thanksgiving junior

melissa moss is in town! melissa moss is pretty much on par with logan and ginger in terms of our cooking compatibility. we're just on the same page; we agree and we get each other and so many things can just go unspoken. things run smoothly and results are delicious when melissa and i spend a few hours together in the kitchen. it only sweetens the deal that she just got her certificate from le cordon bleu, and i have just started learning proper culinary fundamentals as well. we were flashing terms all over the place!

since sarah had never before had butternut squash soup (WTF), even though she loves butternut squash, and she loves soup, obviously that was the first thing i put on the menu. the buttermilk in my fridge begged to be made into biscuits, collards seemed appropriate for the necessary green-something, and melissa suggested a perfect centerpiece - whole roast chicken.

she brought over a nice bell&evans broiler, a gargantuan bunch of platter-sized collard leaves, and the supplemental squash. she set to work seasoning the bird with lots of butter, sea salt and cracked pepper, and chopped parsley, sage, and rosemary from my herb garden. after sticking half a lemon in the cavity, we lovingly placed our fowl in the oven.

meanwhile, i gathered my paltry harvest of petite squash from the garden and had to supplement it a bit with half of a store-bought squash. peeled, diced and roasted them with olive oil until they were melt-in-your-mouth-tender.

melissa chiffonade-sliced the collards as i set up my big dutch oven to blanch them. we shocked them in an ice bath, then closer to service time, she sauteed the greens with apple cider vinegar, garlic, butter, sea salt and cracked pepper.

we cranked up the heat in the oven as i made the biscuits. the chicken crisped up and came to temp, and we set it aside to rest as the biscuits baked. we suvee au blanc-ed onions for the soup, added the roasted squash, and pureed with veggie stock. i seasoned the soup with salt and pepper, cayenne, curry powder, cinnamon and coconut milk. what says autumn love better than that?

while i carved the bird, melissa whipped up an herbed pan gravy - blonde roux, roasting pan juices, stock, and more fresh herbs. absolute savory heaven.

i have so few excuses to use my silver and fancy stuff, and i was not about to pass this one up. i laid out the carved chicken on my biggest silver platter, piled up the biscuits on a frilly silver oval, poured the gravy into a floral ceramic pitcher, and served the soup in my little green vintage dutch oven with matching trivet. we sat around the candlelit table, pretty china plates on kittycat placemats, melissa and i facing each other at heads of table, grinning at this rare opportunity to revel in our mutual passion, and sunk our teeth into tender flesh, sipped our autumnal conconction, sopped up savory gravy with pillowy biscuit bits, and chomped on earthy, vinegary greens.

thanks must be given for such things, even if it's only the 30th of september.

more vegan delights

i spent three and a half years planning and executing vegetarian/mostly vegan menus and cowpie, and let me tell you, i was thoroughly sick of slaw and tempeh and the many variations of pretty much the same few dishes. but it's been a couple years since those days, and when called upon to present some vegan fare, i wasn't too reluctant to rise to the occasion.

i flaked a couple slab of tempeh and sauteed it with some cubanelle and habanero peppers from my garden, some onion and red bell pepper and garlic. whisked up a quick chili sauce and added that, let it simmer for awhile. voila, vegan sloppy joes! rebecca brought over perfect ciabatta rolls to slop the joes on. to accompany, of course i had to do the famous tahini slaw that cowpie patrons know so well. some tahini, some miso, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, honey, red pepper flakes, and sesame seeds complement shredded green cabbage and fine julienne carrots quite well. and to round it all out, cajun potato wedges roasted in the oven until brown and crispy on the outside with a succulent, creamy interior.

rebecca surprised us with a vegan mac & cheese casserole. it was very surprising indeed. flecks of carrot provided the illusion of cheddar cheese and the flavor of, well, carrots. breadcrumbs browned nicely under the broiler. tender elbow noodles exploded with unexpected carrot, garlic and nut flavors. wow.

vegan dinners make me feel good!

and yet another brunch

three day weekends definitely call for brunch.

after checking the fridge, i decided on asparagus and red pepper fritatta with dill havarti. for a carb i was decided between potatoes and grits...chipotle cheese grits maybe? until flora said something about latkes, which are always a shoo-in in my book. homemade apple-sauce, anyone? i hadn't really nailed down the third dish until we were on the way to the store. i settled on mixed green salad with walnuts, sliced strawberries, orange supremes, and white wine vinaigrette.

it. was. divine. allison was an excellent sous chef, and despite the masses of flies that invited themselves to the table, we had a great time. everyone cleaned their plates and the only thing left over was a sliver of fritatta. my lovely guests did the dishes while i did my homework.

happy labor day!

first production: italian buffet

i was assigned to work on garde manger station 1 with my second-year commis erik. he gave me the recipes and petit sheets the day before so i could prepare a bit. we were making ricotta fritters, minestrone soup, and caponata. as soon as i got there, i started peeling and dicing eggplant. the chefs were just walking around the kitchen checking on everyone, so i got a few critiques pretty early on: "This dice is too large" "Your station looks sloppy" etc. but nothing too crucial.

erik and i were both skeptical of the caponata recipe as neither of us had made the dish before. it instructed to deep fry the diced, salted eggplant and the 1-inch chunks of celery. deep fried celery? huh? actually it wasn't half-bad, but we both agreed that, given the chance, we'd omit the hunks of celery altogether. the celery and eggplant was tossed with a reduction of concasse tomatoes, sliced onions, sugar and red wine vinegar. add to that capers and sliced manzanilla olives and voila. we also agreed that it would be far superior with some kalamata olives or perhaps nicoise, and i thought a generous addition of lemon zest would really make it great, but alas we only had so much time. and erik only requisitioned the items in the recipes. he thought the chefs were letting people crash and burn a bit with the requisition sheets to teach them a lesson in advance preparation.

our minestrone was irreparably mediocre. we followed the recipe, we weren't able to add pork which would have pumped it up, so it was just sort of bland in a way that couldn't be helped. but it sufficed.

the ricotta fritters were just weird. also very bland. some lemon zest and garlic salt would have helped. again, requisition was a problem because converting cups to oz does not always yield correct results, so we were short on ricotta and the dough came out rather stiff. we thought to resolve this by concocting a sauce of tomato and red wine vinegar. after pureeing and straining, it was sort of like tomato water, so we tried to thicken it with a roux, and thus discovered the recipe for spaghettio sauce. oh well.

all in all, though, everything went smoothly and we didn't have to work in a mad rush. the food-running was another story, however. entirely disorganized and frustrating. the best thing was, though, that my friend greg was assigned chef de cuisine that day, and being in cahoots with the boss always helps. it's been GREAT having him at school.

i don't get to cook again on production day for another month. this afternoon i have a lab on stocks. not so exciting. i'll let you know how my fish fumet turns out!

sorry i've been M.I.A.!

hey guys, i know it's been a few months, but guess who's in culinary school! i'm off to my first production day this morning, working in the main kitchen as garde manger. my second year supervisor and i are making ricotta fritters, caponata and minestrone soup. i promise i'll write more later!

Finger licken' good

Hamfest: A Festival of Lies

Logan and I were checking out the garage sales in small towns near Ithaca NY, when by fate we stumbled upon this little number.

 We whipped the car around to check out this festival celebrating one of the most prized meats... Ham.  As we pulled into the festival that would surely be full of prized princess pigs and wonderful ham sandwiches I noticed this second sign.

A Ham Radio!!  Wow, they really are going all out.  A whole radio show dedicated to hams.  This is my kind of town!!  But when we entered we didn't see any pigs...

... we just some older guys with electronics and rusty hardware peices.  Not my idea of a Hamfest.  HRRRMPPHH!

Insalata Caprese

Not 100% sure what that title means, but I got it from wiki and wanted something more interesting than Caprese Salad. If you are looking to impress someone, but don't have a lot of time, I found out that Caprese Salads are a good way to go. Though I did not make this dish, Riley did, I figured I'd post it to get Joe off my back. pictures GO!

looks good eh? I suppose I should take a stab at ingredients (again, this is Riley's dish)

garden greens

fresh mozzarella slices

tomato

olive oil and pepper

basil leaves

However, this is a little too... how you say... vegetarian for my taste, maybe this will help:

A sun dried tomato pork tenderloin from cub. Not as photogenic as the salad, but wait, what happens when we put it all together?

BOOSH, now that is a meal.

Seconds please!

NYC Bakery 1/12: The Doughnut Plant

1. Intro
A few weeks ago I had the esteemed pleasure to travel to New York City on a...ahem research assignment.  I flew into crowded overstimulating city after being on an island for 2 and a half weeks with 3 other people, kinda a contrast wouldn't you say.  To hell with the statue of liberty, empire state building, The Maury show, and any other tourist traps.  We didn't go to any!  Instead we went to 12 bakeries, yes during our weekend stay we visited 12 bakeries and virtually nothing else.  I have been commissioned with reporting to you one of the 12 places that were visited, The doughnut Plant.

2. Doughnuts.  (Preconcieved notions)
I never really have been a huge fan, I mean I certainly wouldn't turn down two or three if offered but honestly, they usually don't bring a whole lot to the table.  Often they are dry and cakey with a black "chocolaty" coating of wax, not that apealing.  And whats the deal with the HOLE!  My preconvieved ideas of doughnuts were nothing but lies and propaganda forced upon me by places like Duncan doughnuts, bad bakeries and grocery stores.  It wasn't until destiny would stumble me upon a dumpy little place in the middle of Florida that my ideas of doughnuts changed.  When i took a bite of a homemade labor of love doughnut my eyes widened and I said holy **&@*@, that is how a doughnut should be.   Perfectly crisp exterior with a melt in your hammy mouth interior.

3. Back in NY
The doughnut Plant Owner, Mark Israel, was about the worst person featured on Bobby Flay's throwdown.  He got real upset when the show wasn't entirely about him, but no worries his Tres Leches doughnut did just fine in front of the camera.  The plant is nothing but a cramped little area with no room for seats and cannot even contain the que of people eagerly awaiting a doughnut with their tongues out like they are little girls (or grown women) in line to get an autograph by a shirtless Taylor Lautner.  Mark Israel features doughnuts that have love and care stuffed in them as I was soon to find out.



4. Creme Burlee Doughnut: The First Doughnut
We picked this little sucker up just for the novelty of it, I mean how good can a Creme Brulee doughnut be. To answer myself... Excellent!  It was a small yeast doughunut, about the size of a hackey sac, with a hard bruleed top.  Inside was a custardy delight, something so wonderful... so fantastic that a Disney Princess couldn't even dream of something so magical.  It was a perfect rendition of this famous fancy sweet.  I couldn't believe it!  All i could say was "Mark you old dog, you nailed it!"

5.  Carrot Cake Doughnut
This is a fairly standard doughnut... don't get me wrong a fanfrickentastic  cake doughnut but nothing life changing.   It had the perfect texture of a cake doughnut with candied carrots on top.  Somehow Mr. Israel managed to infuse a light cream cheese frosting inside without making any aparent holes (besides the obvious one in the middle) in the doughnut.  Hmmm its certainly intriging!!!



6.  The tres leches doughnut
Mark Isreal's money maker is the Tres Leches Doughnut.  It conquered the Iron chef's doughnut in "throwdown" and aparently took him years of painstaking baking to perfect.  As is told by the people of Wikipedia Tres leches means three milk in spanish and it makes an excellent sponge cake in some spanish speaking countries that are south of us.  The three milks that make the tres leches includes: evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream.  This sucker was good.  Hams down the best doughnut I have ever had the pleasure to put in my mouth.  I can't really describe the taste but it just melted in my mouth in a milky sort a way.  I liken this experience to a thirsty baby just going threw the trauma of being born and getting its first taste of milk.  As with the Carrot Cake there was some infused milk (probably of the evaporated varity) mixed in with the cake.   This doughnut is inspiring.

7. The return
When we returned the next day to get more of that naughty Tres Leches, we decided to add another doughnut under our belt (literally).  The Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam yeast doughnut.  The Jam is ofcourse house made, we infact saw a crate full of organic berries being hauled into the magic room.  This doughnut was great, it was perfectly a PB&J.  Having said that, it was limited as a yummy dessert or desert (which ever doesn't mean a sandy place with dunes) because of its perfection.  Peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches aren't that wonderful after all, and what we got was probably the best tasting, most yeasty, most gooey PBJ around.  But at the end of the day it was just a PB&J. 


8. Epilogue
We planned to stay in the city late Sunday night, soaking up as much of the city and calories as we could.  However, after round two of the Doughnut Plant I was eager for both a toilet and a rest.  So we threw in the towel and we left New York many hours before we that was needed.

We who are about to dine salute you!

Lousy picture but an interesting first.  Using a head of Romain, plucked yesterday morn by Miss Jensen at Freedom and Unity farm, I began to concoct my dinner plans.  As instructed by Tyler Florence I combined garlic, Dijon mustard, egg yolks, parm (the king of cheese), oil and anchovies to make caesar dressing.  I cut the Romain in half and gave it a sensual massage of olive oil before placing it on the grill.  I must warn you, as the greens charred it smelt like a high school bathroom after some punks thought it was a good idea to have a joint in between class. I threw on some bread to toast, kinda sorta a crouton substitute, and I fed myself and my gal a grilled salad.   Nothing too amazing but i enjoyed grilling the Romain and thought I shall share.

Thoughts from a husky boy.

If you only see food as calories, carbs or a quantity of nutrients I then ask you.. how in Ham's name can you enjoy life?

Slide

Since my girlfriends recent conversion from vegetarianism to eating whateverism, our cooking has expanded to realms never before thought possible...meat.  One of our favorite meat items has been sliders.  In Tallahassee we would always get pork sliders from our favorite Cuban eatery.  Perfectly spiced and wonderfully porky.  What would I do without pork.  Thank goodness I am allowed to eat hooved animals!!!  Then in NYC the sliders didn't fail to amaze.  We ate at the malaysian restaurant 'Fatty Crab', ironically the crab dish was rather lousy (too fishy) but the sliders were wonderful.  A blend of pork and beef with a spicy sauce, a thick chunk of cucumber and a sweet pillowy bun.  This fatty slider was the basis for the meal I am currently digesting and the one I am about to share with you all about.


For my first week here in Ithaca (living in a farm house with chickens that live in trees) I am free of a job (a job that starts tommorrow morning, actually), so I have some time to cook for the gal.   We agree that sliders are a porktastic dinner option and so we go meat shopping at the farmers market.  While Logan is at work I bike to three different grocery stores to find some darn chipotle, or as I pronounce them Shipotle peppers.  After facing gorges and honking angry hipster drivers, I make it home hours later with a $1.89 jar of chipotle peppers.  I start dinner with a nap, then I get the buns going from scratch.  Unfortunately I used the rest of Logan's flour in the process (a move that will end in logan scowling at me as she attempts to make a peach cobbler).  Whislst the buns are in the oven (no not babies, literally buns to put the sliders in) I make the chipotle sauce.  I combined finely chopped Chipotle peppers with yogurt, garlic, cilantro and lemons.  For the main event I mixed beef and Chorizo, with onions garlic and spices and rolled them into balls and put them on the grill with more onions and the baked buns.  Holy ham!  I ate four!  Our attempt to recreate the 'Fatty crab' sliders was a success.  Slabs of spicy-lemony sauce with grilled oily onions and thick cucumber on top of a naughty greasy pork/beef love affair that is sinful and illegal depending on your religious beliefs or which state your from.  Put that shiz on top of more of the said sauce, all enveloped in a homemade bun.  And some people just go to McDonald's for a burger.

Cookie Secrets

Well, as I am new to contributing on yumbutton I feel I should say something about myself for those of you who don't know me. My name is David and I am not a particularly good cook. When in the kitchen I am best with an assortment of foods that shouldn't go together and a hot skillet, usually something work out; more importantly I am a lover of delicious food. Fortunately for me I have a better half, (Lauren) who is a better cook and more importantly a registered dietitian. Living with a dietitian comes with its ups and downs, sometimes things are contra-banned, sometimes lectures take place, and sometimes I even get tricked.

I was surprised and excited to see Lauren in the kitchen making what looked like cookie dough (the surprise and excitement is mainly because we have cut way back on fats and sweets to help us both achieve healthy lifestyle goals).

As any good husband knows, when the wife is making something delicious in the kitchen just for the heck of it you must creep quietly back to a hidden corner of the house/apartment and hope she didn't notice you. This is an attempt to not disturb the magic taking place. It is a bit like accidentally seeing Santa when you're up getting a glass of water on Christmas Eve. You get the sense that if you disturb the magic it will stop happening.

Shortly after the baking process had begun I decided to reappear and take some pictures. At this point cookies were already coming out of the oven one sheet at a time (because we only have one) and getting lined up nicely on the little racks waiting to be eaten.

Don't think I didn't notice the twisted smile on her face when I went for the finished cookies. I noticed it. I saw her delight as I savored the first warm chewy bite. Her smile was a malicious one. I knew I had just made a wrong move, I knew the delight I was experiencing was about to be challenged. You see, I'm a good 4th generation Norwegian-American and as such I know butter is the staple of a good hearty life. We use butter for our lutafisk, our lefsa, boiled potatoes, salad, you get the idea, to paraphrase the ministry of magic "Butter is Might". It turns out these cookies, like her smile, had a dark secret and it wasn't any variety of magic. It was a lack of part of the most important ingredient. The cookies were void of half of the usual recommended butter, and didn't I notice. I stood there feeling defeated, hurt, naked, empty; having to admit I loved the cookies despite their evil secret ingredient. Applesauce.

It turns out applesauce fills the same role in the cookie dough as butter and you can't taste it at all. I could make up some nutrition facts about these cookies but instead I am passing the pen, as it were, to Lauren to fill you in on the 'how to,' and 'why' of these delicious cookies.

Peanut Butter-Butterscotch Cookies: (with modifications)
1/2c butter (usually 1c butter)
1/2c applesauce** (usually no applesauce)
1c peanut butter
1c granulated sugar
1c packed brown sugar
1tsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda
2 eggs
2 1/2c all-purpose flour
1-12oz bag butterscotch chips

**Note: Substituting applesauce for butter will increase the sweetness. Applesauce may also shorten the cooking time.

Instructions:
1. In large mixing bowl, beat butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 30 seconds or until well beaten. Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, and baking powder. Beat in egg and vanilla until combines. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining dough. Mix in butterscotch chips by hand.
2. Preheat oven to 375*F. Bake for 7-9 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned.

Yield: 72 cookies
Nutrition Facts per cookie:
104 calories, 6 g fat, 2g saturated fat (originally 111 calories, 7 grams of fat, 4 grams saturated fat).

Without reaching for the calculator you can tell that 104 calories vs 111 calories a cookie is not a huge difference, and same with the other stats provided. But this all stands to be multiplied, who can eat just one cookie? The batch has a substantial reduction in all three areas. The saturated fat is what I like to pay close attention to as it plays a negative role in our body. It is a main contributor to heart disease and clogging of the arteries in addition to raising your bad cholesterol (LDL), lowering your good cholesterol (HDL) and raising your total cholesterol.

When you can't taste the difference the little act of cutting half of the butter is very much worth it. The applesauce also seems to keep the cookies softer longer if you're a fan of soft cookies.

Enjoy!

David and Lauren

Sweet Sweet Summer

my apartment is empty. this weekend my roommates are out of town and in honor of their absence i'm making the most of clean counter tops and quiet time. lots of coffee and leisure reading. earlier this week i made refrigerator pickles, and today i made hummus. i'm dancing around the idea of making some homemade bread today, too. but i'll probably end up going for an afternoon swim in the river instead, second swim of the day. i hope you're enjoying the sweet sweet summer days as much as i am.

fresh refrigerator dill pickles

  1 cup white vinegar

3 cups water

shy 1/4 cup salt

3 Tbs sugar or honey, agave

4-5 cups fresh pickling cucumbers (sliced)

2 cloves garlic (chopped)

1 Tbs cloves

4 small white bulb onions (sliced thinly) 

lots of fresh dill

2 medium glass jars with lids

:: bring vinegar, water, salt and sugar just to a boil to make the brine. Layer sliced cucumber, garlic, cloves, onions and dill in jars and then pour hot brine mixture into jars. Let sit on counter for 2-3 hours, then refrigerate.    

Juicy Lucy

ya know, there's just something impressive about big food, a lot of food. maybe it's the idea that you won't leave hungry, or perhaps the bigness itself magnifies the delicious parts and soothes your hankering taste buds... whatever the reasons, our recent version of the adored Juicy Lucy surpassed, in both the size and taste, the American expectations of a burger. GET YOUR HANDS AROUND THAT THANG! 

krabby patties! OR cooking for vegans

i thought i was the master of brunch. a quick scan of the pantry, and i'd be whipping up benedicts or banging out biscuits like i was born doing it. but this morning i was faced with a challenge: VEGAN BRUNCH. sure, we did breakfast for dinner at cowpie. but how many times can you really make tofu scramble, or peanut butter french toast? i needed something inspired.

enter isa chandra moskowitz! i had been seeing her cookbooks around for years, but i've never really cared much for vegan baking. her vegan brunch recipes, on the other hand, are nothing less than BRILLIANT.

i love crab cakes. and while i'm usually not the biggest fan of flesh substitutes, this tempeh was so well-disguised it could've fooled even the most adamant of soy-haters. i served my krabby kakes garnished with slices of heirloom tomatoes and parsley from my garden, and a side of herbed homefries. oooo, the crispy golden goodness of pan-fried panko, the undeniable decadence of veganaise (one of the few vegan alternatives i whole-heartedly endorse), the sweet bits of red bell pepper, it all came together beautifully. here's the recipe:

Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes
Makes 10
I love the succulent little pieces of tempeh you get when biting into this crisp, flavorful cake. Crab cakes are the inspiration here. I used to spend lots of time in Baltimore and back then pollution in the Chesapeake Bay was a big issue. I think it’s doing much better now and these cakes are a tribute to it. Update: Came to find the Bay is actually doing worse. All the more reason to eat tempeh instead of crabbies!

Make ahead: Make the entire mixture and the remoulade the night before. In the morning, form into cakes and pan fry.

For the cakes:
8 ounces tempeh (use the nori tempeh if you can find it, but plain soy tempeh is fine, too)
1 cup water
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 bay leaf

3 tablespoons Vegenaisse
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard (stone ground Dijon works, too)
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/4 cup very finely chopped red bell pepper
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspooon salt
fresh black pepper
1 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs, plus extra for dredging
Optional: 1 finely chopped nori sheet or 1 tablespoon kelp granules (if you like a little fishiness)

Oil for pan frying

For the remoulade:
2 tablespoons Vegenaise
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard (stone ground dijon works, too)
1 tablespoon hot sauce
2 teaspoons capers (try not to get too much brine)

Lemon wedges for serving

First we’re going to steam the tempeh to get the bitterness out and also to infuse some flavor with the soy sauce. Crumble the tempeh into a saucier or small pan in little bits. Add the water, soy sauce, oil and bay leaf. The tempeh won’t be fully submerged, but that’s fine. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, let boil for 12 to 15 minutes, until most of the water has evaporated. Stir once during boiling.

Transfer contents to a mixing bowl, remove bay leaf, and mash with a fork. Let cool for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to hasten the cooling process. Make sure the tempeh is barely warm before you proceed, or the cakes may fall apart when you cook them. Add the mayo, mustard, hot sauce, vinegar, chopped bell pepper, spices salt and pepper, and mix well. Add the bread crumbs and nori and use your hands to incorporate.

Once you are ready to form the cakes, preheat a thin layer of oil in a heavy bottomed non-stick skillet (cast iron is great) over medium heat. Pour a few tablespoons of panko into a bowl. Scoop a little less than 1/4 cup batter into your hands and form into a ball. Flatten between your palms and then roll the sides gently with your hands cupped to smooth them. You should have ten 2 1/2 to 3- inch patties. I do them in batches of five. Press them into the panko to lightly coat. They don’t need to be thoroughly covered, just a little bit for some texture.

Fry a batch of five cakes for 4 minutes on one side and flip when dark golden brown. Fry for 2 minutes on the other side and transfer to a paper towel or paper bag to drain. Do your second batch and in the meantime make your remoulade by mixing all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Serve with lemon wedges.

Surly, Summit

Link to the Heavy Table review of recent food shindigs in the kitchen where I cook - Tracy's Saloon & Eatery, Minneapolis, MN.

goose bump clouds

ain't nothing better than a minnesota, summertime storm. yummm.

A CHICKEN...

.....COOKED IN........














....A CHICKEN.

a fairly perfect day

   

It started out well.  A rainy morning.  A french press steeping strong brew.  A hutch of pillows, and a well worn book.  Then, a bowl of stoned peaches and nectarines blanketed in yogurt and laced with wildflower honey.  An afternoon of cleaning and packing, of cocktail sipping and treasure finding.

Once the kitchen was cleaned, we turned it a mess.  We were hungry for breakfast, and I had a few tricks up my sleeve.  Came across a magic recipe- biscuits stuffed with jam. 
Unsurprisingly called "Jammers."  Butter crumbled into flour, salt, sugar, baking sodas and powders, and lemon zest, blended with buttermilk, then turned onto the counter and stamped out monstrous biscuits.  Pinch-pot style, the biscuits were hollowed and filled with blackberry preserves and baked off until golden and crunchy and jam cascaded over the sides and sizzled on the hot pans. 

A frittata, too, was in order.  Little yellow summer squash, with necks curved like a sleeping goose, roasted, and a half-dozen eggs and a half pound of ricotta cozied in the bowl.  Fresh thyme and basil, shallots that melted with olive oil and sea salt in the skillet, and a sprinkle of hot pepper flakes and parmesan cheese came in at the last moment for a fine finish, and the cake hit the oven.

A salad of sorts was required to tie up loose ends.  These days, I like to layer my salads, color by color, and make a big show of tossing the handsome dish table-side.  This one began with spicy arugula and mustard greens.  Then thinly sliced cucumber, blanched purple and white Dragon's Tongue beans, fresh basil and dill, sweet cherry tomatoes, and toasted pinenuts, sea salt, and sweet balsalmic vinegar.  We opened the windows to catch the rain and ate in the almost dark.

When the plates were cleared, we crawled into bed to finish our bottle of wine and watch Moonstruck.  Later yet, we hollowed and carved a watermelon, then shook out our tennis shoes and made for a midnight walk.  And then, finally, the fairly perfect day ended as it had begun, back in bed, with the rain and the pillows and the book, winding down well into the early hours of the morning until I lost my grip on the day and fell soundly into sleep.

Snotty Frenchmen

During our most recent trip to the Lake Ella farmers market, a trip that Logan dragged me on, we came across an old man with youthful spirits hoping to sell us multi colored potatoes. Cut them open and they could be purple, pink or even...WHITE! The action of buying the potatoes lead to an inexplicable chain of events, one of which was logan suggesting we make potato salad. You can imagine my disapointment. Rikki and I say "if it don't have lettuce in it don't call it a salad". Honestly I don't want some nasty mayoed up potato cube that for some reason is yellow! I instead fantasized about making purple and pink french fries. However Logs had a different potato salad in mind and insisted mustardy mayo sauce (I was just informed the yellow in potato salad is mustard) will not be a part of it, instead it shall be a French potato salad.

Ok. I have accepted the idea of a potato salad. It has evolved from a fear of mine to a perfectly suitable side dish. I want to emphasis the side dish because no matter what happens, potato salad will always and forever be a side dish. So what next, what would go well with this side dish-0-potato? Well she did say its french... what's a french main course? To be honest I'm still a little lost on what french food is. My lack of understanding how to define this type of food reminds me of the time logan was trying to teach me what savory was. "It just means salty right?" i insisted. I just didn't get it. Anyways, I understand french cuisine is good food, expensive and looks pretty, but what is it? Italian food is easy for me to imagine but not french. My mind turned to a nice little french lunch place in Naples where I had a lovely baguette sandwich with nice roast beast.

Logan comes back from the store with a pasty white baguette and 3 lbs. of smoked Boston pork butt. The butt was pink and reminded me of ham and we were unsure if it was fully cooked so we decided to call the expert. Mom. Unfortunately I called the wrong expert, i should have called my father the resident Hamxpert (Ham expert), because my mom didn't know if a pink smoked ham-looking boston pork butt was fully cooked.

In the end the potato salad was a smash hit. The salad of course had the three varieties of heirloom potatoes, dill, garlic, basil, onions, chardonnay, mustard and shallots. The sandwich was toasted with a sharp aged gouda and some capital T tender pork butt that was cooked with the said chardonnay to ensure the cookedness of the butt.

French? i dunno maybe... A satisfying dinner for two? Duh.

Don't try to bake when you're hung over

Last night was 80's night at Broadway's. Crown Royal was on special. I was cuttin' rugs to PYT until 3 AM. Woke up exhausted, and decided to do penance by feeding myself something healthy. Enter banana braaaaan muffins. Logan used to make the best braaaan muffins. But in my foggy state, I misread the recipe and used two cups of flour instead of one. When I realized this, I made a feeble attempt to remedy my mistake by just dumping in more milk, instead of just making the effort to double the whole recipe, as I should have. The result was bland, rubbery, branny, basically inedible blobs. BOO. Meara told me to feed them to the birds. What birds?

ahh... summer

I'm pissed, so let me cook.

Today I'm feeling crabby. I don't really have a good reason for it either, which makes me crabbier. But I decided to make it up to my mom, for putting up with my foul mood, and try out some new recipes that she can use for her cooking business. The two recipes I used came from the righteous food blog, 101cookbooks. The first thing I made was Hummus en Fuego, using fire oil, made by heating olive oil with red pepper flakes. I held off on putting all the pepper flakes directing into the hummus because this batch is going to a mild friend, but for those who like it hot-I would advise putting all of the fire oil (and flakes floating on the bottom) in the hummus-it's a nice kick. 

My second endeavor was the Quinoa Skillet Bread. In my house, we eat quinoa by the quart and I thought it would be nice to enjoy our favorite staple food in a new way. I followed the recipe exactly except I held off on the cup of heavy cream just to keep it a little healthier, but I'm sure it's only more delicious with it! I used a cast iron skillet to bake the bread, which worked beautifully. The final product is similar to a moist cornbread, slightly sweet and nutty. mmm. 

_____ and cream

I ate five peaches today.  Five.  Two for breakfast.  One after coffee.  One before a bike ride.  And one now.  I meant to eat the last one while wrapped in the sheets and floating through endless blog dribble, but it didn't even make it out of the kitchen.  I would have taken a photograph, but, well...  I will console myself by thinking that any of you would do the same, if these peaches were sitting around your kitchen. 

Biscuits from Heaven

Cory gave me the recipe for these amazing biscuits. I think she actually got it from Cook's Illustrated. THEY ARE THE BEST BISCUITS EVER. Since I started making them a few months ago, my friends request them all the time. This morning, I made them to complement omelets herbs fines and candied bacon for Marc, since he helped me fix my tire.



the makings of cheddar-chive biscuits

Combine:
2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar

Cut in:
4 tbsp butter (more never hurts)

{this is where I add extras: cheddar cheese and chives, anyone?}

Fold in:
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Scoop quarter-cupfuls onto a plate of flour, shape biscuits, arrange in a buttered, floured, round cake pan. Melt two tbsp butter, pour over biscuits.








Bake at 500 for 5 minutes, then 450 for 15 or until golden brown. YUM.





Serve with plenty of iced coffee.









{Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the baked biscuits because they were gobbled up before I could take any.}

a bag-full

Trips to the farmers' market have long been my social therapy sessions. Now that I am living in a city where your skin boils as soon as you move away from your spot in front of the box fan; where development planning is so inept that you cannot get anywhere- not to the grocery store, not to the bookstore, not to the bike trail, not from the bedroom to the bathroom, without hopping in a damn car; now that I spend my days cramped over the eyepiece of a dissecting microscope marking the geography of helpless beetle bodies; now, more than ever, the market is a breath and a sigh.

At 3:30 on Wednesday, I quit my doings and headed for the Lake Ella Growers' Market. It's a small collection of folk who gather here- sandwiched between the Black Dog Cafe and a foul little lake. The vendors, along with their wares, vary by the week. On a good day, you'll find a husband and wife selling cuts of grass-fed beef and farm fresh eggs, a woman and her daughter pouring samples of their homemade yogurt and selling cold pitchers of raw milk. You can always find greens billowing from coolers and wicker baskets. The tangled necks of summer squash are striking against thin-skinned new potatoes, and bunches of rouge-cheeked radishes line up alongside pole beans and wax beans and baskets of onions.

Last week I landed a handful of yellow squash blossoms, a container of fresh chevre from Sweet Grass Dairy, and a jar of hot raspberry pepper jelly. I brought my treasures back to Joe, and we made pizza, with pinwheels of layered flowers and dollops of warm goat cheese drizzled with olive oil and flecked with pepper. This Wednesday, I lost myself. I arrived soon after the market opened and I emptied my wallet over royal purple wax beans, dirty skinned yellow onions, a bundle of swiss chard- the last of the season, four pounds of Georgia peaches so lovely you can smell them from across the market. Then I sat down to drink iced coffee and read Annie Dillard, but mostly to people watch. When my friend arrived to meet me, I showed her around the market and unloaded my last pennies on an armful of oblong carrots, a bunch of lemon basil, and a bulb of freshly rooted garlic. And then, when my coffee was finished and my bag full, I headed home to begin the feast.

Joe rolled out his famous homemade pappardelle and I blended a tangy pesto with toasted pinenuts, parmesan, olive oil, coarse sea salt, seven cloves of garlic, and the entirety of my lemon basil. While the pasta rested, I whisked together a vanilla creme anglaise and turned spare egg whites into a billowing angel food cake, which we ate together, along with stoned and sliced peaches, for dessert. Our friend joined us for dinner and brought along a butternut squash and apple bake, and I boiled, buttered, and salted the purple wax beans before sitting down with a cold bottle of Pinot Grigio and a table full of fresh, local and lovely food.

-logan