the zen kitchen

ratatouille lasagna

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:20:44 PDT

We've been trying to heed the advice of many nutritionists by cutting back on the amount of meat we're eating. Mark Bittman makes the case for "vegan before dinnertime", but we found that a little too restrictive since we like the occasional cold-cut sandwich for lunch. So we've modified the philosophy by trying to eat meat at only one meal per day; so far it has worked out pretty well.

Stuck on what to do with a boatload of veggies the other day, I realized I had everything I needed for ratatouille. As exciting as stewed vegetables sound, we wanted something a little more substantial for dinner. As it happened, I also had no-boil lasagna noodles -- hmm, would subbing ratatouille for the meat in my lasagna recipe work? As it happens, it works marvelously!

For the ratatouille, I used Alice Waters' recipe from The Art of Simple Food. You could use any recipe (this one is good) as long as you remember to chop your vegetables on the small side. Most recipes call for a 1/2 inch dice, but that is a little too chunky for a lasagna filling. Even though you'll probably only need half of a recipe, make the whole thing so you have something to snack on the next day.

Buy a box of Barilla no-bake lasagna noodles (yes, I'm being specific with the brand for a reason -- they're just better) and follow the directions for their lasagna, using your favorite tomato sauce recipe. Mine is simple -- a box of Pomi strained tomatoes with a little olive oil and salt stirred in (it's going to cook in the oven).

If you want to make it vegan, leave out the cheese; but I like cheese, so I mixed a one pound tub of ricotta with a healthy grating of pecorino romano, a pinch of fresh nutmeg, some grated mozzarella, and one egg to use for the layering.

Wherever it called for ground meat, I subbed the ratatouille in assembling it in a greased 9x13 baking pan. Bake it, covered in foil, for 55 minutes at 375. Remove the foil, add some more grated mozzarella and return to the oven for 5-10 minutes more.

It's a great way to turn veggies into a filling dinner and will probably be a staple around here for a while.

my nephew, the baker

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:33:22 PDT

I'd like to think that I had a huge hand in shaping my nephew, Alex, into a KWLTC (kid who likes to cook), but his mom actually has done a great job by including him in lots of cooking activities.

My sister, Lauren, shot this video (in two parts). Enjoy watching a foodie in the making!

PS - He only bakes from scratch with me. I have to teach Lauren how to abandon the boxes :-)

pizza rustica (caution: this ain't pizza)

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 09:14:52 PST

For as long as I can remember, my family has had big Sunday dinners. Singing, dancing, and plenty of eating are a common theme. Lots of antipasti are served, including this ricotta cheese pie (known as pizza rustica in Italy). The fillings are interchangeable and you can leave some of the meats out if you don't have access to them all. The dough is a little bit sweet, which makes for a great foil to the intensely salty meats and cheeses in the filling.

This pie is very traditional for the two days buttressing lent -- "Carnevale" (the day before Ash Wednesday) and Easter Sunday. I imagine that good Catholic Italians stay away from it during lent because it doesn't exactly speak to "sacrifice." We enjoy it year-round. C'est la vie. It's wonderful warm, room temperature, or even chilled.

A trick for those who are pie-averse because of the dough: just buy 9-inch deep dish pre-made pie shells. My supermarket even sells them in a sweet variety, which mimics the sweetness of this dough. However, I encourage you to try the homemade version here -- you don't have to roll it out, you just press it into a greased cake pan. What (other than the pre-made shells) could be easier?

Pie Dough
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
6 tablespoons unsalted butter or lard
1 egg + 1 egg yolk, beaten

Filling
2 pounds ricotta (part-skim works better than whole milk, it's drier)
6 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano
1 pound mozzarella, coarsely grated
1/2 pound sweet dried sausage, peeled and diced
1/2 pound prosciutto, shredded
1/2 cup chopped parsley

2 9-inch cake pans, well buttered

For the Pie Dough, combine dry ingredients in bowl of food processor and pulse several times to mix. Cut butter into 8 pieces and distribute evenly over dry ingredients in work bowl. Pulse until very finely powdered. Add eggs and continue to pulse until dough forms a ball that revolves on blade. Remove dough, press into a disk, wrap and chill.
For the Filling, place ricotta in a mixing bowl and stir in eggs one at a time; stir in remaining filling ingredients in order.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and set a rack in the lower third. Divide the Pie Dough into 2 pieces. Press each piece into the buttered cake pans, trying to make sure the dough is evenly distributed along the bottom and sides (about 1.5 inches up). Split the filling between the two pans.
Bake until the filling is set and the dough is baked through, about 45 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack. To unmold, place a platter on top and invert, removing pan. Replace pan with another platter and invert again, removing top platter. Serve at room temperature. Refrigerate any leftovers (microwave individual slices if you want to reheat).

a thousand apologies for my absence

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:36:29 PST

I've just returned to the world of food blogging after a couple of months off. Well, I didn't really have any time off -- I spent the majority of my free time making phone calls, writing e-mails, and talking my face off about Barack Obama. Since he won -- I should say "we won," as that's how I feel -- I can afford to start thinking about food again :-)

Anyway, I'm back just in time for Thanksgiving, the #1 eater's holiday of the year. For starters, I'll link to some of my past Turkey Day recipes:

As I looked over this list, I realized that I have never shared my recipes for stuffing or gravy -- and those are my favorite parts of Thanksgiving! I totally agree with Mario Batali when he says that the stuffing and the gravy "represent the most personal components of the meal."

My family eats my mother's stuffing. Period. Anything else is fine the other 364 days of the year, but on Thanksgiving it's apples, onions, and celery sauteed with a bunch of butter, tossed with Pepperidge Farms plain stuffing mix and moistened with just enough turkey broth (made from the neck of the one who will end up on our plates) to bring it all together. That's it.

The gravy is simple as well -- 1 TB each of butter and flour for every cup of turkey broth that ends up in the bottom of the roasting pan, cooked together to make a roux and then whisked into the defatted broth (plus any remaining broth from the neck and other turkey parts). Maybe a little black pepper. It's simple, but it's ours. Anything different just isn't Thanksgiving.

So here's to your Thanksgiving traditions -- may your turkey be juicy!

[photo of the day] my nephew eating ice cream

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:23:30 PDT

he's terribly cute, no?

banana bread, but not that kind of banana bread

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:12:45 PDT

So here's the situation: I had an unexpected two days off of work due to Tropical Storm Fay and a few overripe bananas sitting atop my refrigerator. Normally, overripe bananas get turned into banana "bread." I chose quotations there because it's really more like a cake even though it is technically a quick-bread. Sweet, sometimes spiced, sometimes with nuts -- old-fashioned banana bread is equally at home on the breakfast table as it is for dessert.

But I didn't want something sweet. Couple this with the fact that I had some time on my hands and I thought to incorporate bananas into a yeast-raised recipe. I consulted my cookbooks and wouldn't you know it, Rose Levy Berenbaum already had a recipe for just such a thing. I love RLB's recipes -- every bread turns out great. But often times she kills you with multiple rises and long pre-ferments. I had time, but not that much! But there was a note at the end of her recipe that mentioned that banana and boiled potato have almost the same water content and can be substituted similarly in bread recipes. That brought me to the White Bread recipe in the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion. It calls for potato flakes or flour, but I used RLB's tip and subbed mashed banana and a little less water.

The bread turns out soft and feathery, with just a hint of banana aroma and flavor. I was happy to eat it straight up, but it was really good when I used it for a peanut butter and banana sandwich!

3 cups (12 3/4 oz.) unbleached AP flour
2 tsp. instant yeast (or a shade less than 1 packet)
1 1/4 tsp. salt
3 TB sugar (1 1/4 oz. by weight)
4 TB butter, softened (2 oz.)
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk (1 1/4 oz.)
1 ripe banana, slightly mashed (approx 4 oz. by weight)
3/4 cup lukewarm water (6 oz.)

Combine all the ingredients and knead them (by hand or machine) until you've made a smooth, soft dough. It should be barely tacky. Don't add a lot of extra flour -- you'll end up with a dry loaf. Place in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours until almost doubled in bulk.

You can now either shape the dough into a loaf or cut it into 8 pieces and roll into balls. Either way, place it into a 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan and cover again. Preheat the oven to 350 while the bread proofs, about an hour. The dough should rise above the rim of the loaf pan by about 1/2 inch. Once you get there, uncover and bake for 35-40 minutes. If it seems to be getting too brown toward the end of cooking, you can tent with foil.

When it's done, take it out of the pan and cool on a wire rack for at least an hour to cool completely. Then slice (or pull apart if you went with the dough balls) and enjoy!

[tip for bloggers] easy-to-print posts in blogger

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:03:56 PST

I was stumbling through cyberspace and found a page with a recipe I wanted to try. It was obviously hosted by Blogger, like mine, but had some sort of tweak that allowed you to print the pages without the side columns. This made me so excited that I forgot about the recipe and the website! I had to figure out how to do this...

I searched online and found some sites that gave me some ideas, but individually they were coming up short. Some would print just the first page, all of them were leaving on the navigation bar at the top of the page, and others included the comments section in the printed version. I ended up -- through lots of trials and many errors -- with this bit of CSS code that works for me (and should work for anyone else using Blogger/Blogspot):

<style media='print' type='text/css'>
#header-wrapper, #header, .header, #sidebar-wrapper, .sidebar,
#leftsidebar-wrapper, #rightsidebar-wrapper, .date-header,
.post-meta-data, .comment-link, .comment-footer, #blog-pager,
#backlinks-container, #navbar-section, .subscribe_notice,
#navbar, #Navbar1, #comments, #comments-block, .post-footer,
.noprint {display: none !important;}
#main-wrapper, #footer-wrapper {width: 99% !important; text-align: justify;
text-justify: auto; word-wrap: break-word !important;
overflow: visible !important; font-size:70% !important;
line-height: 1.4em !important;},
</style>

You simply insert it after the

<head>

tag in your Blogger template HTML and BAM! -- whenever someone wants to print a post, it will automatically include just the text of your post and any footer text (copyright info, etc.) that you have on your page. If they do it from your home page, it will print all entries on that page, but from individual post pages it will print just that singular page.

If you want to toy with it, here's some extra info...everything that comes before the .noprint line gets excluded from printing, so you can customize what gets printed. For example, to add comments into the printed page, simply remove the correct section labels (#comments, #comment-block). You can also adjust the output text size, line height, and any other attributes you're comfortable editing by changing the settings after #main-wrapper, #footer-wrapper. Want bigger text? Change the 70% to 85% or even 100%. The more you know, the more you can do, but this will get you started.

Oh, one more thing...

PLEASE BE SURE TO SAVE A BACKUP COPY OF YOUR TEMPLATE BEFORE EDITING!

Thanks to David Zetland for pointing out that the printed page might cut words off of the right margin. This was added to make that happen -- text-align: justify; text-justify: auto; word-wrap: break-word !important; and is reflected in the code above.

easy mango sorbet

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:41:42 PDT

I was one of the lucky people who won a copy of Lynne Rossetto Kasper's The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper over at Serious Eats. It's a great book -- tons of quality weekday recipes and great mini-anecdotes from lots of people in the food world; I couldn't stop flipping through it.

In it, she offers up a recipe for a pineapple sorbet that seemed quick and easy -- perfect for a summertime dessert. It calls for frozen pineapple to be quickly pureed in a food processor with lemon juice, sugar, and a bit of fresh ginger.

For some reason, though, my supermarket was out of frozen pineapple, so I decided to whip up a batch with frozen mango instead. I tweaked a bit further and came up with this -- a Mexican-inspired mango sorbet that you can make in a snap!

easy mango sorbet

21 oz. frozen mango
juice and zest of one lime
1/4 tsp almond extract
5 TB granulated sugar
pinch of salt
1 bottle of your favorite tequila

Get your food processor running and drop the mango through the feed chute a few chunks at a time until it's all in. Stop the processor. At this point, you'll wonder how this is going to become sorbet, as it looks like a bunch of finely chopped mangoes. Fear not.

Add the juice, zest, sugar, salt, extract, and 3 TB of tequila to the mangoes and puree until it is smooth and creamy. While this would make an excellent slushy, it's not yet a sorbet.

Pack this bright-orange slush into a tupperware-esque container, place plastic wrap directly onto the surface, and cap it with the appropriately sized tupperware-esque lid. Plunk that into your freezer and polish off the rest of the tequila with friends (lime and salt optional). By the time you're done getting hammered (4 hours?), the sorbet will have sufficiently solidified in the freezer. Alternatively, you can do this a day ahead and save yourself a hangover, but what fun is that?

Even after a day in the freezer, the sorbet is still scoopable -- the sugar and alcohol help ensure that. Serve it with grated lime and another shot. Cheers!

36 hours for cookies?

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:06:40 PDT

About two weeks ago, the New York Times Food Section published a story about one author's quest for chocolate chip cookie nirvana. In it, David Leite interviews several cookie pros in and around the Big Apple to identify some tips that could help home bakers find The Way with cookies:

Rest your dough. Leite recommends at least 24 hours but mentions that 36 are even better.
Under-bake your cookies. The key to a chewy cookie is to make sure it isn't cooked all the way through.
Don't be afraid of salt. Coarse salt in and on the cookies makes flavors "pop."
Make 'em big. Larger cookies can provide for cascading textures from crispy on the edge to chewy/gooey in the center, provided you pay attention to Tip #2.

Intrigued, I made a batch of these and waited. And waited. And waited. 36. Long. Hours.

Finally, I popped the dough balls into the oven, six at a time (they're big, don't forget). When they emerged from the oven, they were as advertised -- golden all over, rich, buttery, and with that variegated texture that Leite promised. My only substitution was for Ghirardelli semi-sweet (60% cacao) chocolate chips rather than Valrhona chocolate "feves" (which are flatter), mainly because that's what I had on hand. I don't think the cookies suffered, but I'm willing to give the feves a try one of these days.

Was the 36-hour wait worth it? Yes and no. The cookies were wonderful, but certainly not spontaneous. I think they were more uniformly golden than my usual batch of chocolate chip cookies, but the texture bit really stems from under-baking (I should really call this "properly baking" your cookies, as they aren't raw, just less done than the typical home baker makes them). The biggest selling point of this recipe, to me at least, is that you can make the dough and bake off a cookie or two at a whim, up to 3 days later according to the article (but probably as long as a week later if you wanted).

making pizza in naples, italy

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:11:01 PDT

My wife and I just got back from a 2-week vacation in Europe. We went to Messina, Venice, Dubrovnik, Florence, Pisa, Rome, Cannes, Nice, Barcelona, and Naples -- it was a whirlwind! Perhaps my favorite memory from the whole trip, though, is getting a pizza-making lesson in Naples. Here are some pics:

The Pizzaiolo at Les GaGá, GiGi.

He didn't speak a ton of English. Mostly GiGi's instruction was, "not-ta too much-a." He uses only San Marzano tomatoes in his sauce, plus buffalo mozzarella, extra virgin olive oil, and basil to top his pizza Margherita. This is good, since it is actually against the law to do otherwise.

He was very precise about the dough, too. "1 liter of water makes 15 pizza, each one weighing 250 grams. Only other ingredients are yeast, salt, and time, about 8 hours."

GiGi and I wave for the camera while the pizza cooks in the background. Seriously, this takes only about a minute. That oven is really, really hot!

The masterpiece! It tasted great. I should have taken pictures of the next three that GiGi made himself, but we were too invested in eating at that point. They were a little bigger (he was better at stretching the dough than I was) and soooo good. I know there is really no chance of reproducing this type of pizza at home without a wood-burning oven, but it was fun to get tips from a master!

[video] conan o'brien learns about wine

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:53:33 PDT

Caught this video and couldn't help but crack up:

Check out Gary's Homepage and learn a lot of interesting things about drinking wine at tv.winelibrary.com.

[recipe redone] triple-coconut granola

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Fri, 09 May 2008 20:04:12 PDT

In the past year, several of my go-to food blogs have shared their favorite recipes for granola. The ingredient lists and techniques have all been similar, but a small tweak here and there seems to make a big difference in the texture and flavor of the end product. I've tried a bunch of them and they're all delicious, but I kind of have a thing for coconut. With that in mind, I decided to tweak some of their recipes and come up with a coconut-intense version of granola to call my own. Yes, several years ago people were scared to death of coconut (mainly because coconut oil is full of saturated fat). But new studies have shown that coconut oil is actually a heart-healthy oil. Regardless, it's delicious in this recipe.

1/2 cup, packed (100g) brown sugar
4 Tablespoons coconut oil* (virgin has the most flavor)
1/4 cup (60ml) water
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 lb. (125 g) quick oats
1/2 lb. (125 g) coconut flour* (Bob's Red Mill is a brand carried by Whole Foods)
1 cup (100g) shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups dried fruit, chopped (apricots or golden raisins are excellent)

Preheat oven to 300 F.

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, coconut oil, water, and salt. Microwave on high for about 3 minutes; the mixture should be bubbling vigorously. Stir in the extracts and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, mix the remaining ingredients (except for the dried fruit) together until well-combined. Pour the brown sugar syrup over the dry ingredients and fold until fully incorporated.

Spread the mixture over a half sheet pan (17 x 13) and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and toss the granola, breaking up any huge chunks. Return the pan to the oven and bake another 15 minutes. Repeat this again (if necessary) until the granola is uniformly browned and very crispy-crunchy. At that point, remove the granola from the oven and allow to cool. Toss in the dried fruit and serve with milk or yogurt - or just munch it by the handful!

* If you don't have coconut oil, you can substitute an equal amount of butter. You could also substitute oat flour, ground flax meal, or almond meal for the coconut flour. At that point, you might as well take a look at this recipe from the Traveler's Lunchbox, which is what I based mine off of.

[quick hit] newpaper food sections

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 12:09:23 PST

I just added links to some of my favorite newspaper food sections to the sidebar. They are usually updated weekly -- the day of the week depends on the paper. I find these to be helpful when I'm traveling to these cities or even when I just need a different regional perspective on food and cooking.

browned butter "spoon" cookies

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 14:45:45 PST

The same evening that the December 2005 issue of Gourmet Magazine arrived in my mailbox, I made these cookies. The picture that accompanied the article (at right) initially drew my interest, but the accompanying story by Celia Barbour sealed the deal.

Anyway, I had forgotten these cookies until I had an opportunity to flip through some of my back issues of Gourmet. Not wanting to forget them again, I am sharing the recipe here with you. While the recipe calls for shaping the cookies with a teaspoon, I have found that a teaspoon "disher" (miniature ice cream scoop) does the trick for me.

spoon cookies
2 sticks (1 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt, slightly rounded
1/3 cup fruit preserves (your choice)

Make dough:
Fill kitchen sink with about 2 inches of cold water. Melt butter in a 2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until butter turns golden with a nutlike fragrance and flecks on bottom of pan turn a rich caramel brown, 10 to 12 minutes. (Butter will initially foam, then dissipate. A thicker foam will appear and cover the surface just before butter begins to brown; stir more frequently toward end of cooking.) Place pan in sink to stop cooking, then cool, stirring frequently, until butter starts to look opaque, about 4 minutes. Remove pan from sink and stir in sugar and vanilla.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and stir into butter mixture until a dough forms. Shape into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap, and let stand at cool room temperature 1 to 2 hours (to allow flavors to develop).

Form and bake cookies:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325°F.

Press a piece of dough into bowl of teaspoon, flattening top, then slide out and place, flat side down, on an ungreased baking sheet. (Dough will feel crumbly, but will become cohesive when pressed.) Continue forming cookies and arranging on sheet. Bake cookies until just pale golden, 8 to 15 minutes. Cool cookies on sheet on a rack 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to rack and cool completely, about 30 minutes.

Assemble cookies:
While cookies cool, heat preserves in a small saucepan over low heat until just runny, then pour through a sieve into a small bowl, pressing hard on solids, and cool completely.

Spread the flat side of a cookie with a thin layer of preserves. Sandwich with flat side of another cookie. Continue with remaining cookies and preserves, then let stand until set, about 45 minutes. Transfer cookies to an airtight container and wait 2 days before eating.

Cooks' notes:
• Dough can be made 12 hours before baking and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature to soften slightly before forming cookies, about 30 minutes.
• Cookies keep in an airtight container at room temperature 2 weeks.

[recipe review] eli's chicago-style cheesecake

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:29:08 PST

I usually buy my books online since they are typically much cheaper than in the stores, but my wife got a gift certificate to Borders for Christmas so we were walking though one the other day. They usually have some clearance cookbooks up front but they aren't typically my style. On this day, though, there was a copy of Cook's Illustrated's "Restaurant Favorites" for $4.95. I scooped it up and immediately began flipping through when I got home.

The first thing I noticed was the recipe for Eli's Chicago-Style Cheesecake. My wife is a native Chicagoan and always extolled the virtues of Eli's over any other cheesecake, so I had to give the recipe a try. I served it to a bunch of cheesecake aficionados and they were thoroughly impressed, especially with the shortbread crust. Dare I say that we preferred its lighter texture to the very dense and rich versions from New York? The recipe was terribly easy to put together, so I suggest you give it a try for yourself!

eli's chicago-style cheesecake

crust
6 TB unsalted butter, softened and cut into chunks
1/4 cup (1 ounce) confectioners' sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
pinch of salt

filling
1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
zest of 1 lemon (my addition -- optional, but delicious)
1 TB all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
2 large eggs
melted butter for greasing the pan

1. For the crust: In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and confectioners' sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Ass the vanilla and mix until combined, about 30 seconds. Add the flour and the salt and beat on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.

2. Empty the mixture into an 8-inch springform pan (I used an 8 1/2" pan with no problems) and press it evenly into the bottom of the pan. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Wash the mixer bowl and paddle.

3. Meanwhile, adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Prick the chilled crust several times with a fork and bake until golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position, maintaining the oven temperature at 350.

4. For the filling: In a standing mixture fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium-low speed to break it up and soften it, about 1 minute. Scrape down the bowl and paddle. Add half the sugar and the lemon zest (if using) and beat on medium-low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape the bowl. Beat in the remaining sugar, flour, and salt until combined, another minute. Scrape the bowl. Add the sour cream and vanilla and beat for a minute. Add the yolk and beat for another minute. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and beat for a minute after each addition, scraping down the bowl and paddle as necessary.

5. Brush the sides of the cooled springform pan with melted butter. Set the pan on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any spills. Pour the filling onto the cooled crust and bake until the cheesecake is firm around the edges and barely jiggles in the center, around 50-60 minutes (check at 40 if you are using a larger pan). An instant-read thermometer should register 150F. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 3 hours then wrap tightly with plastic and refrigerate for at least 3 hours and up to 4 days.

6. Unmold the cheesecake about 30 minutes before you want to serve it. Enjoy with a dollop of whipped cream and/or some fresh strawberries.

medici bread pudding

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 21:22:54 PST

When my wife and I visited Seattle, I took Rachel Ray's advice and visited Caffe Ladro (twice). The first time I went, I tried a standard latte -- the coffee by which I judge coffeehouses. It was very, very good -- smooth and sweet with a great mouth feel brought about by an expert barista who really knew how to froth the milk and pull a shot. The second time I went, I took RR's advice again and tried their Medici coffee, which is essentially a mocha spiced up with a bit of orange zest. That, my friends, was ethereal. I don't normally "do" sweetened coffee, but this was harmony in a cup.

So it was with this cup of coffee in mind that I decided to create a bread pudding recipe -- a way for me to both memorialize the trip and re-enjoy the simple but wonderful flavor combination of coffee, chocolate, and orange. A word of caution: if you try this, you may find yourself wanting to hop on a plane to Seattle to try the original. They are both that good.

medici bread pudding
7 large egg yolks
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp table salt
6 cups whole milk or half-and-half (I prefer the richness of the half-and-half)
2 tsp powdered espresso (try Medaglia d'Oro brand if you can find it)
12 oz. package of bittersweet chocolate chips (Guittard or Ghirardelli work well)
1 TB finely grated orange zest
1 TB pure vanilla extract
1 1-pound loaf of challah , cut into 1-inch cubes preferably stale)

If your bread cubes aren't stale, dry them out in a 250F oven for 20-30 minutes -- not so much that the cubes turn into croûtons, but enough so that they seem drier and stale. Set aside in a large bowl.

Whisk yolks, eggs, sugar, and salt together until thick and pale and set aside. Warm half-and-half in a saucepan until steaming but not boiling (about 180F). Add chocolate chips, powdered espresso, and orange zest to half-and-half and stir until chocolate is melted and completely mixed with milk.

Slowly whisk the half-and-half into the egg mixture until thoroughly combined. Add the vanilla extract. If you have a touch of OCD, you may want to strain the custard at this point, but if you were careful not to add the milk too quickly, you probably don't have to.

Pour the custard over the dry bread cubes, making sure that the bread is submerged as much as possible. Set aside for about an hour to cool to room temperature. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan and pour the bread/custard mixture in. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 5 (but up to 24) hours. This allows the custard to penetrate the bread cubes completely so that you have no dry patches in your dessert.

About two hours before you want to serve it (if you want it served hot), cover the pudding with foil and bake in a preheated 325F oven for 70 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake until no liquid is visible when you test with a paring knife (maybe 20-30 minutes).

This can be served hot, warm, room-temp, or chilled -- every way has its own advantages. Its flavor is most intense just a few minutes out of the oven, but the custard is firmest when cooled. Any way you do it, dress it up with some whipped cream and a good cup of coffee.

quadruple dairy noodle kugel

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 06:24:08 PST

Not being Jewish myself, some of my friends look at me funny when I share my passion for certain Jewish delicacies. Latkes, tzimmes, challah -- this goy loves 'em. It probably stems from my Grandmother growing up in Brooklyn in the early to mid-20th century, where Jews and Italians shared neighborhoods and traditions. So as a nod to my Jewish friends this Hanukkah, I offer my recipe for noodle kugel, a baked custard that is rich and satisfying on its own or as an accompaniment to a holiday meal:

1 12 oz. bag wide egg noodles
2 TB unsalted butter, cut into cubes
8 oz. cream cheese
4 TB sugar
2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
8 oz. sour cream
1 cup whole milk
6 large eggs
8 oz. cottage cheese
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350F and prepare a 13 x 9 baking pan with no-stick spray.

Boil the noodles in salted water according to the package directions. Err on the side of underdone, as they will continue to cook in the oven later. Drain and toss with butter to prevent sticking. Set aside.

With a whisk or hand mixture, cream together the cream cheese, sugar, salt, and nutmeg until noticeably lighter in texture. Add the sour cream and mix until combined. Add the milk and eggs and beat for another minute or so. Add the drained noodles and stir until moistened. Fold in the cottage cheese.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and sprinkle with cinnamon. Place on a middle rack in the oven and immediately decrease the temperature to 325. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until the center is just set and no longer jiggles. Remove from the oven and serve warm or allow to cool to room temperature.

This dish can be eaten as a side or, if you double the sugar and add some dried fruit (raisins, apples, apricots, etc.), it makes a great dessert. It can be made a bit healthier by using reduced fat versions of the dairy products with no major problems. Happy Hanukkah!

[recipe review] simple, crusty bread from the NY Times

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:03:03 PST

I got a chance to make Jeff Hertzberg's simple bread recipe from his book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day that was shared on the NY Times website. It is billed as being even quicker than Jim Lahey's "No-Knead" recipe that appeared in the NY Times about a year ago and it lives up to that billing -- you can follow this recipe and have a decent loaf of bread in about 3 hours.

But that's just it -- the bread is only passable. I can make very good sandwich bread in three hours. This, however, is supposed to be "artisan" bread. It isn't artisan bread by any stretch of the imagination.

When I think of artisan bread, I imagine a slightly sour, very crusty, open-holed bread with wonderfully chewy insides. This bread is more related to white sandwich bread in texture -- maybe slightly chewier due to the wetness of the dough. The flavor was almost too "yeasty," as the recipe requires quite a bit of yeast (1 1/2 TB) to raise 6 cups of flour in two hours.

I prefer doughs (and the breads that come from them) that use less yeast and more time -- the flavor of bread made in this way is tangy and wheaty instead of having an overly fermented taste and smell. Also, time is necessary in order to truly accomplish the "no-knead" trick.

Kneading bread develops gluten, a protein matrix which acts like sheets of rubber than can be blown up like balloons. Gluten can also be developed by the metabolic byproducts of yeast (gas), which slooooooowly stretches the proteins in the dough. Trying to accomplish this quickly leaves one with an under-developed dough. This, in turn, produces small, dense loaves -- exactly what I got when I followed the recipe precisely.

It seems we are still left with two options for bread -- kneaded sandwich-style bread (which can be quite good) or lightly kneaded, long-rising artisan-style bread. Quick artisanal breads still live in the realm of unicorns and ogres -- fantasy.

One more note -- the recipe says that you can make the dough and keep it in the fridge for up to two weeks. This option probably produces a bread that is closer to artisan-style in texture. But I imagine the flavor would still be very "yeasty."

Overall, if you have never baked bread before and don't own a stand mixer, give the original no-knead bread recipe a try. If you're also in a pinch and rushed for time, try the Hertzberg variation just for kicks. You'll quickly be swept up in the joyful meditation of baking your own bread and will summarily graduate to recipes where a little (happy) effort is required!

the ny times loves simple bread recipes

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 06:43:50 PST

This is the second "simple" bread recipe I've seen in the NY Times food section in a year. I've made Bittman's no-knead bread dough with success and look forward to trying this one, too. Both require a bit of special equipment -- Bittman's needs a dutch oven and Dr. Hertzberg's needs a pizza or quarry stone. Anyway, bread can be daunting for some. These recipes help to bring good, simple, home-baked bread to the table of anyone who has five minutes here and there...

Adapted from “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007)

Time: About 45 minutes plus about 3 hours’ resting and rising

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough
Cornmeal

1. In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or up to 5 hours).

2. Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it.

3. Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.

4. Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide onto stone. Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely.

Yield: 4 loaves.

Variation: If not using stone, stretch rounded dough into oval and place in a greased, nonstick loaf pan. Let rest 40 minutes if fresh, an extra hour if refrigerated. Heat oven to 450 degrees for 5 minutes. Place pan on middle rack.

drying the turkey (but not "dry" turkey)

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:57:51 PST

The turkey, she's a beaut -- 18 pounds of heritage-bred fowl, she's safely tucked away in the refrigerator, air drying in order to ensure crisp skin along with the juicy, flavorful meat that will occur as a result of a day-long soak in brine.

The plan is to slather her in butter and use the roasting method called for by Cook's Illustrated magazine.

We traditionally roast our bird early and let it come to room temperature before we eat dinner. This frees up the oven and gives my mom and I a chance to finish all of the sides. We'll probably have to go that route again, as we don't have two ovens to play around with...

the turkey is in the brine...

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 19:12:01 PST

I know it's Monday. I know that Thanksgiving is on Thursday. I know you think I'm crazy when I tell you that my turkey, pictured at right, is already submerged in a flavorful brine.

You might ask, "Won't it be too salty?"

No sir, this bird is going to get pulled out tomorrow night, after 24 hours in the drink. Following that, she'll spend a day-and-a-half air-drying in the refrigerator. You see, brining does such a damned fine job of plumping up all of the turkey's protein cells with flavor-infused water that it could make it next-to-impossible to end up with the beautiful, mahogany-colored skin that all of us seek to unveil on Turkey Day. The air-dry enables the skin to dessicate a bit so that it will be beautifully burnished upon roasting.

The long, drawn-out process that I'm willing to go through for my turkey and my family (in that order) requires nothing other than proper planning and the ability to make a lot of space in your fridge.

The brine is easy -- I adapted it from Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for the Food. His original recipe called for a quicker soak, but I reduced the salt in my version to allow me to extend the time-in-brine to 24 hours. This was purely for scheduling reasons -- I don't think there is any benefit to the extra-long brine as opposed to say, the 6 hours that Alton calls for. I just knew when I'd be available to pull it out of the giant Ziploc bag.

turkey brine
3/4 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
handful of herbs (your choice -- I went traditional and used sage, thyme, and fresh bay)
1 gallon of water
8 pounds of ice

Dissolve the salt and sugar in 1 qt boiling water. Bruise the herbs with your hands, add to the water, and allow to steep for a few minutes. Cool this solution with the remaining 3 quarts of water and then add the ice, bringing the brine to a very chilly temperature (hopefully sub-40 degrees F).

At this point, you can put the turkey and brine in whatever will hold them. I find the XL "Big Bags" by Ziploc can handle an 18 pound turkey and the 2 gallons of brine just fine, but you can get creative, as long as it's clean and capable of some way maintaining temperatures under 40 degrees.

In order to maintain full contact, I assembled everything inside the largest stock pot I own and then tied up the zip-top part of the bag (see the photo). This fully immersed the turkey in the brine and it will stay just like that in my refrigerator until tomorrow night.

Continue on for (cue Paul Harvey voice) "the rest of the story..."

fruitcake for people who hate fruitcake

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 20:44:28 PST

Fruitcake for people who hate fruitcake? It's possible! Most people hate the candied peel (citron) and fake green cherries. This recipe forgoes those for dried real fruit. You can use whatever dried fruits you want -- just use a variety, chop them to roughly the same size, and don't skimp! It really can handle 2 3/4 pounds of fruit.

Fruit
You'll need a total of about 2 to 2 3/4 pounds dried fruit.
1 1/2 cups (7 1/2 ounces) dried pineapple
1 1/2 cups (9 ounces) raisins
1 cup (4 1/2 ounces) dried apricots, diced
1 1/2 cups (7 7/8 ounces) chopped dates
6 ounces dried cherries
1/3 cup 2 1/4 ounces) diced crystallized ginger (optional)
3/4 cup (6 ounces) dark rum or brandy

Batter
1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces) unsalted butter
2 cups (15 ounces) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 large eggs
3 cups (12 3/4 ounces) All-Purpose Flour
2 tablespoons (3/8 ounce) black cocoa (optional - for a darker fruitcake)
1/2 cup (5 1/2 ounces) light corn syrup (or dark if you want a darker fruitcake)
1/2 cup (4 ounces) apple juice, cranberry juice or water
2 cups (8 ounces) chopped, toasted nuts (pecans or walnuts)
rum, brandy, or vanilla syrup, for topping

The Fruit: Combine all of the fruit ingredients in a non-reactive bowl and soak overnight. Alternatively, cover with plastic wrap and zap them in the microwave on 50% power for about 3 minutes and allow to cool to room temperature.

The Batter: Cream the butter until soft, then add the sugar, spices and baking powder. Beat in the eggs one at a time. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour and cocoa (if using). Add about half of the flour mixture and all the syrup to the batter. Then add the remaining flour and the juice or water and mix well. Fold in the fruits, any remaining liquid, and the nuts.

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Grease the bottom and sides of the pans or line them with parchment paper. I use disposable aluminum so that I can store the cakes in them and then just give them away. This recipe makes enough for 8 mini-loaf pans or two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans. Spoon the batter into the pans, filling them about 3/4 full.

Bake the cakes on the middle shelf of a preheated 300°F oven -- about 65 minutes for the mini-loaves and 2 hours, 15 minutes for the large loaves. The cakes are done when a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove the cakes from the oven, and brush them with rum or brandy. Let them cool, then remove them from the pans. Brush all surfaces with rum, brandy or vanilla syrup. (If you like just a hint of rum or brandy flavor, add 1 tablespoon of liquor to 3/4 cup vanilla syrup and brush this mixture on the cakes.)

Wrap the cakes in parchment paper, then in aluminum foil or plastic wrap, and store them in a cool, dry place. Unwrap the cakes every week (for up to 5 weeks) and brush them with more syrup. By the fifth week the cakes will have absorbed as much liquid as they're able. They'll keep for several months this way, as long as they're tightly wrapped. The flavor improves and mellows over time. Yield: a possible plethora of fruitcakes.

orgeat syrup

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 21:07:58 PST

I had never heard of orgeat syrup before reading this post by Serious Eats' cocktail connoisseur, Paul Clarke. But when he described it as "simply almond syrup with a little orange flower water tossed in for ghostly aromatic effect," my interest was piqued.

I did a little research and found that one could easily make this syrup at home if one had almonds, water, sugar, and orange flower water in one's pantry. Since I possessed all of these things, I decided to give it a go. The syrup is just as Paul described. As a huge fan of the flavor of almonds, I can envision using this in cocktails, coffee, or even sparkling water. It's quite sweet, so a little goes a long way. The recipe I ended up using is a conglomeration of suggestions I found. It includes a bit of vodka to help extract alcohol-soluble flavors, but that's optional if you want a virgin syrup.

orgeat syrup
350 g blanched almonds, chopped (about 12 oz.)
1.5 kg sugar, divided (about 7.5 cups)
1 L water (4.25 cups) (preferably mineral or spring - I used Acqua Panna)
100 mL vodka (about 1/2 cup) (optional)
2 TB "natural" almond extract (made from bitter almond oil)
2 TB orange flower water

In a saucepan over medium heat, dissolve 400 g sugar in the water. As soon as the solution reaches a boil, turn off the heat.

Place the almonds in a blender and just cover with some of the sugar water. DO NOT FILL, as the hot syrup will expand when you turn the blender on, causing burns and a sticky mess (trust me). Blend the almonds and syrup until there are no more chunks and the almonds have been pretty well pulverized -- about 4 minutes. Pour the almond mixture into the rest of the sugar water and mix. Allow that mixture to cool to room temperature.

Strain the mixture through cheesecloth or even coffee filters, pushing on the ground almonds to extract as much liquid as you can. Pour that liquid into a clean saucepan and add the remainder of the sugar. Dissolve the sugar over medium heat, just until you see small bubbles forming on the sides of the pan. There is no need to bring it to a full boil.

Allow this to cool once again and then stir in the vodka, almond extract, and orange flower water. Bottle it (I ended up needing two 1L Acqua Panna bottles, as the recipe makes 1.5 L of syrup) and make yourself a Mai Tai!

surprise ingredients, pt. 2 (brian's hawaiian adventure)

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 19:13:21 PDT

This post comes courtesy of my friend, Brian, and is his entry in our three-way Next Iron Chef challenge:

After receiving my ingredients from Gavin, I initially thought that I had this one in the bag; curry, oyster sauce, cabbage, bacon and water chestnuts can all be found swimming through all kinds of Asian cuisine. However, I decided to rule out dividing my ingredients among two unrelated dishes like curried kale soup (bacon/curry/cabbage) with some kind of weird oyster sauce-glazed water chestnut/pancetta kebab. I also threw out the always-trusty everything-but-the-kitchen-sink stir fry, because that’s grade school stuff, man, and although I was confident that I could have made it taste pretty good, I knew that these ladies would be bringing their A-Game.

That said, I focused on dim sum, those small, delicate plates of appetizers wheeled to your table “to your heart’s content” in Chinese mega-restaurants out in the DC suburbs with names like “New Fortune,” “Fortune Chinese Seafood,” and “Good Fortune.” I’ve eaten dim sum a few times and really enjoyed it, but I couldn’t think of any Chinese dishes which used a combination of all five of my ingredients. So, naturally, I did what any fierce competitor would do in a pinch: I turned to the internet and started cheating…I mean researching. Even after scouring food blogs, ingredient search databases and the hallowed halls of Google, no Chinese recipe out there in cyberspace matched my seemingly cohesive ingredient list. One ingredient would always stick out like a sore thumb. However, I bumped into two Hawaiian appetizers that were just tweakable enough for me to fudge my way to success…

manapua

Manapua is a baked or steamed pork-filled bun similar to what you’d find in a dim sum joint, but with some type of weird Hawaiian edge to it. In certain combinations, Manapua can house all five of my ingredients, although I didn’t see anything online suggesting a simultaneous living situation. Anyway, when I think Hawaiian cuisine, I think Spam and pineapples, and you can guess which one I had laying around in a dark corner of my kitchen. Thus was born my version of Manapua - a doubly-porky, spicy, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink stir fry (hey, wait a minute!) wrapped in a bun and baked in the oven. If my girlfriend ate pork and I had arteries of steel, I’d make these things all the time.

Dough:
1 package dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
4 parts Bourbon
1 part Sweet Vermouth
Ice

Combine first five ingredients in a large bowl and let stand for 15 minutes. Stir in flour until a dough forms, then knead on a floured surface for 5-10 minutes. Place dough in a greased, covered bowl and let rest in a warm place for 45 minutes. Have yourself a Manhattan.

Filling:
4-5 slices bacon (not smoked), diced
1 small can Spam, diced into 1/4-inch cubes
2 carrots, diced
2 green onions, sliced thin
3 cloves garlic, diced
1 head baby bok choy, chiffonaded
1 small can water chestnuts, chopped
1/4 cup sake, mirin or sherry
2 tsp curry powder
2 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sriracha (Thai hot sauce)
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp lemon juice

Combine curry powder, oyster sauce, sriracha, soy sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch, ginger, sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl and set aside. In a wok or skillet over high heat, stir-fry bacon for 1-2 minutes, then add Spam and carrots and cook for another 2 minutes. Add green onions, garlic, bok choy, and water chestnuts, and stir-fry for a few more minutes, until bacon begins to crisp. Deglaze with the sake, scraping the wok, and add reserved ingredients, cooking until mixture thickens.

Preheat oven to 350°. Knead dough for a minute, then divide into 12 balls of equal size. Roll each ball into a 5-inch circle and top with 2 tbsp of filling. Bring up the sides to form pleats around the filling, then twist to seal. Place buns on a baking sheet covered in foil, cover and allow to rise for 30 minutes. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush with butter and serve.

rumaki

Next is a great 1970’s Hawaiian throwback dish called Rumaki, straight from the “Man-Pleasers” section of the Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library; you’re really missing out if you haven’t seen these monstrosities. Rumaki consists of marinated chicken livers and water chestnuts, wrapped in bacon and skewered into one-bite (dog) treats. They actually turned out pretty good, as the bacon and brown sugar balanced the mineraly taste of the liver, and the heat and tang of the sriracha in the aioli cut through the overly rich porkiness of the bacon. However, if you eat more than a couple of these, you’ll probably need to hang out in a hospital for a while, just in case.

1 small container chicken livers, rinsed
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 tbsp packed light brown sugar
1 tsp curry powder
12 canned water chestnuts, drained and halved horizontally
8 bacon slices, cut crosswise into thirds
12 bamboo skewers

Cut chicken livers into 1/2 inch pieces, and combine in a Ziploc bag with the soy sauce, oyster sauce, ginger, brown sugar, curry powder, and water chestnuts, and mix well. Marinate in the refrigerator for an hour while soaking bamboo skewers in water.

Preheat broiler with top oven rack 2-3 inches from heat. Remove chicken livers and chestnuts and discard marinade. Wrap a piece of chicken liver and a chestnut in a piece of bacon, roll tightly and skewer. Arrange on a rack and broil until bacon is crispy, around 5 minutes. Serve immediately with Watercress Aioli for dipping.

Watercress Aioli:
2 egg yolks
2 cloves garlic
1 small bunch of watercress
1 pinch salt
1 tbsp sriracha, or more to taste
1 cup olive oil

In a food processor, combine eggs, garlic, watercress, salt and sriracha, then add oil slowly until the mixture thickens into the consistency of mayonnaise. Or, grind garlic, watercress, salt and sriracha into a paste in a mortar and pestle, then whisk in eggs. Slowly and continually whisk in oil until the mixture thickens.

tropical fried catfish 'n grits

dominic@dominicchurch.com (Dominic Church) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 13:37:28 PDT

When I first looked at the ingredients I was given by my dear friend Brian for our bit of culinary fun, I was initially a little scared. Smoked almonds, bananas, kale, and catfish (although he initially chose the even scarier gefilte fish) -- I was seriously beginning to question whether these could be brought together into one cohesive dish.

Banana vinaigrette on kale-wrapped catfish filets? Mashed green bananas layered with catfish and kale for a mock-shepherd's pie? What the hell was I supposed to do with smoked almonds? I could work with three of the ingredients, but always had a problem incorporating the fourth. Sometimes it was the almonds that gave me fits, but more often it was the bananas -- their texture when cooked leaves a little to be desired, unless you're eating bananas Foster or banana bread. But in a conversation with my other foodie friend, Gavin, my problem was solved.

"Do you have a dehydrator?" he asked. Um, no. Ron Popeil devotees notwithstanding, who keeps a food dehydrator in their house?

"Because some dried bananas might provide a nice crunch."

Crunch. Catfish. Fried catfish. Traditional, yes, but still -- how about pulverizing some banana chips? Hmmm... and the smoked almonds, too. And mixing them with some breadcrumbs for a slightly sweet and nutty breading? Bingo.

What to serve it with? Grits, duh. Fried catfish and grits are perhaps the pinnacle of what southern cuisine has to offer this great nation. And the kale? Treat it like the über-traditional collard greens, but upscale -- and with the tropical notes in the fish, perhaps a pan-Asian flare?

It all sounds crazy, but it was crazy good. So here's the recipe...the picture will have to get uploaded later since I forgot my camera at work, but I'll definitely make this again:

grits
1 cup grits
1/2 cup water
salt
white pepper
2 1/2 TB quick-cooking grits
2 TB butter

Combine the milk, water, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the grits and simmer until soft (1-2 minutes). Finish with butter. Taste for seasoning and adjust thickness with milk if necessary.

ginger and kale with bell peppers
1 pound kale, chopped roughly
kosher salt
2 TB vegetable oil
1 TB grated ginger
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
3 TB soy sauce
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp of sugar

Blanch the kale in a large pot of boiling salted water (should taste like the ocean), stirring occasionally until the stems are almost cooked (about 6-8 minutes). Drain and dry well (in a salad spinner or squeezed in a clean towel). Set aside until ready to finish.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ginger and peppers and sauté until they begin to soften (2-3 minutes). Add the kale and cook until warmed through. Add the soy sauce, pepper, and sugar.

tropical fried catfish
1/4 cup dried banana chips
1/4 cup smoked and salted almonds
1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs (fresh is preferable)
1/2 cup AP flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 catfish fillets, about 6 oz. each
kosher salt
black pepper

Grind the almonds and banana chips in a food processor until fine (2-4 minutes). Combine with breadcrumbs and set aside. Season both sides of catfish fillets with kosher salt and black pepper, then dredge lightly in flour. Dip each fillet in egg and then bread with the breadcrumb mixture.

Heat a 12" skillet over medium-high heat with enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom of the pan until the oil shimmers. Fry the breaded catfish in the pan, about 3 minutes per side. Drain on newspaper or paper towels when cooked and serve immediately.

plate assembly (serves 4 light eaters or two heavy ones)
Divide the hot grits in the bottoms of four (or two) wide bowls and top each with a fried catfish fillet. Mound the kale and peppers on top of the catfish and serve with several ice-cold beers, preferably from Louisiana.