the same crumbs again and again in this loaf and its structure is always the same.As long as you dry it properly, use breads without seeds, fruit or nuts, the uses of bread become endless but I really like the fact that I am not wasting anything.It takes time to learn how to make a good loaf of bread.  The good news is if it doesn t work out perfectly the loaf is more then likely still really delicious and good to eat.  So jump in and start practicing.Recipe based on a recipe by Peter Reinhart in his book Brother Juniper s Bread. King Arthur Bread Flour  $3.98 for a 5 pound bag = 28 cents per cup1 packet instant dry yeast = 24 centstotal cost to make this loaf of bread = $1.00Makes one 2 pound loaf                                                                                                                     2 cups dried stale old bread crumbs2 cups water1 .25 oz. packet instant dry yeast or 1 tablespoon1 tablespoon kosher salt2 1/2 cups bread flour1. In a large mixing bowl combine the bread crumbs with to cups of water.  Let the bread soak up all the water.  This will take about an hour and you can let it soak for 4 hours.  Make the bread fit your schedule.2. Sprinkle the yeast over the top and then stir it around and into the damp bread crumbs.  Let is sit for 2 to 5 minutes to hydrate the yeast.  Add the salt and bread flour.3. Using a heavy duty wooden spoon mix the flour and crumbs until it forms a ball.  Dump the ball onto the counter and start kneading.  Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic.  This will take at least 5 minutes.4. Form the dough into a ball and put it back into the mixing bowl.  Cover it with a damp towel and set the bowl in a warm draft free place.  The back of the stove is usually good.5. Set a timer for 1 hour.  At the end of the hour the dough should have doubled in size.  If not let it proof a little longer.  Remove the dough to the counter and knead it to degas it then shape it into a ball.6. Place the dough into a 8 inch  cake pan that has been oiled and dusted with flour.  To dust the pan smear a small amount of oil onto all interior surfaces of the pan.  Add a tablespoon of flour and shake it around and tilt the pan to get the flour up the sides.  This will keep the bread from sticking to the pan.  Cover the bread and put it back in the warm place you had it.7. Let the bread rise until it is peaking over the top of the pan by an inch.  This will take 30 to 40 minutes.  About 15 minutes into the final rise turn on the oven to 375˚ F.8.  You can dust the top of the loaf with flour, cut a slash in it or just put it in the oven and bake it for 50 minutes.  Remove it from the oven then remove it from the pan to a cookie rack.  Let the bread cool completely. Slice and serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... I really enjoy making and eating the foods of Southeast Asia.  I make trips to the Asian grocery and buy up all kinds of different produce that aren t found in my garden or at the local grocer.  I don t really drive but an extra five minutes to get there, the groceries cost less which makes up for the extra in gas and I usually find some gem of a new product that I have never eaten, cooked with or sometimes never even seen.  It is always an adventure.  This time I happened in a day or two before the Chinese New Year and in honor of the holiday they gave Lynnie a box of the funkiest most savory cookies ever.  I couldn t eat them but she loved them and this from the little girl who finds Chinese food sour.I did something different here, something I wouldn t  normally do.  Usually I would get the pan smoking hot and sear the protein but I didn t get the wok hot enough and when meat hit metal it cooled down right away.  It became a happy mistake.  Instead of panicking I just let it sit.  I watched as all the beef juice bubbled up around the meat and then slowly subsided until it was gone.  Then the skirt steak caramelized really well and the fond, the sticky delicious stuff on the bottom of the pan, added tons of beefy flavor to the final dish.It s a great dish to serve with rice and a couple of nice vegetables.Serves 4canola oil1 pound 2 ounces skirt steak, sliced then minced6 garlic cloves, minced (about 2 tablespoons)1 1/2 tablespoons lemon grass, minced1/2 cup shallots, julienned3 red Thai bird chile, minced1 tablespoon fish sauce1 tablespoon soy sauce2 tablespoons water1/3 cup mint leaves, torn1/3 cup cilantro leaves, torn1/3 cup green onion, thinly sliced1/4 cup peanuts, smashed1. Heat a large wok or skillet over medium high heat.  Add a tablespoon of oil to the pan and when it is warm add the minced skirt steak, garlic, lemon grass and shallot.  It should cool the pan down and as it cooks liquid should release from the protein.  Let it gently bubble while you occasionally stir.  As the juice begins to evaporate stop stirring.  Patiently wait for the meat to brown and the fond to build on the bottom of the wok or pan.2. Add the fish sauce, soy and water.  Stir the larb to combine and until almost all the liquid is absorbed.  Using a spoon taste the larb and add a little salt if necessary.  Stir then remove the pan from the heat.3. Once the steak isn t so hot but still warm stir in half the chili, mint, cilantro and green onion.  Plate up the salad and then top with the remaining herbs and the peanuts.  Serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... There is something special about trout that goes beyond just eating. They are one of only fish that have a whole culture built around them. They are a freshwater game fish, they are skittish and will jump at their own shadow. They only thrive in cold water and need lots of oxygen provided by a stiff current. When they feed they feed only on what is abundant at the moment. Wild trout make for difficult prey.In the high altitude lakes of the Grand Tetons you are likely to catch cutthroats the size of your hand while watching the sunrise in, hands down, one of the most beautiful places in the world. When you get back to camp you cook them up for breakfast with pancakes and eggs.On the other hand you might spend the afternoon in the Catskills on the banks of the Beaverkill reading Hemingway or Fitzgerald. Legendary fisherman like Lee Wulff and Lefty Kreh coming to mind as you are thinking about the evening fish and having high hopes for a Green Drake hatch. You might even doze off for an hour.Then just as the evening hours begin you pull on your waders and out into the rushing stream you go. It doesn’t seem like hard work from the shore but standing in rushing water up to your midsection takes effort. You wrestle the current to get to the spot you want. You look down at the water to see if there are any bugs floating by that might give you an indication of what the fish are eating tonight. You light a cigar and smile.You see the transparent wings of a pale evening dun float by. You reach into your fly box and pull out a number 20. The fly you saw go by didn’t seem any bigger. You tie the fly to the tippet. You drop the fly into the water and strip out some line.You draw back the rod in a gentle sweep and the fly draws past your ear and then you rocket it forward aiming upstream of an eddie that lies just behind a big rock. You watch as the fly floats downstream, you gather excess line, and as it passes the eddie you hope you hear and see a strike as a rainbow trout breaks the surface grabbing your fly. If you had a good night and matched the hatch you will be in camp cooking up a couple of nice rainbows for supper but only after a nice Scotch.Serves 22 trout, boneless 12 to 16 oz.4 pieces prosciutto, thinly sliceda handful of sage leaves1/4 cup grape seed oil1 tablespoon of butter1/4 cup pine nutskosher salt and fresh ground white peppercornmeal for dredging1. Season the inside of the trout with salt and pepper. Carefully lay out two pieces of prosciutto letting the long side overlap by 1/4 inch. Lay a trout across the short sides of the prosciutto and wrap it in the prosciutto.2. Heat a 14 inch skillet over medium high heat. Dredge the trout in cornmeal and shake off any excess. Add the oil to the pan. Sprinkle in the half of the sage leaves and let them deep fry. when they have crisped remove them from the pan.3. Gently lay the trout into the pan, reduce the heat to medium and cook until the pancetta is crisp and caramelized, about 5 minutes. Gently turn the fish cooking the other side. It will take about ten minutes total for the fish to cook through so be patient and adjust the heat as necessary.4. When the fish are done remove them to their plates. Drain the oil and put the pan back on the heat. Add the butter, the pine nuts and the remaining sage leaves. When the nuts have toasted spoon some of the pine nut sage butter over the top of the fish. ServeShare this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Paella to me is the ultimate one pot meal. It also is the time of year where I am not ready for a stew but want something more substantial than the usual summer fare. Paella is a great answer. Although paella is considered Spanish I think this one is more Mediterranean. I use Italian sausages but fresh chorizo would be good, the important part is that the sausage isn t dry cured or it would just be drier in this case. I also use arborio rice, but you could use the Spanish version of this as well.SERVES 4-62 bell peppers1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil2 chicken legs, seasoned with salt and pepper2 Italian sausages2 chicken thighs, seasoned with salt and pepper1 onion, julienned1 fennel bulb, tops trimmed, core removed and sliced very thinly1/4 cup garlic, peeled and thinly sliced2 bay leaves3 1/2 cups warm waterpinch of saffron, crumbled3 Roma tomatoes, cut in half from top to bottom, and grated, large whole of a box grater, leaving the skin behind1/4 cup dry white wine2 cups arborio rice1 1/2 teaspoon aleppo pepper1 tablespoon flat leaf parsley, minced2 tablespoons green onions, sliced into thin ringskosher salt and fresh ground pepperSometime during the day or when ever you have time, turn a gas burner to high. If you don t have a gas burner turn your oven to broil and place a rack at the highest level you can. Char the peppers, top, bottom and all on sides. The idea is to char or blacken the skin without cooking the pepper through.Place the peppers into a container with a lid. Set aside for at least 20 minutes. Crumble the saffron into the warm water.If you roasted them properly the skins will easily peel right off with out running them under water.Peel, seed and core the peppers and then julienne them into thick strips.Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place a 16 inch paella pan or a 14 inch saute pan over medium high heat. Add the olive oil and once it is hot add the chicken, skin side down, and then the sausages. Brown them thoroughly and then remove them to a plate. You do not want them to cook all the way through. They will finish cooking in the oven so you just want to brown them.Turn the heat to medium and add the onion and fennel. Season them with healthy pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until they start to soften. Add the garlic, aleppo pepper and bay leaves, once fragrant add the white wine and grated tomatoes and cook for a minute or two letting the alcohol burn off. Add the saffron water and rice. Season again with a healthy pinch salt and pepper. Gently shake the pan to level out the rice. Place the chicken into the pan and arrange the red peppers around the chicken.Bring to a boil, place the pan into the oven and set the timer for 15 minutes. Cut the sausages in half. Once the timer goes off add the sausages and place the pan back into the oven. Set the timer for 10 minutes.Once the timer goes off remove the pan from the oven and place a clean towel over the top. Let the dish rest for five minutes, remove the towel and garnish with parsley and green onions, then serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Reviewing a website isn t something I would normally do.  In this case it isn t the website but a feature on the site itself.  You all know I call Food52 home(that is a full disclosure).  I would give the site itself a triple A rating but my aim here is to call attention to a feature within the site, Genius Recipes.If I were new to the kitchen, or an inexperienced cook, even a seasoned pro this is where I would go to get a bag full of genius recipes.  It is where senior editor Kristen Miglore will make you  feel and look good so  your dinner guest will thank you and your children will brag about you.I can assure you once you start cooking with these recipes you will find yourself going back time and time again because they work, are dependable and because the recipes are ridiculously delicious.The real bonus here is they are minimally invasive.  What that means is there are only a few steps and ingredients involved in getting the dish to the table.  What s the take-away?  In short, it means there is no excuse not to make these recipes throughout the week.  And even if you can t the Wednesday publishing of the posts allows you to collect the ingredients and prep the recipe for the weekend.The author behind the feature, Kristen Miglore, does all the hard work for you.  Whats not to love about that?  Fortunately for her readers she brings us a five star recipe each week and then sets it up for success.  She tests the recipes and navigates you effortlessly through the steps as if you were following the blue dot on Google maps to a dive restaurant.   People,  she gives you the keys to the Mercedes, I mean how awesome is that.So you have a great writer giving you the low down on why this recipe is so good with her fast paced prose, sprinkled with a pinch of humor and it s always concise.   If asked she will be humble and give all the credit to the community members who pass along recipes but in the end it is Miglore who spots the winners and it is not always easy to recognize great recipes.  She has mad skills is all I can say.I will vouch for any of these recipes and I can say many have fallen into the weeknight rotation of family favorites.  The Al Forno Penne with Tomato Cream and 5 Cheeses is one of my and the girls favorites.  Nobu s Fried Asparagus with Miso Dressing became a regular this summer substituting in yard long beans, walnuts and shallots.  In fact, I can t wait to plant yard longs in the garden again just to make this one recipe.  The Domino Potatoes scored big when the juices from the resting lamb chops co-mingled into the buttery potatoes to create one of the easiest best potato sides ever.  Most recently I have been making Momofuku s Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Fish Sauce Vinaigrette and alternating in an oyster sauce.  I have also deep fried the sprouts and wow, if you care to take the extra step, do.Next up will be Nigella Lawson s Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake.  I am making two of them, one for home and one for the school bake sale and while I am sifting the flour I will be thanking Kristen for sifting through all these recipes and pointing me in the direction of the truly genius ones.Need more genius? Click here.                                                                                                                                                                                                         Deep Fried Brussels Sprouts with Oyster Sauce1 pound Brussels Sprouts, trimmed and halvedvegetable oil for frying2 1/2  tablesoons oyster sauce1 1/2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce1 tablespoon water1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ginger,  very finely minced1 1/2 teaspoons garlic, very finely minced1 tablespoon green onions, minced1 tsp honey                                                                                                                                                                                                                       1. Combine the oyster sauce, soy, water, ginger, garlic, green onions and honey in a large mixing bowl.  Whisk to combine it all.  Set aside.2 Add enough oil to a heavy bottomed 4 quart pot ( I used an enameled Dutch oven) to come no more then a third up the sides of the pot.  Turn the heat to medium high.  3. Test the oil by dropping in a sprout leaf.  There should be a pause, then, it should rapidly sizzle.  4. Add half of the Brussels sprouts carefully, they will bubble and pop, then add the rest of the sprouts.  Fry until brown.  Remove them from the oil to drain on a paper towel lined plate.  Toss the sprouts with the oyster sauce and serve immediately. Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Sort of a cross between mush and sausage scrapple has been called many things, including “everything but the squeal.” In other words it gets a bad rap. If you look at the ingredients list below you will find, first and foremost, it is nitrite free, sugar free, and gluten free.It is true when it comes to pig parts scrapple could be anything but the squeal but then that is up to the person making the dish. As with most charcuterie you are dealing with head to tail anyway so it is not a big jump to figure it is going to use pork liver. You don’t have to use pork liver but without it I am not sure you get the real gist of what is going on with the flavor and texture of scrapple. Generally after the liver the parts used are usually very flavorful cuts that need picked after being cooked and therefore wouldn’t normally be used except maybe in stews. Things like the cheeks or the snout. Pork ribs were used here because they are the most readily available to the general public.Spicy, crispy, creamy and chock full of whole grain goodness. Give it a go and you won’t be disappointed.Makes one 8 x 4 x 3 loaf1 lb. meaty pork short ribs6 oz. pork liver, if you can’t find it add more pork ribs1 small carrot, peeled and sliced2 green onions1/4 cup yellow onion, chopped4 cups water2 teaspoons dried sage, toasted1 teaspoon dried thyme1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper1/2 cup cornmeal1/3 cup buckwheat floura healthy pinch ground clovekosher salt1. Place the ribs, liver, carrot, green onions, and onion into a sauce pan where they will fit snuggly. Cover with the water and add pinch of salt.2. Bring the liquid to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer. Skim any foam that rises to the surface.3. Simmer, covered, until the ribs are fall apart tender. Probably 2 hours, maybe 3.4. Remove the meat to a tray. Strain the stock and measure it out. Wash the sauce pan. You will need 1 1/4 cup of liquid. If you have more than 1 1/4 cup put the broth back into the sauce pan reduce the liquid over high heat. If you have less add water to make 1 1/4 cup.5. Pick the meat from the rib bones. Place half the rib meat and the liver into a food processor and grind it till it is finely chopped. Chop the rest of the rib meat with a knife so it is coarse but not big chunks.6. Add 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, the broth and the spices to the sauce pan and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and while whisking add the cornmeal and buckwheat flour. Whisk until smooth.7. The scrapple will thicken a lot at this point. Add the meat and mix it in while still cooking the scrapple. If it is really stiff you may want to add a tablespoon of water but don’t make it to thin.8. Dump the mixture into a greased 8 x 4 x 3 loaf pan and smooth down the top with a rubber spatula. Push on it firmly with the spatula to get rid of air bubbles.9. Place a piece of plastic wrap right on top of the scrapple and then wrap the pan. Place the scrapple in the fridge overnight.10. When you are ready to fry it cut slices and either dredge it in cornmeal or flour. Shake off the excess and saute it in butter over medium to medium high heat until the exterior is crispy and brown on both side and the interior is hot. ServeNote: excess scrapple can be frozen but when you go to fry it it won’t stay together in a nice block. It will not taste any different the shape is the only thing different.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Scrapple Obviously we are proud of our accomplishment.  We want to share it with you but we also want to give you a little inside peek at what is between the covers.What is FOODQUARTRERLY?  Honestly, if I were to put words to it, and this shows my age, it is what in old school rock-n-roll would have been called a concept album.   It is a larger look at a particular style of food that has captured my interest.  The content, to me, doesn t lenditself to a blog and I felt it should be presented in a longer form.  This issue focuses on the American farm, the next will be on Summertime Rites of Passage and from there it is all hush hush because we don t want to spoil it.Inside you will find stunning photography, great stories and fantastic recipes.  We like to keep with our motto.  I hope you enjoy it. The difference between Edna Lewis’ book The Taste of Country Cooking and countless other cookbooks is she truly celebrates food. Not only is it a celebration but it is the gospel of farm to table eating, a hymn of fresh, great tasting, whole food that should be sung loudly as the new testament of eating seasonally. In short, it just might save your soul and at the very least it is extremely soul satisfying.What drew me in the first time I opened the book was a breakfast menu that simply read Fall Breakfast and the second item listed in the menu was smothered rabbit. As if this wasn’t enough the first time I made Miss Lewis’s pear preserves I became teary eyed because it reminded me of the taste of a long-forgotten-that-was-now-brought-to-mind memory of my grandmother and the pear preserves she made.When you realize this was published in 1976 it becomes apparent this is a last bastion to how rural America once ate. It isn’t the French influenced food made in a California restaurant kitchen that now stands as the talisman of sustainable eating, but rather, it is 100% American food made with ingredients had on hand and in season. It was written at a time when women wanted out of the kitchen instead of in and the burger joint was still a treat but unfortunately fast becoming a standard.The book is not a retrospective of days past and food that is dated by out of style trends but it is a classic that is as current and in touch today, maybe even more so, as it was when written.Miss Lewis does nothing short of pen a rural American classic that treats food with respect and knowledge of how to use the ingredients at hand and get the most out of them. There is nothing fussy about her food and there needn’t be because its simplicity and freshness is what makes it delicious.In short if you care about sustainable local food you should get yourself a copy. It will fast become your how to manual.This recipe is based loosely on Miss Lewis’s fried chicken recipe.Bacon Fried RabbitServes 42 fryer rabbits, cut into 6 to 8 pieces1 piece of slab bacon, cut about 1/4 inch thick2 cups flour, seasoned with 2 teaspoons black pepper, 1 teaspoon each of thyme and paprika, and 1 teaspoon of saltbuttermilkpeanut oilkosher salt1. Season the rabbit with salt and set it aside to let the salt dissolve into the meat.2. In a large cast iron Dutch oven add enough oil to come up the side by no more than a third. Add the bacon.3. Turn the heat to medium high and place your fry thermometer into the oil. Place the seasoned flour into a plastic bag with the rabbit. Toss the rabbit around to give it a good coating. Remove the pieces from the flour and let them soak a in the buttermilk. Remove each piece and let the excess drip off. Put the pieces back into the flour for their final coat. Don’t do this to far in advance or the coating gets brittle when fried.4. When the temperature gets to 350F˚ remove the bacon if it is crispy and start frying the rabbit until golden brown and delicious. If you need to do this in batches do. Don’t over crowd the pot or you will have a greasy mess. So to do this heat the oven to 250˚F. As the rabbit pieces come out of the grease place them on a sheet tray fitted with a wire rack and keep them in the oven till all are done.5. Serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... For some it might have been potato or green bean, but for me my gratin affinity began at an early age with macaroni and cheese. You know, the good old-fashioned kind with real cheddar and whole milk thickened with roux or egg yolks. The one that is baked until the correct ratio of crispy, crunchy top to creamy interior is achieved. It taught me early on in life just how fantastic a great food friendship is.Then, as I came of age, somehow the gratin became any one-dish. It is tuna with the thin crispy onion rings baked on top or Chicken Divan with broccoli, cheddar, and crumbled Ritz crackers providing the crunch. There is the obligatory cottage pie, as done in the Midwest, topped with both cheddar and mozzarella, then browned. For a while, it was a multitude of eggy breakfast casseroles, all, of course, involving more cheddar.It became neat, rectangular, and predictable. It served twelve. It was a 9 13 casserole world and I was living it.I was fortunate. I got out. I went to college, I travelled, I ate.With knowledge and experience came diversity. And we all know diversity makes the world a much better place. So I developed friendships with lasagna, cassoulet, moussaka, and the timballo, to name a few.Through it all, and even though we didn’t see each other as much, the gratin remained my favorite.What I realized is the gratin is the kick-ass cousin who went to college too. And when you reconnect at the family reunion you realize you hang with them because they are exciting, interesting, and you can rest assured that there is more depth to them than a spiky haircut and a couple of tattoos. You get each other in that way only family can.I like the gratin s quirks. I like its fondness for juxtaposition. I know that, without pretense, Tournedos Rossini can snuggle in next to a celery root gratin as easily as can Irish bangers and, regardless of which side of the tracks it finds itself, the gratin brings comfort to the table, weight to the unbearable lightness of being.The thing is, the gratin comes by these traits naturally. But I also know that the things that make it stand out the creamy interior and crunchy top don’t just happen, that the building of flavors takes effort, and that without a true friend s presence the gratin s popularity might wane.But then that is what true friends do, you know, bring out the best in each other, and relish in each others success.Note: I have been making this recipe for years. It is based on a recipe in the Dean and DeLuca cookbook by David Rosengarten. I have always found it to be a lovely holiday side dish. It goes well with prime rib roasts and roast chicken. It is versatile and can be made ahead to be put into the oven when needed and also is easily doubled.Serves 6 to 82 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks2 pounds celery root, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunksKosher salt and freshly ground white pepper3/4 cups heavy cream1 tablespoon garlic, minced1/4 cup unsalted butter1/8 teaspoon saffron, crushed1 1/2 cup gruyere or comte cheese, grated1. If you plan to cook the gratin right away heat the oven to 400 degrees. Otherwise move on to step two.2. Place the potatoes and celery root into separate large pots. Cover by two inches with cold water and add a teaspoon of salt to each pot. Bring the pots to a boil over medium heat. Cook the vegetables until tender.3. Once the vegetables are tender, pour them out into a colander set in the sink. Drain the vegetables and let them sit for a minute or two steam-drying.4. Rinse out one of the pots and add the cream, garlic, butter, and saffron. Bring the cream to a boil over medium heat. Add a hefty pinch of salt and a few grinds of white pepper. Add 1/2 cup of the cheese. Stir it into the warm liquid till melted.5. Place the celery root and potatoes into a mixing bowl (or the other blanching pot if it is big enough) and smash the mix with a potato masher. Add a pinch of salt then add the cream and saffron mix. Stir to combine. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding more salt or pepper if necessary.6. Use a little softened butter to grease an 8-inch oval gratin (12 inches long). Spread the rustic chunky mash out into the pan. Smooth the top with a spatula, then crosshatch the top with the tines of a fork. Spread the remaining cheese out over the top.7. Bake until the cheese is browned, about 30 minutes. Let the gratin cool for 5 minutes, then serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... There are so many different kinds of bread. You could make sourdough where you feed a starter flour to grow it and keep it alive, you can retard loaves in the refrigerator overnight, there are paté fermentes, bigas and all kinds of other preferments and sure it is great to have knowledge of all these breads but at the same time it is nice to have a tried and true everyday bread. A bread with some shelf life, a bread that little kids like and one that is good with which to make a variety of sandwiches.For me this is that loaf. It debunked the idea that my two girls would only eat white bread. They love it. It fits into my notion that I won’t make bread that isn’t at least 75 percent whole wheat. It makes two loaves that will be around just long enough that you won’t need to throw it out because it is old.Be sure to buy a fine grind whole wheat flour and make sure to buy it at a store with high turnover of its whole wheat. Countless times I have brought a bag home only to open it and it is rancid. Whole wheat flour should smell like a wheat field not rancid oil or some other off smell.I like to braid this loaf for two reasons. One it looks pretty and two, when I make this loaf on a Sunday it is nice to bake it about two hour before dinner, remove it from the oven to cool a little, then serve it warm and let people tear off a hunk. It will tear at the braids like dinner rolls would. Continue reading Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Chili is great, and a favorite, but sometimes it is nice to find an alternative. This is a nice change for sure. The sourness of the tomatillos cuts the richness of the pork while still letting the pork taste rich. The other thing about the tomatillos is the juice from them thickens the broth. The whole thing comes together easily and could even be pulled off on a weeknight by the ambitious.Serves 42 tablespoons lard2 1/2 lbs. pork shoulder, cut into 1 inch cubes1 cup yellow onion, small dice1 lb. tomatillos, paper skins removed1/4 cup coarsely chopped garlic2 teaspoons Mexican oregano1 tablespoon dark chile powder1 tablespoon tomato pasteone 14.5 ounce can yellow hominykosher salt and fresh ground pepper1/4 cup cilantro, choppedtoppings: more cilantro, shredded cabbage, lime wedges, red onion, sour cream and cheese1. Preheat the broiler. Place the tomatillos onto a sheet tray with sides, they will exude lots of juice, and broil them until they are charred nicely. Remove them from the oven and turn the oven off.2. Season the pork with salt and pepper. Heat the lard over medium high heat in a 3 1/2 quart Dutch oven and add the pork. Brown it deeply on all sides taking care not to not to burn the fond forming on the bottom of the pot and reducing the heat if necessary.3. After the pork has browned remove it from the pot to a plate. Add the onions to the pot and saute them until they start to become tender. Add the garlic, chili powder, tomatillos with all their juice, and the tomato paste. Stir to combine and let the mix become fragrant.4. Add the pork, and accumulated juices, back to the pot and enough water to come just to the top of the pork. Let the pozole come back to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer.5. Simmer until the pork is tender, about an hour, then add the hominy and the chopped cilantro and cook another 10 minutes. Ladle into bowls and serve with additional toppings and lots of home made corn tortillas.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... White beans and tuna have always been combined in salads and pasta and have long been purveyor’s of pantry dinners in Italy. I have taken up the habit of pantry pasta myself and while I don’t keep many canned goods I do keep tomato sauce, tuna in olive oil, dried beans and pasta on hand.The cheese rind is imperative here. It is to the broth what bones are to stock. Besides you know it makes you mad to have to pay for this usually unusable part. So here is your opportunity. I Always try to have at least one cheese rind on hand and just store it in the fridge amongst the other cheeses.This is not a skillet pasta but a long simmering sauce because it takes some time to build the flavors in the beans. As with all beans everyone has their own method to their bean madness. I have tried many and the one I use yields a tender beans with tooth. That is not to say it is crunchy or undercooked but what it means is it holds its shape while being tenders. I want to know I am eating a bean when I bite into one.I also don’t make home made pasta for this dish because this is one time were store bought spaghetti noodles are the right choice.I served this with a green side vegetable and after the pasta served a salad, as the Italians would.Serves 6 to 82 heads of garlic, the top 1/4 inch of which has been sliced off1/2 pound white beans4 whole cloves of garlic, peeled and trimmed10 sun dried tomatoes (dried, not in olive oil)water1/2 cup yellow onion, small dice1/4 cup carrot, small dice1/4 cup celery, small dice1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seed, ground1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes2 bay leaves1/2 cup strained tomatoes or tomato sauce1 each 2 x 2 inch parmesan cheese rindolive oilkosher salt and fresh ground pepper1/3 cup bread crumbs, toasted in olive oil then seasoned with salt and pepper then mixedwith 1 tablespoon of minced parsley12 oz. tuna in olive oil1 pound spaghetti, cooked according to the instructions on the boxPreheat the oven to 300˚F. Place the heads of garlic in a small ovenproof dish and drizzle each with olive oil then season them with salt and pepper.Cover the dish with foil and bake the garlic for 1 hour. At the end of the hour make sure they have taken on alight tobacco color and are tender. Cook them another 15 minutes if you need to. Once they are done remove them from the oven and set them aside.Place the beans, garlic cloves and the sun dried tomatoes into a sauce pan and cover by at least 2 inches of water. Place the pan over high heat and bring it to a boil and let it boil for 2 minutes. Cover and remove the pan from the heat and let it sit covered for two hours or longer.At the end of two hours drain the beans. Rinse out the pot. Remove the sun dried tomatoes and chop them. Place the pot over medium heat and add a good 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When it is hot add the onion, carrots and celery and let them saute until they begin to become tender. Add the fennel, bay leaves and red pepper and saute until fragrant. Add the beans, sun dried tomatoes and garlic back into the pot. Cover the beans with water by 1 inch. Add the tomato sauce and cheese rind.Bring the pot to a boil then reduce the heat so the liquid is at a lazy bubble. Season them with pepper. Stir occasionally to keep anything from sticking to the bottom of the pot.Near the end of the cooking season the beans with salt to taste and take the roasted garlic and squeeze out the garlic paste then add the paste to the beans. Stir it all in and taste. Adjust the seasoning.When the beans are tender cook the pasta. Once the pasta is done drain it and immediately toss the pasta with some of the oil from the tuna. Toss the beans and pasta together.Put the pasta into a serving bowl, top with tuna crumbles and then the bread crumbs. Serve immediately.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... The term farro can be very confusing. If you look it up you will see no one really wants to pin the tail on the donkey, and as such, all the authors of the articles seem to want to avoid naming a specific grain as farro.People really want spelt to be farro but I can say spelt is not farro. Spelt is much larger and has a sweeter flavor to me. What I have found is farro can come in different sizes, roasted, and for lack of a better term, par cooked or pearled which means it cooks quicker.In this recipe I use piccolo farro from Anson Mills. It is easy to cook, is extremely delicious and quite honestly I have become enamored with it as well. I think I can say with all clarity it should be spelled Pharroh because it is the food of gods. It feels nourishing to eat and is such a refreshing change, or I should say replacement, from rice or potatoes.I always cook extra and use the grain, plain, when baking bread and I plan to save the cooking water next time and use it as well.Serves 4 to 61 cup farro piccola2 heads of garlic1 stick unsalted butter1 tablespoon marjoramkosher saltfresh ground pepper1. Preheat the oven to 325˚F. Slice the heads of garlic across the top at a point where you will remove enough to expose as many cloves as possible but not so much that you loose a lot of the head. Usually I slice off about the top third of the head. Place the heads in a small ovenproof gratin or some other dish. Smear the heads with 1/2 teaspoon of butter and then salt and pepper them. Cover tightly with foil and bake the garlic for one hour. At the end of the hour remove the foil and bake another fifteen minutes to brown up the cloves.2. Using a strainer rinse the farro under cold water. Place the farro into a 3 quart heavy bottomed sauce pan with a lid. Cover the farro with cold water to cover by two to three inches and add a two finger pinch of salt.3. Place the pan over high heat and bring it to a boil. Turn off the heat and cover the pan. Let the farro sit in the pan for an hour to two or until the grains have popped.4. Use a large strainer or colander and drain the farro.5. Wipe out the pan and put the pan back on the stove over medium low heat. Add the remaining stick of butter. Let it melt gently and then add the drained cooked farro, marjoram and squeeze the roasted garlic into the pot. Stir in the creamy soft garlic smearing it into the farro. Season the pilaf with salt and pepper to taste.6. Once it is hot, bowl it up, and serve.Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... I can tell you, with great certainty, how good a restaurant is going to be by the temperature of their plates.  If I get a stone cold plate with hot food chances are the dinner will be average.  If I get a cold salad on a warm plate just out of the dish machine, again, I know the rest of my dinner has more of a chance being bad then good.  It tells me whether or not the kitchen cares.When I worked in commercial kitchens it was a bone of contention with me and those who worked for me.  Your plates needed to be hot for hot food and cold for cold food, period.There was a time at home, back before we had kids, when I would always warm our plates in the oven.  Probably sounds completely retentive, for all I know it might be, but I have never really given a rats butt what others think.  I did it because my wife and I enjoyed being at the table together, taking our time eating, and having some quality conversation.  Hots plates keeping your food warm is a nice touch.We had this for dinner the other day, I warmed the plates.Serves 2olive oil2 each 6 ounce boneless skinless chicken breast1/4 cup pepperoni, 1/4 inch dice1/4 cup Picholine olives, pitted and halved1/4 cup tomato, diced1/2 cup dry white wine1 tablespoon pine nuts1 tablespoon currants2 teaspoons flat leaf parsley, mincedkosher salt and fresh ground pepper1. Season the chicken on both sides with salt.  2. Place a heavy bottomed sauté pan over medium high heat.  When the pan is hot but not smoking add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan.  Gently lay the chicken breast, what would be skin side down, into the pan being careful not to splash hot oil.3. Brown the chicken on both sides.  Adjust the heat as necessary to keep the oil from burning.  Once both sides have caramelized remove them to a plate or pan and let them rest.  Pour out any excess grease.4. Meanwhile put the pan back on the heat and add the pepperoni, olives and tomato.  Stir and toss it around until fragrant then add the white wine to deglaze the pan.   Using a wooden spoon scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan.  Once the wine has reduced by half add the pine nuts and currants.5. Give everything a stir and then place the breast back into the pan.  If the liquid in the pan seems at all dry add a 1/4 cup of water.  Braise the breast until they are cooked through which shouldn t be long if you browned them well.  Taste and adjust the seasoning, add the parsley and stir to combine.  6. Place the chicken breast onto warm plates skin side up,  top with the sauce, serve immediately. Share this:FacebookEmailTwitterPinterestPocketTumblrPrintLinkedInRedditLike this:Like Loading... Privacy Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

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