Good Food Happy Man

Clams: Two if by sea

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 20:59:00 +0000

Scenes from my restaurant life: One of our waiters came downstairs to find me.

“There are some people here that want to see you…..”

I had assumed that friends had come to dine. “Uh….”

The waiter persisted, “They asked if they could talk to you….” He then offered more information: “The cupcakes they brought for their party are smashed and they were wondering if you could fix them.”

Me: “Not really…any butter cream I have is frozen……”

Yes. They brought their own cupcakes into the restaurant for their party, smashed them, and now needed to be bailed out. So it goes. (sorry, Mr.V.)

“Many before me have been called by the sea.*”

Our local grocery store carries a variety of clams—little necks, top necks, and cherrystone. Cherrystones are large enough to use for clam sauce or chowder. A dozen shouldn’t set you back too much and they will make enough clam sauce or chowder for four people. If you are two, as we are, that means an extra dinner.

You don’t need to shuck the clams, either. Cooking the clams in either water or wine will open them and produce a great flavored broth. Making the broth and chopping the clams adds an extra step but one that’s easy and not very time consuming. And yes, I will admit that I used canned chopped clams for convenience when making clam sauce in the past but using fresh clams is worth it.

One dozen cherrystone clams make enough clams and broth for four servings of either the chowder or the pasta. The pasta recipe is scaled for two servings; there’s just two of us so one batch will provide two dinners. We freeze leftover broth and clams for another day. If you are making the recipe for four people, double the recipe.

A (“white”) clam sauce is about as easy as it gets: good clam broth, chopped clams, garlic, hot pepper flakes, olive oil, and maybe a little bacon if you wish. We did. Pancetta would be the “Italian way” to go. Recently we dined at a local Italian restaurant and their linguine with clam sauce--“Linguine, Clams, Pancetta”-- was described as having “thinly sliced applewood smoked bacon.” So you see, even Italians can be loosey-goosey.

Pasta with Clam Sauce

The broth makes enough for four servings

For the broth:

1 dozen Cherrystone clams

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced

This makes enough for two servings:

6 ounces (dry) pasta (linguine, spaghetti, etc)

1 to 2 cloves minced garlic

2 slices thick cut bacon, cut into 1/2”- thick slices or 1/4 cup diced pancetta

1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced

red pepper flakes, to taste (optional)

olive oil, for cooking

1/2 cup reserved clam broth

1/2 cup chopped clams

2 Tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley

salt and ground black pepper

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

1. Begin by making the broth. Rinse and scrub the clams under cold water. Place the cleaned clams into a sauce pot along with the wines and the garlic. Cover the clams and cook over high heat until the clams open, about 10 to 12 minutes. As each clam opens, remove them from the pot and place them into a bowl. If any clams don’t open, discard them. It’s nature’s way of telling you something’s wrong. Let the broth cool slightly then pour it carefully into a bowl, watching for any sediment at the bottom of the pot. There will be about 1 1/2 cups broth. Remove the clams from their shells and chop the clams; set chopped clams aside.

2. Place a large sauté pan onto the stove over medium-high heat. Swirl in 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the bacon to the pan and cook until crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan and drain it on paper towels. Drain the bacon fat from the pan. Return the pan to the stove over medium-high heat. Swirl in 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the red pepper flakes and 1/2 cup of the clam broth. Simmer for a minute then set the pan aside.

3. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water according to the directions on the box; cook the pasta for 1 minute less than suggested.

4. When the pasta has cooked, return the pan to the heat and bring the sauce to a simmer; add the bacon, clams, and parsley to the pan. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed. Add the pasta and mix the pasta into the sauce; cook for about a minute; add extra broth if necessary. Add the butter and mix it into the pasta. Remove pan from the heat. Divide between two bowl and serve.

New England Clam Chowder

“But when that smoking chowder came in, the mystery was delightfully explained Oh! sweet friends, hearken to me. It was made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than hazel nuts, mixed with pounded ships biscuits and salted pork cut up into little flakes! The whole enriched with butter, and plentifully seasoned with pepper and salt….We dispatched it with great expedition”

Herman Melville, “Moby Dick” (1851)

I’m wading into dangerous territory here since anyone who makes chowder has his or her opinion on exactly how to make it. But more on that in a minute.

The word “chowder” is derived from the French word chaudiere, an iron kettle in which chowders were made. I first learned the word from an episode of “Julia Child and Company” where Julia pronounced the word with great gusto, “Shaw-de-yay!!”

The first published chowder recipe, written in the form of a poem no less, appeared in the Boston Evening Post on September 21, 1751, (which was three years before the start of the French and Indian War and three years before the birth of Mozart, to put it into historical perspective). One hundred years later, Herman Melville wrote of chowder in Moby Dick; I would think that little changed in the one hundred years between the first recipe and the chowder in Moby Dick. What we think of as New England clam chowder today is a more modern creation.

Two items that we consider chowder staples, potatoes and milk, weren’t added until later; potatoes in the early 1800’s, milk in the 1800’s. The familiar thick clam chowder was created by the Howard Johnson restaurant chain in the 1940s. (I am indebted to Chef Jasper White’s scholarship on these chowder-related matters).

I use bacon in this recipe; traditionally it’s salt pork which supplies the fat for cooking the vegetables.

Since there is no true clam chowder, feel free to interpret this to your preference. There are no chowder police who will swoop in and tell you that your version is wrong (just look at Manhattan clam chowder). Remember, as with so many recipes, it all depends on who is in the kitchen.

New England Clam Chowder

makes 2 quarts chowder

1 dozen Cherrystone clams

2 cups water

2 or 3 slices of bacon, thick sliced if possible, cut crosswise into 1/2” slices

1 cup onion, diced

2 stalks celery, sliced (about 3/4 cup)

2 baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2” pieces

salt and ground black pepper

olive oil, for cooking

2 cups milk or cream

Roux: 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter

4 Tablespoons flour (can use rice flour)

1. Rinse and scrub the clams under cold water. Place the clams into a large sauce pot with the water. Cover and bring to a boil. Cook the clams for 10 to 12 minutes. As the clams open, remove them from the pot and place them into a bowl. After the all the clams have opened (discard any clams that have not opened), let the broth cool slightly then carefully drain the broth into a large bowl being careful not to let any sediment on the bottom of the pot drain into the broth. There will be about 3 cups of clam broth.

2. Place a clean large sauce pot onto the stove over medium-high heat. Then the pot is hot, swirl 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil into the pot. Add the bacon and cook until crisp. Add the onions and celery to the pot and cook until the onions turn translucent, about 5 minutes.

3. Add the clam broth to the pot. Simmer the stock for about 10 minutes. While chowder is simmering, remove the clams from their shells and chop them; there will be about 1 cup chopped clams. Set aside.

4. Add the potatoes and cream (or milk) to the pot. Season with salt and ground black pepper and let the chowder simmer. While the chowder is cooking, make the roux: melt the butter in a small sauce pan and whisk the flour into the melted butter. Cook the roux for about 1 minute; do not let the roux brown. Empty the cooked roux into a small bowl to prevent it from cooking further.

5. When the potatoes are tender-they can be easily pierced with a knife point-whisk in the roux a little at a time until the desired thickness is achieved. Add the chopped clams to the chowder. Taste for seasoning. Cook the chowder for a few minutes to warm the clams. Serve. Oh, sweet friends!

*-Tom Waits, “Shiver me Timbers”

Black and white images courtesy the Nantucket Historical Association.

Chicken with Feta, Olives, and Orzo

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 16:32:00 +0000

Scenes from my restaurant life: A mother and her young daughter were finishing their lunch. The mother asked, “Can I get a Bloody Mary to go? Do you do that around here?”

This is my version of a dish at our favorite Greek restaurant. Easy, simple, and full of flavor. There are just a few ingredients and it comes together quickly. Make the sauce, simmer the chicken in the sauce, cook the orzo, combine the orzo with the sauce.

You can use either chicken breast or boneless thigh meat.

Chicken with Feta, Olives, and Orzo

for two servings

One 9 to 10 ounce boneless chicken breast

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup crushed tomatoes

1/2 cup (dry) red wine

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon dried oregano

10 to 12 Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

3 to 4 Tablespoons feta cheese, crumbled

olive oil, for cooking

salt and ground black pepper

1/2 cup orzo

1. Cut the chicken into 1” pieces; set aside. Place a large sauté pan onto the stove over medium heat. When the pan is hot, swirl in about 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the onion and cook for 2 to 3 minutes to soften the onion. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

2. Add the tomatoes to the pan; Add the wine and cook for about a minute and then add the water. Season lightly with salt and ground black pepper; stir in the oregano.

3. Stir the olives to the sauce. Add the chicken, nestling it into the sauce. Reduce heat, cover the pan and simmer the chicken for 8 to 10 minutes (depending on the thickness of the pieces), until cooked.

4. Cook the orzo according to the directions on the box. When the pasta is done, drain the orzo into a strainer, shake off excess water, and add the orzo to the pan.

5. Stir the feta into the pan. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed. Remove pan from heat.

6. Divide the chicken and orzo between two bowls and serve. There may be a little extra left but you’ll probably come back and finish it.

Mushroom Soup-Oooooh, mommy!

This mushroom soup uses a restaurant “trick” of adding dried porcini mushrooms to enrich the flavor. Often a restaurant may use porcini powder that is rehydrated with some brandy and added to the soup. Porcini mushroom powder might be a hard ingredient to find but I have substituted dried porcini mushrooms. Most grocery stores now have dried mushrooms, often more than one variety. if you don’t see them ask. This soup is a lesson in umami, the “sixth” savory taste derived from glutamates. Mushrooms are rich in umami. I also use a little soy sauce which is also rich in umami. Our response to umami runs deep. We first encounter it in breast milk.

An initial roasting of the mushrooms will bring out a deeper flavor. This soup can be made without the dried mushrooms. There is also an option to enrich the soup with a little light cream or milk. Your decision. If you have it, a little drizzle of truffle oil over each portion of the finished soup would be encouraged.

Mushroom Soup

makes about 2 quarts

1 pound mushrooms, white button or crimini

1 cup diced onion or 1 leek, sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 to 2 cloves garlic, chopped

One 1/4 ounce package dried porcini mushrooms

6 to 8 sprigs fresh thyme, tied together with a piece of string

1/3 cup (dry) white wine

4 cups vegetable or chicken stock/broth or water

1 Tablespoon light soy sauce

salt and ground black pepper

olive oil, for cooking

1/2 cup milk or light cream

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Slice or chop the mushrooms and rinse them under cold water; shake off excess water. Place the mushrooms into a bowl. Drizzle the mushrooms with 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil and season them with1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper. Mix to distribute the oil and seasonings. Spread the mushrooms in an even layer onto a baking tray. Roast the mushrooms for 12 minutes; remove the mushrooms from the oven and turn them. Return the mushrooms to the oven and roast the mushrooms for an additional 6 minutes or until browned. Remove the pan from oven and set aside.

2. Place a large sauce pot onto the stove over medium heat. When hot, swirl in about 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the onions (or leeks) to the pot. Cook to soften the onions for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

3. Spoon the roasted mushrooms (and their juices) into the pan along with the dried mushrooms, and the thyme. Add the white wine and cook for a minute. Add the stock/broth/water and the soy sauce to the pot. Cover the pot and simmer the soup for 20 minutes or until the dried mushrooms are soft. Remove the soup from the heat and cool.

4. After the soup has cooled for about 10 minutes, puree the soup in a blender or with an immersion blender until smooth. Add the cream (if using) and taste for seasoning, adjusting if needed.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower........Cauliflower Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 19:41:00 +0000

I have written about cauliflower before (see the archives 3/20/2013).

I (dimly) remember a cauliflower salad from a Marcella Hazan cookbook that had (as I recall it from years ago) black olives, capers, and roasted red peppers—a good combination of sweet, salty and tangy notes for the plain flavor of the cauliflower. I am bringing those flavors to this pasta dish.

Since, it’s 2016, I roasted the cauliflower. (Aren’t we roasting everything now?) The remaining cauliflower was turned into soup (see below). Instead of roasted peppers, I used sun dried tomatoes. They used to be a staple, go-to ingredient in my pantry but I haven’t used them in a long time. They lend sweetness. You could use roasted red peppers, but please, roast them yourself. Roasted peppers in a can or jar never taste like the ones you make at home. Chiles, either fresh or dried, bring their subtle heat. Black olives are dense, deep, and salty. Capers and their brine lend a splash of bright acidity. These are the classic ingredients in a tapenade. Sweet, salty, tangy, spicy, it’s all here.

I used whole wheat pasta, but you don’t have to. Whole wheat pasta works with some ingredients, roasted cauliflower being one. A pasta like orecchiette would work here too, the “little ears” of pasta would hold the bits and pieces quite well.

All in all, a good tangle of tastes and textures in a pasta dish for late winter, as we look forward to the renewal of spring.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower

for two servings

3 ounces whole wheat penne

2 cups cauliflower florets

1or 2 cloves garlic, minced

diced fresh chiles or dried red pepper flakes, to taste

6 to 8 pitted black olives, chopped (either Kalamata or oil cured)

2 Tablespoons capers

2 Tablespoons sun dried tomatoes, chopped

the juice from a half of a lemon

olive oil

salt and ground black pepper

2 to 4 Tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Toss the cauliflower with 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt and black pepper. Spread the cauliflower evenly on a baking tray. Place the tray into the oven and roast the cauliflower for 12 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven, turn the cauliflower, and return the tray to the oven and roast the cauliflower for an additional 6 minutes or so. Remove from oven and set aside until needed. (This can be done in advance and held aside until you are ready to cook).

2. Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water according to the package directions. While the pasta is cooking, place a large sauté pan onto the stove over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, swirl in about 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the garlic to the pan and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the chiles and stir together. Add the roasted cauliflower, black olives, capers, and sun dried tomatoes. Ladle about 1/2 cup of the pasta water into the pan. Let it simmer until the water is reduced by half. Remove the pan from the heat and wait for the pasta to finish cooking.

3. When the pasta is done, drain it into a colander. Place the pan with the cauliflower back onto the stove and bring to a simmer. Add the pasta and mix together. Add the lemon juice and additional olive oil if the pasta seems dry. Taste and season with salt, if needed, and ground black pepper. Scatter the grated cheese over the pasta and mix together. Divide the pasta between two bowls and serve. This will make you feel that spring is just around the corner.

If you have a lot of leftover cauliflower, turn it into soup. You could add an extra potato if you like your soup thicker. If you don’t have 4 cups of cauliflower for the recipe, scale back the recipe (use less water/stock, for example) but don’t change the amount of potato. It will add thickness and creaminess to the soup.

Purists might want to use white pepper, but I side with Jacques Pepin and use black. A few black specks don’t hurt although Escoffier might be offended.

Cauliflower, Potato, and Leek Soup

4 cups chopped cauliflower (florets and peeled stem)

2 leeks, cleaned and sliced (about 2 cups)

1 potato, peeled and diced (about 2 cups)

6 cups water or stock

salt and ground black pepper

olive oil, for cooking

1/2 cup light or heavy cream (optional)

1. To clean the leeks, slice the leeks in half, lengthwise. Thinly slice the leeks crosswise; use about 3/4’s of the leek (the white and the palest green parts of the leek). Place the leek slices into a colander and rinse with cold water to remove any sand. Shake off excess water.

2. Place a large sauce pot onto the stove over medium heat. When the pot is hot, swirl in about 2 tablespoons oil. Add the leeks and cook the leeks until they begin to soften, about 2 to 3 minutes. Adjust heat if necessary.

3. After the leeks have softened, add the cauliflower, potatoes, and water or stock. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper. Bring the soup up to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, for about 12 to 15 minutes until all of the vegetables are soft.

4. When the vegetables are tender, remove the pot from the heat and let cool slightly before pureeing the soup. Using either a blender or and immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth.

Add the cream, if using. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Reheat and serve. Store any leftover soup in containers and freeze until needed.

Black Bean & Plantain Quesadillas....Roasted Butternut- Pumpkin Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 20:25:00 +0000

One of oldest daughter’s first babysitting jobs was for our friends’ son who, at the time, tended to do a lot of pointing instead of talking. Eventually talking took over and as he got older he seemed to survive only on quesadillas, getting to the point where he could make them himself. Now before you panic at the thought of a young child using the stove, he made his in the microwave oven.

Does anyone need directions on how to make a quesadilla?

Every time I write one of these dispatches, I know that I will alienate someone. I know that this particular quesadilla would not be a preference for youngest daughter. A number of years ago, she participated in a church mission trip to Guatemala where many meals featured black beans (a favorite) and plantains (not a favorite). Not even a dad could change her mind about how good fried plantains are.

I read about this quesadilla filling in a restaurant review and thought that as a lover of both these ingredients I should make my own. Despite that it might seem like a heavy sinker of a quesadilla, it isn’t. Paired with a salad of orange and avocado, it makes for a simple yet satisfying dinner.

Plantains have three stages of ripeness and each stage has it’s own particular use. Green plantains, which are very starchy, are mashed then fried for mofongo. When the skin is yellow and streaked with black, like a slightly overripe banana, they are sweeter but firm enough to slice and fry. When they are black they are softest but sweeter still.

For this recipe you will want yellow plantains. If you find only green plantains at the store you have to wait until they ripen. Just put the plantain into a plastic bag and wait; they will take longer to ripen than a banana. Think of it as delayed gratification. The last time I wanted to make these quesadillas and the avocado/orange salad all of the plantains were green so I also selected a hard, unripe avocado, placed both the plantain and avocado into a plastic bag and waited until both had ripened.

Black Bean and Plantain Quesadilla

for two servings

One 15 ounce can black beans

One ripe (yellow) plantain

1/2 cup jack (or other melting) cheese, grated

Four 8” tortillas

vegetable oil, for cooking the black beans and plantain ( I prefer to use olive oil for the black beans and a vegetable oil, such as canola oil, for frying the plantains.

your favorite salsa

1. Drain and rinse the black beans under cold water; shake off the excess water. Place a medium-sized sauté pan onto the stove over medium heat. When the pan is hot, swirl in about two tablespoons oil. Add the beans to the pan. Using a fork, mash the beans; if the beans appear dry, moisten them with a little additional oil. Remove the pan from the heat after the beans have all been mashed and heated through.

2. Peel the plantain; plantain are harder to peel than bananas so you might want to run the tip of a knife down the length of the plantain to help you to peel it. Slice the plantain on an angle into 1/2”- thick pieces; you should have about 10 slices.

3. Place a non-stick sauté pan onto the stove over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, swirl in enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the plantains (if your pan is small, you may have to cook the plantains in two batches) and cook until the plantain slices are golden brown. Turn the plantains and repeat until the other side is browned. Remove the plantains from the pan and drain on paper towels.

4. To assemble, spread mashed black beans onto two tortillas; there may be a little black bean leftover. Arrange the plantains around on top of the black beans (like the spokes on a wheel). Sprinkle the grated cheese over the beans and plantains. Top each with another tortilla and press down.

5. Turn oven onto low temperature. Place a sauté pan large enough to hold the quesadilla onto the stove over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, swirl a little oil into the pan. Place the quesadilla into the pan and cook until the bottom of the tortilla has browned; carefully turn the quesadilla and cook it until it has browned on the other side. Remove the quesadilla and place it onto a baking pan and keep it warm in the oven while you cook the second quesadilla. (Reserve both quesadillas in the oven while you assemble the salad).

6. To serve, cut each quesadilla into sixths and serve along with your favorite salsa either of your own making or from the store. I said this recipe is easy so no one will be looking if you don’t make your own salsa this time.

Orange and Avocado Salad

Right now is the perfect time for oranges. Not only can you find navel oranges but also Cara Cara, Blood, and “Sumo” varieties from which to to choose.

One orange

One ripe avocado

several slices red (or sweet) onion

2 handfuls mixed greens

2 Tablespoons toasted pepita (pumpkin) seeds

1. To segment the orange, slice off the top and bottom of the orange, exposing the flesh. Slice down the sides of the orange exposing the flesh. Cut between the membranes of the orange to remove the individual segments. Set them aside. Squeeze the juice from the orange membrane into a small bowl and set the juice aside to use for the vinaigrette. (see below)

2. Peel and remove the seed from the avocado and slice the avocado. Place the mixed greens, orange segments, avocado and onion slices into a bowl. Scatter the pepita seeds over the salad. Dress the salad with a few tablespoons of the vinaigrette, mix the salad together, and serve the salad in the middle of a plate surrounded by quesadilla wedges.

For the vinaigrette:

The reserved orange juice (from the directions above)

1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar

3 Tablespoons olive oil

salt and ground black pepper, to taste.

1. Mix together the reserved orange juice, red wine vinegar, and olive oil. Season with salt and ground black pepper. Any leftover vinaigrette can be stored in a small jar in the refrigerator for future use.

Roasted Butternut & Pumpkin Soup

(Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds)

Every so often at the restaurant where I work we'll receive an e-mail asking for a recipe. This soup gets its share of requests. If you wonder why you may not get a recipe returned to you, please consider this: Where I work the recipe for this soup would begin “Peel, seed, and chop a case of butternut squash.” Not the easiest thing to break down into a manageable recipe for the home cook. Most of the time our chef just makes it. He knows the quantities pretty much by sight and repetition. Here, however, I broke it down as best as possible. It makes a good quantity of soup, about 3 quarts, which means leftovers. But isn’t that the best part of making soup? By the way, this is pretty freaking good. A two pound butternut squash should yield more than the required 6 cups of diced squash.

Roasted Butternut and Pumpkin Soup

6 cups peeled butternut squash, diced

2 cups onion, chopped

1/2 c. dark or light brown sugar

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 Tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 to 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted or olive oil

6 cups water, or vegetable or chicken broth

One 15 ounce can pumpkin puree

1 cup cream (light or heavy) or half & half

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 13” X 18” baking tray with either a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil. Set tray aside.

2.. Place the diced squash and chopped onion into a bowl. Add the brown sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Pour over the melted butter or olive oil. Mix well to distribute the seasonings. Spread the vegetables evenly in one layer onto the baking tray. Place the tray into the oven and roast for 16 minutes (within 6 or 7 minutes your kitchen will smell wonderful). After 16 minutes, remove the tray, turn the vegetables and return the pan to the oven. Roast for an additional 10 minutes. Remove the vegetables from the oven and let cool slightly.

3. Place the roasted vegetables and their juices into a large sauce pot. Add the water (or broth) to cover. Place the pot over high heat; bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until all of the vegetables are tender, about 12 to 15 minutes. Remove pot from heat and let cool slightly.

4. Puree the soup until smooth with either an immersion blender or in a regular blender. Return the pureed soup to the pot and add the pumpkin and the cream. Whisk the soup until the pumpkin and cream are incorporated. Taste and adjust for seasoning. You can serve the soup garnished with a small spoonful of creme fraiche, fried sage leaves, or a drizzle of brown butter. Freeze any leftover soup for another day.

Baking 101: Muffins- Ab uno, multi. (plus a soup recipe)

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 22:06:00 +0000

After a long silence caused by an old and ailing laptop followed by a long work schedule, I will begin again, renewed. (“Is there anybody out there?”). Back into the kitchen we go.

I know there are books filled with muffin recipes but as a working professional, I don’t want to have a different recipe for each kind of muffin. I want a solid basic recipe which can then be altered. That is this recipe.

The muffins are good with cinnamon & sugar sprinkled on top just before baking. Or you could fold in fresh blueberries. Or make a couple of changes for corn muffins or cornbread. You get the idea.

Recently for a picnic I made cornbread using this recipe and youngest daughter loved it which is another way of saying, “Dad, I need the recipe.”

This recipe was in place when I began my job where I currently work. I don’t know where they found it but it works; I regularly make about 8 to 12 dozen muffins for brunch every Sunday. I have learned that with a little tweaking, this recipe can be turned into any muffin you want. Who says you can’t improvise when you bake?

The key to what makes the muffins so good is that the recipe uses butter and the flour is a combination of all-purpose and cake flours which makes a more delicate baked texture. The muffins can be mixed by hand in a bowl; no need to haul out an electric mixer. Unless you want to.

You will notice that the flour is given in two measurements. I always weigh the flour but I understand that many people don’t have a scale at home. (You should). If you have one you already know how useful it can be, from weighing ingredients for baking to weighing pasta portions, for example.

Cake flour is easily found in the grocery store. Use plain, not self-rising, cake flour.

If you add anything to the basic muffin mix you will get more batter. More batter, slightly bigger muffins.

And please, no “Do you know the muffin man?” I get that enough at work.

I have promised myself that I will include a soup recipe at the end of each blog this year. There's one below. I hope I can fulfill that promise in the weeks to come.

Basic Muffins

for one dozen muffins

2 Grade A large eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup milk

1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour

1 cup + 1 Tablespoon (5 ounces ) cake flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

3 ounces (6 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

1.Heat oven to 350 degrees. If your muffin pan is not non-stick, butter the pan.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla, and milk. Sift together the flour and the baking powder. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix together adding the butter at the end.

3. Divide the batter into the muffin pans and place them into the oven to bake for 24 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool slightly before removing them from the pan.

Muffin variations:

Do not be afraid to improvise if a variation doesn’t exist below. You can add nuts, too.

Corn muffins:

1 1/4 cups (6 ounces) all-purpose flour

3/4 cup (4 ounces) corn meal

You may want to reduce the sugar depending on whether you like sweet “Yankee” cornbread or a less sweet “Southern” style corn muffin. (Ironic that they like their tea sweet but not their cornbread). You might also like to substitute some of the sugar for honey. When it comes to corn muffins or corn bread, everyone has an opinion especially the further south you travel.

Cornbread: Double the recipe and bake the batter in a 9“ by 12” baking pan.

Blueberry Muffins: Fold a half pint of fresh blueberries into the batter. Diced strawberries work well, too.

Banana Muffins: Mix one mashed banana to the batter

Cranberry Orange Muffins: Add the grated zest of half an orange and 1/2 cup chopped fresh cranberries.

Apple Muffins: Fold in one peeled grated apple along with 1& 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon.

Pumpkin Muffins: Add 1/2 cup pumpkin puree along with 1& 1/2 teaspoons each ground cinnamon and ground ginger and 1 teaspoon ground allspice.

Broccoli-Cheddar Soup

This is for youngest daughter, too.

About the recipe: Of the 3/4 pound of broccoli, four cups of broccoli are chopped for the soup. The remaining broccoli is set aside and cooked separately. This will be added to the finished soup. While the soup is cooking, the roux can be made and the remaining broccoli can be cooked. You can substitute rice flour for the all-purpose flour if you have gluten problems. Rice flour is fairly easy to find. If you have gluten problems, you probably have it already. This recipe could also be made with cauliflower.

The recipe makes enough for four to six people depending on appetites. Any leftover soup can be frozen and saved for future use.

Broccoli-Cheddar Soup

12 ounces broccoli

1/2 cup chopped onion

5 cups water

2 teaspoons salt

1 cup milk, half & half, or light cream

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Roux: 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter

4 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

olive oil, for cooking

ground black pepper

1. Prepare the broccoli: Chop four cups of broccoli for the soup base and set aside. Cut the remaining broccoli into pieces and set aside.

2. Place a large saucepan onto the stove over medium heat. When the pot is hot, swirl in about 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the onions to the pot, stir, and cook the onions for about 3 to 4 minutes. Do not let the onions brown.

3. After the onions have become translucent, add the 4 cups chopped broccoli, water, and salt. Raise the heat to bring the soup base up to a simmer, then cover and reduce the heat so the soup simmers gently. Cook until the broccoli is tender, about 15 minutes depending on the size of the chopped broccoli.

4. While the broccoli is cooking prepare the roux. Place a small saute pan onto the stove over medium heat. Add the butter to the pan; when the butter has melted, add the flour and whisk together. Cook the roux for a minute or two to cook off the flour flavor from the roux. Do not let the roux brown. Remove the finished roux from the heat and transfer it to a small bowl.

5. To cook the remaining broccoli, place a medium-sized saute pan filled with 1/2 to 1 cup water onto the stove over high heat; lightly salt the water. When the water comes to a boil, add the broccoli and cook until the broccoli is tender; a knife point should slide easily into the broccoli. Drain the broccoli into a colander and refresh under cold water. Drain and set aside.

6. When the broccoli in the soup base is tender, remove the pot from the heat and let it cool. While the soup is still warm, puree the soup in a blender or with an immersion blender until smooth. Return the soup to the pot. Add the milk and warm the soup over medium-high heat. As the soup approaches the boil, whisk in the roux. Reduce the heat and whisk in the cheese. Chop the reserved broccoli and add it to the soup. Add some ground black pepper and taste for seasoning, adjusting as needed.
Serve.

Late Summer Succotash

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 12:38:00 +0000

(What's that crab doing sitting among those vegetables? You'll see.)

“Some days in late August at home are like this, the air thin and eager like this, with

something in it sad and nostalgic, and familiar.”
- from The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner

Summer is winding down. The light at dusk changes, more yellow reflecting on the leaves. Autumn arrives in a few weeks.

If you are a farmer’s market shopper like me, you will find all you need to make a succotash, whether it’s exactly like this one or not. It’s open to personal interpretation and preferences.

Succotash is the familiar vegetable dish that comes to us from the Native Americans. Variations of it appear across the country. I grew up with it made with lima beans. No thank you.

The basics are corn and beans, but it becomes more interesting with the addition of other seasonal offerings, such as squash, bell pepper, or sweet cherry tomatoes. I found fresh cranberry beans but any bean will work, even green beans or wax beans. It’s the spirit of the dish that’s important.

I made this one night as a base for soft shell crabs (for me) and salmon for my red haired food co-pilot. It pairs with anything.

A fresh shell bean, such as a cranberry bean, needs time to cook, about 20 to 30 minutes depending on the size of the beans you find inside the pod. If you use a shelling bean, they can cook while you put the succotash together, then when the beans are ready, drain them and add stir them into the succotash. A fresh green bean or wax bean just needs to be sliced and cooked with the other vegetables until tender. Add the corn last since it requires the least amount of cooking time.

It’s easy.

Late Summer Succotash

for two servings

¼ pound cranberry beans (1/2 cup beans when shelled)

2 ears corn

½ cup diced onion

¼ cup diced red bell pepper

1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced

10 to 12 cherry tomatoes, halved

2 Tablespoons fresh basil, torn

salt and freshly ground black pepper

olive oil, for cooking

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, optional

1. If you are using a fresh shelling bean, remove them from their pods and set aside. Fill a medium-sized saucepan with about 2 cups of water, place it onto the stove, and bring it to a boil. When the water is boiling, add the beans and cook until tender, about 20 to 30 minutes.

2. Husk the corn. Cut the kernels from the cobs. The easiest way to do this is to stand the corn upright in a bowl and slice down the length of the cob to cut the kernels from the cob. The falling corn will stay in the bowl. Set the corn aside.

3. Place a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, swirl in about 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the onions and bell pepper to the pan and cook for about 2 minutes until the onions become translucent. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the cherry tomatoes and season lightly with salt and ground black pepper. Cook for about 4 minutes to soften the tomatoes. Add additional olive oil as needed if the pan appears dry. (If you are using a fresh green or wax bean, add them now along with ½ cup of water to help cook the beans). If you are using a shelling bean and they’re still cooking, remove the pan of vegetables from the heat and wait until the beans are tender. When the beans are tender, drain them and add them to the pan. Add the corn and torn basil to the pan with about ¼ to 1/3 cup water. Let the succotash simmer gently for about 2 to 3 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary. Add the tablespoon of butter to the succotash, if using, and stir.

It’s ready.

End of the Summer Soft shells over Succotash

Really Deep-Dish Peach Crumb Pie

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 13:45:00 +0000

“Really love your peaches, want to shake your tree…”

It’s our prime peach season right now with the arrival of freestone peaches, which makes making anything with peaches all that much easier. So last week at our local farmer’s market I bought a case of peaches. I might plead insanity if there weren’t others doing the same thing. My plan was to take some to work for dessert specials, give visiting oldest daughter some to take home, and use the rest throughout the week.

This week’s pie night offering will be a deep-dish pie. Really deep, made in a spring form pan with the peaches piled high.

Making the pie in a spring form pan has a few challenges but they’re easy to overcome. The recipes for the crust and the crumb topping are included at the end of the main recipe so you won’t have to track them down elsewhere.

Really Deep-Dish Peach Crumb Pie

You will need a double crust recipe of pie crust dough. There will be extra dough but it’s easier than making too little and running short.

It will help to line the ring of your spring form pan with parchment paper (or aluminum foil). This will make it easier to remove the ring of the pan from the pie when you go to serve it. The crust won’t stick to the sides of the pan and all you will have to do is peel the paper off from around the pie. Parchment works best for this if you have it.

The crumb topping can be made in advance and stored in a food storage bag in the refrigerator or freezer.

This is a big pie. It will take about 1 hour and 20 minutes to bake.

8 cups sliced peaches (This was about 4 ¾ pounds of peaches)

½ cup plus 2 Tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg

4 Tablespoons cornstarch

Pie Crust (recipe below)

Crumb Topping (recipe below)

1. Halve the peaches and remove the pits. Cut each peach half in half again then peel them. Cut the peaches into ½” pieces and place them into a bowl. Add the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir. Let stand for 20 to 30 minutes.

2. Prepare the spring form pan. The bottom of a spring form pan has a side that has a small lip at the edge. You do not want that side to be the bottom of your pan. Turn it so that the smooth, flat surface is facing up in the pan. Attach the ring to the pan. Cut strips of parchment paper about 2” wide. To stick the paper to the ring of the pan either spray the ring with food release or use butter. Press the paper in place. You do not need to line the bottom of the pan. Place the prepared pan into the freezer to chill.

3. Roll out your crust to 1/8” thickness, about 13-14” in size. There will be excess dough. Remove the spring form pan from the freezer and carefully fit the dough into the pan; the cold surface of the pan will help the dough stick to the sides as you fit it in place, which will make the job easier. Trim the edges of the dough so that you have about a 2” height all around the pan. Use a fork to lightly prick the bottom and sides of the crust. Return the pan to the freezer.

4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Remove the spring form pan from the freezer. Place the pan onto a baking sheet. Line the inside of the pan with a sheet of aluminum foil. Fill the foil with pie weights or dried beans or rice, pushing the weights up the sides of the crust. Place the pan into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove that pan after 15 minutes, carefully remove the piece of foil filled with the pie weights then return the empty shell to the oven to bake for an additional 5 minutes. After five minutes, remove the pan from the oven and set aside to cool.

5. Raise the oven temperature to 450 degrees. Mix the cornstarch into the peaches. Spoon the peaches into the pie shell. You will have to mound them slightly higher in the center. Pour most of the remaining juices in the bowl over the peaches. Spread the crumb mixture over the peaches. Place the tray with the pie into the oven and bake for 10 minutes; after 10 minutes, lower the temperature to 350 and continue baking for 1 hour and 15-20 minutes, when the filling is bubbling. Remove the pie from the oven and set aside to cool completely.

To serve, remove the ring from the pan and peel away the parchment paper.

This one’s a big one. Where’s the ice cream?

Pie Crust Dough

This is a double recipe as needed above

3 cups all purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup shortening (or substitute with ½ cup shortening and ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

¾ cup cold water

1. Place the flour and salt into a bowl. Using a fork or a pastry cutter, cut half of the shortening into the flour until it makes small crumbs; cut the remaining shortening into the flour, leaving it in larger sized pieces. Add the water a little at a time and mix until a ball of dough comes together. Remove the dough from the bowl. Pat it flat, wrap it in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour. This can also be made a day in advance.

Crumb Topping

1 ½ cup all purpose flour

¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons cup sugar

¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons brown sugar (either dark of light)

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1. To make the crumb topping, place all of the dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix the ingredients together. Add the butter and mix until the mixture comes together and forms medium-sized crumbs. Set aside. (Alternately, this can be done by hand using a fork or a pastry blender).

There will be slightly more crumb topping than what you will need for this recipe.

Elote!

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 18:27:00 +0000

“You can do anything with local food.” –Corbin Evans

One of the better parts of working in restaurants is the people who cross your path. Very often they move on and you lose track of them but thanks to the Internet, you can find them again.

Corbin Evans is one of those people. Corbin and I worked together in a Philadelphia restaurant years ago. Corbin left to open his own place but closed it due to landlord problems. He moved on, down south, landing in New Orleans. A chef of great talent, his career has experienced highs (recognition from national press) and lows (Hurricane Katrina). After taking a soul -crushing job in institutional cooking to get back on his feet after the hurricane (“Use only these vendors. No local food”), he struck a deal with the owner of the Lyric Theatre in downtown Oxford, Mississippi. Carving out a tiny kitchen from an unused closet (literally) he opened Oxford Canteen, a place where he can cook as he pleases and follow his philosophy of sourcing food locally.

It has worked. Oxford Canteen celebrated its first birthday in March. Corbin is not a person of many words (his own admission) but you can get an idea of the man through his food. The Canteen may be miles away from where you are right now but if you are ever planning to pass through Oxford, (Ole Miss) you should make it a stop. It’s tucked down an alley but I would imagine anyone you ask would know where it is. You can check out the website below.

Having built up Corbin and his food, this is not his recipe. Sorry. But I feel it’s in his spirit, that of taking good fresh, local ingredients, borrowing an idea from somewhere (in this case, elote, Mexican corn on the cob) and making it into something “new” and delicious.

Elote is Mexican street food: grilled corn on the cob slathered with mayo or crema, ancho chile powder, lime juice, and cotija cheese. For this recipe, the corn is first grilled then cut of the cob. The corn is mixed with greens and some seasonal vegetables then tossed in a dressing made up from flavors you would find in elote. A sprinkle of some cotija cheese finishes the salad. It’s open to possibilities of course. There is no correct way to make this salad. Just don’t skimp on the corn. Plan on one ear person, but why not grill extra corn and have it on hand for when you want to make the salad again later in the week.

If you don’t have a grill you can do what I do. Place the corn, one ear at a time, over a gas flame and rotate until the corn is charred. No grill or gas? I haven’t tried this method but I am certain you could roast the corn-on-the-cob in a 400 degree oven until nicely browned.

The dressing makes a small quantity that can be kept in a container in the refrigerator. It may “break” but a few quick shakes will pull it back together.

Elote Salad

For two servings

Plan one ear per person but while you’re at it, grill several and keep the extra on hand to use later

2 ears corn on the cob

3 Tablespoons lime juice

8 Tablespoons oil (I used3 T. canola oil and 5 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil)

salt and ground black pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon ancho chile powder (or other chile powder)

pinch of sugar

¼ cup mayonnaise, sour cream, or Mexican crema (or a combination)

2 or 3 Tablespoons crumbled cotija cheese (freshly grated Parmesan will work, too)

salad greens of your choice

cherry tomatoes

sliced radishes

(plus whatever else you’d like to add, such as sliced avocado, toasted pumpkin seeds/ pepitas, etc).

1. Husk the corn and remove the corn silk. Place the corn on a hot grill and cook until evenly charred. Remove the corn from the grill and let cool. To cut the corn off the cob, stand the corn in a medium-sized bowl and cut down the cob, slicing off the kernels. Discard the cobs. Transfer the corn to another bowl, cover, and refrigerate until needed.

To assemble the salad, place two handfuls of mixed greens into a bowl. Add the corn, radishes, and tomatoes (and other ingredients of your choosing) to the bowl. Mix the dressing together if it has separated. Spoon about 2 tablespoons (or so) of the dressing into the bowl and toss to evenly distribute. Add the cheese and mix the cheese into the salad. Divide the salad between two plates and serve.

As Corbin says, “Eat like you mean it.”

Oxford Canteen: http://oxfordcanteen.com/

Slow Cooked Zucchini

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 14:42:00 +0000

The other day I saw a recipe for slow cooked green beans and I thought that it could easily be applied for zucchini. Because it’s that time of summer again--the attack of the killer zucchini. You know the type, the giant, overgrown monsters from your Great Aunt Tessie’s garden. They arrive on your front door steps in the dark of night like orphaned children, your well-meaning friends either overwhelmed by their abundance of summer squash or simply out of ideas of what to do.

But this technique isn’t for those monsters. They’ve grown too large, their seeds too big, the skins too tough. Those often end up stuffed and baked. Or made into zucchini bread. At our local farmer’s market they are everywhere, too, in all sizes spilling out of bushel baskets. It’s been that kind of year.

I like to select smaller-sized ones, about 5 to 7 inches in length. I combine them with onion, garlic, tomatoes, basil and olive oil and let them cook low and slow. It’s that simple. After about twenty minutes, they yield easily to the point of a knife. A sprinkle of cheese is all you need to finish them. Serve them in a bowl with the cooking liquid along with your favorite protein and dinner is ready.

I have to go. More zucchini just walked in the front door.

Slow Cooked Summer Squash

While Mediterranean in inspiration, you could also season the squash with some chile powder, omit the basil and use chopped cilantro for a recipe that leans a little south-of-the-border.

For two servings

2 medium-sized zucchini or summer squash (about 5 to 7 inches each)

½ cup sliced onion

1 or 2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 medium tomato, chopped (1 cup) or 1 cup canned crushed tomatoes

6 to 8 fresh basil leaves

salt and ground black pepper

olive oil, for cooking

¼ cup water

few tablespoons cheese (I used queso fresco because I had some leftover in the 'fridge. Goat cheese or

another crumbling cheese or even Parmesan or Romano would work)

1. Wash the zucchini. Cut off the top and bottom ends from the squash. Slice the squash in half, lengthwise, then in half again. Carefully run your knife the length of each piece to remove the softer, seed-bearing part. Set aside.

2. Place a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. When hot, swirl in 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil. Add the onion and cook until the onion begins to soften, about 2 to 3 minutes; do not brown the onions. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomato; season with salt and ground black pepper and stir together. Let tomatoes cook for two to three minutes to soften and begin to give off juice. Lay the zucchini into the pan skin side down. Season the squash with a little salt and pepper. Tear and scatter the basil into the pan. Add the water. Cover the pan and lower the heat. Let the zucchini simmer gently until completely tender, about twenty minutes or so depending on the size of the squash. Before serving, taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Scatter the cheese over the squash. Carefully remove the zucchini from the pan and serve with the cooking liquid.

Strawberry, Apricot & Bluebery Pie

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 11:56:00 +0000

Cook with what the farm is giving you.

And after a lazy, cool start in the spring followed by a quick warm up, the choices at our local farmer’s market are staggering. I cannot recall a season when, at one stand alone, you can find strawberries, blueberries, black raspberries, raspberries, apricots, cherries, peaches, and the first plums available at the same time. Which is how I arrived at the combination for this pie. I like the combination of strawberry and apricot (see archives: 6/3/12) and added blueberries.

No complicated thought process there.

For the beginning of pie night this year, I decided to use an all-butter pie crust. I’ve never been a fan. I’ll stick with vegetable shortening for the flakiness; lard is best but people run screaming from the room at the mention of that word. To be honest, when one of my nephews was little the mention of the word “lard” would reduce him to laughter. Some kids laugh at the word “underwear,” his was “lard.” And “blender.”

All-butter pie crusts usually include a little vinegar. You don’t taste the vinegar; it helps with the flaky quality of the finished crust.

None of this is complicated unless you have to work around a dog, a very big golden retriever who feels his presence will assure great results, even if it means he plants himself underfoot. Welcome to our life.

Strawberry, Apricot, and Blueberry Pie

1 pint strawberries (2 cups)

1 pint apricots (2 cups)

1 pint blueberries (2 cups)

½ cup sugar

5 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water

Pie Crust

For one 9” double crust pie

The crust can be mixed by hand, or using a pastry blender, in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a food processor. If you use a food processor, take care not to over mix the dough.

If you want to skip the butter, use an equivalent amount of vegetable shortening and omit the vinegar. Or use half butter and half shortening. Whichever you prefer.

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into ½” pieces, chilled

1 teaspoon cider vinegar

1 cup cold water (you won’t need all of it)

1. Place the flour and the salt into a bowl and mix to combine. Add half of the cold butter and mix until the butter forms a sandy texture with the flour. Add the rest of the butter to the bowl and continue mixing, leaving bigger pieces of butter in the flour.

2. Pour the vinegar into a measuring cup. Add enough water to make ¾ cup liquid. Add the water to the dough in small amounts mixing until the dough comes together and forms a ball. If the dough appears too dry, add a little additional water. Remove the dough from the bowl and divide in half. Shape each piece of dough into a flat disk. Wrap and refrigerate the dough for at least 20 to 30 minutes or overnight.

3. Rinse the strawberries under cold water. Remove the stems and cut the berries in half lengthwise. If the berries are large, you might have to cut them into quarters. Place the strawberries into a bowl. Wash the apricots. Run a knife around the apricot, cutting down from the top. Separate the halves and remove the pits. Quarter the apricots and place them into the bowl. Rinse the blueberries under cold water. Pick out any stems, if necessary, then place them into the bowl with the other fruit. Add the sugar and mix together. Set aside for 20 minutes.

4. Roll out the bottom crust. Remove one dough disk from the refrigerator. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll the dough out away from you in one direction. Give the dough quarter turns in a circle and continue rolling out the dough dusting with additional flour as needed until the dough is 1/8” thick. Lift and place the dough into a 9” pie plate. Trim the excess dough from the edge, leaving about a ½” overhang. Place into the refrigerator.

5. Heat oven to 450 degrees. After the fruit has given off some of its juices, mix in the cornstarch until evenly blended. Set aside.

6. Roll out the top crust. Cut a circle into the center of the dough. Remove the bottom crust from the refrigerator. Place the fruit into an even layer in the pie pan. Brush the edge of the bottom crust with some of the egg wash. Lay the top crust over the fruit, pressing the edges together. Trim away excess dough. Press the edges of the crust to thin them out and turn them under onto the rim of the pie plate. Crimp the edges together around the outside of the crust. Brush the top of the crust with some of the egg wash; sprinkle the top crust with some sugar if you wish.

7. Place the pie onto a baking tray and then into the oven. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes; after ten minutes reduce the heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for an additional 40 to 45 minutes until the filling is bubbling. Remove from the oven. Resist all temptation to eat it until it cools completely. Serve alone, but c’mon, really? Break out the ice cream!

Shrimp with Tasso

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Wed, 01 Jul 2015 23:11:00 +0000

Regionalism is shrinking. Once if you wanted a certain “regional” food, such as the many permutations of barbecue (Memphis. St. Louis, Texas, North Carolina, etc), or lobster rolls or even Buffalo wings, you had to travel to get it.

But now distances have been shortened. Northerners now try their hand at being pit masters. Buffalo wings, or some sorry version, are everywhere. You can order Corky’s barbecue off of the TV.

There are advantages and disadvantages to this of course. But if it makes a great ingredient more easily obtainable, I’m there.

Tasso is spiced, smoked pork shoulder used in Southern Louisiana, Cajun/Creole in origin.

I have been lucky to find locally made tasso at our local farmer's market supplied by Freeland Market.

Freeland Market is a family-run business in Pottstown. They make a large variety of sausages and they also make a great version of tasso.

The uses of tasso are pretty limitless; think of where you might use bacon and tasso makes for a spicy, smoky alternative. Just slice off what you need and rewrap it. I keep it in the freezer and take it out as I need it.

This recipe for shrimp sautéed with tasso is very NOLA in origin. While shrimp broth is called for in the recipe, you can skip that and substitute with a little beer instead. I wouldn’t use a beer with too complex a flavor for it might get in the way, but I wouldn’t use some type of “light” beer either. The shrimp broth is easy to put together using the shells of the shrimp in the recipe. Peel the shrimp and make the stock while you do the rest of the prep. The stock should be ready when you are ready to cook. Shrimp stock, like most seafood stocks, cooks for only 20 minute or so. There’s always the option of using chicken broth, too. The recipe for shrimp stock follows at the end.

Serve the shrimp with some rice, cold beer, and you are all set. As the late, red suspendered Cajun chef Justin (“Joo-stan”) Wilson used to say, “It’s wondermus, I ghar-un-tee.”

Shrimp with Tasso

For two servings

½ to ¾ pound shrimp

½ cup diced tasso

2 or 3 spring onions (scallions), chopped (about ½ cup)

½ cup diced red bell pepper

1 rib celery, diced

2 or 3 cloves minced garlic

1 cup chopped (canned) plum tomatoes, along with some of their juice

shrimp stock (recipe below)

1 to 2 Tablespoons chopped Italian parsley

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, optional

salt and ground black pepper

olive oil, for cooking

1. Peel and devein the shrimp; reserve the shells for stock. Place a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. When the pan is hot, swirl in one to two tablespoons olive oil into the pan. Add the shrimp; you don’t want to cook the shrimp entirely at this point. Sear them off on one side, turn them and sear them on the other side, then transfer them to a plate.

2. Let the pan cool slightly then add the tasso, adding additional oil to the pan if necessary. Stir and let the tasso cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the onions, bell pepper and celery, and continue cooking. Scrape the bottom of the sauté pan as the vegetables cook to loosen any “browned bits” that might have developed. Saute the vegetables until they begin to soften, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the chopped tomatoes and some of their juice; season with salt and black pepper. Ladle in about ½ cup shrimp stock (or some beer or chicken broth) to the pan and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes. Return the shrimp to the pan to finish cooking the shrimp. Taste and add salt and pepper, if needed; stir in the parsley, the butter (if using) and remove the pan from the heat. Divide the rice between two bowls and divide the shrimp, tasso, vegetables, and sauce. Serve with cold beer.

Shrimp Stock

Reserved shrimp shells

3 cups cold water

½ teaspoon salt

½ onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1 rib celery, chopped

1. Place the shrimp shells and vegetables into a saucepot; add the water and salt. Place the pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook the stock for twenty minutes. Remove from heat. Strain the stock through a colander or strainer, reserving the liquid. Discard the shells and vegetables.

There is also a recipe for corn and tasso “hash” in the archives 7/8/12

Seasonal Beet Salads

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 14:53:00 +0000

Beets. The line is clearly marked. It's either "yes" or "no". There is no "maybe" with beets.
I am the only person at this web address who will eat beets. If you don't like beets, don't run away just yet. This same idea could be used substituting roasted carrots for the beets (see archives: 9/24/14). What follows is less a recipe but more of a way to approach beet salads throughout the season.

Stick with me, you will understand.

Most beet salads you find in restaurants combine the beets with cheese, usually goat or blue cheese since it complements and off-sets the sweetness of the beets, along with some greens, and nuts. Recently while out with youngest daughter I had a beet salad composed in this manner but the result was cloyingly sweet, using a balsamic vinegar glaze and candied nuts. Sweet upon sweet upon sweet. It was sweeter than some desserts.

So dodging the incredulous looks of my family members, I have been making roasted beet salads. I added some strawberries since they were also in season. I crumbled some blue cheese (gorgonzola dolce) onto the plate, added a few toasted walnuts and some locally grown pea shoots. As the season changes, the strawberries can be replaced with another seasonal berry. You can change the cheese (Birchrun Farms blue? A nice local goat cheese? What about cheddar or a jalapeno jack cheese?), the nuts (hazelnuts? pecans?), and the greens.

You get the idea. Own it.

Instead of boiling, roasting has become the preferred cooking method for beets. Cooking times will wary depending on the size of the beets.

To roast beets:

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Rinse the beets, trim the root ends and cut off the beet greens, if attached. (The beet greens can be sauteed as a replacement for spinach or another green.) Place the beets on a sheet of aluminum foil. Drizzle the beets with olive oil, season with salt and black pepper. You could also add a few springs of fresh thyme, too. Wrap the beets, place the beets onto a baking tray and roast the beets for about 45 minutes to one hour, depending on the size of the beets. The beets are done when they are easily pierced with the point of a knife. Remove from the oven. When the beets are cool enough to handle, peel off the skins (red beets can stain so you might choose to wear a pair of disposable food prep gloves), discard the skins, and store the beets in a covered container in the refrigerator until needed.

Before serving, dice the beets and toss them in a white balsamic vinaigrette (Follow the basic ratio of 1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar mixed with 2 or 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; season with salt, ground black pepper, and a bit of sugar. Mix well and store until needed.)

Pan Roasted Wild Salmon with Roasted Carrots and Carrot Risotto

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 17:36:00 +0000

We’ve been eating a lot of carrots recently, usually roasted and tossed together in a salad. The salad is a variation of a roasted carrot salad from last summer that you can find in the archives (9/24/14).

But with some leftover carrots hanging around I decided to roast them and serve them with some wild Sockeye salmon and a carrot risotto using carrot juice instead of a vegetable or chicken stock. Most stores have fresh carrot juice on hand.

Vegetarians can just make the risotto, chopping and folding the carrots into the risotto at the end.

You don’t even have to use salmon. It would work perfectly well with chicken or pork tenderloin.

For the carrots, I have found bunches of smaller-sized organic carrots (with tops attached) which work perfectly while we wait for locally grown carrots to appear at the farmer’s market. Use any carrot as long as they are cut to a uniform thickness to assure even cooking. I season the carrots with some ground coriander seed, which has a bright, lemony flavor. Ground cumin seed would work too.

The risotto technique may seem radical but it works perfectly and it cuts down on stirring. You still need to stir the rice occasionally to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan as well as to look to make sure the risotto is cooking at a gentle simmer. But in terms of standard risotto technique this is fairly low maintenance.

To strategize your cooking, roast the carrots first and set them aside. Prepare the risotto and set it aside unfinished. Cook the salmon. While the salmon is cooking, finish the risotto as directed. Warm the carrots in the oven when the salmon goes into the oven.

This makes for a very orange plate. Hail beta-carotene.

Pan Roasted Wild Salmon with Roasted Carrots and Carrot Risotto

For two servings

Two 4 to 6 ounce portions of salmon

Salt and ground black pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

Juice of ½ lemon

Roasted Carrots

1 bunch of carrots (about 8 to 10 small-sized carrots or 4 or 5 regular-sized carrots.)

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds

salt and ground black pepper

2 to 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Clean the carrots under cold water and scrub them with a soft bristled brush; they don’t need to be peeled. If they have tops, remove tem and trim the bottom of the carrots. Slice the carrots in half lengthwise. If you are using larger carrots, halve them lengthwise. You might have to cut the carrot in half, crosswise. If the top half of the carrot is thicker than the bottom half, slice the thicker part into quarters. You want to have 16 to 20 pieces of carrot when you are finished.

2. Place the carrots into a bowl. Drizzle them with olive oil and season with the ground coriander, sugar, salt, and ground black pepper. Toss the carrots together to distribute the seasonings. Lay the carrots in an even layer on a foil-lined baking tray. Place the carrots into the oven and roast for 16 minutes. Remove the carrots from the oven and carefully turn them over and return the carrots to the oven to roast for an additional 6- 8 minutes until the carrots are tender; a knife point should easily pierce the carrots. Using the aluminum foil on the tray, wrap the carrots and set aside.

Carrot Risotto
Usually white wine is the first liquid added to a risotto before the addition of stock. I omitted that step for this recipe. You could certainly use white wine. Just alter the first addition of liquid to be read “1/4 cup white wine, followed by ¾ cup carrot juice.” The white wine isn’t really necessary in this risotto. Since this technique will work for any risotto, you might find yourself wishing to include the wine when making a different risotto.
If you have a timer handy, it will help with monitoring the cooking time.

For 2 servings

½ cup Arborio rice

1 Tablespoon minced shallot

1 to 2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 cups carrot juice

2 to 3 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
1 to 2 teaspoons minced chives

1. Place the carrot juice into a saucepan and warm it over medium high heat. Place a second pan over medium-high heat. Swirl in the olive oil; add the shallots and sauté the shallots to soften, about a minute. Add the rice and stir the rice into the shallots and oil. Add 1 cup of the hot carrot juice to the rice and stir together. Season with some salt then cover the pot and lower the heat. The rice should simmer throughout cooking. Occasionally stir the rice to prevent it from sticking, looking to see that the risotto is cooking gently. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes until almost all of the carrot juice has been absorbed. (At this point the risotto can be put aside and finished later).

2. Taste the rice for tenderness: If there are any “crunchy bits” in the center of the rice, it needs to cook longer. To finish the risotto, place the pot over medium-high heat. Add more carrot juice, stir and continue cooking until the rice is cooked through but is still has a toothsome bite to it. When the rice is al dente, taste for seasoning, adding additional salt if needed, some ground black pepper, the cheese, and butter plus the chives. You can add some more stock depending on whether you like your risotto creamy or “tight.” Stir everything together. Turn off the heat, cover and let the risotto stand for about 2 minutes before serving.

Pan Roasted Wild Salmon

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Season the salmon with some salt and ground black pepper. Heat a non-stick sauté pan over high heat. When hot, swirl in a little olive oil. Carefully place the salmon into the pan, skin side up. Cook the salmon for about 3 to 4 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish (a 1” thick fillet will take about 10 minutes total cooking time for well done, so adjust the cooking time to the thickness of your fish and your preferred degree of doneness). Turn the salmon and place it into the oven to finish cooking, about 3 to 4 minutes). Carefully remove the pan from the oven. Remove the salmon from the pan and place it skin-side up onto a paper towel lined plate. If the skin is on the fish and you wish to remove it, it will easily peel off the fillet.

To serve, divide the risotto between two plates. Top the risotto with some roasted carrots, then the salmon and the last of the carrots. Gloss the salmon with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Burrata with Morels

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 16:47:00 +0000

(No. It's burrata...)

With the opening of our local farmer’s market, spring has truly arrived. While it’s early in our growing season, there’s asparagus, plenty of greens, rhubarb, and the long awaited strawberries (fantastic so far this year) and wild mushrooms.

I paired sautéed morels with lightly warmed burrata cheese. Before you think this is a recipe for something you cannot get, remember that this is a template and you can use any mushrooms. The earthy flavor of the warm mushrooms paired with the lushness of burrata make for a great first course (or small plate, in restaurant speak).

Burrata is the mad genius-fever dream of some cheese maker who thought (and I translate freely from Italian), “How can I make mozzarella even better? I know. I’ll fill it with leftover scraps of mozzarella and some cream.” Genius. But more to the point it was no doubt a case of not wanting to waste anything which is so often the inspiration behind great food and cooking.

Burrata is easier to find nowadays thanks in part to the explosion in our love for all things lactic and the ever- expanding cheese selections in stores. The brand I found had two burrata per container and that meant two servings over two different days making it a little less expensive.

My apologies to the lactose intolerant (sorry, sweetie) but this is delicious. And easy.

Burrata with Morels

1 ball burrata cheese

4 ounces morels (or any other mushroom)

1 Tablespoon minced shallot

1 clove garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

salt and ground black pepper

Baguette slices, brushed with olive oil and toasted

1. Heat oven to 250 degrees. Place the burrata into an oven-proof shallow dish and cut the burrata in the middle so the burrata opens. Season the burrata lightly with salt. Set aside.

2. Trim the bottoms off the mushrooms. Rinse them under cold water and slice the mushrooms in half lengthwise, depending on their size (this, of course, will vary depending on the mushrooms you use).

Place a medium-sized sauté pan over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot add the butter and olive oil. After the butter has melted, add the shallots and sauté for a minute or two until the shallots have softened. Add the garlic and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms to the pan, season with some salt and ground black pepper and cook the mushrooms until they are tender, about 5 minutes.

3. While the mushrooms are cooking, place the burrata into the oven to warm for a few minutes; watch so that the burrata doesn’t collapse (if it does, it will still be alright).

4. To serve, remove the burrata from the oven and spoon the cooked mushrooms and their liquid over the cheese. Add a little extra olive oil to the pan to rinse out any remaining shallots or garlic and pour this over the cheese; season with some additional ground black pepper. Serve the burrata/ mushroom mixture with the toasted baguette slices along with a knife and spoon. Make sure that nothing is left behind before calling it quits. Fondue never had it this good.

If you know me at all, there was no choice but to resort to the “Day the Earth Stood Still.”

When life give you pears...you make soup:Cauliflower-Pear Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Wed, 20 May 2015 23:14:00 +0000

Friends are away in Ireland and we’re in charge of their cat. On our first visit we found a note in the kitchen: “There are pears and celery in the refrigerator to take home.”

It immediately reminded me of when my mother would leave for vacation and present us with the few perishables left in her ‘fridge: the remaining milk, bits of this and the last of that (a strip of red bell pepper? Really?).

Alas, we are not fans of pears. There was one particular night of dining that involved an intermezzo of pear sorbet presented to us on little cones. Sorbet courses were big back then. “Palate cleansers” they were called but this sorbet was anything but palate cleansing. It was gritty and way too sweet. Not to mention the embarrassment of sitting in a white linen environment nibbling on little cones of sorbet. It was a culinary misstep at the midpoint of a meal that had yet to reach its disastrous zenith.

I figured I would use the celery and pears in soup. And with the mercurial nature of spring-it’s hot one day, cooler then next-I wanted a soup that could be served either cold or hot. It’s a riff on the classic leek and potato soup with the pears lending a sweet touch.

Since this is soup, measurements don’t need to be precise. I list amounts as the guideline of what I used. But do make sure the pears ripe. How do I tell if a pear is ripe? A ripe pear will give when pressed at the top near the stem. Peel the pears and slice them in half lengthwise. Remove the core and the fibrous bit that runs from the stem to the core. Cut the pears into pieces.

Leeks tend to be sandy so they will need to be rinsed. Trim off the bottom of the leek. Cut away the greenest parts of the leaves at the upper end of the leek. Any trimmings can be frozen for stock. Cut the leek in half lengthwise then slice the leek crosswise, using the white and pale green parts of the leek. Rinse the slices under cold water to loosen and remove any sand.

Cauliflower-Pear Soup

4 cups sliced/chopped cauliflower

2 leeks, cleaned and sliced (3 cups)

2 stalks celery, sliced (1 cup)

2 pears, peeled, cored, and chopped

salt and ground black pepper

1 to 2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

6 cups cold water

½ cup light cream (optional)

1. Place a large (2 quart) sauce pot onto the stove over medium heat. When hot, swirl in the olive oil and the butter. When the butter has melted, add the leeks and celery to the pot and stir together; season with a little salt. Cover and lower the heat and let the leeks and celery begin to soften, about five minutes.

2. Add the cauliflower and pears to the pot. Pour in the water and season with a teaspoon of salt. Cover the pot and raise the heat. When the soup comes up to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the cauliflower is tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool before pureeing the soup using either a blender (puree the soup in batches) or with an immersion blender until smooth. Add the light cream and taste for seasoning (it will need salt), adding some ground black pepper (if you are a purist, use ground white pepper). Serve the soup either chilled on a warm day or hot on a cool day. We’ll leave some of this in our friends’ freezer for when they return home.

Chorizo Tacos with Radish Slaw

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Wed, 13 May 2015 17:56:00 +0000

Listening: Miles Davis Quintet: "Live at the 1963 Monterey Jazz Festival"

Consider the radish. I doubt that you have ever been asked that before and I can understand. It’s just a

radish, the stubby red root relegated to adding crunch and heat to a salad or a crudite plate. It’s usually playing a supporting role and not much more. Not too exciting. No one has ever said, "Hey, I've got this new recipe for radishes!"

We’re most familiar with the chubby, round red variety. But if you are a dedicated radish grower, and I assume there are plenty out there judging from all of the seed catalog offering, you might be familiar with other varieties such as round or icicle shaped white radishes, or the Japanese daikon, or black Spanish radishes (black on the outside, white on the inside), or Chinese varieties in green, rosy pink or those that have a purple center. There’s even a Munich beer radish.

Then there is the current favorite among chefs, the French breakfast radish, a milder, slender and elongated variety often found among the offerings at a farmer’s market. They’re treated like an exotic specimen, much like the French exchange student that steals your attention away from the high school girls you see every day who you suddenly find lack a certain je ne sais quoi, shall I say? Plus you shouldn't eat a French breakfast radish in the way you would eat an ordinary radish. It should be served spread with butter and a sprinkling of sea salt. It’s French, after all.

Lately I have been seeing radishes creep into Mexican food, as a garnish of course but still, there they are. And it does make sense since radishes impart a spicy kick similar to the hot chiles in a salsa. (And now for the science!) The “bite” comes when you chew and combine a chemical compound in radishes (glucosinolate) with an enzyme (myrosinase) and form a “new” compound, allyl isothiocyanate, which is mustard oil. (The mouth as chemical reactor!)
This is also the way that horseradish and wasabi get their pungency.

For this recipe I dispensed with the usual uninspiring shredded lettuce that often finds its way into tacos and replaced it with a cabbage slaw studded with radishes.

This is quick and easy. While this is written for serving two people, the recipe can be increased to feed whatever sized crowd you have on hand. While I added crumbled goat cheese and avocado, you can shape this to how you like your tacos. The slaw would be great with fish tacos.

Radish Slaw

Add the radishes to the slaw right before serving. If they sit in the dressing too long, they will lose their sharpness. You want the bite.

¼ head small green cabbage, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)

1 cup thinly sliced radishes (halve the radishes first, then slice)

½ jalapeno, seeds removed and sliced

juice of one lime

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon sugar

1. Place the cabbage and jalapenos into a bowl. Add the lime juice, salt, ground black pepper, and sugar. Mix well to combine. Cover the bowl and set aside for at least 30 minutes. Right before you are ready to serve the slaw, mix in the radishes.

Chorizo Taco Filling

½ pound (or so)* chorizo sausage (raw, Mexican-style sausage)

½ cup chopped onion

Olive oil, for cooking

1. Remove the chorizo sausage from the casings. Place a medium-sized sauté pan over medium-high heat. Swirl two tablespoons of olive oil into the pan. Add the chorizo to the pan and break it up into pieces. When the chorizo appears to be cooked half way, add the onions, stir, and continue cooking until the chorizo is completely cooked. Taste the chorizo; if the chorizo isn’t as spicy as you like, add some dried chili flakes. Set aside and keep warm.

To assemble:

Corn tortillas

1 cup crumbled goat cheese

one ripe avocado, sliced

1. Warm the corn tortillas in a dry, hot sauté pan or wrapped in foil in a low oven.

Layer the warm chorizo mixture onto a tortilla. Add the crumbled goat cheese and an avocado slice or two. Top with the slaw. Repeat. And repeat again. You get the idea. Get out the napkins and open a cold one.

*I used three sausages, which was a little over 9 ounces. Sausage rarely comes in the exact mount you want.

Radish photos from W. Atlee Burpee & Co.

Split Pea Soup-At Home in the Spring

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Wed, 06 May 2015 19:42:00 +0000

Most people, at least those of us here on the East Coast, would associate split pea soup with winter but I am making this on a warm spring day. Split pea soup is usually made with a smoked ham hock with the hock contributing its smoky flavor to the soup as it cooks. When the peas are soft, you remove the ham, remove the meat from the bone, shred it, and return it to the soup. I had some leftover ham to use up so I omitted the ham hock, adding the diced ham at the end of cooking. Preparing it without the ham hock makes a case for making a vegetarian version of the soup. If you miss the smoky flavor, you could add some mild Spanish smoked paprika (pimenton).

There are green and yellow varieties of split peas. Use whichever you like. I was raised on the green variety. Split peas are high in protein and fiber. Perhaps that’s why General Sir Arthur William Currie decided that pea soup was the perfect food to feed his French-Canadian troops during World War I, resulting in the French-Canadians being called “pea soups” by the English soldiers. The nickname still prevails. Pea soup runs deep with the Quebecois. (And that's this week's CanCon, accomplished without having to resort to Rush or Gordon Lightfoot).

Split Pea Soup, with or without (the ham, that is)

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup diced carrot

2 ribs celery, diced

1 ½ cups split peas

6 cups water

olive oil, for cooking

1 small smoked ham hock

salt and ground black pepper

1. Place a 3 quart sauce pot (or similar) onto the stove over medium-high heat. When hot, swirl two tablespoons olive oil into the pan. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and stir. Season the vegetables with some salt. Cook the vegetables for 4 to 5 minutes to begin softening the onions; lower the heat if necessary.

2. Pick over the split peas to look for any stray bits then rinse the peas under cold water in a colander. Add the split peas to the pot and stir them into the vegetables. Add the cold water and the ham hock (if using). Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer and cover. Cook the split peas for 30 to 40 minutes until they have softened. If you are using a ham hock, remove it from the soup and let it cool before shredding the meat away from the bone. At this point if you have an immersion blender you could puree the soup, either a little or almost completely, depending on your preference. Return the ham to the soup. Taste for seasonings; add salt and ground black pepper to taste. If the soup is too thick, it can easily be thinned with some additional water. And a little hot sauce is a good option, too.

I know this soup is right at home on a winter’s night, but it’s perfect on an spring evening.

Rhubarb-Orange Cream Tart

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 22:17:00 +0000

“You can never hold back spring.

Remember everything spring can bring.

Baby, you can never hold back spring.”*

It’s time to begin year three of “Pie Night," our weekly evening of pie with friends. And we begin with rhubarb, one of the early signs of spring although in complete honesty it hasn’t pushed its way up toward the sun around here just yet.

For this year, it’s a tart filled with an orange pastry cream, topped with rhubarb and a simple crumb mixture. I know it might appear to be a lot of steps, but relax. The different “components” of the tart can be made over a couple of days and assembled when needed. Each step will take a small amount of time and then they will all be ready when you are.

Since it’s a new season I included the sablee crust recipe below so you don’t have to go digging through the archives for the recipe. And if you panic at the thought of making a crust, this is easy to make. It’s essentially a cookie dough and it’s very forgiving. Any mistakes can be easily repaired. It’s not the prima donna that some find the standard flour-shortening-water pie crusts to be. The sablee dough needs be made at least a day in advance and allowed to chill in the refrigerator. It can hold for well over a week, longer if frozen. The pate sablee can be made by hand, mixing it together in a bowl the way you would make a cookie dough or with an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.

The pastry cream filling should be made at least a day in advance. Pastry cream is usually thickened with flour or cornstarch (I prefer the texture of cornstarch) but lately I have been playing with rice flour and use it for the pastry cream. If rice flour isn’t available to you, you can substitute with cornstarch.

The crumb topping can be made in a mixer or by hand. You can make it ahead of time and store it in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

Rhubarb- Orange Cream Tart

For one 10” tart

1 pound rhubarb stalks, sliced into ½” wide pieces (about 4 cups sliced rhubarb)

½ cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

Orange Pastry Cream

1 Grade A large egg

1 egg yolk (from a Grade A Large egg)

¼ cup sugar

1 ½ Tablespoons rice flour (or cornstarch)

pinch salt

1Tablespoon grated orange zest

1 cups milk or half & half

1 to 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the egg and yolk together. Whisk in the sugar and then add the rice flour (or cornstarch) and salt, mixing until smooth. Set aside.

2. Place the milk/ half & half and butter into a stainless saucepan. Place the pan onto the stove over medium-high heat until the butter has melted and the milk is hot. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk some of the hot milk into the egg mixture (This is known as "tempering" the eggs). Pour the egg mixture back into the pan, whisking it together with the milk in the pan. Place the pan back over medium-high heat and whisk until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Remove pan from the heat. Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl or a container. Cover the top pastry cream with a piece of plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the pastry cream. Let the pastry cream cool then place it into the refrigerator to cool completely.

Pate Sablee

¼ pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

½ cup confectioner’s sugar

1 Grade A large egg yolk

1 1/3 cups plain cake flour

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1. Place the butter into a medium-sized bowl and beat until smooth. Add the sugar and blend until fluffy. Mix in the egg yolk and then add the flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix until all of the ingredients are combined. Remove dough from the bowl. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed.

Crumb Topping

1 cup all purpose flour

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup dark brown sugar

pinch salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground (dry) ginger

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1. Place all of the dry ingredients into a bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces. Add the butter to the bowl and mix together until small crumbs form. This can either be done in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or by hand using a pastry blender or mixing it with your impeccably clean hands. Set aside completed crumb mixture or store it in a sealable plastic bag in the refrigerator until needed.

Assembling the Tart

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. When you are ready to roll the dough remove it from the refrigerator for 10 minutes to allow it to begin to soften. While you are waiting for the dough to soften, rinse the rhubarb under cold water. Slice the rhubarb crosswise into ½” pieces. You should have about 4 cups sliced rhubarb. Place the sliced rhubarb into a bowl. Add ½ cup sugar and mix together. Set the rhubarb aside.

3. Working on a floured surface, cut the dough into pieces and knead until the dough is smooth. Roll

the dough out to 1/8^th” thickness; for a 10” tart, the dough should be about 12” in diameter. Use extra flour to prevent the dough from sticking as you are working. Fit the dough into the tart pan. Lift and place the dough into the pan; don’t stretch it into place. Remove any excess dough by cutting it off of the edge of the pan. Save any scraps if you need to make any repairs. Just press pieces of the soft dough into the crust if necessary. Using a fork, lightly prick the crust on the bottom and sides. Refrigerate before baking.

3. To bake the crust, line the dough with a piece of aluminum foil. Fill the foil with rice, dried beans, or pie weights. Place the tart shell onto a baking tray and bake the tart shell for 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven. Carefully remove the foil with the rice/beans or pie weights. Return the empty tart shell to the oven and bake for 5 additional minutes. Remove and let cool. Any rice or dried beans used to line the foil can be saved and reused.

4. Raise oven temperature to 375 degrees. Remove pastry cream from refrigerator and stir with a spoon until smooth. Spread the pastry cream in an even layer in the tart shell. Mix the rhubarb with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch. Spoon the rhubarb and half of the juices in an even layer on top of the pastry cream. Cover the rhubarb with the crumb mixture; there will be some crumb topping left over.

5. Place the tray with the tart into the oven and bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, lower the temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for an additional 45 to 55 minutes, when the rhubarb is bubbling. Remove from oven and let cool.

Serve with some whipped cream. Spring is here.

*"You Can Never Hold Back Spring" by Tom Waits

If you'd like directions for a plain rhubarb crumb pie, that's available in the archives, May 4, 2012. My first post.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower and Tomatoes

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Wed, 08 Apr 2015 20:23:00 +0000

“I think the President put it best

When he gave his big address

He said, I know what they told you in the press

But people, spring is just around the corner

Trust me, spring is just around the corner.”*

I was listening to the radio the other week when I heard a comment that surprised me. It was that while many people cook confidently, many get apprehensive when it comes to cooking something vegetarian.

Well, this is vegetarian and I hope most cooks will find this easy, the experienced and the apprehensive alike. Don't be put off by the number of steps; it's just a way of making each step clear as you will see when you read it. Although there is an added step of making a cauliflower puree as a sauce base, you can ignore it (and I’ll give you an easy substitution) but I’ve included it to boost the flavor of the dish. The puree makes use of leftover cauliflower. You can use the stem or some florets or both. The puree enriches the pasta without using cream. It's an easy technique to add to your skill set. And it uses something you might think of tossing out. Remember, "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." That was Teddy Roosevelt, not some famous chef, who said that but that's what cooking is all about.

This is a dinner for spring, when cauliflower is enjoying its last days of “winter vegetable” status but it will also work in the summer. Cauliflower and tomatoes appear at our local farmers market about the same time so don’t think about this as only for early spring, although some may question my sanity by suggesting that you roast cauliflower on a hot summer night.

Since I’m most often cooking for two, I select small-sized heads of cauliflower but sometimes that isn’t an option. I added some grape tomatoes for sweetness. They can be roasted at the same time as the cauliflower. I used whole wheat pasta because it works well with the flavor of the roasted cauliflower. I chose rotini because I thought the sauce would work its way into the little spirals of the pasta, which it does, but you can use what you like.

Whole Wheat Rotini with Roasted Cauliflower and Tomatoes

For two servings

4 ounces (dry) whole wheat rotini (or other pasta)

2 cups cauliflower florets, cut into bit-sized pieces

16-18 grape tomatoes

1 cup chopped trimmings from the cauliflower

1 cup water

½ teaspoon salt

1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced

olive oil

salt and ground black pepper

2 to 3 Tablespoons chopped fresh basil

2 to 3 Tablespoons freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese (or Parmesan cheese)

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, optional

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Toss the cauliflower pieces with salt and pepper and olive oil to coat and spread the cauliflower out in one layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. Place the cauliflower into the oven and roast for 16 minutes; remove the cauliflower from the oven after that time and turn the cauliflower so it browns evenly. Return the cauliflower to roast for and additional 5 or 6 minutes. The cauliflower should be tender; a knife should easily pierce the cauliflower. Remove cauliflower from the oven. Wrap the foil around the cauliflower to allow it to steam while it cools. Set aside.

2. At the same time, place the grape tomatoes into a second foil-lined pan. Drizzle the tomatoes with some olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the tomatoes into the oven to roast for 16 minutes or until slightly blistered. Remove from oven and set aside.

3. While the cauliflower and tomatoes are roasting, place the chopped cauliflower trimmings into a small saucepan with the water and ½ teaspoon salt. Place onto the stove over high heat and bring to a boil; reduce the heat and simmer until the cauliflower pieces are completely soft, about 10 minutes. Set aside and let cool slightly before pureeing.

4. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water for one minute less than suggested cooking time: the pasta is going to finish cooking in the pan with the sauce. While waiting for the pasta to cook, puree the cauliflower pieces until smooth using either an immersion blender or regular blender and set aside.

5. Place a sauté pan onto the stove over medium-high heat. When hot, swirl in about two tablespoons olive oil. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the roasted cauliflower and tomatoes to the pan; add any juices from the tomatoes, too. Add the cauliflower puree (or ½ cup of the pasta water) to the pan. Let the sauce begin reducing.

6. When the pasta is ready, drain the pasta and add it to the pan; season generously with ground black pepper, the chopped basil and cheese. Mix together and let the sauce thicken. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary. Add the butter, if using, right before serving and mix together.

7. Divide the pasta between two bowls and serve. Add additional cheese if you wish.

*from Spring is Just Around the Corner, by Richard Julian

The Rice Bowl Project-Mushroom Rice

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 19:01:00 +0000

"Endless rice." These two words appear on the inside of the menu at a Filipino restaurant which I read about recently. Oldest Daughter's Southern Beau is half-Filipino and believe me, rice runs deep with him. So much so that I have learned to adjust the amount of rice I make when he comes. The first time I made rice with dinner, my daughter leaned over to him and whispered, "The rice is for everyone." You learn and make adjustments. Rice is to him what mashed potatoes are to her: comfort.
This recipe was influenced by one of the rice pots on the menu at SakaMai, a Japanese restaurant in New York City. It’s simple and filled with the satisfying flavor of umami, the “meaty” flavor called the “fifth” taste in Japanese cuisine. At Saki Mai, they take it over the top with shaved truffle, but we’ll overlook that here. For the rice’s cooking liquid they use dashi, the traditional Japanese broth/cooking stock made from kombu (edible kelp) and kezurikatsuo (preserved and fermented tuna). The kezurikatsuo imparts umami to the rice, but I rely on the flavors of the mushrooms and some soy sauce for that in this recipe. Both of those ingredients are rich in umami.

Any rice will work. I chose brown Japanese rice but as long as you follow the cooking directions for the rice you choose, the recipe will work just as easily. I used a 4 ounce package of mixed mushrooms (crimini, shiitake, and oyster) that were readily available to me. It’s too early for fresh wild mushrooms so I will have to put off making this with wild mushrooms for a few weeks longer. You could also use dried mushrooms. You won’t need four ounces since they expand when they hydrate. 1½ to 2 ounces should be enough. If you do use dried mushrooms, cover them with hot water and leave them to soak until tender. Carefully drain the soaking liquid watching for any sediment and use the flavor rich liquid as part of the cooking liquid for your rice.

I skipped the truffles. Not practical. SakiMai also uses some truffle butter. My local grocery store had D’Artagnan’s truffle butter but I found that it didn’t add that much additional flavor. I drizzled some truffle oil on the completed rice but that was only because I had some on hand. (I am the lucky recipient of food gifts from friends and family).

I know it’s just a bowl of rice and mushrooms, but what is a mushroom risotto after all? You could also use the mushroom rice to accompany a protein of your choosing. Or pair it with a salad or with a sautéed vegetable. It’s your choice.

Mushroom Rice Bowl

For two servings

4 ounces mushrooms (your choice)

1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced

salt and ground black pepper

olive oil, for cooking the mushrooms

½ cup rice

1 cup water

½ teaspoon light soy sauce

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, optional

1. Rinse and slice the mushrooms. Place a medium-sized sauté pan onto the stove over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, swirl in about two tablespoons of olive oil into the pan. Add the mushrooms; season with some salt and pepper and cook the mushrooms until tender, about five minutes. Remove pan from heat and set aside.

2. Place a medium-sized saucepan onto the stove. Add the water to the pot and season with the soy sauce. Add the butter (if using). Bring the water to a boil. Stir in the rice. Place the cooked mushrooms and any cooking liquid in the pan into the pot. Stir, then cover the pot. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook the rice until all of the liquid has been absorbed. Mix the cooked rice together with the mushrooms and serve.

The bowl, or chawan, pictured here and above was made by Mitch Iburg, a gifted potter currently

living and working in Mendocino, CA. You can view his work at his website:

http://www.mitchiburg.com/

Milanese

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 19:19:00 +0000

Milanese ( or the phrase a la Milanese,“ in the style of Milan”) often refers to the method of preparing cutlets (either veal, pork, chicken, or turkey) by pounding them thin after which they are breaded and pan fried. The German speaking parts of the world refer to this as schnitzel (from the German word “sniz” meaning “cut”). Similar preparations are found worldwide and no wonder since it’s an easy and quick meal. You could finish the cutlets with lemon wedges or in a simple tomato sauce but I prefer topping the cutlets with a tangle of mixed greens. It’s light but deeply satisfying. Vegetarians, don’t despair. You can use eggplant. Slice it thinly. There’s no need to pound it. And while it has nothing to do with Milanese, the breading method works perfectly for firm, white fish fillets, such as fluke, tilapia, grouper, etc. It could just make a fish eater out of your pickiest eater. Or at least make your Friday night fish fry a little fancier.

I am guessing that this preparation came about from finding a way of dealing with tougher cuts of meat. By pounding the cutlets thinner, you break down the meat fibers thereby tenderizing them. Today that’s not as important but the thin nature of the cutlets means fast cooking. Ideally the oil in your pan should be hot enough so that as the bread crumbs brown on each side, the meat cooks through. A few minutes cooking on each side and you’re done.

As I said, you can use any meat. Thin sliced boneless pork loin that you find in the store is perfect since it will require less pounding. As for chicken, make slices from a breast. Don’t pound an entire breast. Turkey cutlets may be harder to find so you could make thin slices from a boned breast. If it’s more than you need, slice, wrap, and freeze the remaining turkey breast to use at a later date. (Those of you close to Philly’s Reading Terminal Market have Godshall’s as your go to place for all things meleagris).

When you are pounding the meat, don’t think of it in the same way as you would if you were hammering a nail. You want to thin the meat, not take out your frustrations on it. Place the thin slice of meat between plastic wrap and pound it out to about twice its original thickness without tearing it. A meat mallet will work but you can substitute with a rolling pin.

The breading step is the classic combination of flour, beaten egg, and bread crumbs. This method uses the “wet hand, dry hand” technique where one hand dredges the cutlet in the flour—your dry hand—while your other hand puts the floured cutlet into the egg wash and then into the bread crumbs, preventing both hands from becoming a floury, crumby mess. While an Italian might use plain bread crumbs, I like the not-so-traditional Japanese panko bread crumbs. You could also season the bread crumbs with a tablespoon or two of your favorite herb.

The salad for the cutlets can be any mix of greens or just one such as arugula. You could add some cheese to the mix, perhaps some shaved Parmesan, or goat cheese or a blue. Keep it fresh by making your own vinaigrette for the salad. It can be as simple as some olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. I include our “house” vinaigrette recipe below if you want it.

Milanese

For two servings

6 to 8 ounces pork, chicken or turkey (or eggplant), sliced thinly

1/4 cup all purpose flour

salt and ground black pepper

1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon of water

1 cup bread crumbs

olive oil, for cooking

lemon wedges, optional

two good handfuls of salad green and some vinaigrette

1. Pound the cutlets gently to twice their size between pieces of plastic wrap then set them aside. Pounding hint: Place a folded kitchen towel under your cutting board. This will help to muffle most of the noise.

2. Place a baking rack onto a baking sheet. This will be for the completed cutlets after they have been breaded and later after they are cooked.

3. Set up your breading station: Place the flour onto a plate and season with 1 teaspoon salt and some ground black pepper and mix together. Beat the egg and water until blended and place it onto a second plate. Place the bread crumbs onto a third plate and season them if you wish, mixing the herbs evenly into the bread crumbs.

Going one at a time and starting with your left hand, dredge each pounded cutlet into the flour, shaking of any excess. Pass the cutlet to your right hand. Use your right hand to coat them in the egg wash and lastly into the bread crumbs, coating both sides. Set the breaded cutlet onto the wire rack. Repeat until all of the cutlets are breaded. Discard any leftover flour and bread crumbs; it should work out that you will use up most of the flour and crumbs.

4. Place a large sauté pan onto the stove over high heat. Add enough oil to the pan so that there’s about 1/8 ” of oil in the pan. When the oil is hot, add the cutlets to the pan; you may have to do this in two batches. Cook the cutlets until the bread crumbs are nicely browned. Turn the cutlets over and cook on the opposite side until brown. You can always flip them back over if they haven’t completely browned. Remove cutlets from the pan and place them back onto the wire rack. Cover loosely with a piece of aluminum foil to keep warm. Repeat until all of the cutlets are cooked; reduce the heat under the pan if they appear to be cooking too quickly. You may need to add more oil to the pan.

5. Place the salad greens (and cheese) into a bowl and mix with a few tablespoons of vinaigrette. To serve, divide the cutlets onto two plates and top each with some of the salad. Alternately, you could serve the cutlets with lemon wedges with the salad on the side. I like mine with the salad on top. My red-haired food co-pilot prefers the latter presentation. Crispy, crunchy, and delicious, what more would you want?

“House” vinaigrette

A classic vinaigrette has 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar but when I make it, I change the ratio slightly because I like a slight vinegar bite. I like a combination of red wine and sherry vinegars but that’s me. I also use a mix of canola oil and extra virgin olive oil. Do as you wish. The vinegar/oil ratio is the most important part of a vinaigrette. You can use the shallots and/ or garlic or not. It depends on your taste.

This makes a small batch of dressing, more than you will need for the recipe but it can be stored in the refrigerator for future use. I make and store my vinaigrette in a small container. If you have a small clean jar, it’s perfect for the task. Just add everything and shake.

3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 to 2 teaspoons finely minced shallot

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 Tablespoon honey (optional)

½ teaspoon salt

ground black pepper

9 Tablespoons oil (extra virgin olive oil or canola, or a combination of both)

1. Place the vinegar, shallots, and garlic into a small jar and let stand for a few minutes (The acid of the vinegar will pull out some of the flavors from the shallot and garlic and flavor the vinegar). Add the mustard and honey and stir together; season with salt and ground black pepper. Add the oil. Close the jar securely and shake until the vinaigrette is mixed together. Shake again before use. Spoon enough vinaigrette over the salad to even coat (but not drown) the salad and toss to distribute the vinaigrette evenly. (Alternately this can be made in a bowl. Mix everything except the oil together. While whisking, slowly add the oil to create a smooth vinaigrette. Store the vinaigrette in a small container in the refrigerator until needed. (If you had a small container in the first place you wouldn’t be using a bowl, would you?)

Irish Soda Bread

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 13:25:00 +0000

“Tomorrow was St. Patrick’s Day, I’m a layman now I don’t have to pray.”*

“There is no bread to be had equal to it for invigorating the body, promoting digestion, strengthening the stomach, and improving the state of the bowels.” -from an article in the Newry Telegraph, a N. Ireland newspaper, about 1836.

Irish soda bread is a bread born out of poverty. Flour? Got it. Baking soda? Salt? Got it. Buttermilk? Got it.” In this recipe I swap out half of the white flour for whole wheat flour. This is a little more “complicated” than many soda bread recipes that by their nature are as bare bones as you can get. I make no claims for it like those in the Newry Telegraph, but it is good. You could use this for a Leopold Bloom-style gorgonzola sandwich on Bloomsday (June 16^th). Glass of burgundy is optional. “God made food, the devil the cooks.”

Irish Soda Bread

An easy recipe to make.

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/3 cup brown sugar (either light or dark; dark will lend a molasses accent to the bread)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

¼ cup dried currants or raisins

1 ½ cups buttermilk

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Place all of the dry ingredients and the butter into the bowl of a stand

mixer. (Alternatively, this can be mixed by hand). Mix the dry ingredients with the paddle attachment to break the butter into the flour. Add the buttermilk and mix until the dough comes together; if the dough appears to be a little dry, add a little more buttermilk until it comes together.

2. Empty the dough onto a clean, lightly floured surface and knead the dough together. Pat the dough out into a circle about 7” round. Lightly dust the top with flour. Cut a cross into the top of the loaf about ½ “ deep. Place the soda bread onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake the soda bread for 40 to 45 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool, slice and serve. Irish butter is optional.

*from Me and My Friend the Cat, Loudon Wainwright III

Braised Beef Shanks

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 20:16:00 +0000

You may have read once before when I wrote about the steep rise in the price of what were once called “cheap cuts,” those less desirable pieces of beef whose magic is revealed only after a long, slow, flavorful braise. Let’s face it, everything has gone up in price. And I know my profession is somewhat to blame since the demand for these cuts has been driven by a new generation of chefs looking for menu offerings beyond the all-too-familiar steak.

But there is a slightly not-so-expensive alternative, the beef shank.

This cut is becoming more familiar in the meat section. They often get suggested as being used for soup, but you’d be missing something. They might be labeled as either "shanks" or "shins (shin could refer to the fore shank). Whichever way it may be labeled won’t make a difference in the end product

The most well known preparation of beef shanks is osso buco, the Italian classic that uses veal, not beef, shanks. After the long braise, you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference and I doubt you’d care.

I used two beef shanks for the two of us, two big pieces cut crosswise like something out of a Flintstones fantasy. Each shank weighed about a pound which is enough for four servings, or for us, two meals.

I like to use a combination of red wine and port for braising. I like the sweet flavor that port imparts. If you use port, make sure it’s the inexpensive variety, not the one you might pull out to drink after dinner. You could use just red wine or even a white wine, the traditional choice for osso buco.

I served this with a gorgonzola risotto. (“So why no recipe?” More on that later.*) Risotto is often the traditional accompaniment to osso buco in Northern Italy. I got the gorgonzola idea inspired by the rich and delicious gorgonzola gnocchi I once had with the osso buco cooked by my friend chef John Bruno at his place Ristorante Toscano.
You can serve it with whatever you desire.

I served the shanks with the meat taken off the bone since the two shanks had enough meat for four servings. You don’t have to. It all depends on the size of the shanks you get, how "restauranty" you want to be in your presentation or just how much of a Flinstones mood you’re in at the time.

Braised Beef Shanks

Like any braised dish, this can be made a few days ahead and kept in the refrigerator until needed where it will get even better.

Tying the shanks with a piece of kitchen twine around the outside will help the shanks maintain their shape while cooking.

2 beef shanks

1 cup diced onion

2 carrots, sliced into ½” pieces

1 rib celery, sliced in half lengthwise, then cut crosswise into ½” pieces

1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon tomato paste

1 Tablespoon all purpose flour

½ cup red wine

½ cup port

6 to 8 sprigs fresh thyme, tied in a bundle

1 cup beef or chicken stock

Salt and ground black pepper

Olive oil, for cooking

1. Heat oven to 300 degrees. Pat the beef shanks dry with paper towels. Tie a piece of kitchen twine around the outside edge of each shank. Season both sides of the shanks with salt and pepper. Place a 6 quart Dutch oven onto the stove over high heat. When the pot is hot, swirl 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil into the pot. Place the shanks into the pot; depending on the size of the shanks, you might have to brown them one at a time. Cook the shanks for 3 to 4 minutes until nicely browned. Turn and brown the shanks on the other side. Remove the shanks from the pot to a plate and let the pan cool down slightly.

2. Place the pot back over medium-high heat. Swirl about 2 tablespoons olive oil into the pot and add the onions/carrots/celery mixture. Stir to loosen the brown bits on the bottom of the pot. Season the vegetables with some salt and pepper. Cook for about 3 to 4 minutes to soften the onions. Push the vegetables to the side of the pot and add the garlic; cook the garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir the garlic into the vegetables and push them aside again. Add the tomato paste to the pan and stir, cooking to toast the tomato paste, about 30 seconds. Add the flour and stir it into the vegetables allowing it to cook for another 30 seconds. Pour the wine (and port) into the pot, stir and cook for a minute or so, then add the bundle of thyme and the stock to the pot and stir together. Return the shanks to the pot and nestle them in among the vegetables and liquid. Cover the pot and bring it to a boil. Place the pot into the oven and cook for 2 ½ to 3 hours. The meat should be fork- tender and falling off the bones. Remove from the oven. (If you are putting the shanks away to use on another day, let cool and store the shanks along with the vegetables and cooking liquid in the refrigerator. When you reheat the shanks you might want to brighten the flavor of the sauce with a splash of wine). When cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bone if you so desire. Taste for seasoning and serve with the sauce and vegetables.

*About the gorgonzola risotto- It's’s a risotto finished with pieces of gorgonzola cheese stirred in at the end. Nothing difficult there. But I am saving a new, easier technique for risotto for a future post. I figured that including it now would only drag this out longer than necessary and it really isn’t essential to enjoying the shanks. So get braising and we’ll catch up later.

**And yes, you can make this in a crock pot. It helps if you have one that allows you to brown the meat. If not, you could do the initial cooking steps in a pot then transfer it to your crock pot.

Kale Sprouts

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Wed, 18 Feb 2015 13:02:00 +0000

(photo credit: Tozer Seeds)

We’ve all heard or read a lot about kale or Brussels sprouts and how good they are for you. I’m just as guilty for the word count on these two veg. Now imagine that there could be a love child of these two ultra popular brassicas. It’s as if someone thought, “Hey, kale and Brussels sprouts are really hot. What if we crossbreed them?” What you would get is the kale sprout. But it took 15 years of hybrid research, so that they have arrived at the peak of kale and Brussels sprouts popularity is sheer luck. It was all the hard work of Tozer Seeds in England.

Kale Sprouts are a cross between red Russian kale and Brussels sprouts and like Brussels sprouts, they grow on tall, upright plants. One grower remarked that kale sprouts can be tricky to grow and that they take twice as long to mature than most other crops.

Now it gets a little confusing.

In England, Tozer Seeds sells their hybrid under the trademarked name of “Kalettes.” In the United States, the seeds are marketed as “Flower Sprouts.” In grocery stores they are sold labeled as “Lollipop Sprouts,” “Lollipop Kale,” or “Kale Sprouts,” which is how they are sold at Trader Joe’s where I found them. But they’re all the same thing.

If you are someone who is put off by kale or Brussels sprouts for a personal reason, you will probably prefer Kale Sprouts. They are milder in flavor than either of the “parent” plants and there is no bad way to cook them.

Since they are tender, they can be chopped and served raw in a salad, perhaps with some seasonal orange segments (Cara Cara anyone?), sliced red onion, and a toasted nut of your choice. And go ahead and add a little cheese, too. Roasting kale sprouts takes no time: slice them in half lengthwise, toss them with some olive oil, salt and ground black pepper, spread them onto a baking sheet and roast them a 425 degree oven for about 5 minutes until slightly charred and crispy.

Kale sprouts can be blanched then sautéed, alone or mixed with other vegetables. And if you are interested in the numbers, 3 ½ ounces of kale sprouts contain twice the amount of vitamin B6 and twice the vitamin C of a similar amount of Brussels sprouts. They are also high in vitamin E.

The other night I sautéed some kale sprouts and served them over salmon along with Cheddar potato cakes. Wonderful.

Sautéed Kale Sprouts with Pancetta and Lemon

For two servings

I used prepackaged diced pancetta. You could also use diced bacon or prociutto, too. Vegetarians, you can omit the tasty meat part.

4 ounces kale sprouts

2 Tablespoons diced pancetta

1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced

red pepper flakes, to taste (optional)

olive oil, for cooking

salt and ground black pepper

juice of half a lemon

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, optional

1. Rinse the kale sprouts in a colander under cold water and let drain. Trim off the bottom of the sprouts and set aside.

2. Place a sauté pan filled with ½ “ of lightly salted water onto the stove over high heat. When the water comes to a boil, add the sprouts, cover and let cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the stove and drain the kale sprouts into a colander. Refresh the sprouts under cold running water until cool. Set aside.

3. Return the sauté pan to the stove over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, swirl in about 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the pancetta and cook the pancetta (or bacon) until it is brown and crispy. Reduce the heat and add the garlic and hot pepper flakes to the pan and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. (Since the pan is hot, watch the garlic so it doesn’t brown or burn. You might need to pull he pan off the heat). When the garlic is fragrant, return the kale sprouts to the pan, season with salt and ground black pepper, and stir together. Right before serving add the lemon juice, and the butter, mixing everything together. Easy. Simple. Delicious.

(When I served the kale sprouts with the salmon, I added a little extra olive oil so that the liquid in the pan with the sprouts became a simple sauce to spoon over the fish).

The Rice Bowl Project: Coconut Curry Cauliflower

noreply@blogger.com (Good Food Happy Man) — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 23:34:00 +0000

“We eat rice and worship our ancestors”-old Charleston saying

When Siddhartha (the future Buddha) set off on his journey seeking enlightenment, at one point he attempted a path of asceticism that led him to starvation and almost certain death. One day toward the end of this six-year journey he allowed his mind drift back to his boyhood. He felt a sense of pure joy and with it the realization he could not sustain this joy if he didn’t eat. And at that moment a young woman of the village appeared offering him a bowl of rice gruel, saying, “Here, eat.” His was a decision not toward death but toward living.

Humans love stories. Whether you choose to believe it or not isn’t important. It’s the lesson.

To eat is the daily reaffirming of living.

Rice is the most widely eaten staple food in the world, providing over one-fifth of human daily caloric intake. It’s humble. It’s everyday. Combined with a small amount vegetables and perhaps some type of protein, it forms a substantial meal, a meal for many throughout the world. Rice can also be elevated into a risotto or a paella or a jambalaya. But it’s still rice.

As for rice in America, it certainly didn’t come over with we Northern Europeans; we had no rice culture.

The story they would like you to believe is that rice arrived in America, in South Carolina, in 1685 on board a ship from Madagascar that had put in for repairs. This is still the story put forth by the Carolina rice company today although most scholars have found little evidence for this claim.

Rice cultivation in the United States actually goes back to 1675 with Italian immigrants planting rice in South Carolina, followed by French Huguenots who brought with them rice from Spain. By 1710 it was the work of African slaves.

Plantation owners advertised for slaves specifically from West Africa who would be familiar with the planting and harvesting rice. It was a situation that worked for the plantation owners until the end of the Civil War. Emancipation put a slow end to rice farming which dwindled away and disappeared in South Carolina by the early 1900’s. The planting, harvesting, threshing, and hulling of the rice crop, all of which was done by hand, is hard work. It wasn’t hard to make the decision to walk away and on to a new life up North.

Rice was (and remains) an important part of Southern culture. It’s a cultural heritage. Rice had been its leading export for years and it formed an important part of Southern cuisine, from plain boiled and buttered rice or the every-Monday red beans and rice of New Orleans.

photo credit-UC Davis

Recently I set off on a project of rice-centered dinners, not as an attempt of self-imposed austerity but simply to use what I have on hand and using these limitations to allow myself to be inspired. While they are presented as recipes, they are open for personal interpretation, to your own inspiration if you will. Except for techniques, you can substitute ingredients. They need not be followed exactly as put forth. I know that I may have some ingredients on hand that you do not. That comes from my long association with cooking. For the recipes I have avoided buying too much of what I don’t have on hand already. This is the first of many.

Here. Eat.

photo credit: Panyaden School, Chiang Mai, Thailand*

Coconut Curry Cauliflower

I had made this one night with chicken and decided to make it a second time sans chicken, using the remaining cauliflower. You could just as easily sauté some pieces of chicken breast and cut down on the amount of cauliflower but honesty, you won’t miss this chicken if you don’t.

I used a store-bought curry powder; I know this isn’t the typical approach of many Indian cooks. Even though I have most of the ingredients found in curry powder, a store bought blend is the easiest for most people to find and use. The heat level varies from blend to blend, so my measurement might not be the same as yours. I used pistachios but any other unsalted nut (cashews, almonds, even peanuts) will work.

2 cups cauliflower florets, cut into pieces

½ onion, diced (about 2/3 cup)

½ medium red bell pepper, sliced lengthwise into ¼” thick strips

½ Tablespoon Minced garlic

½ Tablespoon fresh ginger, either grated or finely chopped

1 Tablespoon curry powder

1 cup coconut milk

2 cups cooked rice

¼ cup unsalted pistachios

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish

salt and ground black pepper

olive oil, for cooking

1. Place a small sauté pan over medium-high heat. When warm, add the nuts and toast the nuts until lightly browned. Remove the pan from the heat and empty the nuts onto a plate to cool. Set aside.

2. Place a large sauté with ½ cup lightly salted water onto the stove over high heat. When the water comes to a boil, add the cauliflower and cook until the cauliflower just starts to become tender, about 2 to 3 minutes, depending on their size. Remove from heat, drain the cauliflower into a colander, and refresh under cold running water. Set aside.

3. Return the pan to the stove over medium-high heat. When hot, swirl in about 2 tablespoons olive oil into the pan. Add the onions and red bell pepper. Cook to begin softening the vegetables, about 3 to 4 minutes; if they take on a little color, it’s fine. Adjust heat as needed.

4. Add the garlic and ginger to the pan and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds, then stir the garlic/ginger into the peppers and onions. Push the vegetables aside and add the curry powder. Let the curry powder toast for a few seconds then mix it into the vegetables. Add the coconut milk and stir together. Return the cauliflower to the pan; if the coconut milk appears too thick, you can thin it with a little water. Season to taste with some salt and ground black pepper. Cover the pan, lower the heat and simmer gently until the cauliflower is tender.

5. While the vegetables are cooking, place the rice into a strainer over a pot of simmering water to steam; make sure the water level in the pot doesn’t touch the strainer.

6. To serve, add the nuts to the rice and stir together. Divide the rice between two plates. Divide the vegetables between the two plates, spooning the vegetables and sauce over the rice. Garnish each portion with some chopped cilantro and serve.

A Quick Rice Tutorial
Making rice is incredibly easy. As one of the world's basic foods, it has to be although some have difficulties with it so here is a quick tutorial.
First, if you're going to make rice, make more than you need so you will have leftover rice to use a day or two later. Rice is usually a 2:1 ratio, two parts water to one part rice (unless otherwise directed by the package directions). 1 cup of rice cooked in two cups of water will yield 4 cups of rice. You see why it feeds the world; so little makes so much.
I make brown rice varieties which take longer to cook. I always use a timer: as when I make risotto, the timer keeps track of the cooking so you don't have to. Lightly salt the boiling water, add the rice, stir, and cover the pot. Lower the heat to low so the rice gently simmers. Brown rice takes about 45 minutes to cook, so I set the timer for 35 minutes. After 35 minutes have passed, I check the rice. By tilting the pan, you can see how much water is left in the pan, which means additional cooking time. I usually let the rice cook for another five minutes, then check the rice again. By this time, the water should been absorbed. Turn off the heat and leave the rice covered to let the rice steam and absorb what little water is left. Do not stir the rice, in fact don't stir the rice at all while it's cooking. After the rice has sat for another ten minutes (or longer), gently fluff the rice with a fork. The rice should separate into individual grains. If it doesn't, gently heat the rice for a few more minutes or put the rice into a strainer and steam the rice over a pot of simmering water to finish.

*The Panyaden School in North Thailand integrates Buddhist values with its modern curriculum. To read about their rice planting adventure: http://www.panyaden.ac.th/blog/planting-rice/