Chez Charles

Roasted Chili Relish

2011-08-22T18:54:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm in a rut, but some good things are coming from it, so I'm gonna go with it for a bit. This week my daughter wanted taco night before going back to college. I wanted something hot and smoky to go with my tacos, and being a hot freak, I had a few chilies in the fridge. I decided I didn't really want a salsa, though; I wanted something crunchy and hot as a condiment to my tacos, something more like a relish - though not pickled. Here's what I concocted. I would be awesome on roasted pork, but was also pretty great on ground turkey tacos (see recipe somewhere in the annals of this blog), with green blender salsa (also in this blog), tomatoes, black olives and shredded cheese. Mmmmmmm, hot, smoky and nutty!

Roasted Chili Relish
(makes about a cup)
2 jalepenos, roasted, stemmed and minced
1 habanero, roasted, stemmed and minced - DO NOT TOUCH WITH BARE HANDS!
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 bunch of scallions, chopped 1-1/2" into the green part
Fresh lime juice, about 1/4th of a lime
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp (scant) fresh ground black pepper (aka, a lot of pepper!)
Kosher salt to taste

Rub the chilies with a little oil and roast on the grill until well-charred all over. Mince finely - be very careful with the habaneros! Cut the root end off of the scallions, then split each one lengthwise with your knife, then mince. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and season to taste - about 1/3 to 1/2 tsp Kosher salt - you want it pleasantly salty. This relish will be very hot and strongly-peppery on its own, but spooned onto roasted meats or on tacos, it is fantastic!

"Some Like it Hot" Salsa

2011-08-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

Continuing on my salsa theme, my latest challenge was to create a salsa meant to be served warm. This was a fun puzzle...most of the hallmarks of salsa - fresh tomatoes or other fruits, fresh chilies and onions, cilantro, that pleasing contrast of soft and crunchy, saucy and chunky textures, and principally uncooked ingredients - are all challenged by the "serve warm" requirement. It forced me to think about what is most essential in a salsa - what's at the heart of our love affair with salsas? What's the difference between a salsa and a sauce or a condiment?

First and foremost, salsas are for dipping corn chips, or accompanying Mexican or Southwestern foods. They are characterized by Mexican and Southwestern flavors - chilies, acid (lime or tomato are typical), garlic and onion. Sometimes they are very simple - tomatoes, onions, garlic, jalepenos, salt and pepper, rough chopped - and sometimes they are complex - with multiple aromatics, including cilantro, oregano, cumin, annato, cinnamon, cloves, etc., plus the many, many varieties of fresh, dried and smoked chilies.

Having said all that, salsas are, of course, sauces: salsa is the Spanish word for sauce. And they are also condiments: we use them to enhance foods in much the same way we use ketchup, or chutney, or sauer kraut, or chow-chows. So a salsa is really defined by its culinary context - the flavors it contains, and the food we're eating it with.

So here's a hot salsa - yes, spicy hot, but more importantly, temperature hot. It's pretty addicting. I love it served in a warm, shallow bowl, sprinkled with queso fresco, and eaten with good quality tortilla chips.

"Some Like it Hot" Salsa
(makes about two cups)
1 T canola or light olive oil
2 large or 3 medium shallots, chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1-2 fresh habanero peppers, stemmed and rough-chopped - DO NOT TOUCH WITH BARE HANDS!
3 dried ancho chilies, stemmed, seeded and torn into pieces
4 roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded and rough chopped
2 pinches dried oregano
1/2 tsp cumin
Fresh ground pepper - about 1/3 tsp
Kosher salt to taste

Saute shallots, garlic and habaneros in oil over med-low heat until well-softened and just starting to brown. Add remaining ingredients, plus a cup or more of water. Add some salt at this point - about a 1/2 tsp - but you'll add more later. Increase heat to medium and bring to a low boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until about half of the liquid has evaporated, and the tomatoes and anchos are well-softened, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to rest until cool enough to touch.

Pour everything into a blender and puree until very smooth. If needed, add a bit more water (or chicken or veggie stock) to make it loose enough to blend well. It should be just a bit looser than the consistency of ketchup. Taste, and adjust salt at this point. Using a spatula, scrape into a storage container and refrigerate for 1-3 days allowing the flavors to develop.

To serve, pour into a large shallow bowl and warm in a 250-degree oven until hot - about 10 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with queso fresco, and serve with fresh or high-quality corn tortilla chips and Mexican beer or margaritas. Garnish with sliced radishes if you want.

Nectarine Salsa

2011-07-04T07:06:00.000-07:00

I appear to be in a salsa rut, but it is high summer after all, and this is soooooo yummy. It's quick, and only has a little kick of heat. This would be great on tacos or grilled meats or fish of all varieties. Or just eat it with chips.

Nectarine Salsa
(makes about a cup and a half)
2 nectarines, skinned and diced small (see notes below)
1 red pepper, roasted, seeded and diced small (see notes below)
1-2 jalapenos, all seeds removed, then minced finely
3 scallions, minced
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 large or 2 small cloves garlic, minced
2 T minced fresh cilantro
Kosher salt to taste

For this recipe, I like semi-firm nectarines - not fully ripened, but not hard and woody. At the store, feel them for just a slight amount of give, and smell them - they should have a bright nectarine smell. If they don't have a smell, they're not ripe!

I peel nectarines by first cutting away chunks of the flesh from the pit, using a paring knife. Cut as close to the pit as you can, feeling your way with the knife as you go. Next, lay the slices skin-side down on a cutting board, and working carefully so you don't cut yourself, cut with the paring knife parallel to the board, removing just a thin layer of the skin and as little flesh as possible. They are round, so you'll have to do this from a few different angles. Cut the skinned nectarines into small dice - about 1/8th inch.

Roasting red peppers is magical and easy. Rub the pepper with a little oil. Over a gas burner or grill, char it black all over. You can do this under the broiler as well. Make sure it's black - it won't burn the flesh. Important: put the pepper in a bowl and cover it with a plate or some foil and let it sit for 10 minutes. This will steam and loosen the skin. Remove the pepper to a cutting board, cut off the stem end (be careful - it will still be hot!), pull out all the seeds and pith, and remove all of the charred skin (most of it will flake or rub off...you can use a paring knife to scrape loose any stubborn bits). That's it!

Mince scallions by making a horizontal slice along the length of the scallion starting at the green part and going through the white part. Then cut into thin slices up to the point where you started the lengthwise cut.

Tip on selecting limes: the juiciest ones have smooth, shiny skin. The bumpy ones are woodier and less juicy. If your half lime doesn't yield much juice, use a whole lime.

Mix all ingredients. Season - use enough salt so you can just taste it, but it's still sweet. You may need to double this recipe - it goes fast!!

Roasted Corn and Habanero Salsa

2011-06-30T20:52:00.000-07:00

I'm on a crazy-hot salsa kick. My business partner, Mason, and I are always complaining that even at restaurants with supposedly really hot food, we can't get really hot food. Our latest pet peeve is Mexican restaurants that don't have a fresh habanero in the whole joint. Really? Granted, most folks aren't eating food that hot, but isn't there someone back in the kitchen roasting and eating them whole and cursing the mayonnaise-palated gringos in the dining room?

So, I may try a few more of these incendiary concoctions. This one would be great on fish tacos or with roasted pork of any variety, especially carnitas with soft corn tortillas. Keep plenty of cervezas at hand to put out the fire!

Roasted Corn and Habanero Salsa
(makes about a cup)
1 ear of corn in the husk
1-4 habaneros, depending on level of idiocy
3 scallions, finely sliced
3 fresh tomatillos
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp high-quality ancho chili powder
1/4 tsp (or to taste) freshly-ground black pepper
Kosher salt to taste

Start the grill. Remove the paper husks from the tomatillos, rinse, and boil in salted water for 4-6 minutes, until opaque and beginning to fall apart. Drain. Rub the habaneros in a little oil for grilling. Remove the silk from the end of the corn, but leave the husks on. Put the peppers and corn on the grill, turning regularly, until the peppers are lightly browned all over, and the corn husks are well-darkened on all sides. Remove from heat to cool for a bit. Carefully husk the corn (it's hot!!). If the kernels are not lightly browned in places, return the denuded corn to the grill, turning frequently and watching carefully, to lightly brown it.

While the grilled items are cooling, put the tomatillos in a medium bowl and break into mush with your hands, discarding any skin that won't break apart easily. Add the scallions, garlic and lime juice. Cut the corn from the cob, break apart the kernels, and add to the bowl. VERY CAREFULLY remove the stems from the habanero peppers and mince them finely with a chef's knife. Do not touch them with your bare hands! Us a spoon or spatula with the knife to get the minced peppers into the bowl. Rinse everything well!

Add the remaining ingredients, mix well, and test for salt. It should have a pleasant sweet-sour-salty-HOT flavor. This salsa will keep for a day or two, and will be best a few hours after making it.

Turkey Breakfast Sausage

2011-04-24T11:05:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I worry about our ever-growing distance from making our own food. Paradoxically, while the availability of artisanal, sustainable and small-batch foodstuffs is exploding, it seems we make our own less and less. Who do you know that makes their own fruit preserves? Cures their own meats? Bakes their own bread? A few of us, but not as many as our grandparents' generation, to be sure.

So here's a simple step back into homemade goodness. Store-bought sausages are typically laden with nitrites and other preservatives. You can make a simple, delicious, and healthy breakfast sausage in minutes with ground turkey that is leaner and tastier than store-bought varieties. I whipped this up for Easter brunch while the waffle maker was steaming away one-at-a-time on the waffles.

Turkey Breakfast Sausage
(makes about a dozen patties)
1 lb. ground turkey (I use Jenny-O 93/7, which is 7% fat)
1 T brown sugar
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp rubbed sage (a bit more if it's very fluffy)
1/2 tsp dried onion flakes (or 1/4 tsp onion powder - no salt)
1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (depending on heat desired)
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (or ground nutmeg)
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Kosher salt to taste - 2 tsp or more

Put all the dried spices (except salt and sugar) into a small mortar and pestle (or other grinding/crushing tool) and grind to a fine powder. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Now that critical step, tasting for salt. I have no issues tasting a bit of raw meat, but if you do, pinch off a bit and fry it up. If tasting raw, remember that the sausage will reduce in volume by about 1/3, so a moderately salty raw mix will be quite salty when cooked. I personally like my sausages salty, so I season until pleasantly salty raw, which will be bordering on the edge of too salty when cooked. Mmmmmm, salty!

Pour a little olive oil in a large cast iron or non-stick skillet and heat over a medium burner. Form the sausage into little patties and cook until brown on both sides. Deeeelish!

Dragon Salsa

2011-04-04T17:56:00.000-07:00

I've been craving something very, very hot for about 3 weeks. I've had several meals jacked up with hot sauces and hot ingredients, but nothing has rung my bell. When I was planning to make tacos for dinner tonight, I decided to unleash the nukes. This is dangerously hot, so beware! I ate one whole batch myself...which I will regret in the morning.

Dragon Salsa
(makes about 1 cup)
1 fresh habanero, lightly oiled and grilled until roasty-brown on all sides
2 fresh jalepenos, lightly oiled and grilled until blackened on all sides
Juice of 1/4 fresh lime
1/4 onion, diced
1 large or 2 small cloves of garlic, minced
1 tomato, diced
3 T chopped fresh cilantro
Salt and freshly-cracked black pepper

While the chilies are roasting, chop and mix all remaining ingredients. Allow the chilies to rest on a cutting board after grilling, to cool them down. Cut off and discard the stems, and mince the peppers, including seeds and skins. Add to remaining ingredients and mix well. Adjust salt as needed.

BE CAREFUL not to touch the chilies with your bare hands - especially the habanero. It will burn your skin, and if you touch your eyes, nose, or other sensitive parts, they will be burned. Use the knife and a spatula or other utensil to handle the peppers during mincing and placing them into the salsa.

Habanero Hot Sauce

2010-09-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh, chicken wings! In my April 20, 2009 posting I gave you a recipe that is still my favorite. These wings are falling-off-the-bone tender, and you'll want to drink the sauce (after it's cooked).

What I just invented to go with them is a Habanero hot sauce that is wicked-hot, and perfectly compliments the wings. I suspect it would be pretty good with pulled pork as well. It bites us, it burns us, yessss!

Habanero Hot Sauce
(makes about 1 cup)
2 fresh habaneros, lightly oiled and grilled until roasty-brown on all sides, stems removed
Juice of one fresh lime
2 T apricot preserves
2 T soy sauce
1/3 c. fresh orange juice
2-3 T brown sugar
3 large garlic cloves, cut into chunks
1 T corn starch
Salt and more sugar to taste - after cooked

Place all ingredients in blender. Cover tightly - the habaneros are dangerously hot and splashing of this liquid will not be good for the eyes! Pour into a small sauce pan and heat gently until boiling, stirring regularly. Remove from heat. Check salt and sugar levels and adjust as needed. Cool. Transfer to a squeeze bottle or other container enabling easy control of dispensing.

This sauce is very, very hot. However, drizzling it on the wings, or on sloppy joes or pulled pork, dilutes it enough that the heat is tolerable, and the flavors are delicious!

Rhubarb Chutney

2010-05-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated this blog for a while, but my experiment with rhubarb chutney turned out so well, I was inspired to share it. Perfect for spring as the young rhubarb is ready. Serve it with grilled meat or poultry. We're having it with Jerk Chicken tomorrow. It think it would also be very, very happy with a pork chop salted, then marinated in olive oil and fresh rosemary, then grilled to medium.

Rhubarb Chutney
(makes about 1.5 cups)
1 T grapeseed oil or other flavorless oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small shallot, minced
1 c. or a little more rhubarb, cut into 1/2" chunks
1/4 c. currants or tiny raisins (so-called "zante currants")
1/4 c. white vinegar
Sugar to taste, about 1/4 c.
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

Spice Mixture:
1/8 tsp. ground tumeric
1/8 tsp. grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
2 whole cloves
1 small dried hot chile
1/2 tsp. while coriander seeds

Sweat the shallots and garlic in the oil over medium-low heat until soft and just starting to brown at the edges. Add rhubarb, currants, and vinegar. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce the heat to low.

In the mean time, combine all components of the spice mixture in a spice shaker (I like Jamie Oliver's "Flavor Shaker") or in a mortar and pulverize. Add to the rhubarb mixture, along with the salt, pepper, and half of the sugar. Stir and taste. It should be a bit sweet, but not cloyingly so. I like this chutney to retain the tartness of the rhubarb. Add more sugar until the right balance is achieved.

Cover and cook until the rhubarb has fallen apart, just a few minutes more. Stir well, and transfer to small bowl for serving. Allow to cool to room temperature. If refrigerating, allow to warm up to room temperature to serve. The flavors will be best after one hour or so.

Spinach and Grapefruit Salad

2010-02-02T10:12:00.000-08:00

I create this salad when my wife suggested we use up our grapefruit on a salad. The pecans are from a boutique in Minneapolis called Extra Dough (www.extradough.net) - they don't list them on the website, but call them or stop in to get them. You could substitute plain roasted pecans, but they won't be as good :-)

Spinach and Grapefruit Salad
(Serves 4)

Baby spinach - about 12 oz.
1/4 C. "sweet and smoky" pecans
1/4 small red onion, peeled, trimmed and cut into ribbons
1 large red grapefruit

Vinaigrette:
2T grapefruit juice (from the grapefruit, after sectioning it)
2 T champaign vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
1/3 C. olive oil - use a lighter flavored oil for this recipe
small clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. sugar
pinch of white pepper
pinch of black pepper
1/4 tsp finely-minced fresh rosemary (about 6 or 7 leaves)
Salt to taste (make sure it's salty enough)

Mix the vinegar and all other ingredients except the grapefruit juice and the olive oil in a medium bowl and let sit.

With a sharp knife, trim all of the rind off of the grapefruit. Hold the grapefruit in your left hand, and with the right, cut out the wedges by cutting right next to the membranes dividing the sections. Slide them onto a plate as you cut them free. Don't cut all the way to the core - leave the seeds and core connected. When you've cut all the segments free, squeeze what's left of the grapefruit over a bowl and reserve the juice. Add 2 T of the juice to the vinaigrette and drink the rest - it's yummy!

Whisk the olive oil into the vinegar-grapefruit juice mixture, starting with a very fine stream of oil and whisking vigorously to develop an emulsion. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Assemble the salads: arrange spinach on a plate, top with the grapefruit wedges, onion ribbons, and pecans. Spoon on the dressing. If desired, finish with a light sprinkling of sea salt crystals.

Turkey & Mushroom Pate

2009-08-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

I love pates, rich ones with foie gras and pistachios and truffles and pheasant and hare - well, maybe not all together. I started making pates a few years ago, and it was hard to get started. There aren't many cookbooks who even address the subject anymore...I guess they're too intimidating, and in some cases, the ingredients a bit scary to most people.

My breakthrough came with Julia Child and Jacques Pepin's cookbook Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home (Knopf, 1999). They have a whole chapter on making country-style pate, with strips of veal, pork, ham, chicken livers, and a forcemeat (the ground up stuff) made of pork. I learned to make the whole thing from scratch, including grinding the pork myself to get the right texture and quantity of fat. It's a long process - it takes over a week to make, because of marinating times before you bake it, and a couple days for the flavors to develop after it's baked. It's a fabulous recipe.

Since conquering that recipe, I've branched out. My friend Nick, a hunter, gave me two pheasant last fall. They promptly became the foundation of my annual holiday pate. I found I had mastered enough of the basics that I could adjust flavors and ingredients to match the delicate flavor of the pheasant. For example, I added juniper berries - a classic pairing with pheasant. It came out beautifully.

I think it's sad more people don't make pates...they're fun, a bit adventurous, and delicious. So, when recently we had some friends over for appetizers, I decided to make a simple pate of ground turkey and forest mushrooms - start to finish in one day - served slightly chilled with toasted bread, olives, shaved parmesiano, and a bit of simple red sauce - not my secret red sauce, so I'll give you the recipe :-). It was yummy.

And here's the real deal on pate: it's just fancy meatloaf, as you'll see from this recipe. So don't be afraid - enter the world of pates! If you're really serious, start with Julia and Jacques' lovely book. If you just want to dabble, try this recipe, then play around with the flavors and ingredients.

Buon appetito!

Turkey & Mushroom Pate
(Serves 8 or more)
1 package of dried forest mushrooms
1 lb. ground turkey, not the super-lean (I buy Jenny-O 7% fat)
1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 T corn starch
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c. unseasoned bread crumbs
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
salt
freshly ground black pepper

For this recipe, results will be best if you have a terrine mold with hinged sides (look here for an example...I bought mine at Kitchen Window at Hennepin & Lake in Minneapolis). If not, you can use a small loaf pan. In this case, I would recommend lining the bottom with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit.

Re-hydrate the mushrooms by placing them in a small bowl and adding 1/2 cup of hot water. Push the mushrooms down into the water. Let them soak for 30 minutes, turning them over a few times to make sure all are hydrated. Remove the mushrooms from the bowl, squeezing the excess liquid out of them with your hand, taking care to capture the liquid in the bowl. Reserve the soaking liquid.

Meanwhile, saute the shallot and half of the garlic in the olive oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat until soft. Do not allow to brown. Using a very fine-meshed strainer, strain the mushroom soaking liquid into the skillet with the shallots and mushrooms (there will be some sand and dirt in the water from the mushrooms). Slowly reduce the liquid until it is nearly all evaporated, stirring occasionally, and loosening the brown glaze from the sides of the skillet with a spoon or spatula.

While this is going on, mince the mushrooms. First, you need to trim them. Remove any slimy or unpleasantly soft pieces (porcini do not take well to dehydration-rehydration, for instance, and tend to look like gray goo). Also, if any of the mushroom stems are woody and tough, trim them off. Cut large pieces into quarters. Then, using your chef's knife, mince them.

In a large bowl, place the ground turkey. Add the mushrooms and the oil-shallot-garlic-mushroom broth mixture from the skillet. Scrape it clean with a spoon or spatula to get every bit. Mix together. Sprinkle the corn starch all over and mix again. Add all remaining ingredients including the remaining raw garlic and mix again, thoughroughly.

Now, you need to check the salt. I taste the raw mix...I suppose one day I'll die of salmonila poisoning. If you're squeemish (and wiser than me), pinch off a little and fry it, then taste for saltiness. It should be pleasantly salty. Adjust as needed.

Allow the mix to sit and the flavors to develop for a bit. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 275. Oil the terrine mold and press the pate mixture into it. Cover with foil and crimp all around the edges to seal. Find a glass or ceramic baking dish that the terrine will fit into. Place the terrine mold in the baking dish, and add boiling water until it comes 1/2 way up the side of the terrine. Place in the over and bake until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees (use an instant-read digital thermometer - an essential chef's tool!).

Remove the baking dish and terrine from the oven. It's important for the pate to be pressed while it cools. Cut a piece of heavy cardboard to fit on top of the terrine, inside the edges of the mold. Place 2 or 3 soup cans on the cardboard, and something heavy on top of the soup cans, like a bag of flour. Some balancing is required! Allow to cool for about 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, remove the soup cans, cardboard, foil, etc., and use a small, sharp knife to cut around the edges of the terrine. If you have a hinged pan, release the sides, and carefully pry the terrine loose from the bottom, taking care not to break it. If you used a non-hinged mold, carefully pry the terrine out of the mold and remove the parchment. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 2 hours or more.

To serve, unwrap, and using a very sharp knife, cut into 1/4"-thick slices. Arrange on a serving platter with a variety of olives. Serve with sliced bread, shaved parmesian cheese, and bruschetta sauce (see below).

Hotel Davanzati Bruschetta Sauce
This delicious sauce was served during happy hour each evening at the Hotel Davanzati in Florence. They generously share their recipe!

1 lb. red ripe tomatoes (I used high-quality canned whole tomatoes and all of their canning liquid), chopped, with no skin and core removed
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 peperoncino (very similar to dried arbol chiles, which I used)
1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
1 T chopped fresh parsley
salt to taste

Heat the garlic in the olive oil with the peppers until the garlic is soft and not brown. Add tomatoes and cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes. Add the parsley and cook for 2 minutes longer. Salt to taste. Allow to cool (blending hot ingredients can be explosive!). Puree briefly in blender. Serve warm with sliced toasted bread.

Italian Apple Tart with Ice Cream and Balsamic Vinegar

2009-08-16T14:30:00.000-07:00

We just got home from a vacation in Europe in which we spent 4 days in Paris, and then nearly 2 weeks traveling from Venice to Florence to Naples & Pompeii to Positano to Rome. One of the highlights was a day trip we took from Florence into the Chianti wine country which lies between Florence and Siena. On that trip, we visited the Montagliari vinyard, a family-owned and operated business that produces primarily Chianti Classico, in addition to Grappa and balsamic vinegar.

There's a restaurant at the vinyard, and the septegenarian matriarch of Montagliari is the chef. Her cooking was the most delicious and comforting we had in Italy. We had a glorious meal on a shaded terrace overlooking the vinyards and the long valley of the Chianti Classico denomination. Our lunch culminated with a warm apple tart topped with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. It was pure heaven...we devoured it.

When we got home, I was determined to reproduce it. This is my recipe...it's not identical, but it's pretty close. Ahhh, Italia!

A note on balsamic vinegar: This queen of vinegars can range from cheap, watery and sour to syrupy, gloriously sweet-sour and complex. Skip the former...it's not worth buying. The latter form, however, is truly a revelation, and is worth its hefty price - I've paid as much as $30 or $40 for a few ounces of good balsamico. When you get the really good stuff, save it for special dishes like this, use a few drops at a time, and savor its completely unique character with meats, over heirloom tomato wedges, fruits and desserts. Even a small bottle will last a long time.

Italian Apple Tart
(Serves 8)
3 eggs, separated
1/2 c. plus 1 T caster sugar (also called superfine, or baker's sugar)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 T softened unsalted butter (I use Lurpak imported Danish butter for fine baking)
pinch of salt
pinch of freshly-ground nutmeg
1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. corn starch
1 c. apple puree (see below)

Preheat oven to 375. Cut circles of parchment paper to fit in the bottoms of 8 6-oz. ramekins. Place the circles into each of the ramekins, and using 1T of the butter, grease the exposed face of the parchment, plus the sides of the ramekins. Arrange on a baking sheet.

In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, sugar and vanilla until very creamy. Whisk in the remaining 2T of soft butter. Whisk in the nutmeg. In a separate bowl with a clean whisk, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff (the tiniest bit of yolk will keep whites from stiffening). Fold into the sugar mixture. Sprinkle the flour and corn starch over the batter and fold in, working out any lumps. Fold in the apple puree.

Fill the molds 1/2 way, and bake until just brown on the top and edges and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Rotate the pan half way through baking for evenness.

To serve: unmold while still warm (hold the hot ramekins with a towl) onto warm plates, upside down, by running a thin knife around the sides of the ramekin, then gently prying loose. Remove parchment paper rounds. Top with a smallish scoop of premium vanilla ice cream that is slightly softened, and a drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar (about a teaspoon per serving). Dust everything and the plate around it with powdered sugar. Elegant comfort food!

Apple Puree
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and diced
1 Braeburn apple, peeled, cored and diced

Place the apples and 2 T of water into a saucepan, cover tightly, and place over medium-low heat. Cook until very soft, about 25 minutes. Cool. Mash with a fork, not a food processor. It's better with a little texture, rather than baby-food smoothness.

This is also the way I make applesauce. You can use whatever varieties of apples you like best.

Grilled Rib Eye Steaks

2009-07-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

I don't eat steaks very often, so when I do, I want really good ones.

A lot is being written lately about the right way to raise beef cattle for health, sustainability, and humane treatment of the animals. If you live in the Twin Cities, and want beef you can trace back to the farm, I've found no better than Clancey's Meats & Fish in the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis (I don't believe they have a website, but see reviews and directions here). They are truly artisanal in every way.

However, they're not actually my favorite butcher shop in Minneapolis. That honor (such as it is) goes to Everett's Foods & Meats on the east side of Minneapolis just off 38th & Cedar (see reviews and directions here). Why do I love Everett's so much? Maybe it's the 1950's nostalgic feel of the place. Maybe it's the fact that they dry-age their beef to perfection. Maybe it's their incredible house-made sausages and bratwurst and other cured meats. Maybe it's the fact that their prices are working-class-southeast friendly - I bought 2 12-oz. rib eyes there for $15 and change, total.

Clearly, it's all of this, and one thing more: I have absolutely loved every single cut of meat of every kind I've ever bought from Everett's. For my 40th birthday I hosted a man-feast for 11 of my closest guy friends and relatives. We bought a dozen 1-lb. porterhouse steaks from Everett's for the event - the king cut of beef. They were sublime. Everett's brats and Polish are absolutely old-world in their depth of flavor. I've purchased countless steaks there, and the occasional tenderloin for special occasions. Always perfect.

Unless you're a vegetarian, having a favorite neighborhood butcher shop is one of the great pleasures in life. I don't live in Southeast anymore, but mine is still Everett's.

Grilled Rib Eye Steaks
(serves 1 per steak)
10-12 oz. rib eye
salt
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 medium clove of fresh garlic, peeled, the end trimmed off, and quartered

Buy the steaks a day or two before your event. Salt both sides with a generous sprinkle of Kosher salt. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 18 hours.

Place the olive oil and garlic in a blender or food processor and puree. Remove steak(s) from the fridge, take off the plastic wrap, and place in a sheet pan, and rub all over with the garlic/oil mixture. Allow to sit for 60-90 minutes at room temperature.

Meanwhile heat the grill to high - preferably mesquite charcoal. I mean fiercely hot. Serious violence must be done to the steaks. When the grill is near its maximum heat and the steaks have marinated and come up to room temperature, put the steaks on the grill. Allow a good crust to form - 2 to 3 minutes. Turn the steaks and cook the other side. You can cook them as done as you like, but medium-rare is the way to eat these babies.

Transfer hot steaks to warm plates and allow to rest for a couple minutes while you load up the plate with yummy stuff like potatoes gratin, sauteed or creamed spinach, or homemade macaroni and cheese. When you cut into the steaks, the juices should run into the other stuff on the plate. Now you're living!

Oysters Three Ways

2009-07-17T15:02:00.000-07:00

I love oysters. And I love to come up with creative ways to prepare them. When my friend Martin called this week saying he was in the mood for oysters and martinis, my brain went to work.

I bought two-dozen oysters: 8 Malpeques, 8 Kumamotos, and 8 Blue Points. I wanted preparations that would bring out the natural character of each of these wonderful varieties. The recipes are below.

A couple points on oysters. First, find a brilliant, fantastic, exceptional source. In the Twin Cities, I only trust fresh oysters from Coastal Seafood. Find the supplier in your city that gets the very freshest, and is 100% reliable. I've never been sick from a bad oyster, but I know people who have, and it's really not fun.

Second, buy them the day you're going to eat them. See point #1.

Third, use a stiff brush and scrub them all over under cold running water. Don't submerge them. The shell is the serving vessel, so you don't want mud, seaweed, or other unpleasantness clinging to them. Be sure to put a mesh over your drain - a lot of shell chippings and other nasty bits will come loose.

Fourth, if you don't know already, take the time learn how to properly shuck an oyster. It's really worth doing - it's not hard once you learn, and it's a lot more fun than you'd think. Watch this video, read this posting, and find someone you know who's done it before to help you.

Malpeque Oysters Old School
(8 oysters)
8 dashes Tabasco Sauce
2 tsp. horseradish
1/2 lemon

Spoon about 1/4 tsp. fresh horseradish onto each oyster. Shake on a dash of Tabasco. Squeeze the juice from the lemon over all. That's it. The Malpeques are meaty and briny. They love this traditional combination of flavors, standing up well to the boldness of these ingredients.

Kumamoto Oysters Japanese Style
(8 oysters)
6-8 shiso leaves (shiso is a Japanese herb that tastes vaguely like cumin), cut into tiny shreds
1+ tsp. wasabi paste
3 scallions, trimmed and minced fine - all of the white plus 1/2" into the green part
2-3 drops soy sauce per oyster

Top each oyster with a bit of shiso and scallion, and 1/8 tsp. (i.e., a small amount) of wasabi paste. Dribble each with 2-3 drops of soy sauce.

I invented this recipe for a bachelor party several years ago. The milky, creaminess of the Kumamotos loves the earthiness of the shiso. The scallion and wasabi add a little brightness. Kumamotos aren't as briny as some oysters, so the little hit of soy adds further depth, plus some salt. This is a nearly perfect way to eat raw oysters.

Blue Point Oysters Southwestern Style
(8 oysters)
2 T minced red onion (minced very small)
2 T fresh raw sweet corn cut from the cob, carefully cleaned of silk and bits of husk
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 T fresh lime juice
~1 tsp. chili powder (see the note in this posting for my homemade chili powder)
8 cilantro leaves

I love broiled oysters. They don't really cook - just get warm. This combo had a slightly funky fragrance, but tasted fantastic.

Combine onion, corn, garlic and lime juice in a small bowl. Stir well and let marinate for 30 minutes 0r more while you shuck the oysters.

Heat the broiler to high. Cover a small sheet pan with foil, then pour in about 1/2 cup or more of kosher salt or rock salt. This will form a bed for the oysters preventing them from tipping and spilling their juices. Carefully place the oysters on the salt, keeping them from spilling their liquor.

Spoon a half-teaspoon or so of the marinade onto each oyster. Sprinkle a couple pinches of chili powder over each. Broil for 1-2 minutes until just warm. The won't brown or bubble - just get a bit hot on top. Remove from oven and top each with a cilantro leaf.

The Bombed Goose
Mix 2 shots Bombay Sapphire gin and 2 shots Grey Goose vodka in a martini shaker with ice. Shake (don't stir), pour into a martini glass, add 2-3 olives.

This, for me, is the perfect martini. Exceedingly smooth, icy cold, it pairs wonderfully with oysters.

Thai Holy Basil Fried Rice with Calamari

2009-07-16T14:01:00.000-07:00

We all have foods that we love dearly, and then there are foods we would make our last meal. On Top Chef this season (a show which I watch obsessively), one of the challenges near the end was to prepare for some celebrity chefs what they would desire for their last meal. Carla Hall, one of my favorite contestants, cooked for the wonderful Jacques Pepin. His requested "last meal" was squab and fresh peas. Comfort food for him. After Jacques finished the meal she had prepared for him, he said, "I think I could die happy after that." I actually cried! For me, that moment was so magical, I can't imagine having Jacques Pepin say those words about something I'd cooked...in my opinion she won the competition right there.

So, what would my last meal be? Thai holy basil fried rice with calamari. Comfort food for me.

I love Thai food, and grew to love this dish eating at the King and I restaurant in Minneapolis. Their version of this dish can be ordered with beef, chicken, fried tofu, or calamari. I absolutely love the latter. You can prepare this dish with any of these proteins. I challenge you to try it this way!

You can find jasmine rice, frozen cuttlefish, fresh Thai basil, fresh Thai chilies and fish sauce at most Asian markets.

By the way, this dish is smoking-hot, fired up by Thai chilies. You can adjust the heat in your preparation of the garlic-red pepper paste.

Thai Holy Basil Fried Rice with Calamari
(serves 2-4)
1-2 T. canola oil
8 oz. cuttlefish (bodies and tentacles), bodies cut into rings, bony cartilage removed
~1/4 c. garlic-red pepper paste (see below)
1 qt. freshly-cooked jasmine rice
1 bunch Thai basil, leaves pulled from stems (but not chopped)
fish sauce and soy sauce to taste

Cook about a quart (finished volume) of jasmine rice. (See this posting for my technique for cooking rice.) Heat a wok over high heat. Working quickly, add the oil, cuttlefish and garlic-red pepper paste and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes to cook the fish about half-way. Add the rice and stir to mix. Stop stirring, and allow the rice to brown a bit. Scrape it loose, stir up, and repeat 2-3 more times, until there's a moderate amount of browned rice in the mix. Add the basil leaves, and pour in about 2 T of fish sauce and 1 T of soy sauce. Stir well (still over high heat). Taste for saltiness. Add more fish sauce if needed. Cook for a couple more minutes to reduce liquid, stirring every 30 seconds or so. Serve piping hot.

Garlic Red-Pepper Paste
2 T canola oil
1 head of garlic, separated, peeled, and each clove halved or quartered depending on size
1 whole red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and cut into 1/2" dice
red Thai chilies to taste, stems removed, cut in half

The heat all comes from the Thai chilies. I use about 16-18 in mine, which is intolerably hot for most people; you can use as few as 4 or 5, and as many as you dare! Be very careful working with Thai chilies - they are the second or third hottest chilies on Earth, depending on who you ask. Their oil is exceedingly hot, and will burn your eyes, nose, mouth, or other sensitive parts.

Place all ingredients in a wok on low heat, and slowly roast for about an hour to 90 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so. Everything should be soft and well-cooked, and the garlic turning brown. Place in a food processor and puree. Freeze any unused paste for up to 6 months.

Caper-Ranch Dressing

2009-07-12T18:23:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a moment of inspiration is all that's needed to make something ordinary become something special. Last night I served my chicken and dumplings to friends (recipe here), and wanted to serve a fresh salad with it. Vicki asked for ranch dressing, and as I had buttermilk in the fridge I thought, OK. But I wanted something with a little more zip - a little more tang than a normal ranch dressing. Then it came to me: capers.

It came out great. Here you have a brand new recipe for a great summer dressing. I served this with a salad of organic red-leaf lettuce, red onion ribbons, roma tomatoes, and radish slices.

Caper-Ranch Dressing
1/3 c. mayonnaise (I use Hellman's)
1/3 c. + 2 T buttermilk
1/2 tsp. fresh minced dill weed
2 tsp. capers, chopped
pinch onion powder
fresh ground pepper
pinch of salt

Whisk together all ingredients. Adjust salt as needed. Serve immediately, spooned over salad.

Turkey Sloppy Joes

2009-07-08T09:30:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a good ol' fashioned Sloppy Joe is just the thing for summer. We had these with chips, pickles and lemonade. Life is sweet!

You will notice a lot of approximations in the measurements in this recipe. This is because Sloppy Joes are all about hooking into childhood flavor memories. Everyone's "ideal SJ" is personal and slightly different. It's about that perfect balance of salt, sweet, tang, and spice. I found myself doing a lot of adjusting to get the flavors "just right". You should do the same - start with lesser amounts of the strongly-flavored ingredients, taste frequently, and adjust to your liking.

Also, my wife eats no beef or pork, so I make them with ground turkey. You can use ground beef, of course - it's the traditional protein - just omit the cooking oil.

Turkey Sloppy Joes
(serves 3-4)
1/2 lb. ground turkey (I buy Jenny-O 7% fat)
1 T light olive oil or canola oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
~1/2 c. ketchup
~1 tsp. prepared yellow mustard
~1/2 tsp. Worchestershire Sauce
~2 T brown sugar
dash soy sauce
2-3 dashes paprika
dash or two of ground celery seed
dash Tabasco Sauce (optional, to taste)
salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

Brown the turkey in the oil over medium heat, breaking the clumps into small pieces. When the turkey is nearly done, add the onion and garlic. Continue to brown and cook over medium heat until the onions are well-browned and partially carmelized, at least 15 minutes. Add about 1/4 c. of water, and loosen all of the browned bits from the bottom and sides of the pan.

Add all remaining ingredients except salt, and stir well. Heat until bubbly. Taste a small spoonful, and adjust flavors as necessary, adding salt if needed. I prefer a fairly sweet SJ, and added a fair amount of brown sugar. I also ended up adding a dash of cider vinegar to amp up the tang just a bit.

Reduce heat to low and cook for 10 minutes to marry the flavors. In the mean time, toast onion buns (or whatever type of bun you prefer) under the broiler or over a grill. Serve immediately!

Grilled Salmon Dijon

2009-07-05T21:17:00.000-07:00

I find this recipe to be counter-intuitive - mustard with salmon? - yet it is utterly delicious. My cousin, Jack Riebel, is the Executive Chef at the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis. On a family reunion a couple years ago, he pulled together this dish to feed 35 adults in short order. It was quick, easy, and amazingly good.

Grilled Salmon Dijon
(serves 4-6)
2 12-16oz. salmon filets, with skin on one side, boned
small jar of coarse-ground mustard
small bunch of fresh Italian parsley
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves pulled from the stems
small bunch of fresh cilantro, rinsed well and leaves pulled from the stems
about 1/2 c. dried breadcrumbs
olive oil for drizzling
1/2 lemon

Lay the salmon filets skin-side down on a double-thick layer of aluminum foil, crimped around the edges, or on cedar planks. Slather each filet with mustard to coat all over. Mince the herbs together and spread all over the filets, pressing into the mustard. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs, and drizzle with olive oil. Let sit for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the grill. Put the salmon on the grill, cover to hold in heat, and cook until just done in the thickest part - cooking time will vary with the thickness of the fish, heat of the grill, and pre-cooking temperature of the fish. Allow to rest for 5 minutes, then spritz with juice from the lemon and serve.

This dish is great with roasted new potatoes (recipe here) and a salad of spring greens.

4th of July Fireworks

2009-07-05T06:28:00.000-07:00

I wanted a little something to eat before the fireworks last night, so I threw together a quick little smokin' hot snack.

I had a little of my pulled pork left in the fridge (recipe here), so I nuked it for 40 seconds to warm it up. Meanwhile, I rubbed a fresh jalapeno with a little oil and charred it all over on the gas grill (you can use the flame on a gas burner as well). After it was well-charred, I cut off the cap and minced the pepper. I also lightly toasted a couple of corn tortillas by tossing them into a hot, dry frying pan over medium-high heat, flipping once.

To serve: put some pork on each of the two tortillas, scoop half of the minced jalapeno onto each, squirt each with a wedge of lime, then dollop some Frontera Grill Habanero Salsa onto each. Ate 'em with a G&T, heavily limed. Kaaaa-BOOM!

Limoncello

2009-07-02T20:13:00.001-07:00

Ahhhh, summertime! What is more summery than lemonade? The brightness of real lemons can almost be forgotten with so many artificial lemon concoctions around, but these two delights are worth the time and effort: limoncello, and homemade lemonade, or lemon slushes.

Limoncello is the lemon-flavored liquor made in Italy, especially in the Naples region and southward. I've always had it served ice-cold, stored in the freezer. The high alcohol content prevents it from solidifying. I have no idea if this is traditional in Italy, but we'll be there later this summer on vacation, so I'll find out.

I've tasted several Italian limoncellos, and have had Buca di Beppo's house-made limoncello as well. I found this recipe on the internet (after rejecting many I didn't trust!), and have made it a couple times, so I know it works, and is just as good as the others I've tasted. I hope you enjoy!

Limoncello
8-10 lemons, scrubbed and toweled dry (preferably organic to minimize pesticides on the peels)
750ml bottle of 100 proof vodka (it's traditional to use grain alcohol, but I prefer this "lighter" version; also, grain alcohol is illegal in Minnesota)
3 c. water
3 c. sugar

Using a vegetable peeler, carefully peel all of the zest off of the lemons. Try not to get any of the white pith. Place the peels in a quart jar. Fill the jar to the top with the vodka (you won't use the whole bottle). Cover tightly, and store in a dark, cool place. Each day, shake the jar once.

Steep the peels for at least a week, and up to 2 weeks. To complete the recipe, make a syrup out of the water and sugar by heating both in a saucepan until hot and the sugar is completely dissolved. Be careful to clean any crystals from the edges of the pan and dissolve them into the syrup. Cool.

Strain the lemon-infused alcohol into a bowl with a pouring spout. Pour in the syrup, and stir together. Find attractive glass bottles with cork stoppers and fill them with the limoncello, using a funnel if necessary. Store in the freezer until served.

Fresh Lemon Slush
Now you have a bunch of peeled lemons. What to do? Juice them all, of course, and make lemonade! It takes waaaay more sugar to make lemonade than you'd think. I used about 2-1/2 cups for my last batch...maybe more. Keep adding sugar and tasting until the sweetness seems right to you. Be sure to completely dissolve all of the sugar you've added between tastings.

You can now add water to make lemonade. Or, you can add about 2/3rds of the water you'd add to make it drinkable, and use this concentrated lemonade to make lemon slushes. Fill a blender half-full of ice cubes, pour in chilled lemonade concentrate, and puree. Yuuuuummmmy! I won't suggest adding rum or vodka, since you already have a bunch of limoncello in the freezer. :-)

Roast Pork for Pulled Pork Sandwiches or Tacos

2009-06-30T14:18:00.000-07:00

Readers my dear readers! I'm sorry to have taken so long a hiatus from Chez Charles! Summer and starting a new business have swallowed up all of my time. But I've truly missed publishing these recipes and ideas on cooking.

As a sort of compromise, I'm going to change my format a bit, and publish individual dishes, recipes, or techniques, rather than whole meals. It'll be easier for me to scribble out a quick post - and possibly more digestible for you as well!

Today I'm making a small pork roast that will be pulled apart for BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. You could use this same recipe for pork tacos, or as meat on a taco salad.

Pulled Pork
(serves 4)
1 lb. boneless pork shoulder roast (I bought a 2-lb. roast and froze half)
1-2 tsp. chili powder (make it from scratch - see below)
1/2 tsp. paprika (I used smoked paprika, available from Pensey's Spices)
1/2 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper
2 tsp. kosher salt (or about half this amount of granular salt)

Two days before baking, rub the meat all over with the salt. Then rub on the remaining spices. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 days. It takes this amount of time for the salt to fully-penetrate the meat.

Heat oven to 275 or 300 degrees. Place roast in a small, covered roasting pan, and roast until very tender and falling apart - 2-3 hours. Allow to cool for 1 hour, covered. The bottom of the pan will be coated in juices.

Place the meat on a plastic cutting board (do not clean out the pan - see below), and pull apart the sections which are separated by fat. Using a paring knife, gently scrape away the fatty membranes, leaving as much of the meat as possible. Cut the meat across the grain to make 1/4"-long pieces, and pull these apart into chunks of desired size, removing any excess fat.

Your pan is full of intensely-flavored drippings and meat glaze. Very carefully, pour off the majority of the rendered fat, which will be floating on top. Don't worry about getting all of it - you don't want to lose any of the darker-colored juices. Add all of the pulled pork back to the pan, and with your hand use it to both mop up the juice and deglaze the pan. Mix well.

You can use this as-is, or add some of your favorite BBQ sauce. You won't believe how savory and delicious this is!

Homemade Chili Powder
Once you've done this, you'll never buy chili powder again. Buy some dried whole ancho chilis, or other large, mild, red, dried chilis. Heat oven to 300. Lay the chilis in one layer on a sheet pan, and roast until deep red and completely dehydrated (about 15-20 minutes). Cool. Pull off the tops and dump out the seeds. Break/tear each chili into ~1" pieces, and place them in batches in your coffee grinder to grind them to a powder. It's that easy, and the flavor is spectacular.

Buttermilk-Dill Rotini and Fresh Mango

2009-05-27T16:44:00.000-07:00

For a quick dinner on a warm night, we love this meal. Simple, light, and quick. Augment with a grilled pork tenderloin or chicken breasts if you want to add protein. I invented this simple buttermilk-dill sauce about 10 years ago, and it remains a family favorite.

Menu
Buttermilk-Dill Rotini
Fresh Mango

Buttermilk-Dill Rotini
(serves 4)
8 oz. (uncooked) rotini pasta (or pasta of your choice)
1/2 pint (1 c.) buttermilk
1/2 c. mayonnaise
1-2 tsp. fresh minced dill
freshly cracked black pepper to taste (I go pretty generous)
salt

Cook rotini in salted water until al dente. Drain. Rinse the cooking pan with cold water, empty, then re-fill with about 2 c. cold water and a generous pinch of salt (otherwise you rinse off the salt from the cooked pasta). Pour the rotini from the strainer into the cold water and swirl around with your hand to cool. Strain and set aside.

Whisk together remaining ingredients in a small bowl until smooth and creamy. Use salt sparingly - there's salt in the mayonnaise and on the pasta. Pour the strained pasta into a serving bowl. Pour over about 2/3rds of the sauce and stir to coat. Add more sauce as desired. Serve.

Fresh Mango
(serves 4)
2 ripe mangoes

Perfectly ripe mangoes are perhaps nature's most astonishinly delicious fruit. The texture of the flesh - soft but with some firmness, the luscious sweetness balanced with a bit of tang, there is simply no other fruit like it. Finding a perfect mango in our northern climate can be a challenge - and for our friends devoted to local and sustainable foods, I'm afraid it's a poor choice. Yet the payoff is so wonderful when they are good, I keep up the hunt.

Last week I bought three mangoes at different stores, hoping at least one would be excellent. They all three turned out to be! Most mangoes we find in grocery stores are the relatively large, red-green type that come from Central America. If you shop at Asian groceries or co-ops, you may also find the smaller, yellow mangoes which tend to be a bit more sour, but which ripen better.

I cut them all up and mixed them in a mango medley. The result was really delicious, and the family gobbled up every bit.

Look for mangoes that are not rock hard, but also are not too soft. If you do find a soft one, look carefully to make sure it's not soft due to bruising. At home, they will ripen a bit more in the refrigerator.

The key to cutting up mango is to first remove all of the skin. Use a sharp knife, and carefully cut the skin away from the soft flesh underneath. Next, cut the flesh away from the large, flat pit at the center of the mango. If your knife runs into the pit, stop and change directions a bit until you get a feel for where the pit is. Cut as much flesh away from the pit as possible without cutting too far into the fibrous layer at the surface of the pit. Dice it up and serve it.

Timing & Technique
Nothing special here today. One tip: I've found minced "fresh" dill in the produce section of the grocery store. It's a product that is somewhere between dried and truly fresh. The brand I've used is Litehouse [sic] Freeze-Dried Herbs. This product keeps a long time and is nearly as good as store-bought fresh dill. Dill from your own garden is by far the best option, if you have it!

One Chicken, Two Meals

2009-05-25T19:28:00.000-07:00

My dear readers, I'm sorry it's been so long! Life has been very busy. Not too busy to cook, just too busy to write about it! I'll try to catch up a few meals over the next couple days.

Last weekend I made a roast chicken dinner on Sunday, followed by mahtzoh ball soup for Monday. I was going to be out, and wanted to leave dinner for the family for Monday night.

Learning to roast a chicken, make gravy, and make stock are fundamentals that cooks perfect their whole lives. Everyone has different preferences. I'll give you my techniques - see if you like them, or augment them yourself to your own preferences.

Sunday dinner was roast chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, roasted beet salad, and broccoli. Monday was mahtzoh ball soup, a dinner salad, and hard rolls. In the interest of today's topic being how to get two meals from one chicken, I'm going to focus on those elements.

Recipes
Roast Chicken
Brown Chicken Gravy
Mahtzoh Ball Soup

Roast Chicken
1 roasting chicken - 4lbs. or more
2-3 carrots, trimmed and diced (peeling is optional, but scrub if not peeled)
2-3 stalks celery, trimmed and diced
1 large yellow onion, trimmed, peeled and diced
Kosher salt

When roasting a chicken, I have three objectives: (1) develop the flavor of the chicken as much as possible, (2) cook the breast and dark meats such that both are tender and moist, and they are done at about the same time, and (3) develop the pan juices for the most delicious possible gravy.

I've read and experimented a great deal on this topic. This is the technique I now use to achieve these goals.

24 hours before roasting, rub a generous amount (2-3 T) of Kosher salt all over the inside cavity and outside of the chicken. Wrap with plastic wrap and keep in the refrigerator until 1 hour before roasting. This process of salting the meat a day ahead of time is equivalent to brining. However, I find brining to be more unweildy - you have to find refrigerator space for a large pot - and it takes a lot more salt.

One hour before baking, remove the chicken from the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 375F. Trim and dice all of the vegetables. Place a rack in a roasting pan. Scatter the vegetables all over the bottom of the pan. Place the chicken on the rack breast side down [if the neck was included, lay it directly on the bottom of the roaster with the vegetables], and place in the oven.

The sole purpose for the vegetables is for them to brown and add flavor to the gravy. You'll be watching them carefully. For a rich, brown gravy, the vegetables must be very well-browned - almost burned. But if they scorch, the gravy is ruined.

To complicate matters a bit, you are also roasting a chicken. Total roasting time will be about 20 minutes per pound of chicken (e.g., 1:40 for a 5-pounder). However, you'll be using other methods to fine-tune the cooking time. I find I often cook them longer than this rule of thumb. Further, by starting the bird breast-side down, you'll brown and cook the legs and thighs first, which keeps the breast moist. But to brown the breast, you'll need to flip the bird at some point in the baking - typically about 2/3rds through.

After the first hour or so, you should check the pan every 10 minutes. You are looking for the doneness of the veggies, and also the color of the back-side of the chicken. When the chicken is a rich caramel color, turn it over. The breast will be light and will show the marks of the rack, but don't worry, the rest of the cooking will take care of that.

When the veggies are as dark as you dare let them go without burning, add a cup or two of water to the pan. Water does not need to completely cover the veggies, but it must completely cover the bottom of the roaster. The chicken, however, should not have water on it. [For the science-minded, the temperature of liquid water cannot exceed its boiling point, about 212F. Browning reactions occur at higher temperatures. As long as the veggies are kept moist, they will brown no further. Because of this, adding water too soon will also stop the browning. Deep browning creates flavor. Fat remains liquid at higher temperatures, so the chicken fat rendering into the pan will continue to brown the veggies until water is added.]

After you flip the chicken, watch the color of the skin. When it is becoming deep brown, insert a digital thermometer into the thickest part of the breast. It should reach about 165F to be done. Don't let it get much above this, or it will dry out. [The exterior of the bird is hotter than the interior, and will continue to cook the interior after it's removed from the oven, typically raising the temperature another 5 degrees or so until the inevitable cooling down.]

Remove chicken from the roaster and place it on a cutting board to rest - at least 10 minutes - before carving.

This method will produce a well-browned, crisp skin and deep, rich flavor without added butter or other ingredients. If you want, you can stuff the cavity of the bird with herbs such as rosemary, sage, thyme, bay leaf and Italian parsley. If you do so, remove before making stock (see below).

Save every bit of bone, skin and unused meat from this step. It will become the foundation of your stock. Save the bones from the thighs and legs. Also, save any juices that drain from the chicken before and during carving, and add those to the stock as well.

Brown Chicken Gravy
pan drippings and roasted carrots, celery and onions from roasted chicken
buttermilk (1/2 pint or more)
2-3 T butter
2-3 T flour
salt & pepper

First, make a roux with the butter and flour. Melt the butter in a small saucepan, stir in the flour, and cook over medium-low heat until the flour and butter are nut brown, stirring often. I use a whisk for this. The amount of roux you make will depend on how thick or thin you like gravy. I like a relatively thin gravy. Making a brown roux will enhance the color of the gravy, and deepen its flavor.

In the mean time, place the roasting pan over a burner (or two burners if it is oblong and reaches two burners). The secret to this stage of gravy making is heat and speed. Have all ingredients ready, and get this process done fairly quickly. Add 2-3 cups of hot water to the pan (I often use water from boiling the potatoes) and bring to a vigorous boil. While it's coming up to temperature, use the whisk or a spoon to scrape loose all of the brown bits clinging to the sides and bottom of the roaster. This process is called "deglazing", and is the source of much of the flavor in your gravy. If your roasting pan has a lot of brown glaze left on it when you clean up, you missed a lot of flavor!

Once the pan is deglazed, pour in the buttermilk, whisking vigorously. I love buttermilk gravy. If you don't, just use an additional cup or two of water. At this point, all of the veggies are still in the pan. Bring back to a full boil. Now, working with about 1/4th of it at a time, whisk in the roux. Keep the gravy boiling - this emulsifies the fats and creates a smooth, homogenous gravy. With each addition of roux, let it fully dissolve and cook into the gravy. You'll see it thickening. Stop adding roux when the gravy is at a desired thickness. Reduce heat to low. Grind a generous amount of black pepper over the gravy and whisk one more time.

Place a medium-mesh strainer over a bowl large enough to hold the gravy. Strain the gravy into the bowl. [There will still be tiny bits of veggies in the gravy. If you are a purist for a velvety, pure gravy, use a chinois or fine-mesh strainer and strain a second time. Work quickly so it stays hot.]

Check salt. Salty gravy is yummy, so don't be shy. But be careful. Over-salted gravy is ruined. Better to add small amounts at a time and mix well before adding more.

Mahtzoh Ball Soup
1 qt. chicken stock
carcass from roasted chicken
2 carrots, trimmed and cut into large chunks
3 stalks celery, trimmed and cut into large chunks
1 large onion, trimmed, peeled and quartered
1 tsp. dried Herbes d'Provence
1 tsp. whole peppercorns
1-2 dried bay leaves
1 pkg. mahtzoh ball mix (I use Manischewitz), prepared per package instructions
2 eggs
light olive oil
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 stalk celery, diced
salt

Make the stock as follows: place the chicken carcass and all the residual bits saved from dinner in a stock pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low. Use a skimmer or small mesh sieve to skim off any foam that forms during the first few minutes of cooking. Add all remaining ingredients (down through bay leaves), stir once, then do not stir again. Cook for at least 2 hours. It should be bubbling very gently, not boiling. If you can't get your burner low enough to prevent boiling, try stacking two burners (if it's safe and not tippy!).

Chicken stock flavor progresses as follows: first shallow and insipid, gradually becoming richer to a sweet-savory peak, then a gradual reducing in brightness as the flavor becomes more tired. You are trying to time it for that peak. This requires regular tasting. Unsalted stock won't have its full flavor, so you have to be discerning. It will develop body and richness as it cooks. There will come a point where the bouquet is heavenly, and the broth has a velvetiness and sheen. It will have a distinct and pervasive "chickeniness". At this point, remove it from the heat.

Strain the stock twice - first through a medium-mesh sieve, then a second time through a paper towel in a large sieve, or through a chinois [without the paper towel]. The paper towel method takes some practice - none can spill out - but it produces a clear broth with most of the fat removed.

Discard bones, skin and veggies from the stock. Rinse and wipe out the stock pot and return the strained stock to the pot. If you have more than a quart at this point, bring it to a low boil and reduce it (evaporate off some water) until it is about 1 quart. Now, check salt and add some until desired saltiness. You're making soup now, so get it to the level of saltiness you like your soup.

In the mean time, prepare the mahtzoh ball mix and dice the carrots and celery. Add the veggies to the stock, then form mahtzoh balls one at a time and drop into the soup. Cover tightly and cook according to the instructions, 25 minutes or so. Serve, or refrigerate and save for lunch or dinner later - this will keep several days.

[Note: if you've gotten the stock right, the chilled soup will be gelatinous. This is caused by dissolved marrow and connective tissue from the chicken, and is a rich source of flavor and nutrients. If the chilled soup is runny, either the stock didn't cook long enough, or it wasn't reduced enough.]

Technique & Timing
Since this post doesn't follow my normal format, most of these topics were woven in above. On timing, I prepared all of this in one night. That may sound formidable, but it's not too bad. Except for the final stage, the carrots, celery and onions can be rough-chopped - especially in the stock. Most of the elapsed time is taken by roasting or simmering, during which you can do other things.

One more thing: ever had demi glace, that super-rich beef-broth-based sauce served in high-end restaurants? You can make an extraordinarily rich and delicious chicken demi glace as well. After you've double-strained your stock, return it to a clean pot with the heat on low. Gradually reduce it to about 1 cup. If skin forms on the top, remove it with the back of a spoon (the film will cling to it) - this film is made of impurities that you can gradually clean away in this manner. Eventually, skin will no longer form. When the stock is reduced to a cup (this will take several hours, and it will seem like the pan is almost empty), carefully pour it into a bowl or measuring cup with a spout. It will be deep-golden in color, and very velvety, with incredibly intense flavor. Pour a little - 1/4 cup or so - into snack-sized ziplock bags and freeze [write the date and contents on the bag in permanent marker to remember what they are and when you made them].

I use chicken demi glace to finish stir-frys, make quick pan-sauces for roasted potatoes, in pasta dishes, or to enrich soups. Pretty much anywhere you want rich, intense chicken flavor.

Spinach & Egg White Omelets, Fresh Fruit, Wheat Toast

2009-05-13T17:30:00.000-07:00

The ladies in my life are watching what they eat, so despite the chili dogs a few days ago I'm mostly keeping things healthy. Two nights ago I made my broiled walleye with broccoli (see this post) and a baked potato (served with yogurt, no butter or sour cream).

Last night I made an omelet with egg whites and fresh spinach. I developed this technique a while ago, and the outcome is both delicious and quite beautiful, especially with the red of the tomato against the pale-green of the omelet. My kids were skeptical, but they loved it after tasting it. This is a great way to get spinach into a meal. Enjoy!

Menu
Spinach-Egg White Omelets with Asiago and Fresh Tomato
Fresh Fruit Salad of Strawberries, Raspberries and Tangerines
Wheat Toast (lightly buttered)

Spinach-Egg White Omelets with Asiago and Fresh Tomato
(serves 4)
8 oz. fresh baby spinach, rinsed and trimmed (or buy a bag that's pre-cleaned)
9-10 egg whites
about 1/2 c. grated asiago cheese
about 1/2 c. diced tomato
salt & pepper
butter (for cooking)

Pour an inch of water into a 3 quart saucepan, bring to a boil, add the spinach, reduce heat to low, stir once, cover, and let cook for about 4 minutes. Drain in a mesh sieve. Use the back of a spoon to squeeze out moisture. Allow to cool in the sieve resting over the sink.

Place the spinach in a blender with about 2 of the egg whites. Blend briefly to puree (about 6-10 seconds is all you'll need). Pour the spinach-egg mixture from the blender into a bowl with the rest of the egg whites and whisk until well-blended. (At this stage the mixture will be a dark green that isn't very pleasant, but after it cooks, the whites turn white and the spinach lightens, making the appearance much more beautiful.)

Heat a 6-8" non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1/2 tsp. of butter; melt and swirl around the pan. Working quickly (so the butter doesn't brown), pour in 1/4th of the egg-spinach mixture. Swirl around the pan to cover the bottom. Cook until nearly set. Carefully flip over. Sprinkle 1/4th of the cheese over half of the omelet. Turn heat to low. After about 30 seconds, fold the omelet in half over the cheese and cook for about a half-minute more. Transfer to a plate, and top with 1/4th of the diced tomato.

Turn the heat back to medium-high and repeat 3 more times to make the remaining omelets.

Fresh Fruit Salad of Strawberries, Raspberries and Tangerines
(serves 4)
6 oz. fresh raspberries
10-12 oz. fresh strawberries, cored and quartered
2 tangerines

Place the raspberries and strawberries in a serving bowl. Working one at a time, trim the top and bottom off of a tangerine. Place a flat side of the tangerine on a board, and carefully cut away the rest of the peel, working from the top towards the board. Squeeze any juice from the trimmings over the fruit. Hold a sharp knife in your dominant hand, and the tangerine in the other, over the fruit bowl. Cut the tangerine into wedges by cutting into the fruit along each membrane - cutting on either side of each membrane to loosen each wedge. Allow them to drop into the bowl as they come free. Tangerines can be seedy...don't worry about any flesh you leave in the core and around the seeds. After cutting out all the wedges, squeeze the juice from the tangerine into the bowl.

Toss gently to mix and coat the fruit with the tangerine juice, and serve.

Timing
This is a quick meal. I cooked the spinach first, and while it was draining and cooling, separated the eggs, grated the cheese, diced the tomato and finished the fruit. Put the shredded cheese and diced tomato in prep bowls by the stove. Then you can quickly make the omelets and serve immediately. You'll have time to toast bread while the eggs are setting for each omelet.

Technique
I love this technique for pureeing spinach with eggs. I don't remember ever having it taught to me...I just tried it once when I was looking for ways to get more spinach into my non-spinach-eaters' diets. You can do the same with whole eggs, then mix it with flour to make fresh spinach pasta. The spinach retains moisture, so your ordinary proportions of flour to egg will need to be adjusted.

I also love this technique for segmenting citrus fruits. You get delicious, juicy segments without seeds, and the remaining flesh and membrane can be juiced, as we did for this recipe. And it's so sweet, no added sugar is needed.

Tabbouli Salad & Pitas

2009-05-13T16:43:00.001-07:00

When my daughter arrived home from college on Sunday evening, she was ready for anything that was a break from dorm food. The perfect light meal was tabbouli (or tabbouleh) salad with pitas, feta cheese and Greek olives. This is a fairly quick meal, and super-good for you.

I buy whole-wheat pitas, warm them in the oven at 300 for a few minutes, cut them in half, then carefully open the "pocket" with a sharp knife.

Menu
Tabbouli Salad
Pitas
Crumbled Feta
Kalamata Olives (pitted and halved lengthwise)

Tabbouli Salad
(serves 4)
3/4 c. bulgur wheat (I buy Arrowhead Mills organic)
1 c. hot water
1 medium tomato, diced
1/2 c. or more fresh parsley, minced
1 bunch scallions, trimmed, rinsed, and sliced thinly (all of the white plus 1" of the green part)
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 T extra-virgin olive oil
a generous pinch of salt and freshly-ground pepper

Place the wheat and water in medium bowl, stir once, cover with plastic wrap or a lid and let sit for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, prep all remaining ingredients. Remove the cover from the wheat, stir it, and, holding the bowl over the sink, carefully drain off any excess liquid. Add all remaining ingredients, and mix thoroughly.

Folks have many preferences for additional ingredients - mint and cucumber are typical. Some add garlic, but I prefer not to. I prefer this simple version for its clean, earthy flavors.

Serve with pitas, crumbled feta cheese, and olives.

Timing
This is a quick, easy light meal. Or you can add kebabs (chicken, lamb, or beef) to make it more substantial. I also sometimes make a yogurt-cucumber-garlic sauce with it. Buy good-quality plain (unsweetened) yogurt. Peel, seed and finely-dice a cucumber. Mince, then mash a clove of garlic (or press it through a garlic press). Mix together with a little salt. Add a bit of dried, ground cumin if you like.

Even with the extras, it can all be done in about 45 minutes, the time it takes the bulgur wheat to hydrate. The Tabbouli keeps very well in the fridge for a few days.

Technique
Most of the work on this meal is chopping and mincing. Use it as an opportunity to work on your knife skills.

Chili Dogs and Potato Salad

2009-05-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

Summertime, and the livin' is easy. OK, it's not quite summertime, but warm spring weather has us hungry for summer favorites. I rarely get chili dogs at restaurants or ball games, but I make them at home fairly often - in part because I can control the level of sheer grease-o-mania. I have been known to make my own chili for chili dogs, but it's so much easier, probably healthier, and possibly more delicious to use Amy's Vegetarian Chili (I get the "spicy" variety) - look in the "canned chili" section of the grocery store (I usually add a little salt, but find the rest of the flavors to be well-balanced).

This potato salad recipe comes from our long-time neighbor and dear friend Joan Alger. It's my favorite recipe for potato salad ever - mild, velvety sauce that has a bit of tang via the use of sour cream, plus big slices of potatoes and eggs. Again, don't do this the night before a cholesterol check.

But hey, we gotta worry about the arteries of our souls clogging, too, and this combo evokes sunshine, kids tearing around at picnics, parents enjoying conversation in brief respite from life's duties, and grandparents fanning themselves in the shade. Ahhhhh, summer!

If you're feeling particularly in need of spiritual renewal, throw in a rootbeer float. Doctor's orders.

Menu
Chili Dogs
Potato Salad
Radishes and Pickles

Chili Dogs
(serves 4)
4 all-beef wieners
4 large hotdog or bratwurst buns (whole wheat if you like)
1 c. chili (vegetarian or meat), heated
small bowl minced onion
1/2 c. or more shredded mild cheddar cheese

Grill the wieners, or simmer them in water, or microwave them. Toast the buns on the grill (if you like). Place a cooked wiener in each bun. Scoop a couple generous tablespoons of chili over each wiener. Sprinkle with onions, then with cheese, and serve.

Potato Salad
(serves 6-8)
6 medium potatoes (I use Yukon Golds), peeled and gently boiled until just soft but not falling apart, cooled and cut into pieces 1-2" large and 1/4" thick (roughly)
6 eggs (I use one or two extra), hard-boiled (see my March 27th posting for tips), peeled and sliced
3/4 c. mayonnaise (I use Hellman's)
3/4 c. sour cream
1/4 c. cider vinegar
3 T sugar
1 T prepared mustard

Whisk together the ingredients for the sauce in a medium bowl. Drizzle a little in the bottom of a large bowl (to provide a base). Working in layers, add potatoes, egg slices, and sauce, ending with sauce on top. Try to assemble such that very little stirring is needed to mix, so the potatoes and eggs don't break up too much.

Serve immediately (I prefer this recipe when it's fresh and not ice-cold). (It will keep in the fridge for a few days, though.)

Timing
Timing this meal is all about the potato salad. The potatoes always take longer than you'd think, and they have to cool down after they're cooked and before you slice them. Leave 90 minutes or more for this process. The eggs are easier because you bathe them in ice-cold water after cooking.

Technique
Nothing too technically challenging in this meal.

Notes on New Orleans Cuisine

2009-05-05T14:50:00.000-07:00

For those of you who follow my Twitter stream (http://www.twitter.com/chuckdensinger) you know I've been in New Orleans for the past 24 hours. It's been insanely fun. I'm proud to report every meal I had was at a local establishment, and it was truly amazing - gumbo, jambalaya, crawfish etouffee, red beans and rice, oysters cooked two ways (probably the best cooked oysters of my life), beignets and chicory coffee, hot sausage po' boy, pecan pie, bread pudding with whiskey sauce. It was my first trip here, so I probably went a little overboard.

Because I love to cook, I love to eat the food of great cooks and think about what they've done. For example, the crust of the pecan pie was not the typical flaky pie crust used for fruit pies up north. It was the flavor and texture of unsweetened shortbread, the perfect foil to the super-sweet jellied filling of pecan pie. Note to self: unsalted butter and flour, with very little added salt, worked into a smooth, even mixture.

The oysters were stunning morsels of warm richness, flavored with wine, butter, salt, shallot and bay leaf; their soft, fatty richness was reminiscent of foie gras. They were not the least bit fishy. Note to self: buy super-fresh oysters, marinate in wine first, then braise carefully in buerre blanc until hot, plump, and just done; serve with a single slice of well-browned garlic bread in the middle of a bowl, oysters all around, and plenty of the braising liquid.

And on it goes.

Great cooking requires careful attention while eating. When you taste something you love, start asking how it could be done. Pay attention to the balance of seasonings, textures, and aromatics. Think about the technical steps that might be required to achieve what you're tasting. File away what it looks, smells and tastes like when it's perfect, so you can refine your own version later.

Cooking is not about recipes alone. Recipes list ingredients and describe a process for assembling and transforming them. But you make a hundred decisions with every dish - even simple ones - that are not specified or dictated in the recipe. It's much like music. Every violinist who plays a Mozart violin concerto plays the same notes, yet sometimes it's boring, other times magical. It's your job to figure out how to achieve the latter.

Vietnamese-Style Fish "Grilled" w/Aromatics, Southeast Asian Green Salad, White Rice

2009-05-05T14:33:00.000-07:00

I have never been to southeast Asia, but the flavors of Thailand, Malaysia and Viet Nam are my favorites. I've learned to cook them by seeking out the best Asian restaurants in the Twin Cities (and wherever I travel), reading cookbooks, and talking with the Vietnamese, Thai and Malay travelers and immigrants I meet.

Our dinner Sunday night was a super-simple, quick meal evocative of the flavors of Viet Nam. You can make this meal in about 25-30 minutes.

By the way, the Chez Charles survey is still open - please take a minute to give me some feedback! For those who already have, thank you!

Menu
Tilapia in Aromatics, Lime Juice and Fish Sauce, Cooked over the Grill
Green Salad w/Pickled Cucumbers and Onions
Jasmine Rice

Tilapia in Aromatics, Lime Juice and Fish Sauce, Cooked over the Grill
(serves 2)
12-16 oz. mild fish - Tilapia, Red Snapper, and Walleye all work well - cut into 4" pieces
1/2 medium vidalia or other sweet onion, sliced thin against the grain, then halved (into 90-degree arcs)
1/2 c. rough-chopped fresh cilantro
1" cube of fresh ginger, sliced very thinly
1/2 lime
1-2 tsp soy sauce
fish sauce to taste (about 2 T)
drizzle of light olive oil

Preheat the grill. If you have a has grill with an upper shelf, set the heat to high. If you have a gas grill without an upper shelf, set it to medium-low heat. If using coals (preferred), get them started, then push them into a ring at the edges of the grill so there's no direct heat under the center of the grill.

Make a tray for the fish using foil (or buy a small foil pan). I used two sheets of foil about 2' long, folded them in half (to make 4 layers), then folded up the sides to a height of about 1 inch or a bit more and crimped them at the edges to hold them in place. Sprinkle a little of the ginger and onion on the bottom, add a layer of fish, sprinkle on more ginger and onion and half of the cilantro, add remaining fish, and top with remaining ginger, onion and cilantro. Drizzle one T of water over the fish. Squeeze the juice from the lime all over the fish. Spoon the soy sauce and fish sauce all over the fish. Drizzle lightly all over with the olive oil.

Carefully transfer the foil tray to the grill, taking care not to spill any juices. Depending on your grill configuration, cooking time will vary. The grill needs to be covered because you are essentially baking the fish, but you'll need to check periodically for doneness, and also to make sure it's not getting too hot. If the contents of the tray begin to scorch on the bottom, add a little more water. Cook until the fish is flaky and cooked through, but still moist.

Carefully remove the pan from the grill, reserving the precious juices. Pour fish and juice into a serving bowl. Gently turn pieces once or twice to coat, but try to keep the pieces whole. Keep warm until serving.

Green Salad w/Pickled Cucumbers and Onions
(serves 2)
3-4 leaves of green leaf lettuce, trimmed, rinsed and dried with a towel or paper towel
1 smallish cucumber, peeled (but not too deeply - leave the pale-green flesh next to the skin), halved lengthwise, seeded (scrape out seeds with a soup spoon) and cut into 1/8" slices
1/2 vidalia or other sweet onion, sliced thinly against the grain, then cut in half lengthwise to form 90-degree arcs
1 medium carrot, peeled and sliced in to thin discs
~1/4 c. seasoned rice vinegar
sugar to taste - 2 tsp. or more
crushed dried hot chilies, preferably Thai

Place the cucumber slices, onion and rice vinegar in a medium-sized bowl. Add 2-3 T water. Toss until well-coated. Add sugar and toss again. Taste - it should be slightly sweet-sour. Add sugar or vinegar if needed. Allow to marinate for 30 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes. The cucumber slices will release liquid, diluting the vinegar mixture. Taste again just before serving and adjust vinegar and sugar as needed. The salt in the seasoned vinegar adds enough salt...you shouldn't need more, but trust your judgment and add a bit of salt if you think it's needed.

Lay the lettuce leaves in a stack, roll them up, and slice thinly to make ribbons. Make a pile of ribbons on each of two plates. Spoon cucumber and onion slices over the lettuce, plus a generous amount of the sauce. Sprinkle with carrot slices and hot chili flakes (if desired). Serve.

Jasmine Rice
(serves 2-3)
3/4 c. high-quality jasmine rice
water for cooking

Cooking rice perfectly is the easiest thing on Earth, if you have the restraint not to mess with it, and the gumption to shop for good rice. Go to an Asian grocer's...they'll inevitably have a dozen varieties of jasmine rice. Ask the proprietor which is best, and buy it. (Do the same with fish sauce, by the way.)

Place the rice in a medium saucepan. Pour in cold water until the pan is 3/4 full, swirl the rice around with your hand until cloudy (this is loose starch being rinsed free of the rice), and carefully pour off the water without pouring out any rice. Repeat 4-6 times until the water is mostly clear after rinsing. Add cold water to cover the rice by about 1". Place over medium heat, covered, and bring to a boil. Immediately turn the heat to low (if you have electric burners, move the pan to a separate burner set to low) and cook for 15 minutes, covered. Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes more. Fluff with a large spoon, let sit for a couple more minutes, then serve.

You should never stir the rice throughout this entire process. You'll get perfectly-done, delicious white rice.

Serve with the fish and salad, drizzling a little of the juices from the fish over the rice.

Timing
This is a quick meal. Take the fish out of the fridge to warm up a bit. Start the grill/coals. Then start the rice - it takes the longest to cook. Get the cucumber marinating, then add the onion. Since each dish calls for 1/2 an onion, and the pieces are the same size, cut up the whole onion at once to save time. Once the cuke and onion are marinating, make the foil tray for the fish and assemble the fish dish. Check the grill, and re-arrange the coals if cooking with them. Get the fish on the grill. Finish the salad prep and chill plates. When the fish is done, pour it into its serving bowl. The rice should be done. Assemble the salads and serve.

Techique
This fish recipe is adapted from a similar one that calls for steaming the fish, which results in a lot more liquid. I prefer grilling, which intensifies flavors and adds smokiness to the aromatics. I have no actual experience to validate this, but my instinct tells me this would be cooked over coals or wood quite often in Viet Nam.

You have to watch this dish carefully during cooking (though without losing too much of the cooking heat) and add water if it's drying out. Having some residual sauce with the fish is critical to the cooking and eating. This is a fabulously delicious and healthy way to make fish. The only fats are the natural oils in the fish plus light olive oil - both help raise "good" cholesterol levels.

Italian Feast

2009-05-02T16:45:00.002-07:00

We recently had our neighbors Don and Mary Lee over for talk about travel, and lots of Italian food and wine. It was a fun night, one in which we all ate too much and loved every minute of it!

I've already discussed the fact that I'm not ready to divulge the recipe for my red sauce, but I'll tell you everything else we did, and you can substitute your own favorite red sauce in the meal.

Also, the Chez Charles Survey is still open. I'd love your feedback to make my blog better. It's short and sweet - one minute tops. Thank you!

Menu
Cheese and Olives
Green Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing
Tuscan-Style Grilled Bread
Rigatoni with Red Sauce
Italian Sausage
Black Cherry Gelato & Chocolate-Cherry-Heath Bar-Oatmeal Cookies

Cheese and Olives
assorted cured olives (Olive Bar at Byerly's)
three cheeses:
truffled sheep's milk cheese
Pecorino Toscana fresca
Asiago Lagorai
crisps (I LOVE Lavasch crisp flatbread, sold at Byerly's and not expensive)

This is the simplest of first courses. Put everything out, stick cheese knives in the cheese, pour the beverages, and enjoy. With it, we drank a peppery zinfandel and also beer - Surly Furious, which is hoppy and spiked with coriander.

Green Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing
Simple green leaf lettuce salad with tomato wedges and a little red onion. For extra crisp, super-fresh tasting greens, rinse them 2-3 hours before dinner, layer them in a dish towel, roll them up and put them in the fridge. Just before serving, unroll them and tear them into pieces for the salad. I also chill plates for salads.

For the Dressing:
1 small clove garlic, minced
pinch of dry mustard
1/4 tsp. (scant) onion powder (I keep onion flakes from Pensey's in my pantry, and crush a few in a mortar with a pestle when I need powder)
pinch of white pepper
4 tsps. red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. Worchestershire sauce
dash of tobasco
1/3 c. sour cream
1 c. mayonnaise (I only use Hellman's)
1-2 oz. buttermilk or half-and-half
3 oz. blue cheese, crumbled
3 oz. blue cheese, small chunks

Dissolve spices into vinegar along with garlic, Worchestershire, and tabasco. Combine with sour cream and mayonnaise. Thin dressing with buttermilk. Add blue cheese. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours for flavors to develop. This dressing is best 1-2 days after you make it, and will keep for a week or more covered tightly in the fridge.

This is, hands-down, the best blue cheese dressing I've ever eaten. Maytag Blue is my favorite cheese to use, but I also use Pete's Select, or a good Gorgonzola when I'm doing Italian. When I was given this recipe, I was told it's from Kincaid's restaurant.

Tuscan-Style Grilled Bread
See my April 20th posting for this recipe. In short: Slice a baguette diagonally into 1/2"-thick slices. Brush each side lightly with olive oil. Grill carefully over low heat until browned on both sides. While still warm, rub each side with sliced raw garlic. Store leftovers in a plastic bag - keeps pretty well for a couple days.

Rigatoni with Red Sauce
(serves 4)
Boil 1 lb. of your favorite dried pasta (I use Barilla brand) in a large pot of lightly-salted water to desired texture. Drain, transfer to a large serving bowl, and cover with piping-hot red sauce. Toss briefly, and serve family style. Put out a bowl of extra sauce on the side, if you like. Serve with red pepper flakes and freshly-grated Parmesiano-Reggiano, if you like.

Italian Sausage
Buy your favorite mild or spicy Italian sausages. For extra fun, go to a good local meat market, such as Clancy's Meats on 38th & Cedar in Minneapolis, and buy their house sausage. You can also get fantastic sausage, cheese and other products at Cosetta's in St. Paul on 7th Street. I've had great results with national brands such as Johnsonville as well.

Slow-cook the sausages on a low grill, turning often, until deeply-browned all over but still juicy, about 15 minutes (depending, of course, on the heat of the grill). Let rest on a cutting board for 5 minutes, then slice into 1-2" lengths. Place in serving bowl, toss with a little of the red sauce, and serve. You can also add them directly to the pasta bowl and toss with the pasta as well.

Black Cherry Gelato & Chocolate-Cherry-Heath Bar-Oatmeal Cookies
This pairing for dessert was delicious. The gelato was light, with both brightness and depth contributed by the black cherries. The cookies are very sweet, thin and crisp, a perfect foil to the gelato, and of course the cherries in the cookies marry them to the cherries in the gelato. We drank a 10-year-old Chianti Classico with dessert, and it was lovely.

For the Gelato:
3/4 c. potted black cherries with some of their syrup, placed in a food processor and pulsed briefly to chop into chunks
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. cold heavy cream, whipped with a whisk until a bit foamy (be careful not to over-whip, it should be nowhere near the firm stage)
3/4 c. water
1.5 tsp. corn starch

Stir the sugar, corn starch and water together in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil, stirring often, and boil for 1 minute to dissolve the sugar and corn starch. Remove from heat. Pour into a medium-sized, chilled ceramic bowl. The chilling won't be enough to make the syrup cold, but it will bring down the temp a bit. Stir in the cherries and their juice. Stir in the cream. Mix thoroughly. Refrigerate until completely chilled - at least 3 hours or overnight. Transfer to your favorite ice cream maker and process until beginning to set. Put in a small bowl and freeze until firm, 2-3 hours or more. Serve 2 or 3 small (1.5" scoop) balls per person.

For the Cookies:
(makes 3 dozen)
1 c. salted butter, room temperature
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1.5 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1.5 c. oatmeal
1 c. dried whole cherries, cut in half
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli)
1 c. Heath toffee bits

Cream together butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in eggs. Beat in Vanilla and salt. Thoroughly stir in baking soda and flour, being careful not to get the soda on the sides of the bowl. Stir in all remaining ingredients. Lay out three 2-3'-long sheets of waxed paper. Divide the dough into three parts, and form each into a log on the waxed paper. Wrap up and refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350. Cut parchment paper to fit on a large cookie sheet (or use a silpat). Working with one log at a time, cut into 1/2"-3/4" slices and bake (the dough will spread out so leave room between the cookies) for about 8-10 minutes. Cool and serve.

This dough freezes extremely well. Just wrap some plastic wrap over the wax paper you initially wrapped them in. I've used dough frozen for 6-months and it tasted just like fresh.

These cookies are sinfully delicious. They're very sweet, and though they're crisp, they're also chewy, with a bit of tart from the cherries and a nice robust texture from the oatmeal. This was originally a Martha Stewart recipe. I placed one on each plate with the gelato, and set out a separate plate with a bunch more cookies. They were all eaten. :-)

Timing
This meal takes some preparation. Both dessert items require long lead times. I did both in the morning, but you might want to start the the day before your meal. The blue cheese dressing is best if made a day ahead of time as well.

The prep that takes the longest with this meal, though, is shopping! Take a trip to your favorite gourmet cheese shop, butcher shop and bakery. It may take some hunting to find potted black cherries (I found them at Byerly's). Rummage through your local wine shop (or your cellar, if you've stored your own wines) for somet special bottles. Because the preparations are simpe, what really makes this meal special is using high-quality ingredients.

Technique
Ice cream making is easy, but getting that perfect texture and flavor balance is harder than you'd think. In his tome, On Food and Cooking, Harold McGee devotes a whole section to sorbets and ice creams. Getting the right balance of sweet and acid, adequate aeration, and freezing speed all influence the final product. Gelato is different from ice cream in two key ways: it has no egg yolk (so it's not custard-based), and typically has less cream by volume. This recipe combines cream, fruit and simple sugar. Nearly every gelato recipe I've seen calls for a little corn starch to help thicken the base. I'm not a big fan of corn starch, but in this case it does contribute a smoothness to the final texture. Whipping the cream lightly adds air (and lightness) which is not possible with ice cream (because the cream is cooked with egg yolks into custard). Finally, the tongue perceives warm foods as sweeter than cold. When you've made the base, taste it for sweetness. It should taste a bit sweeter than you want your final product, because after freezing it will taste less sweet.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin, Garlic Smashed Potatoes, Sauteed Mushrooms, Creamed Green Beans

2009-04-27T04:22:00.001-07:00

Happy Monday morning, and thank you for your readership! I've been running this little experiment for a few weeks now, and I'd love your feedback. Please take a minute to take the Chez Charles Survey.

On the warm, lovely day we had on Thursday, I did a little grilling and we had a delicious summer dinner. These green beans take me back to my childhood. My paternal grandmother died before I was born, and her sister, my great aunt, Mayme Wester, became my adopted grandma. She lived to 96, and spent all but the last 4 months of it on her own in her little house. She was a great cook and baker - especially her pies and cookies. She used to make these creamed green beans for me when I was a boy. Luckily, she lived until I was in my 20's, so I was able to get some of her recipes, including this one.

Menu
Grilled Pork Tenderlion
Garlic Smashed Potatoes
Sauteed Mushrooms
Creamed Green Beans

Grilled Pork Tenderlion
5-8 oz. pork tenderloin per person
salt
olive oil

At least 2 and as many as 5 days before serving, rub the tenderloin all over with coarse or Kosher salt. Use a generous amount, but not excessive - you're not creating a crust. I use about 1/2 tsp for a 6-7 oz. tenderloin. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and keep in the refrigerator (not freezer!). 1 hour before grilling, take the pork out of the fridge, and rub all over with a little olive oil.

Grill over hot coals or a gas grill on high, turning 2 or three times to brown on all sides. Test for doneness by texture - very soft for rare, quite firm for well-done. There's still a lot of squeemishness out there around uncooked pork, but tenderloin is at its best medium-rare. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing into medallions and serving.

Garlic Smashed Potatoes
1/4 lb. skin-on new potatoes per person, scrubbed with a brush (we're eating the skins)
1 clove garlic per person, peeled and ends trimmed off
1 tsp butter per person
half-and-half or whole milk, about 1/4 cup per person
salt
pepper
olive oil

Heat oven to 300. Place the garlic in a little packet of foil with a drizzle of olive oil. Bake until soft, about 25 minutes. Mash with a fork in a small bowl and set aside.

Meanwhile, place the potatoes in a large pot covered by at least 2" of cold water. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and keep at a low boil until soft and peels are cracking - about 30 minutes. Drain off all the water, and add the mashed garlic and all remaining ingredients. Mash with a potato masher until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

You can use fingerlings or other gourmet potatoes for this recipe such as Yukon Golds, but I prefer simple baby or medium red potatoes, which are less waxy.

Sauteed Mushrooms
8 oz. fresh button mushrooms, rinsed and quartered
1 T butter
1 tsp. flour
1 c. white wine
1/2 c. chicken stock
1 clove garlic, minced
salt
pepper

Melt 1 tsp the butter in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute briefly until soft. Add the mushrooms and a couple pinches of salt and saute for 10 minutes, stirring or tossing frequently. They can brown slightly, but don't let them get too brown - they should be releasing their moisture into the pan. Add the white wine and cook, stirring occasionally, until nearly all the liquid has evaporated.

Meanwhile, in a separate small pan, make a roux of the remaining 2 tsp of butter and the flour. Melt the butter, stir in the flour, and cook, stirring frequently, until it just begins to brown - it should be a deep yellow color.

Working quickly, add the chicken stock to the mushrooms, bring to a boil, and add about 1 tsp. of the roux. Stir quickly to dissolve and cook. If the sauce is too thin, add a little more roux. Do this step quickly so the stock doesn't evaporate too much. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust as needed.

Creamed Green Beans
(serves 4)
8-10 oz. fresh green beans per person, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces
salted water
1 T butter
1 T flour
milk - about 3/4 c.
salt
pepper

Cook the green beans via the "salt water" technique I described in my March 31st posting. In short: gently boil in salt water until al dente. The water should be as salty as sea water.

Drain the beans and reserve. Briefly rinse the pan and return to heat. Melt the butter and add the flour, stirring and cooking briefly to make a blond roux - it should not brown at all - about 45 seconds. While stirring or whisking continuously, begin to pour in the milk in a fine stream. When you've added about 1/2 of the milk, stop adding; stir and cook for a bit to watch it thicken. If it's getting too thick, add a bit more milk. Continue this process until you have a thick, creamy sauce - it should be a bit thicker than you'd make gravy, but loose enough to be creamy. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the beans and stir to coat. Serve.

Timing
This is actually a pretty quick meal. I start with the potatoes, and while they're cooking, I have time to do everything else, ending with the cream for the beans, as that needs to be served right away.

Technique
Judy Rogers, chef and proprietor of the Zuni Cafe in San Francisco, discusses salting meat in her Zuni Cafe Cookbook. I've tried her technique, and it's brilliantly simple and delicious. Buy your meat far enough in advance to do this. For beef, pork and lamb, rub a generous amount of coarse (or Kosher) salt all over the meat, wrap tightly, and store in the refrigerator (NOT freezer) for at least 2 days, and not more than 5, before cooking. For poultry, only salt 1-2 days before cooking. Salting meat a few hours before cooking can draw out its juices, but if you give it several days, the salt is absorbed all the way through the meat, and has the opposite effect of locking in the juices. It also helps preserve the meat. Baked or grilled meats prepared this way will be tender, moist, and very flavorful.

If you are familiar with cooking techniques, you'll have noticed that the "cream" for the beans is pretty much a classic bechamel (BESH-uh-mel) sauce - one of the French so-called "mother sauces". A favorite use of this sauce in my family growing up was "graveyard stew" - put a slice of toasted thick wheat bread on a plate, slather with "milk gravy" (unsalted or lightly-salted bechamel), sprinkle with sugar and sometimes cinnamon, and eat. Yum!

Bechamel is also the base of my macaroni and cheese recipe, and almost every other cheese sauce I make. It can be made with skim or 1% milk, which yields a creamy, rich sauce that is actually pretty low in fat. The most important step is the making of a blond roux - the flour must be cooked adequately, but no browning must occur or it will darken the bechamel.

Chicken Kebabs & Couscous Salad

2009-04-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

I love skewers of grilled meat. As the weather warms up, I get the urge to grill pretty much every night. Last night (Tuesday) I invented a little salad with couscous and other goodies to accompany it. My son asked for white rice, so I made some. Simple, fresh, healthy, yummy.

Menu
Chicken Kebabs
Couscous Salad
White Rice

Chicken Kebabs
(serves 3)
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, trimmed of fat and cut into 1" chunks
1/4 c. white cooking wine (I used Chinese rice wine)
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 small clove garlic, crushed and minced
salt

Toss all ingredients together in a small bowl. Salt generously - about 1 tsp or more. Mix thoroughly. Marinate at room temperature for 30-60 minutes. Skewer chicken onto metal or bamboo skewers.

Cook on a hot grill, searing on all sides, until cooked through.

Couscous Salad
(serves 3)
3/4 c. uncooked couscous
1 c. water
1 tsp. butter
1/2 tsp. salt
~10 cherry tomatoes, halved lengthwise
~6-8 large fresh basil leaves, cut into narrow ribbons, then cut crosswise into small pieces
1/4 c. pitted Kalamata olives, halved lengthwise
1 slice of red onion (about 3-4" in diameter), rings separated and cut into 1/4" pieces
2 T extra-virgin olive oil
~1 tsp. fresh lemon juice - cut the bottom 1/2" from a lemon and squeeze its juice onto the salad
freshly ground pepper
salt to taste

Bring water, butter and salt to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat, stir in couscous, let sit uncovered for 5 minutes, then fluff thoroughly with a fork, breaking up clumps. Transfer to medium-sized bowl. Add all remaining ingredients and stir. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust as needed.

White Rice
3/4 c. long-grain white rice
water for cooking

Place the rice in a medium saucepan. Rinse as follows: Pour in cold water and swirl with your hand to agitate loose starch. Pour off the cloudy water. Repeat 3-5 times. After rinsing, cover the rice with about 1/2 inch of water. Place over medium-high heat, covered, and bring to a boil. Immediately turn the heat to its lowest setting and cook, covered, for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and leave covered for 10 minutes more. Fluff by stirring with a large spoon.

Do NOT stir rice while it's cooking. Don't open the lid. The best way to make rice involves the least possible effort. Also, find the best quality long-grain rice you can. I like to go to Asian markets and ask which rice is best. The range of quality is surprising.

Timing
This is a fast, easy meal. I made the whole thing in about 45 minutes (because of marinating time), with only about 20 minutes of work time. Start with the chicken, and while it's marinating rinse an start the rice and prepare the salad. Grill the skewers. Presto, prestissimo! Serve!

Technique
Use a very sharp knife when cutting fresh herbs, and don't crush them - slice them. As someone once said to me, if your cutting board is green after cutting herbs, you left a bunch of flavor ground into the board.

When grilling meat, test for done-ness with the flat side of tongs. Raw meat is soft, and it gets progressively firmer as it cooks. Getting these skewers well-browned requires hot heat, so they'll cook pretty fast - 6-9 minutes.

Sesame-Crusted Tilapia w/Tangerine Glaze, Lettuce Wrap Salads

2009-04-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

I've been on a salad binge, and since my family isn't too big on salads, I've had to be creative. For Monday night I thought about making lettuce wrap salads - little self-contained salads wrapped in a lettuce leaf. It actually worked, and the whimsy of it sorta got them interested in salad. :-)

Seared sesame-crusted fish is passe as far as fine dining is concerned, but it's still delicious and very doable in a home kitchen. One warning: this smokes when you cook it, so if you don't have good ventilation, you may want to think twice before attempting it. If you have an old cast-iron skillet, try it on the grill outdoors.

Menu
Sesame-Crusted Tilapia with Tangerine Glaze
Lettuce Wrap Salads

Sesame-Crusted Tilapia with Tangerine Glaze
(serves 3-4)
For the fish:
1 lb (or a bit more) fresh Tilapia fillets, cut into 4" pieces
1/4 c. bread crumbs
1/4 c. sesame seeds, ground in a coffee grinder (don't over-process or they'll turn to paste)
2 eggs
salt
~3 T olive oil for frying

Toss the bread crumbs and ground sesame seeds together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and about 1.5 tsp of salt (this is the only salt on the fish, so it's OK for the egg to be salty). One at a time, dredge the fish in egg, then the crumb-sesame seed mixture, and set on a cutting board or wax-paper-lined baking sheet. Allow to rest for 10 minutes at room temperature.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat, until nearly smoking. Carefully place all of the fish in the pan and allow to sear and brown well on one side. Using tongs, carefully turn each piece and sear the other side. Some of the crumb-sesame coating will become loose in the oil and begin to burn. There will be a lot of smoke. Muscle through and get that fish done, being careful to move fish toward the center of the pan as bits at the edges of the pan burn. (Test for done-ness with the smooth part of the tongs; uncooked meat, poultry and fish is soft when raw, but firm when cooked.) As they are done, remove pieces from pan to a paper-towel-covered plate to drain. Keep warm.

For the Tangerine Glaze
2 medium tangerines, juiced, seeds (but not pulp) removed
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small shallot, minced
1 scant T minced fresh ginger
2 T seasoned rice vinegar
1-2 T sugar
~2 tsp. light olive oil
salt to taste

This is a technique taught to me by my cousin Jack Riebel, Executive Chef at the Dakota in Minneapolis. Fruit juice reductions enjoy greatly intensified flavors. Adding aromatics such as garlic and shallot give further depth to them. Finally, adding vinegar adds piquancy. Rice vinegar has sweetness and a little salt, which compliment the fruit beautifully. What you have in the end is intensely fruity, but also savory and bright.

Place oil, garlic, shallot and ginger in a small saucepan over medium heat, and saute until softened, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes. Add all remaining ingredients except salt, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until 2/3 of liquid has evaporated off (about 40-50 minutes), stirring occasionally. Strain out all the solids by pouring through a small fine-meshed sieve. Press the solids with the back of a spoon to force through the juices, and scrape strained juice from the bottom of the sieve. Remove any remaining solids from the saucepan, and return the liquid to the pan (scrape the bowl with a small spatula to get as much as possible back into the pan). Return to low heat, and reduce further, by about 1/2 again, until it is syrupy and intensely flavored. Taste for salt - it only needs a tiny bit to brighten the flavors, maybe 1/4 tsp.

To serve, place the fish on a warm plate, and using a teaspoon, spoon a little of the glaze over each piece.

Lettuce Wrap Salads
(serves 3)
3 large green leaf lettuce leaves, washed, dried, and the base trimmed off
a small pile of carrot ribbons - peel a carrot, then, using the peeler, shave off thick ribbons (only the deep orange part, not the pale core)
a small pile of cucumber ribbons - peel the skin from a cucumber using a peeler, then shave off thick ribbons of cucumber as above (only the pale flesh, not the seeds or skin)
6 cherry tomatoes, halved (quartered if they are larger)
3 scallions, halved lengthwise, then cut into 1/2" pieces
2-3 oz. brie cheese, rind removed, briefly warmed in the microwave (it will liquify slightly)
small amount of vinaigrette of your choosing (I used some leftover blood-orange vinaigrette from a previous meal - blood orange juice, a little champaign vinegar, minced garlic, sugar, salt, pepper, olive oil)
3 decorative toothpicks

Lay out the lettuce leaves on a board. Smear a little of the brie down the center of each. Arrange cucumber, carrot, scallion and tomato in a line on the brie. Drizzle with a little vinaigrette. Carefully roll up and hold shut with a toothpick at the center. Place on a plate and refrigerate until served.

Timing
I started the glaze first, as it takes the longest. Then made the salad wraps. When the glaze had been strained and was nearly done, I finished the fish and served everything.

Technique
The trick with fruit reductions is to let them cook slowly. Many liquid ingredients benefit from reduction. For example, a high-quality balsamic vinegar will reduce into an intense syrup that is absolutely heavenly with roast pork - it has that raisiny-pruney character that marries so well with pork. Stocks intensify as they reduce as well - the greatest of all sauces, demi glace, is greatly reduced beef stock.

A reduced sugar-vinegar mixture is known in culinary terms as a gastrique. Often the sugar is carmelized before adding vinegar, wine and/or fruit juice. See this Wikipedia entry for more - this is a short, crisp description of how gastriques are made and used. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastrique

Mushroom Ravioli w/Pesto, Tuscan-Style Grilled Bread, Spring Salad

2009-04-20T20:10:00.000-07:00

We've been talking about possibly taking a trip to Italy this summer. I was there 9 years ago on a business trip, but have never been there with my family. Anyways, thinking about Italy got me hungry for fresh pasta served simply with bread and salad. I made this on Sunday. Perfect fare for a rainy spring weekend. If you are daunted by the work to make fresh pasta, I encourage you to try it, at least once. If you don't have a pasta roller, you can use a rolling pin to roll out pasta. It's a little tricky getting the thickness right, but it yields a rustic result that has home-made charm.

A word on fat - are you afraid of fat in your diet? You shouldn't be. Humans need fat, and the right fats are an important component of a healthy diet. I believe in eating real food, and real food has fat. But here's the thing: if you eliminate processed foods from your diet, cook real recipes and eat a balanced diet, fat will take care of itself.

This meal has eggs, olive oil, nuts and cheese, but relatively small amounts amounts of each, and no meat (not that you should be afraid of meats, either!). Further, most of the fat comes from olive oil, which is a monosaturated fat (think: helps good cholesterol, lowers bad) and is high in anti-oxidants. Check out this link for more on the merits of olive oil: http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/olive-oil.htm

So remember: fats are not all created equal! Eat real food, and live well and healthy!

Menu
Mushroom Ravioli w/Pesto
Tuscan-Style Grilled Bread
Spring Salad w/Balsamic Vinaigrette

Mushroom Ravioli w/Pesto
(serves 4)
Mushroom Filling
8-10 crimini mushrooms (small portobellos), minced
2 large or 3 medium cloves garlic, minced fine
generous pinch of dried thyme
2-3 generous pinches salt
freshly ground pepper
1 tsp. butter
1/3 c. ricotta cheese

Melt the butter in a small saute pan over medium-low heat. Add mushrooms and garlic and heat through until beginning to steam, but not brown. Add thyme, salt & pepper. Reduce heat to low and slowly cook, stirring often, until the pan has no remaining moisture, about 25 minutes.

Transfer to a small bowl and add the ricotta cheese. Allow to sit for a minute so the mushrooms heat the cheese a bit to soften it. Stir together thoroughly and taste for salt. It should be just a bit salty, but not brightly so - the earthiness of the mushrooms and cheese should prevail. Set aside.

Fresh Pasta
2+ c. flour
3 extra-large eggs
1/2 tsp salt

Next, make the pasta. Place the flour in a medium bowl. Form a small well in the flour and into it add the eggs and salt, and, with a fork, blend the eggs and begin to draw in flour. Continue to work with the fork until the dough is forming chunks. Dump out onto a work surface and begin to knead and work the dough to thoroughly mix it, about 5-6 minutes. It should be very firm, but not sticky or dry - it should hold together without being crumbly. Add more flour if needed. If it's too dry, wet your hands with tap water and work it into the ball of dough - you should not need much.

(Liquid-to-flour ratios are difficult to get precise in pasta recipes because eggs are not all the same size, and flour is more or less dry in different climates. You just need to get used to the feel of it when its right.)

It is critical to rest the pasta dough at this point. Wrap it in plastic wrap and allow to rest for 15-30 minutes, or up to an hour. You will find the proteins have relaxed and the texture is much more malleable.

Cover a large sheet pan with wax paper or parchment. Lightly flour a board on which you'll work the ravioli. Set your pasta roller on its thickest setting. Work with 1/4 of the dough at a time, keeping the rest tightly wrapped. Roll the chunk of pasta dough through the roller. Fold it in half and repeat (still on widest setting). Do this 6 or 7 times. You are actually finishing the kneading process.

Now, begin to roll it thinner by reducing the thickness on the pasta roller by one setting each time, then rolling the sheet through. After it is at its thinnest, lay the sheet on the lightly floured work surface. With a sharp knife, trim the irregular ends. Picture (but don't actually do this!) the sheet being cut into two rows of evenly-sized squares. Using a teaspoon, scoop a dollop of filling onto the middle of each of these imaginary squares in the row closest to you. Using a pastry brush and a small bowl of water, brush a very small amount of water all around each dollop of filling. Carefully fold the pasta sheet over, pressing out the air as you go to avoid sealing in air bubbles, and press down to seal. Using the knife, trim away the edges around the ravioli, and cut them apart. Transfer them to the paper-lined sheet until ready to cook (as you pick each one up, pinch all around to make sure they're sealed).

Repeat this process with the next 1/4th of the dough. If you have filling left, repeat with another 1/4th. If you have dough left, roll it out and cut it into whatever shapes you like and cook it for the kids.

Fresh pasta cooks much faster than dried. Bring a large pot of lightly-salted water to a boil, drop in the ravioli, and cook at a low boil for about 4-5 minutes (plain noodles will cook in 3-4 minutes).

Fresh Pesto
1/2+ c. rough-chopped fresh basil leaves
1-2 cloves garlic, cut into chunks
~3 oz. Parmesiano-Reggiano cheese, sliced into thin pieces, then broken up
3 T pine nuts, lightly toasted in a saute pan over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, then cooled
1/3 c. or more high-quality extra-virgin olive oil (I usually use Colavita)
freshly ground pepper
salt

Place all ingredients except oil in a food processor. Pulse until rough-chopped. Begin drizzling the olive oil into the processor and puree continuously. It should start to emulsify and get creamy. Be careful not to add too much olive oil. Transfer to a small bowl, adjust salt as needed, and set aside. This can be done up to 2 hours before dinner and left at room temperature until needed. Stir a bit before use.

To Serve:
Slather a little of the pesto onto each of the serving plates (preferably pre-warmed). Place the freshly-drained ravioli on top, then spoon additional pesto all over the ravioli. Top with a little more of the Parmesiano-Reggiano, cut into thin shavings and broken into pieces. Serve immediately.

Tuscan-Style Grilled Bread
1 baguette or loaf of Italian bread
olive oil
2-3 cloves raw garlic, cut into 2-3 slices each

Cut the bread into thick slices - 1" or so. For baguettes, cut the bread diagonally to get longer pieces. Brush both sides lightly with olive oil. Heat the grill and carefully toast the bread on both sides so that it is slightly charred and shows grill marks, but is not burned.

While it's hot, rub both sides with the slices of garlic. The garlic oil will infuse the bread with its essence. Keep warm until time to serve.

Spring Salad wBalsamic Vinaigrette
green leaf lettuce, torn to shreds
4 radishes, sliced
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 pound of snap peas, shelled (pick the plumper pods so the peas are larger)
3 T high-quality balsamic vinegar
1/4 c. olive oil
salt (about 1/2 tsp Kosher)
pepper

Chill 4 plates. Arrange the lettuce, radish slices, and tomatoes attractively. Sprinkle the fresh peas over each. In a shaker, combine the vinegar, oil, salt & pepper. Shake vigorously and pour over the salads. This dressing will not hold its emulsion, so you'll have to shake each time before pouring. Serve immediately.

Timing
This is a meal you can work on leisurely while doing other things. I started with the mushroom filling, which took about 15 minutes (with some cooking time in the middle). This can sit at room temperature for a couple hours until it's used. I mixed together the pasta dough, rolled out the ravioli, then started the salad. It's OK for the ravioli to dry out a little after they're made. However, once you start rolling sheets of pasta, you must finish the ravioli fairly quickly - if the sheets get too dry, they won't be easy to work with.

I made the pesto last, right before boiling the pasta. The other important timing step is adding the pesto to the warm pasta. The warmth and moisture of the just-cooked pasta is important to opening up the flavors of the pesto.

Technique
I explain most of the technique with fresh pasta above. The resting is critical - breads need to do this as well. Gluten develops via kneading and resting, alternatively. This is a fascinating chemical process which is explained beautifully by Harold McGee in his classic "On Food and Cook: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen".

I adore pesto. And while it's tempting to think of it as a fixed thing, it's not necessarily so. Pesto is really like a Caribbean sambal - a finely-textured melange of herbs, seasonings and oil or acid (or both). I've made arugula pesto, cilantro "pesto" (adding lime juice) for Asian-style grilled fish, and I make a sauce with garlic, parsley, olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper that is fabulous on grilled steaks. It's all pesto, baby!

Chicken Drummies, Spinach Salad w/Orange Segments, Lo Mein w/Peanut Sauce & Scallions

2009-04-20T17:23:00.000-07:00

On traditional holidays I often get a craving for non-traditionally American food. On Easter we had a fairly standard brunch (yesterday's posting), which called for an Asian-inspired dinner. The chicken drummies recipe is one of our family favorites. They're absolutely addicting.

Menu
Chicken Drummies on the Grill
Spinach Salad w/Orange Segments and Red Onion
Lo Mein w/Peanut Sauce

Chicken Drummies
6-8 pounds of little chicken drummies and wings
1 c. fresh lime juice (4-5 limes)
1 12 oz. jar apricot preserves
1 c. soy sauce
2/3 c. sugar
4-5 large garlic cloves, crushed
Tobasco sauce to taste

Mix all ingredients except chicken in a medium bowl. If you want a smooth sauce, puree in a blender (optional). Otherwise it's chunky. The flavor is the same either way. Marinate the chicken in this sauce for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. I do this in gallon-sized ziplock bags.

Preheat oven to 425. Use 2 large casseroles, or disposable foil baking pans, to bake the drummies. Bake initially at 425 for 20 minutes. Turn down the heat to 325 and continue baking for 30 more minutes. Using tongs, turn over all of the drummies and return to the oven for 45 more minutes. Let rest for 10-15 minutes before serving.

These come out absolutely falling off the bone and tangy-yummy-gooey-good. You'll want to drink the juices left in the pan.

For a variation, this time I reserved about 1/3 of the marinade in a small saucepan, added a little corn starch, and brought it to a boil to thicken. Meanwhile, I baked the chicken at 350 for one hour. Then I heated up the grill to low heat, and finished the drummies on the grill, turning frequently with the thickened marinade, and regularly brushing with the thickened marinade, until the marinade is all used up, and the drummies are well-browned and thickly glazed, about 30-40 minutes. They are less tender this way, but they have magical grilled deliciousness.

Spinach Salad w/Orange Segments & Red Onion
fresh spinach leaves
naval orange, peeled and cut into segments (see technique below)
1 slice red onion, cut into ribbons
Dress with Asian Salad Dressing (below)

Arrange spinach leaves on a small plate, arrange orange segments and red onion ribbons on the spinach. Drizzle with Asian salad dressing, and serve.

Asian Salad Dressing
1/2 c. peanut oil
1 T soy sauce
1 T sugar or honey
1 T heaping fresh chopped ginger
1 large clove garlic, rough chopped
3 T seasoned rice vinegar (look in the Asian food section, I use Marukan brand)
1 tsp sesame oil

Place all ingredients in blender except peanut oil. Blend on low speed. Gradually add peanut oil in a drizzle. Scrape sides if necessary. Blend into a thick, silky emulsion.

Lo Mein w/Peanut Sauce
(serves 4)
small package lo mein noodles, prepared per package instructions
3-4 scallions, cut into fine rounds, including some of the green part
3 T peanut butter (crunchy or smooth as your tastes dictate)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced finely
1 T fish sauce
1/2 tsp soy sauce
1.5 T palm sugar (or 1 T regular sugar)
juice of 1/4 lime (or less)
pinch of dried ground Thai chilies (or other red pepper flakes)

I love peanut sauce, and am almost always disappointed by recipes even in Thai cookbooks, so I developed this one myself. Ingredients such as fish sauce and palm sugar require a trip to an Asian market - I have not yet found satisfactory products in a regular grocery store.

Mix all ingredients except scallions and lo mein in a small glass bowl. Microwave for 20 seconds, and stir well. Microwave 20 seconds more and stir well again. By now the palm sugar should be melted and the peanut butter should be loose enough to blend well with all of the ingredients. Taste. It should be a balance of nutty, salty, sweet, a tad hot, with just a hint of the acid from the lime. Adjust seasonings as need - fish sauce for salt.

Toss just-drained, hot lo mein and sauce together to coat, add scallions and toss briefly. Serve warm.

Timing
This was actually a pretty lazy meal to make - prepping the chicken ahead of time is, of course, key. Then you spend your time cutting up a naval orange, mixing a bunch of stuff in a bowl for the peanut sauce, boiling a package of lo mein, tending the grill, and drinking beer.

Technique
Segmenting a naval orange is simple, and results in succulent sections with no pith or membrane. Slice off the top and bottom rind of a naval orange so the flesh is showing. Set the orange on a cutting board and slice away the peel from top to bottom, in ribbons, to expose all of the flesh and leave no pith. Holding the orange in the palm of one hand over a bowl, use a sharp knife to cut next to the membranes toward the core of the orange, loosening the segments one at a time, allowing them to slide into the bowl as you cut. Rotate the orange as you go until all segments are cut free. There will still be juice in the remaining flesh and core of the orange, which you can squeeze out and use to make a cocktail or for another purpose if you wish.

Egg Bake, Cinnamon Scones, Banana Mini-Muffins, Blackberry Puree

2009-04-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

Wow, I really didn't mean to take a whole week off of this blog! Last Sunday was, of course, Easter, and we had a quiet morning in with just my wife and son. Then I was in NYC all week for a conference, and was too busy to get my recipes to you!

So today I'll post a couple meals from Easter - one more traditional than the other. This posting is about our Easter Brunch, but you could serve this for any special breakfast or brunch. The center point is the egg bake, which is one of the most delicious breakfast entrees I've ever run across. It was taught to me by my cousin, Jack Riebel, Executive Chef at the Dakota and one of the most talented chefs in Minneapolis.

We used Neuske's hickory-smoked bacon for this meal, which makes the whole house smell like a wood-fire, which I completely adore. You could use any breakfast meat you prefer, or omit it as desired, of course.

As you will see, this was *not* a low-fat meal!

Menu
Egg Bake
Cinnamon Scones
Banana Mini-Muffins
Fresh Fruit with Blackberry Puree
Bacon
Fresh-Squeezed Orange Juice

Egg Bake
(serves 6)
1 loaf yeasty, dense French bread (I use A Toast to Bread brand)
5 extra large or 6 large eggs
1/3 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. half-and-half
1 c. shredded Gruyere cheese (about 6-8 oz.)
3 ripe roma tomatoes, sliced into 1/4" thick slices
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1 small bunch fresh arugula (you could substitute spinach), well-rinsed and dried
pinch cayenne
freshly ground pepper
salt
1 tsp. butter

Pre-heat the oven to 275 degrees. Slice the bread into 3/4" slices and arrange in a single layer on a sheet pan. Bake until dried out and a bit crunchy on the surface, but not browned. Remove from oven to cool.

Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs, cream, half-and-half, nutmeg, cayenne, pepper and salt until well-blended. Taste for salt (sorry, you'll have to risk salmonella...this has to be tasted to get the salt right). It should be pleasantly salty, but not overly-so. Start with less and add. Set aside.

With the butter, generously grease a flat-bottomed (not bowl-shaped) casserole pan that is roughly 8"x12". (9"x13" is a little too large.) I use a ceramic oval gratin. Arrange the bread slices on the bottom to completely cover. Next arrange arugula leaves in a single layer to completely cover the bread. Arrange the tomato slices to completely cover the arugula. Spread the grated cheese all over the tomatoes. Pour the egg mixture all over the cheese.

Cover and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake until well-browned and set (test by gently jiggling), about 20 minutes more. Remove from heat and let rest for 10 minutes. Cut into serving-sized pieces and serve warm.

Cinnamon Scones
(makes 8 large or 16 mini)
2 c. flour
1/3 c. sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1¼ c. heavy cream
1 T cinnamon
~1 T turbinado (or so-called "raw" or demerara) sugar - large, brownish crystals

I adapted this recipe from the Joy of Cooking. It's absolutely simple, and absolutely delicious. The cream supplies all the moisture and fat needed. I also use a non-stick mini-scone pan I bought from Williams-Sonoma that requires no greasing and wipes clean with a damp cloth after use.

Preheat oven to 425. Mix all dry ingredients except turbinado sugar in a medium bowl. Stir in cream and mix thoroughly. Dough will be stiff. If using mini-scone pan, divide dough in half and continue dividing until you have 16 pieces. Press each into a section of the pan, spreading into the corners. If not using a scone pan, divide dough into 8 equal sections. Form into rough triangles on a cookie sheet (greased, if not non-stick). For both methods, sprinkle dough with the turbinado sugar and bake until light-golden colored, about 12-15 minutes. Do not over-cook or they'll dry out. Immediately remove to a cooling rack for about 2 minutes, then place in a basket or on a serving plate. Serve warm.

These scones are fantastic when they're fresh and warm. They'll keep sealed in a plastic bag for a couple days, but they are not nearly as good. Reheat them a bit in the microwave or in a warm oven.

Banana Mini-Muffins
(makes 12 large or 36 minis, or one loaf)
2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 c. butter, room temperature
1 c. sugar
1 egg, beaten
2 large, ripe bananas, mashed to a puree with a fork
3 T sour cream
1 c. walnut pieces, optional (for extra flavor, roast the walnuts in a 250-degree oven for 10 minutes before using)
1 c. chocolate chips, optional
(if you add these last 2 ingredients, the yield increases by about 25%)

Pre-heat oven to 350. Grease muffin or loaf pan(s) with cooking spray (I use pure canola).

Cream butter and sugar together together until well-blended. Stir in egg. Stir in banana. Stir in baking powder, baking soda and salt, being careful not to let any get stuck to the sides of the bowl. Stir in flour, alternating with sour cream. Last, add chocolate chips and walnuts, if using.

Scoop batter into prepare pan(s). For muffins, fill 2/3rds full. Bake muffins until golden-brown - about 20-25 minutes for mini-muffins, 30-40 minutes for large muffins. Bake loaf 50-60 minutes until it test done with a toothpick (insert into center and remove - no batter should stick to toothpick).

Remove to a wire rack to cool. Serve warm. (Warm banana-chocolate chip muffins are divine.) Stores well for up to 5 days sealed in plastic - allow to cool completely before wrapping/bagging.

Fresh Fruit with Blackberry Puree
1 pint strawberries, stems cored, then cut in quarters
1/2 pint raspberries
1/2 pint blueberries
1/2 pint blackberries

Cut the end off of one blackberry and taste for sweetness. Halve the blackberries lengthwise and put in a small saucepan. If the blackberries are sour, add some sugar. This puree isn't a syrup - don't over-sweeten. You want just enough to compensate for the tartness in the berries. Add about 2 T of water. Place over medium-low heat until bubbling slightly, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. The berries will turn from dark purple to red as they cook. They're ready when the berries are falling apart and have released their juices. Keep the heat very low and add cooking time if needed. Do not scald or burn.

Place a fine-meshed sieve over a small bowl, and pour the blackberries into the sieve. Using the back of a spoon, mash and scrape the berries, forcing the juice and pulp through the mesh until what remains is mostly seeds. Keeping the sieve over the bowl, rinse the spoon, then carefully lift the sieve and scrape the puree from the bottom - more puree will be clinging there. Stir the puree and taste. It should be mild, slightly sweet, and velvety.

Place all remaining fruit in a serving bowl, pour over the puree and gently toss to coat. Serve.

Timing
This is a tough meal to time if you have a single oven, because everything needs to bake. I have a double-oven Viking range, which helps a lot. Lacking this luxury, I would make the banana muffins first, then the egg bake, then the scones last. Have the scones ready to bake when you remove the egg bake from the oven (but remember to turn up the heat). Since the egg bake has to rest, things work pretty well.

The blackberry puree can be done up to 1 day in advance. Refrigerate if not used within 4 hours.

Technique
Berry purees are delicious and simple to make. Do not use a blender or food processor! Use the technique I've described above. It works for raspberries, blueberries and strawberries as well, though strawberry seeds are so fine, you will get some seeds unless you use a very fine mesh. In addition to using them as a fruit sauce, they are delicious on ice cream or other desserts, swirled into cocktails, or even drizzled over some meat dishes or thick soups (though fruit reductions are better for this use...see my posting in a couple days!).

Another technique in this posting is the making of what is really a savory egg custard. Custards are mixtures of eggs and cream, baked until set. The egg-to-cream ratio will vary depending upon the recipe - here it is nearly 50/50. For a creme brulee or ice cream, typically only yolks are used and the cream-to-egg ratio is higher. In this dish, an eggier flavor is desired.

My Favorite Form of Easter Egg: Thoughts on Hollandaise

2009-04-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

On Thursday night we made burgers on the grill, and last night had take-out Chinese food, so not a lot of cooking to talk about over the last couple of days. However, I had breakfast with my wife at Patrick's Bakery and Cafe at 66th & Xerxes in Edina on Thursday, and was inspired to write today's posting. Today's words are, in part, about the wonders of Hollandaise, but in equal part about how we learn to cook by observing carefully what we enjoy in others' cooking.

Patrick Bernet, co-owner and chef, is a bona fide talent, and Patrick's Bakery and Cafe is a truly fabulous French bakery and restaurant, one you should make the effort to visit if you don't know it (website: http://www.patricksbakerycafe.com/). It's a true French bakery, with croissants and baguettes that are, in my opinion, the best in the Twin Cities. They have many other treats as well, including fabulous desserts, and now an expanded breakfast, lunch and dinner menu, including a few wines.

I almost always get a pastry item and a cappuccino, but on Thursday I decided to order the Eggs Benedict. I love Hollandaise, and I'm a sucker for a good Eggs Benedict. I make my own Hollandaise pretty regularly, and have learned to execute it quite well. I often make Hollandaise at Easter time because both brunches (thus, egg dishes like Eggs Benedict) and young asparagas (which I love with Hollandaise) are typical of Easter.

Patrick's Hollandaise sauce was a revelation; my understanding of this little sauce was expanded ten-fold by this experience.

When our food first arrived at our table, I took a little taste of the Hollandaise and was a bit disappointed. The texture was sublime - velvety, very light, completely stable (poorly-executed Hollandaise can break and appear oily). But the flavor was a bit bland. It lacked the piquant tang of lemon I so love in Hollandaise, and it seemed under-seasoned. Then I dove into the whole dish. The eggs were poached to utter perfection - the whites completely cooked but so delicately tender they were falling away from the yolk, which was warm but completely loose. The Canadian bacon was tender, salty and a bit smoky. The English muffin was, well, a very nice English muffin. Execution looked completely right.

Then I took my first bite, and was amazed. The delicate flavor of the Hollandaise enveloped and married with the warm soft egginess of the poached egg, and was counterpointed by the texture of the muffin and the Canadian bacon; the salt in the meat provided the necessary lift in seasoning to balance the flavors. As I ate, I realized that the Hollandaise was seasoned precisely to bring out the flavor of the egg, not to smother it. The whole thing became this sensual celebration of egg in two complimentary forms.

This was when the dish became an education, not merely a delicious experience. I continued to marvel at the fact that I could taste almost no lemon in the Hollandaise - if I didn't know it was a standard ingredient of Hollandaise, I probably wouldn't have detected it. Which got me thinking. When a chef is extremely talented and skilled, as Patrick is, one assumes everything was done with purpose. Why would he so tame down the lovely lemony brightness of the typical Hollandaise? Of course, I've already partly answered this question above: it made a more harmonious whole with the rest of the dish. In other words, Hollandaise wasn't the point of Eggs Benedict; if all you can taste is Hollandaise, then why bother with the other ingredients? He was striving for what, in his judgement, was the perfect balance of flavors (and textures) in this dish.

Patrick got me thinking about my own uses of Hollandaise. My favorite is with fresh asparagas: served on a warm platter, drenched in Hollandaise and sprinkled with some diced, peeled & seeded tomato (concasse). In this use, more lemon makes sense: to marry with and balance the sweetness and earthiness of the asparagas you want more acid. The tomatoes add more still. I'd bet 100 francs (or is it all Euros now?) that Patrick would make a more lemony Hollandaise to serve with asparagas.

Then I got thinking about the technique required to achieve this. It is necessary to add some liquid to the egg yolks when making Hollandaise to loosen them slightly (see recipe below). Immediately I realized, he must thin them with a little water. I haven't tried this yet - I'm telling you something in a blog that could never be done in a recipe book: an un-tested technique! I shall be smitten by the gods! Yet I'm convinced from my experience this must be so.

As I mopped up the last of my Hollandaise with my hash browns and sipped the last of my cappuccino, I realized I'd had one of those wonderful dining experiences in which a discovery is made - about what one loves to eat (self), about how to create something beautiful (artistic and technical skill), and about how a chef thinks about his craft (other). Especially on the latter point, I actually felt I could imagine Patrick's training years in France, some master or other talking to him about the nuances of flavor balance and texture, and about how to think about what a dish is really supposed to be.

Thus, I offer two versions of Hollandaise. However, these are merely two points on a spectrum. Depending on your use for it, you may require flavors that are bolder, milder or in-between. You may need more acid (lemon), but less salt. It's all about adjusting flavor profiles to serve the needs of the whole.

Hollandaise Sauce (bright)
(adapted from Jeremiah Tower's New American Classics)
(makes about 1.5 cups)
3 egg yolks, room temperature
about 1.5 - 2 T lemon juice, fresh-squeezed
salt (start with 1/4 tsp, and add more if needed)
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) high-quality unsalted butter, room temperature - I use Land-O-Lakes (their unsalted butter is award-winning and quite good)
pinch of cayenne pepper

Put the yolks in a stainless steel or glass bowl and whisk until lemony and a bit frothy. Whisk in the lemon juice and salt. (If you are not sure how tart you want it, start with 1 T.) Place bowl on a pan of simmering water over low heat such that it seals the pan, but does not touch the water. Continue to whisk until foamy. As they get warmer, the yolks will increase in volume and become like loosely-whipped cream. Be careful not to hard-cook them - they must get hot, but stay in liquid form. If you think they are getting too hot, take the bowl off the steam to let them cool down for a bit.

Once they are at this stage, begin whisking in butter, one T at a time. Whisk vigorously to maintain the emulsion, and to incorporate as much air as possible to make the sauce very light. Again, be careful not to get it too hot such that the eggs become hard and the emulsion breaks. Afer all of the butter has been added, remove from heat, whisk in the cayenne and check seasoning to see if more salt or lemon is needed.

Keep warm until served. Make this sauce as fresh as possible; use within an hour of making.

Hollandaise Sauce (mild)
Based on my experience at Patrick's, use this version for Eggs Benedict or other mild egg dishes. May also pair well with mild sausages, such as chicken sausage.
Reduce the lemon juice to 1/2 - 1 tsp.
Reduce salt to a scant 1/4 tsp.
Eliminate cayenne
Add 2 T of water at the same time lemon juice and salt are added.

Prepare as above, with even more vigorous whisking to give the lightest possible texture. The yolks will be more vulnerable to hard-cooking in this version, as acid raises the solidifying point of proteins. Therefore, be extra-careful not to hard-cook the yolks. Disclaimer: I have not yet tested this version of the recipe!

Jeremiah Tower
Jeremiah Tower trained, in part, under Alice Waters at Chez Panisse, and was owner and executive chef at Stars in San Francisco amongst other restaurants. He became a great chef in his own right, and trained a host of the current generation of celebrity chefs in California and across America. His cookbook, New American Classics, is one of my all-time favorite cookbooks. I've read it cover-to-cover twice. He reveals a lot about his techniques and his philosophy of cooking in the descriptions of his recipes.

"Spotsa", Kielbasa & Sauerkraut, Applesauce

2009-04-10T09:26:00.000-07:00

[From Wednesday night.]

My wife's German grandma used to make spaetzle, which the kids pronounced "sput-suh" and the name stuck (we spell it "spotsa"). Spaetzle are little egg and flour dumplings boiled in water, then tossed with browned butter. It's become a favorite of ours, though the fat content is through the roof, so we don't eat them too often. Combined with your favorite tube sausage and sauer kraut and some warm applesauce, and it's pure German/Polish comfort food.

Menu
Spotsa
Kielbasa & Sauer Kraut
Applesauce

Spotsa
(serves 4)
4 eggs
2 c. flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 c. (1 stick) salted butter

[You can easily increase/decrease this recipe. For each person use 1 egg, 1/2 c. flour, 1/4 tsp salt.]

Mix the eggs, flour and salt in a medium-sized bowl until thoroughly mixed. The dough will be very thick - nearly the thickness of fresh pasta dough. Meanwhile, fill a 4-qt. stockpot half-full of water and bring to a boil. Do not salt the water. Keep the water at a low boil. Using a long-handled spoon (because the pot and steam are hot), cut small amounts of dough and drop them into the water. Each dollop should be about 1/2-1 tsp in volume, but don't obsess about size and shape. The dough will drop a little more easily if you dip the spoon into the water each time to wet it and dislodge the dumplings.

Note: Many folks cut spaetzle on a floured board and drop them all into the water at once. I've never tried this technique, but I assume results would be similar.

Once all dumplings are in the water, boil for an additional 15 minutes. Dump into a collander to drain, then dump into a large ceramic bowl for serving.

Meanwhile, place the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Slowly melt and brown the butter. This will take time, and there's no way to speed it up without burning it. I swirl the pan frequently to wash foam from the sides of the pan. If solids are stuck to the bottom, loosen with a small spoon. What's happening here? Butter is a compound substance - both an emulsion and a suspension of milk liquids and solids in butterfat. As it heats up, the emulsion breaks, the water boils off and evaporates, the proteins in the solids begin to cook and solidify, and the fat renders out. You essentially have clarified butter plus bits of milk solids. You are slowly deep-frying these solids in the butterfat.

The stages are these: first, largely-homogenous melted butter, then a foam forms on the top as liquid begins evaporating out of the solids, finally, a visible layer of clarified fat with a sediment of solids at the bottom. It's very easy for the butter solids to burn, so you have to let this process happen slowly, and watch carefully, especially in the last stage. I like the butter to be extremely brown but not burned. This takes practice. Typically, once it's dark-brown, I force myself to let it darken a tiny bit more. Once again, we have maillard reactions occurring, and they produce lots of flavor. If the butter burns, it's obvious - it immediately changes aroma from a deep, rich, roastiness to smelling burned. Start over if this happens.

When the butter is adequately browned, pour it over the strained spotsa and toss well to coat all of them with the browned solids. Serve immediately.

My family has developed the practice of dipping spotsa in ketchup or Heinz 57 sauce. Your call on this one.

Kielbasa & Sauer Kraut
1 ring Kielbasa
about 1.5 c. sauer kraut
1 c. water

This couldn't be easier, and it's delicious. Buy your favorite brand of Kielbasa or other ring sausage, and your favorite brand of sauer kraut. These products are pre-cooked, so all you need to do is heat them through. Cut the sausage into 1-2" lengths and put in a large skillet. Cover with the sauer kraut and water. Heat over medium heat until bubbling, and allow most of the liquid to steam off. Remove from heat and serve.

Applesauce
2-3 firm, tart-sweet apples (Braeburns, Honey Crisps, Granny Smiths and Harrelsons all work well)

Yep, that's it, just apples. People often over-complicate applesauce. Peel, core and dice the apples, place in a 1-2 qt. pot, cover and cook over medium-low heat until extremely soft. This typically takes 20-30 minutes, depending on the apple. Mash with a fork or the back of a wooden spoon. Serve warm.

If the apples are very tart, you can add a bit of sugar, but I actually like the sauce a bit tart. Fruit doesn't need to taste like candy. For variety, you can add a bit of cinnamon or fresh-grated nutmeg. You can add raspberries, cranberries (plus some sugar...cranberries are very sour), or strawberries if you like. I like it plain.

Timing
I put the apples on first. Next I start the butter and the water for the spotsa at the same time. I mix the dough for the spotsa while the water is heating up to a boil, and also cut up the Kielbasa and throw it on with the sauer kraut. After getting all of the spotsas dropped into the boiling water, I check the apples for doneness. Typically, they get done a little before everything else, which is fine - I mash them into sauce in the pan and leave them covered, off of the heat, to retain some warmth but not be super-hot.

Of course, I'm watching the butter the whole time. If it burns, you have to start over, and the whole dinner is delayed.

Start to finish, this meal takes me about 40 minutes.

Technique
Browning butter is a great technique/ingredient. It's great over pasta (though typically I make it less dark than I make it for spotsa). For an extra thrill, throw in some fresh sage leaves and pine nuts for the last minute or two of the browning. The sage leaves will get crisp and yeild up their flavor to the butter. Toss this with ravioli - absolutely yummy! Brown butter is also the base for brown ghee, an Indian clarified butter that derives flavor from the browning process, but then discards the solids. This form of clarified butter has a delicious nuttiness and is used for deep frying, and as an ingredient in rice dishes, brushed on naans, mixed with spices for marsalas and curries, and is also used in desserts.

Egg Salad Sandwiches, Pixie Crinkles, Chipotle Ketchup, Mango

2009-04-09T06:59:00.000-07:00

We like egg salad sandwiches, so here's my first repeat. However, we mixed it up a bit from last time. We had fries & fruit instead of chips and pickles. Also, I had mine on a hamburger bun, reprising my favorite egg salad sandwich from my youth at the A&W Drive-In. The chipotle ketchup is addicting. This is dinner from Tuesday night this week.

Menu
Egg Salad Sandwiches (see March 27th posting)
Pixie Crinkles (frozen Ore-Ida crinkle-cut fries)
Chipotle Ketchup
Fresh Mango

Pixie Crinkles & Chipotle Ketchup
(serves 4)
1 bag fozen Pixie Crinkles (prepared per package instructions, cooked until a little crispy)
popcorn salt (plain, not flavored)
1/4 c. ketchup
1 T pureed chipotles in adobo sauce (see "A note on chipotles" from my April 7th posting)

Bake the fries. Immediately after cooking, sprinkle with popcorn salt. As I do with my homemade tortilla chips, I use popcorn salt on fries. The extra-fine texture seems to "melt" onto the fries and gives them a pleasant saltiness.

Stir the chipotle puree into the ketchup and divide into individual ramekins for serving. Adjust the amount of pepper puree based on heat tolerance. I like it pretty hot.

Fresh Mango
1 large mango, peeled and cut into 1/2" chunks

We love fresh mango, but it can be tricky to get a ripe one. Don't go by color - green mangoes are sometimes deliciously ripe, and red ones sometimes hard and starchy. As mangoes ripen they pass from green, firm, starchy flesh to pale-yellow, sweet-tart al dente flesh to bright-golden, super-sweet, soft flesh. There are wonderful uses at each stage. Typically, I go for the late-middle stage for this kind of eating - I like them when they still have some tartness to them. This is a matter of preference.

The smaller yellow mangoes often sold in Asian grocery stores are usually delicious - get two or three instead of one because they're smaller. Also, this variety of mango tends to be more tart, even when well-ripened. Again, I love them...it's all what your preferences are.

When shopping, pick a mango that is slightly soft when gently squeezed, but be sure to check for bruises - sometimes mangoes have soft spots because of bruises suffered in shipping. Also, smell near the stem. It should have a pleasant mango aroma. If it has no smell at all, don't buy it...it probably won't ripen for you. Let them ripen in a cool place at home for 3-5 days, if needed. Even with all of this planning, they can be hit-or-miss. I probably get 1 mediocre, 2 decent, and 1 delicious mango for every 4 I buy, but I still think they're worth the effort.

If the mango is really soft, peel it first, then cut the yellow flesh away from the hard pit inside. (I do this because it seems to be gentler on the tender flesh of a really ripe mango.) Use a sharp knife, and be very careful - the mango will be slippery. I peel them by first cutting off a chunk of the skin at the stem, which gives you a flat end you can stand on a cutting board. I then cut off the skin at the "top", stand it up, and working around the mango cut the remaining skin away in strips. For really juice mangoes, I chew on the pit after slicing away the flesh, to nibble away any remaining fruit. This is my treat for being the cook :-).

If the mango is more firm, I cut the flesh and skin away from the pit first, then remove the flesh from the skin and cut into pieces. The pit of a mango is flat and wide, like an oblong disk, not round like a peach pit. You'll get larger pieces of fruit if you slice parallel with the flat side of the pit first. You can tell how the pit is oriented by the shape of the mango - they are all slightly wider than they are thick. The edges of the pit are oriented towards the widest part of the mango, and the flat sides of the pit are oriented toward the narrowest part. This takes a little practice, but you'll soon get the feel of it.

Timing
I put the eggs on, then preheat the oven (450). By the time the eggs are cooked, the oven is hot. I then peel and dice the eggs while the fries are cooking. You'll have to work out when to cut up the mango based on your comfort level...it takes me about 2 minutes to peel and dice a mango, so I squeeze it in right before serving.

Technique
In my March 27th posting I describe my technique for the perfect hard-boiled egg. Today we talked about buying, ripening and peeling mangoes.

Blueberry Pancakes, Sausage & Bacon, Grapefruit

2009-04-07T18:39:00.000-07:00

Breakfast for dinner! We do this about once a month. It feels strangely decadent. I love breakfast food - I definitely have some of that residual farmhouse genetics in which a 2500 calorie breakfast sometimes feels necessary to existence. My absolute favorite breakfast anywhere by anyone is the "Jose" at Al's Breakfast, with a side of whole wheat wally blues. For those not in the know, the "Jose" is a complete plate full of hash-browns, topped with melted cheese, topped with two poached eggs, topped with hot salsa. Definitely in the top 5 list for last meal candidates. It's all about the hash-browns - they cook them sooooo dark and crispy. I'm actually salivating as I write (I know, TMI).

But, we're talking about dinner at Chez Charles, not breakfast at Al's. This pancake recipe came from my wife's father's side, and I think it's an old Shriners recipe. It's basic buttermilk pancakes, but I love 'em!

Menu
Buttermilk Pancakes with Blueberries
Turkey Breakfast Sausage
Bacon
Grapefruit Halves
Juice & Milk

Buttermilk Pancakes with Blueberries
(serves 3-4)
1 pint buttermilk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. sugar
2 T melted butter (if you use unsalted, add a pinch more salt)
1.5 c. flour
1-2 pints fresh blueberries (depending on how much blueberry you want)
maple syrup (optional)

Whisk buttermilk and eggs together. Whisk in soda, sugar and salt. Whisk in flour. Whisk in butter. Allow to rest for a minute.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Grease very lightly. When the skillet is completely heated, begin cooking pancakes. Pour in enough batter to make pancakes approx. 5"
in diameter. Immediately sprinkle a few blueberries into the uncooked batter on top of each pancake. When golden-brown on the bottom, carefully flip and cook the other side. Serve while hot! My wife likes lots of syrup, I like a little, and my son sometimes skips it altogether.

Turkey Sausage & Bacon
You can obviously make whatever breakfast meats you like. I experiment with different turkey or chicken sausages, since my wife doesn't eat pork or beef. My son and I both love bacon, and the hands-down favorite there is Nueske's.

Grapefruit Halves
I completely love fresh grapefruit. It's the most refreshing fruit, in my opinion. Simply halve the grapefruit, and with a paring knife cut around each little wedge (cut each side of the membrane that separates the sections).

Timing
The pancakes are best when they're fresh off the griddle. I feed my family first and eat last so we all get fresh ones. I cook the meat a little before the pancakes and keep it warm (I have warming shelves on my range hood, but a low oven works great, too).

Technique
The trickiest thing with this meal is properly cooking the pancakes. I cook over a pretty hot griddle, so they brown quickly. This requires a little practice, as the batter on top will be loose when you flip them. Pick up the pancake with the spatula, and in one smooth, rapid motion turn it over into the spot in the skillet it just occupied. Think of there being an axis of rotation in the center of the spatula that runs straight out from the handle. We say "flip", but you're really just turning them over on this axis. Also, the initial fine film of oil is all you need...don't re-grease the skillet while cooking.

Baked Tacos, Refried Beans, Margaritas

2009-04-07T08:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry, folks, I'm a little behind...this was our dinner on Sunday night. This is another ground turkey recipe that's traditionally been done with beef...good old-fashioned taco meat. Again, you'll find that I mix authentic touches with short-cuts, mostly trying to achieve the best flavor profiles I can in a reasonable time frame. This is one of the most flavorful dinners I make. I hope you enjoy!

Menu
Baked Tacos
Accompaniments
Green Blender Salsa (see recipe from March 25th posting)
Refried Beans
Margaritas
(Serve also with homemade tortilla chips from March 24th posting)

Baked Tacos
1 lb. ground turkey (7% fat)
1 T light olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pkg. Ortega (or other brand) Taco Seasoning
1 T tomato paste
1 T pureed chipotles in adobo sauce (see note below)
1/2 tsp. ground cumin seed (see note in Chiles Relleños recipe, March 24th)
1/2 tsp. chili powder (see note in Chiles Relleños recipe, March 24th)
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/8 tsp. fresh ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. cinnamon (I buy Vietnamese Cinnamon from Pensey's Spices)
1/4 tsp. or more freshly ground pepper
pinch of salt
water
18 corn taco shells
1 2-cup bag of shredded colby-jack or other preferred cheese.

OK, true confessions again. I use packaged taco seasoning. I do so because it contains a base of seasonings and sauce thickeners that make my life easier. Most of the flavor in this recipe comes from the add-ins. I invented this recipe after falling in love with chorizo, and wanting to emulate that rich flavor. This isn't chorizo, but it's almost like a Mexican curry...redolent with aromatics that blend into an out-of-this-world complexity and savoriness.

Brown the turkey in the olive oil, breaking it up into tiny bits. Add onion and garlic and cook until meat, onion and garlic are all starting to brown. They will want to stick to the pan a bit...that's good. Keep scraping and stirring. At this point, quickly add all other ingredients, and cover the mixture shallowly with water. Stir to thoroughly mix, scraping any remaining stuck bits from the pan. Heat to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer until enough of the water has evaporated that the mix is mostly meat with a little sauce (about 20 minutes). Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 350. Arrange taco shells in a large baking pan. When the filling is done, spoon a heaping tablespoon into each shell and spread out in the bottom. The shells will soften a bit, enabling you to arrange them a little tighter in the pan. Sprinkle a generous amount of cheese into each taco. Bake until the cheese is melted and the shells are golden brown.

A note on chipotles. This smoked, dried red jalepeño has become Miss Popularity of pepper society, and with good reason. These hot, smoky babies are unique in the culinary world, and are extremely versatile. They come primarily in two forms: dried and canned in adobo sauce. I use both frequently. When I buy dried, I often grind them in my coffee grinder (the next pot of coffee after that is interesting!) to make a powder I can use in mayonnaises, flavored butters or sour creams, etc. When I buy canned, I puree them in a food processor and store them in a plastic container in the fridge - they'll keep for many weeks. This form works great in sauces, stews, soups, and salsas (I still have to give you my favorite salsa recipe of all time, which includes chipotles in this form).

Accompaniments & Refried Beans
tomato, diced
black olive slices
cilantro leaves, rinsed well and removed from stems
jalepeño, minced
red or yellow onion, minced
scallion, minced
lime wedges
yogurt or sour cream
canned refried beans

We like all of these items with tacos. Just put them all out in bowls and let everyone serve themselves.

For the refried beans, I don't do anything fancy...I just love them plain. Empty the can into a small saucepan and heat over medium-low until warmed through and slightly bubbly. You can also spread them on a plate, sprinkle with cheese, and bake in the oven.

Margaritas
(makes 4 regular or 2 jumbo)
~2 c. Jose Cuervo Margarita Mix
1/2 c. Cuervo Gold
1/4 c. Cointreau
1/4 c. Gran Marnier
ice

Mix the alcohol in a glass container and place in the freezer at least 2 hours before serving. Freeze glasses as well. Just before serving, place two large handfuls of ice cubes in a blender (fill it just under 1/2 full). Add alcohol and the margarita mix so that it comes to about 2" from the top of the blender. Blend on high for a minute or so until the ice is pulverized. Pour into the glasses and serve immediately.

Timing
I start this meal by freezing the liquor for the margaritas. I find that I can chop the onions and garlic for the tacos while the turkey is browning, then I can chop all of the remaining accompaniments while the filling is cooking, and then while the tacos are baking. The whole meal takes about 75-90 minutes to prepare - longer if you make chips from scratch.

Technique
No real complex technique today. I find this meal is a good time to exercise knife skills - lots of mincing and chopping. Also, the technique of browning onions, garlic and meat (maillard reactions!), then adding spices, acid (tomato paste) and liquid, will recur when we make curries.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

2009-04-03T07:58:00.000-07:00

Thus far I've been very transparent with my recipes, but when I told my family I was going to publish my spaghetti sauce recipe, they nearly assaulted me. I guess there are a couple of my culinary secrets that will remain secrets.

However, I'll give you my turkey meatball recipe, talk about garlic butter, and give you a couple things to think about with respect to classic spaghetti sauce, or "red sauce".

Menu
Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs
Italian Bread with Olive Oil

Red sauce is akin to French "mother sauces" - it's a foundational element in Italian cooking, especially Italian-American. Its origins lie in various regional tomato-based sauces in Italy, most notably Ragu Bolognese, which involves slow-cooking over a long time with chunks of pork and sausage flavoring the sauce, plus fresh herbs like rosemary, oregano and basil, and of course, garlic. The texture may be chunky or smooth, oily or lean, thinner or thicker, simpler or more complex and layered with flavors.

[Did you know: tomatoes originated in North America, and were not found in Italy or anywhere else in Europe until after it was brough back by merchants and explorers? Can you imagine Italy without the tomato? Yet it was so until the 17th Century.]

My family has forbidden me to reveal the secrets of my sauce, but suffice it to say it was a work of about 10 years of testing and improving (it's been the same, now, for about 7 or 8 years). My mother-in-law, Lillian, is a first-generation Italian American, her father having immigrated here at 16 years old. Her large extended family is full of wonderful cooks and restaurateurs, including the late Nick Mancini, proprietor of Mancini's Char House on 7th Street in St. Paul. I've received some coaching from members of her family, plus deduced little tricks and secrets from sauces I've really liked in restaurants. And I've experimented with my own adjustments as well.

Ultimately, red sauce is very personal, tied to family traditions, childhood memories and personal tastes. Maybe it's one of those things each of us has to make a personal quest, rather than having it handed to us.

Turkey Meatballs
1 lb. ground turkey (I get 7% fat, not 1% fat...a little fat is needed, in my opinion)
2 eggs
3/4 c. bread crumbs (not seasoned...make your own from rock-hard bread in a blender)
2 cloves garlic, crushed to a pulp (I use a chef's knife on a cutting board, not a garlic crusher)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
~1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (adjust depending on desired heat level)
generous quantity freshly ground black pepper
salt
1/4 c. minced fresh parsley leaves (optional)
1/2 tsp fennel seeds, lightly toasted and coarsely crushed in a mortar and pestle (optional)
olive oil (for cooking)

Thoroughly mix all ingredients in a large bowl with your bare hands. Enjoy this...it's one of the great things about cooking: all of the rich tactile experiences. Check for seasoning (salt level). This is controversial...I taste a little raw mix, which I'm sure will give me some horrid disease one day and I'll die from it. You will too if you do this, but nonetheless that's what I do. Alternately, you can pinch off a bit and fry it in a little oil, then taste it when it's cooked. The latter method will tell you how salty the final product will be, which is an advantage. If you taste it raw, keep in mind that the salt will intensify slightly during cooking as fat and moisture cook off and the mix is concentrated a bit.

Roll into balls of desired size, and cook slowly over medium-low heat in a little olive oil. Turn the meatballs frequently, and brown on all sides. This should cook them through unless they are very large, in which more time may be needed. You can tell when they're done because they firm up. Throw them into the sauce during the last 15 minutes of cooking and they will flavor each other.

These meatballs freeze very well. I make a whole batch at a time and freeze half. A half-batch is about right for a family of 4.

Pasta
I use Barilla brand boxed pastas most of the time. I find them to be high-quality. I also love to make fresh pasta, and do so fairly often, so you'll get that recipe sometime soon. Either way, cook the pasta in salted, slightly-boiling water, to desired tenderness. I almost never buy packaged fresh pasta. I'm not sure why, but packaged fresh pasta is rarely much better than boxed. Homemade fresh is dramatically better than either, so if I want fresh, I make my own.

Garlic Butter
1 stick (1/2 c.) unsalted butter, room temperature
1-2 cloves garlic, mashed to a puree
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 T buttermilk
salt

I didn't make garlic bread last night, but I'm feeling guilty about the red sauce, so I'll throw this in. I make garlic butter quite often, and use it to make garlic bread or in cooking (e.g., to coat the crust on homemade deep dish pizza).

Mix all ingredients well with a fork. It will keep in the fridge for a few days, or in the freezer for a few weeks, but wrap it well - it smells garlicky!

Timing
Nothing special here today.

Technique
Twice today I called for garlic crushed to a pulp or puree. Here's the method: peel the husk off the cloves and cut off the end that attached to the bulb. working on a plastic cutting board, crush the cloves with the flat of a chef's knife by applying pressure with the heel of your hand on the top of the knife. Take care not to cut yourself on the exposed edge! Next, rough chop the garlic with the knife. Now, sprinkle a couple pinches of coarse salt, such as Kosher salt, over the garlic, and using a rocking motion, crush and cut the garlic. This is hard to describe, easier to demonstrate, but I'll try to say more about how it works. Push the chopped garlic into a little pile. Hold the handle of the knife in your dominant hand (right for me), and lay it flat over the pile with the sharp edge of the knife away from you. Place the fingertips of your non-dominant hand (left for me) near the knife's sharp edge, and apply downward force. Now, work backwards (toward you) over the garlic, mashing and cutting it by alternatingly forcing the knife blade down to the cutting board through the garlic, then rocking it back up as you slide back over the rest of the pile. Repeat this process 3-4 times until the garlic is a fine puree.

This sounds more complicated than it is. Once you're good at it, you'll find it takes less time than mincing, produces a wonderful fine texture, and liberates all of the oil from the garlic, greatly intensifying it.

Chicken & Dumplings, Spring Greens w/Blood Orange Vinaigrette

2009-04-02T13:05:00.000-07:00

We want spring! But the past few days have been rainy, sleety and generally nasty. This calls for serious comfort food. One of my wife's favorite dishes I make is chicken and dumplings. Wednesday night I made it along with a light salad of spring greens, just because we're anxious for spring in any form.

This isn't fast food...it takes several hours to cook. But most of the time you are free to do other things. This makes it great for a Saturday or Sunday when you are working on other projects around the house.

Menu Chicken & Dumplings
Spring Greens Salad w/Blood Orange Vinaigrette

Chicken & Dumplings (serves 4-6)
1 whole chicken, cut into parts (reserve and freeze the back and neck for stock)
1 extra chicken breast, bone-in, skin on
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1/2 c. flour
1 large onion, peeled and diced
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded and finely chopped
1 8-oz. can of button mushrooms, finely chopped
4 scallions, trimmed and minced
1/2 c. minced fresh parsley
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
freshly ground black pepper
salt

Dumplings:
2 c. flour
1 T baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
2/3 c. milk

I've adapted this recipe from the Saveur Cooks Authentic American cookbook. Saveur is by far my favorite cooking magazine. Their core concept: authentic cuisines from around the world. This recipe is from the filling for Mrs. Garrett's Chicken Pies, wonderfully southern-style and intoxicatingly savory. The dumplings are a simple baking powder biscuit recipe.

Begin by placing the oil and flour in an 8-qt. stockpot over medium heat. Stir continuously to form a chestnut brown roux. Add the onions and cook another 15 minutes until they are golden-colored, stirring frequently. Add the chicken, turn up the heat to medium-high, and brown on all sides. The onions and roux will begin to get very dark - don't worry, this adds to the flavor. Just don't let it burn - keep loosening the onions and roux from the bottom of the pan as you turn the chicken pieces. When well-browned (the fat from the chicken will have begun to render), add about 1 T salt, plus the celery and green pepper, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 1 hour.

Remove pot from heat, and, using kitchen tongs, remove the chicken from the pot to a cutting board and allow to cool. Meanwhile add the scallions, parsley, mushrooms, cayenne pepper and black pepper to the pot and return to the burner over medium-low heat to simmer.

When the chicken is cool enough to handle, pull all meat off the bones, discarding skin and connective tissue. Pull the chicken apart into various-sized pieces and return to the pot. Stir everything together and taste for seasoning. Add more salt or pepper if needed. Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes while mixing the dumplings.

Mix the dumpling batter, starting by beating the eggs in a medium-sized bowl with a whisk. Whisk in the milk. Whisk in the salt and baking powder. Whisk in half of the flour. With a large spoon, mix in the remaining flour, scraping the sides and bottom.

Using a medium-sized spoon (like a soup spoon), scoop the batter in dollops into the hot chicken broth. Begin by dipping the spoon into the broth to prevent the batter from sticking too much to the spoon. The broth must be very hot - near boiling. As you are dropping in the dumplings, spoon a little broth over each dumpling. They'll swell and float above the surface as they cook, but covering each with broth will help them separate after cooking. When all of the batter is used up, cover the pot, make sure the burner is on low, and cook for 20 minutes. Turn off the burner and allow to rest for an additional 10 minutes before serving.

Warm the plates or bowls you'll serve on. Serve with a ladle so the yummy chicken and vegetables, broth and dumplings can all be scooped out.

Spring Greens Salad with Blood-Orange Vinaigrette
(serves 4)
Spring Greens bag salad (or whatever salad greens you prefer)
1/4 of a small red onion, cut into thin slices and separated into ribbons
1/4 c. black walnut halves, lightly toasted in a saute pan over low heat for 10 minutes
2 ripe roma tomatoes (or tomatoes of your choice), cut into small wedges
2 fresh radishes, sliced

Vinaigrette:
1 blood orange
~2 T champagne vinegar or red wine vinegar
~1 tsp sugar
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 small pinch dried oregano, ground finely in the palm of your hand
~1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil (I use Colavita as a high-quality, readily available brand)
freshly ground pepper
salt

Make the vinaigrette. Squeeze the juice of the orange into a small plastic container with a tight-fitting lid. Add the vinegar, sugar, garlic, oregano, pepper and two generous pinches of salt. Stir together until all of the salt and sugar are dissolved. Taste. The sugar should be balanced with the acid in the vinegar (you will likely need more - it all depends on the specific vinegar use, and the sweetness of the orange), and it should also taste aggressively (but not bitterly) salty, as the oil will dilute the flavor. Adjust seasonings and taste again. When you have balance, add the olive oil, cover, and shake vigorously. Taste and adjust as necessary. Any salt or sugar added at this point will not dissolve as easily due to the presence of the oil.

Arrange the greens on cool salad plates, place tomatoes, onions and radishes attractively on and around the greens. Shake the dressing one more time, and then dress each salad with a couple tablespoons of the vinaigrette. Sprinkle 4-5 walnut halves on each salad and serve.

Timing
It takes about an hour for the first stage of the chicken dish. It then cooks for an hour. The next stage takes about 1/2 hour, but there's some down time while the chicken is cooling. It takes 10 minutes to mix and drop the dumplings, and 30 minutes for them to cook and rest before serving. I did everything for the salad during that final 30 minutes.

Almost any amount of time can pass between each of the first two stages of the chicken dish. For example, you could prep, brown and cook the chicken on a weekend, pull the meat off the bones and break it up, then put the whole pot in the fridge for a couple days until completing the final stages. Also, the pot can sit, covered, on the stove with the heat off for fairly long spells. E.g., I did the first stage (which concludes with covering the chicken with water and cooking for an hour), shut off the burner after 45 minutes (instead of the full hour), and left the house for 2 hours to run errands before returning to pull the meat off the bones and finish the cooking.

Technique
There are a couple interesting things going on in this dish. First, nearly all of the really rich savoriness of the chicken dish comes from maillard reactions, the browning of sugars and starches combining with amino acids in proteins. This starts with the browning of flour in the roux, then the further browning of the onions, then the browning of the chicken. Maillard reactions only occur at temperatures well-above the boiling point of water. For that reason, fat is required, and the presence of too much water-based liquid will prevent them. This is why onions don't brown right away - some of their moisture has to cook off. Executing maillard reactions properly requires patience. If you use heat that's too high, you'll burn some of the food while other parts have not yet browned. If you add liquid prematurely, you stop all maillard reactions. Similarly, don't cover pans in which you are browning meats - the steam being released from the ingredients will condense back into the pan and slow the process.

A second key technique is the formation of an emulsion when making the vinaigrette. Using a shaker is not the textbook way to make a vinaigrette, but it works. The key is sudden and very vigorous shaking. An emulsion is the suspension of tiny drops of one liquid inside of another liquid. In this case, the oil is pulverised into droplets surrounded by the orange-vinegar mixture - this requires a little violence!

Stable emulsions are greatly facilitated by the presence of emulsifiers, chemicals which help stabilize emulsions at the molecular level. There are trace amounts of natural emulsifiers in most vegetables and fruits, so the minced garlic and blood-orange juice actually assist the process. The greatest natural emulsifier in your kitchen is egg yolk. For this reason, adding a bit of mayonnaise to a vinaigrette will greatly stabilize it, but also make it milky in color.

The book that most improved my cooking (and is one of the 10 books I'd keep if I could only keep 10) is Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. This 600+ page tome explains in great detail what's happening chemically during cooking, and elucidates many basic concepts of cooking technique, including emulsions and maillard reactions. It's not for everyone, but if you're seriously into the technical fundamentals of cookery, and have a penchant for a little science, it's fascinating and will greatly improve your consistency in the kitchen - because you'll know what you're doing, and why it works (or doesn't).

Newberry Sandwiches, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans

2009-03-31T19:01:00.001-07:00

Sorry for my silence over the weekend. I went to Rochester, NY with my family to visit my daughter who's in college, so I didn't do any cooking. We got back yesterday and went out for dinner. So, today was my first day back in the kitchen after a few days off.

Years ago (nay, decades; in fact, it was the past millennium) when I was in high school, a group of my friends (including my now wife, Vicki) and I frequented a little bistro in Richfield called The Pantry. It was located at 76th and Lyndale Avenue S.; the same building now houses Naviya's Thai Kitchen. They had great hot chocolate, French onion soup, burgers, and an open-faced sandwich we loved called the Newberry - a piece of crusty bread covered with sliced turkey, slathered with cranberry sauce, topped with Swiss cheese and broiled. It's comfort food, good for a night like tonight with sleet and snow blowing around outside.

Menu
Newberry Sandwiches
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans

Newberry Sandwiches
(per person:)
1 large or 2 medium slices of crusty white bread (I like Vienna bread)
several slices of turkey breast
1-2 T jellied cranberry sauce, mashed with a fork to loosen
1-2 slices of Swiss cheese

Turn on the broiler and place the rack in the middle of the oven (not too close to the broiler). Place the bread on a baking sheet and toast lightly on one side under the broiler. Watch carefully - it will burn easily. Flip the bread over and lightly toast the other side. Top each slice with turkey breast, layering it in folds to create texture. Spread cranberry sauce over the turkey - add more or less to taste. Top with enough cheese to cover the whole sandwich. Return to the oven and broil until the cheese is melted and bubbly and just starting to brown. Serve immediately.

I use canned cranberry sauce most of the time, but you can, of course make your own. Here's a simple recipe (I make this every Thanksgiving...it's well-worth the work): 1 lb. fresh cranberries, 2 c. sugar, 2 c. water, a pinch of cloves, and a pinch of cinnamon. Bring everything to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and cook until the cranberries have popped and are falling apart - 20 minutes or longer. Better to over-cook than under-cook. Press the pulp through a food mill, or use a fine-meshed sieve. Press as much of the juice through as possible. Discard the seeds and pulp. Chill the sauce in a mold or other container. No gelatin is required - the pectin in the cranberries will firm it up beautifully. If they don't set, you didn't cook them long enough. You could easily halve this recipe and freeze the unused berries for later use.

Mashed Potatoes
(per person)
1 medium Yukon Gold or russet potato, peeled and quartered
about 1 tsp. butter
1-2 T half-and-half
freshly ground pepper
salt

Place the potatoes in a saucepan large enough that water completely covering them only comes up 2/3 of the side of the pan. Cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to medium-low and slow-boil until tender. Drain completely, add butter and half-and-half. Grind a generous amount of pepper over them, and sprinkle in a generous pinch of salt. These are all per-person amounts. Mash with a potato masher. Taste for salt and texture. If they're dry, add a bit more half-and-half. Don't be afraid of fat! I believe in using the real thing and eating in moderation. However, a delicious substitute for the butter and half-and-half is low-fat yogurt - give it a try. Don't use margarine EVER, and don't use fat-free half-and-half...what the heck is fat-free cream? Use real ingredients all the time, or just don't make the dish.

A comment on mashed potato texture. People have varying tastes for lumps in mashed potatoes. I personally love to have some chunks of unmashed potato in the mix. However, if a pure, smooth texture is your desire, use a potato ricer rather than a hand-mixer or other power-utensil. Over-working the starch can produce glueyness...never pleasant.

Green Beans
(per person)
2-3 oz. (about 1/3 c.) fresh green beans, ends trimmed, and halved
salt

If you read my Walleye dinner post last week, you know my method for cooking broccoli. The same goes for green beans. Put just enough water in a saucepan to cover the beans (but don't add the beans yet). Add enough salt such that the water tastes as salty as sea water. Make sure you are dissolving the salt completely before tasting so you don't over-salt. If you accidentally add too much, add a little more water to dilute it. Bring to a boil, add the raw beans, turn the heat down to medium-low, and cook, stirring every 2-3 minutes, to desired tenderness. I cooked mine for about 12 minutes tonight, but timing will vary with the freshness of the beans. I like them a bit al dente, but don't under-cook them...they shouldn't crunch. Also, the flavor will develop more fully if they're more done. Beans are more forgiving than broccoli and won't be as easy to over-cook.

Drain and serve ASAP. Do not rinse! No butter or other flavor enhancers required; you'll love them just like this.

Timing
The potatoes will take the longest, and can sit the longest while other items are getting done. For this reason, I do them first, and while they're cooking prep the rest. You can toast the bread for the sandwiches while the potatoes are cooking. When the potatoes come off the stove, put the beans on. While the beans are cooking, mash the potatoes, then broil the sandwiches. Everything will be hot and done at the same time. The whole meal, starting with peeling potatoes, took me 45 minutes, and there was a lot of down time.

Technique
Nothing complicated tonight. I reprised the technique for cooking fresh green veggies in salted water, and we talked about mashing potatoes. This is a fast, delicious meal that's easy to make.

Egg Salad Sandwiches, Assorted Pickles, Chips

2009-03-27T04:30:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty simple dinner last night, but sometimes egg salad is just the thing. And garnishing with a variety of interesting pickles and some good chips makes it even more fun. Plus, this gives me an opportunity to talk about my quest for the perfect technique to hard-boil an egg.

Menu
Egg Salad Sandwiches
Assorted Pickles
Chips

Egg Salad
10 eggs
1/2 c. mayonnaise (I only use Hellman's or make my own)
2 T or more yellow mustard (I use Plochman's or French's)
1 T or more sugar
(serves 4)

Ahhh, the hard-boiled egg. Ideally, its white is firm, yolk creamy and cooked all the way through but not green at the edges, and is quick and easy to peel. For years I had inconsistent results. About 4 years ago, I began a quest for the perfect technique to hard-boil an egg. I consulted some of my favorite cookbooks, including The Joy of Cooking (if I could only keep one cookbook, it would be this one), Jeremiah Towers' New American Classics, which contains a lot of technical advice, and the voluminous Larousse Gastronomique, a kind of single-volume encyclopedia of food and cooking. I also conducted an extensive Internet search. The most common approach involved placing the eggs in cold water, bringing them to a boil, turning the heat down to low and covering for 10 minutes to gently cook, then draining and bathing in cold water. This approach yields a perfectly cooked yolk, but the whites are a bit soft, and they can be a bear to peel. I learned during this search that fresh eggs are the hardest to peel, and eggs that are older - 2 weeks or more - are easier...the reason for this seems to be something of a mystery, though I've found it to be true. The trouble is, sometimes you can't wait 2 weeks: you gotta buy those eggs and boil 'em today!

As you have probably guessed, I did solve this mystery on my own, after a bit of experimentation. Here's my method: place cold eggs in a single layer in a saucepan and cover with warm (not cold) water with at least an inch of water over the tops of the eggs. Place over high heat and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low, and simmer (uncovered) for 11 minutes. Turn the heat back to high, bring to a vigorous boil, and cook for 2 more minutes. Drain, put the pan in the sink and fill with cold water. I usually swirl them around for a bit, then drain and replace with more cold water to really draw the heat out. After adding cold water the second time, take the eggs out one-by-one, gently crack the shells all over, and put them back in the water to continue cooling. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then peel.

I've found this method to give me very consistent results. The virogous boiling at the end firms up the whites, giving them a nice firm texture and making the shells easier to peel, but leaving the yolks yellow and creamy-textured. Cracking the shells while soaking helps loosen them a bit, further facilitating peeling. I have a gas range. If you have electric burners, you may have to experiment with the timing. I would go so far as to pre-heat one burner on high, and another on low, and move the pan back and forth to get instantaneous change in heat level.

Now, to make the egg salad. Make the sauce in a small bowl. Mix the mayo, mustard and sugar. Dissolve the sugar completely. Taste. The acid in the vinegar and the sugar should be balanced. Trust your taste, and adjust as needed. Chop up the eggs and place in a medium-sized bowl. You can gauge the size of the dice to your tastes...I like it a little chunky. Add about 2/3rds of the sauce and mix. If it's too dry, add more until the consistency is right. That's it!

If you want an extra-creamy and rich texture, remove the yolks from the whites and mash with a fork. Dice the whites and add to the yolks, then mix with the sauce as above.

Choose your favorite sandwich bread. Lately, I've been grooving on Pepperidge Farm's Dark German Wheat Bread. Sandwich buns, or toasted Vienna bread are also favorites at our house.

Assorted Pickles
I love good pickles. With this meal, I served pickled beets, midget dills, and pepperocini. Don't skimp here - it adds a lot to the meal.

For fun, make your own fresh beet pickles. Trim and wash fresh beets, and cook at a low boil for about 40 minutes until tender. Drain and cover in cold water. When they are cool enough to handle, slip off the skins, and cut into slices or wedges. Sprinkle with good quality red wine vinegar, a pinch of sugar, and a couple pinches of salt. Let sit for 15 minutes, and serve.

Chips
We used classic Lays last night. I also love salt & vinegar chips, or gourmet chips of whatever variety jumps out at you.

This meal cries out for lemonade or ginger ale. Enjoy!

Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake; Green Blender Salsa

2009-03-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

Hey, foodies, I'm not cooking tonight...meetings and activities, so eating on the go. However, I've done a little cooking the past two days that I haven't blogged about, so I'll give it to you in lieu of a meal tonight.

It's Vicki's (my wife) birthday on Monday, and she brought a coffee cake to work today to celebrate as she's off next week. Here's the recipe. Don't think about fat grams on this one...just enjoy the sheer deliciousness of it.

Also, as a sort of encore, I'll give you one of my two favorite salsa recipes on earth - Chuck's famous Green Blender Salsa - super easy, and addictively good. Enjoy!

Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Filling:
1.5 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 T cinnamon (I use Vietnamese cinnamon from Pensey's Spices...it's TOTALLY worth going out of your way to get it)
1 stick (1/2 c.) butter (if you use unsalted, add 2/3 tsp salt), room temperature
2 small containers of fresh blueberries

Batter:
2.5 c. flour
2 sticks (1 c.) butter (if you use unsalted, add 1-1/3 tsp salt), room temperature
3 eggs
1.5 c. sour cream
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla (I use Pensey's double-strength...again, well-worth it!)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350. Grease the bottom of a 9x13 pan.

In a medium bowl combine all filling ingredients thoroughly. Set aside.

Make the batter: In a large bowl, cream butter & sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add baking powder, salt and flour, and mix well. Mix in the sour cream. The batter will be stiff.

Spread half of the batter in the pan. It will be sticky and hard to spread, but keep working it from the center toward the edges, trying to make an even layer. Spread half of the brown sugar filling over the batter, and sprinkle on on pkg. of blueberries. Repeat with a second layer, which will be even harder to spread, but just do your best. Using a butter knife, cut through the layers all over the cake.

Bake for about 45 minutes until set and just browning on top. Allow to cool before serving. You won't believe how fabulous this is. Be sure to use good cinnamon...it's key!

It's easy to half this recipe...just use a jumbo egg or beat the second egg in a small bowl and just use half of it.

Green Blender Salsa
This is one of my two favorite salsas, and it's absolutely the easiest ever. (I'll give you the other in another posting sometime.) I invented this salsa about 2 years ago.

1 can of tomatillos - about 14oz., I think, look in the Hispanic foods aisle at the grocery store
1 medium onion, trimmed, peeled and cut into chunks
2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled and quartered
about 1 c. (lightly packed) fresh cilantro, stems and leaves, rinsed of sand & dirt
juice of 1-2 limes - depending on size and juiciness
generous amount of freshly ground pepper
2 pinches of salt (the tomatillos are canned with salt, so you don't need too much)

OK, the technique is tricky...here goes: put it all in the blender and puree for a minute or two. Whew! Check salt, and serve.

If you want a little heat, throw a rough-chopped jalapeno into the blender as well.

For both heat and texture, mince a few scallions and a jalepeno and add them after blending.

You can use fresh tomatillos (about 1/2 pound) - just remove the husks, simmer in salted water until cooked through (about 10-15 minutes), and drain. However, canned tomatillos are almost as good.

This salsa doesn't keep well...there's so much pectin in the tomatillos that it tends to gelatinize when refrigerated. You can stir it back up to loosen it up again, but the flavors and texture are best right away.

Chiles Relleños, Enchiladas, Homemade Tortilla Chips

2009-03-24T18:55:00.001-07:00

OK, it's day two and I'm already going to be contradicting myself and making embarrassing revelations. Tonight's dinner was not quick, and not entirely from scratch. However, it's what I made, so here we go.

We love Mexican food. There are lots of opinions out there about what's authentic. I've read many recipes and eaten in many Mexican restaurants. I also have the tastes of my family to satisfy, so there are some compromises. To me, authentic means home-style and packed with flavor, and this meal is a pretty good example of my take on it.

Full disclosure: I spent 2 hours making dinner tonight...more than most people would ever commit. Self-contradiction #1...so much for quick meals. However, much can be done ahead of time, or you can save this meal for a Saturday night when cooking and enjoying a beer or margarita is all part of the fun.

Menu
Chiles Relleños
Scallion & Cheese Enchiladas
Homemade Tortilla Chips
(Serving 2 adults, 1 child)

Chiles Relleños
2 fresh poblano chilies (one per person)
5-6 ripe roma tomatoes
1 T light olive oil
1 shallot, minced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp tomato paste (I use Amore brand, in a tube, so I can use a little whenever I want)
1 tsp good quality chili powder (I make my own - see below)
1/2 tsp ground cumin seed (see tips below)
freshly ground pepper
sugar
salt
~1/4 c. grated Monterey Jack (I buy shredded)

Step 1 - roast, peel and seed the poblanos. Poblanos are a medium-sized and medium-heat green chili, ideal for this dish because of their rich flavor and meaty texture. Most grocery stores now carry them year-round. Their heat can vary quite a bit by source and season, so be careful - you may find yourself with super-hots from time to time. Roasting them gives them a smoky depth that is fantastic. Rub the chilies all over with a little oil, and place them over a grill, the flame of a gas burner, or under a broiler. Char and blacken them evenly all over. On my gas grill, this takes about 15 minutes, rotating somewhat frequently to ensure evenness. They should be quite black all over, or the skin will be difficult to peel. If the chilies split open a bit, don't worry about it. When they're done, immediately place them in a bowl and cover with foil or a lid and let them steam for 10-15 minutes. Remove them from the bowl to a cutting board, chop off the very top, and carefully, trying not to tear the flesh, peel off the blackened skin. It'll be a little sticky, but most of it should be flaky, detached, and come off in small sheets. Then, carefully - with a small spoon or your fingers, remove as many of the seeds as you can, again, taking care not to tear the chilies. Set aside. (Can be overnight.)

Step 2 - peel, seed and dice the tomoatoes. I do this step concurrently with step 1. Together, they take about 30-40 minutes. Heat about 1 qt. of water to a boil in a 3 qt. saucepan. Add the tomatoes, and swirl them around with a spoon for 15-45 seconds. The skins will split slightly when they are becoming loosened. Locally-grown, vine-ripened tomatoes will be ready faster. Immediately drain them and cover them with cold water to stop them from cooking. Remove them to a cutting board, cut them in quarters, and slip off the skins. If they are stubborn, use a small paring knife to loosen the skin, and peel it back away from the tomato, leaving as much flesh as possible. With a small knife or the handle of a teaspoon, scrape out all the seeds. Chop the peeled, seeded tomatoes into small dice. Set aside. (Can be overnight.)

Step 3 - cook the sauce. Heat the light olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat, add the shallot and garlic, and cook for 30-45 seconds until sizzling, but not browned. Add the diced tomatoes and heat through. Add the tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, a generous amount of fresh ground pepper, a pinch of salt, and about 2-3 T of water. Stir together, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes, uncovered. The tomatoes should start to dissolve, and the mixture will be chunky, not a smooth sauce. Taste for flavor balance. You will likely need to add more salt - you don't want this sauce to be aggressively salty, but it should have a hint of saltiness. Also, typically fresh tomotoes in a sauce like this will want some sugar to balance their acid. You don't want it to taste sweet. Add 1/2 tsp or so of sugar, stir, and taste. You should notice a bit more depth and balance in the flavor, less acidic bite. If you think it needs more, add a bit more. Cook for about 10 more minutes and check the balance of flavors again. Set aside.

[Tip: Make your own ground seasonings for this dish! I make my own chili powder, and I'll NEVER go back - it's soooooo much better. And, it's very easy. Buy dried ancho chilies at the store, heat the oven to 250, put the chilies on a baking sheet, and roast until their color deepens and your house smells like chocolate is baking. Remove from oven, cool, crack in half and shake out the seeds (it's OK if a few remain), then break into pieces and grind in your coffee grinder to medium-fine powder. Store in a small tupperware or gladware container; stays delicious for months.

Do the same with cumin: buy whole seeds, place 2-3 T in a small frying pan and roast over medium-low heat, shaking the pan frequently. When the seeds start to smoke and smell roasty and wonderful, remove them from the heat, cool, and grind in your coffee grinder. You won't believe how they're transformed, and they keep for months.]

Preheat the oven to 400. Scoop a couple spoonfuls of the sauce into the bottom of a small glass pan - I use a glass loaf pan for 2 chilies. Fill each chili with a small handful of the grated cheese. If the chili is torn, fold it shut where it's torn and put that on the bottom. Place each in the pan, and cover with the remaining sauce. Bake until the cheese is melted and everything is bubbly, about 15-20 minutes.

Scallion & Cheese Enchiladas
8 fresh corn tortillas (I use La Banderita brand...the key is to use FRESH, and CORN, not flour)
~1.25 c. + 1/2 c. grated Monterey Jack cheese
2 bunches of scallions, sliced very thinly - all of the white and about 3-4" of the green
1 can of Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce (hot or mild, depending on your taste)

OK, true confession, I use canned enchilada sauce. Sure, I've made it from scratch, but this stuff tastes pretty darned good, and it's a heck of a lot easier, so I wimp out. You could add meat to these enchiladas if you like - shredded chicken or pork would be best. If you do, mix them with a little of the enchilada sauce or a bit of the Chiles Relleños sauce. I also use pre-made tortillas. If you find a good product, they're as good or better than you can make yourself...and making tortillas is a lot of work.

Enchiladas are super-easy, but there's an initial step I've learned by trial and error. A lot of recipes talk about frying the tortillas before making the enchiladas - lots of work and they get greasy. I've found better results with this: heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat, then, one at a time, place each tortilla in the skillet, heat it until just barely beginning to brown - about 30 seconds. Flip and cook the other side. Stack on a plate. They will steam one another in the stack, which is key to the process. When all 8 are done, flip the stack over so the top tortilla can get steamed on the bottom.

Preheat oven to 400. Pour a little enchilada sauce on the bottom of a glass casserole to cover. Mix the 1.25 c. cheese and scallions together. Working with your stack of tortillas one at a time, spread a small handful of filling across the tortilla, roll it up, and lay in the pan with the seam down. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce all over the enchiladas in the pan, top with the 1/2 c. cheese and a little extra chopped scallion, if you like. Bake until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbly, about 15-20 minutes. (I bake them with the Chiles Relleños.)

Homemade Corn Tortilla Chips
12-16 fresh corn tortillas (again, La Banderita brand, or homemade, or another favorite brand)
1 qt. canola oil
popcorn salt

Self-contradiction #2 - I said yesterday that I use Kosher salt for pretty much everything. But for freshly-deep-fried chips or French Fries, I use popcorn salt, which is ground super-fine. I find it nearly disappears on the surface of the chips, and yields a delicious saltiness.

I deep-fry in a wok. It has several advantages: high, wide sides mean less splatter; woks conduct heat well; they have large capacity; I avoid getting oil sludge on my good pots and pans; and it adds depth to the "seasoning" on the surface of my wok.

Stack the tortillas, and, making three cuts, cut into six equal-sized wedges. Heat the oil over medium-high heat. I don't mess with thermometers, but you want about 350. Cover a sheet pan with a double-layer of paper towels, and get out a large bowl. Use kitchen tongs for the deep-frying. Tongs are the most under-utilized tool in most home kitchens.

Working one stack at a time, drop the cut tortillas into the hot oil and, using the tongs, swirl them around to spread them out and ensure they are covered. After they start to firm up, turn them. Continue frying and turning fairly frequently until they are beginning to turn golden brown. At this point, they'll darken quick, so you have to be focused and move fast. Using the tongs, grab a few chips at a time and lift them out of the oil, drain them briefly, and lay them on the paper towels. Spread them out so they can drain, and while they're still very hot, sprinkle with a little of the popcorn salt. While they're cooling, start the next batch. Once they've drained and cooled a bit, dump them into the large bowl to make room on the paper towel for the next batch. Repeat until all tortillas have been fried.

I LOVE these homemade chips...and my family gobbles them up.

Timing
As I said, this is NOT a quick meal, but the flavors are rich and wonderful and worth the time. If you do the peeling and seeding of the chilies and tomatoes ahead of time, the rest can be done in about 45 minutes to an hour. I find I have about the perfect amount of time to fry the chips while the enchiladas and chiles are baking.

Technique
Tonight's key techniques were: (1) peeling and seeding chilies by roasting them. This technique works with any chili - red bell peppers are fabulous this way. (2) peeling and seeding tomatoes. The French term for peeled, seeded and diced tomatoes is concassé, and it is called for in many dishes. It is considered more refined than simply diced tomatoes because removing the skin and seeds produces a more pure texture and flavor. (3) seasoning by adding both sugar and salt - we did this with the Chiles Relleños sauce. Seasoning means balancing salt, sweet, acid, bitter, heat, and even earthiness. Tonight we added the elements of sweet and acid.

Springtime Walleye, Roasted Potatoes and Broccoli

2009-03-23T20:32:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new blog about cooking and eating fresh, homemade foods. The concept is simple: I'll simply publish what I've made for dinner or another occasion each day, along with recipes, techniques, sources for special ingredients, names of favorite cookbooks, etc. I love food and cooking, and have mastered many techniques over the years. I've found that with a little preparation, I can make delicious, even semi-elaborate meals every night, without it taking hours and hours.

I'm a busy guy - a professional career, lots going on. Yet I've made it a priority to cook well and from scratch (or mostly from scratch) pretty much every night. I've decided to start this blog to help others see how they can cook dramatically better food - fresh, delicious, and not too much work. Well, sometimes I go overboard, which you'll see!

I hope you enjoy reading this, and are inspired to try some of these dishes in your own cooking at home! So...let's get started.

At this time of year, I start craving fresh veggies, grilled foods, springtime delights. Dinner tonight was a simple, quasi-seasonal riff on that theme.

Menu
Broiled Seasoned Walleye (inspired by the Tavern on Grand in St. Paul)
Roasted New Potatoes with Rosemary and Parsley
Boiled Broccoli
(Serving 3 people)

Roasted Potatoes
about a pound of baby red potatoes, cut in quarters
1 sprig fresh rosemary, minced
fresh parsley, minced
2 T extra virgin olive oil
generous amount of Kosher salt 1 - 1.5 tsp, or even more
freshly ground pepper

Heat oven to 400. Cover a sheet pan (one with sides so the oil doesn't spill) with foil. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and spread evenly on the sheet pan. Bake until golden brown or even darker (about 30-40 minutes). The keys with this dish are to get enough salt on the potatoes, and to use fresh rosemary and good olive oil. I keep a rosemary plant in the house through the winter because this herb is so important to me.

Boiled Broccoli
2 medium-sized heads of broccoli
salt

I'm going to talk a lot about salt in this blog, starting now. Unless you have hypertension and/or have been told by a doctor to cut back on sodium, salt is your best friend in the kitchen. What separates the pros from the rest of us is proper seasoning (which involves more than salt, but salt is the foundation).

[Tip: I always use Kosher salt. Always. Except rarely when I use sea salt. Kosher salt is chemically equivalent to regular salt, but it is processed into flakes, not granules. This has two benefits. First, it dissolves better, and second it takes more volume to deliver the same quantity of salt. Why is that good? Because it's more forgiving. Every under-seasoned dish can be fixed with a little more salt, but an over-seasoned dish is ruined. I find it's harder to over-season with Kosher salt - though I still do it on occasion!]

People like to steam veggies. I like to gently boil or simmer them in salt water. Alice Waters, in her cookbook on vegetables, says that most veggies should be gently boiled in very salty water - about the salinity of seawater. And that's how I do my broccoli - no butter, no cheese, no lemon, just the pure goodness of broccoli. And my kids go crazy for it. You will too.

So - fill a 2 or 3 quart pan 1/2 full with water and salt it generously. Dissolve the salt, and taste it. It should taste like seawater. If it's not salty enough, add more. If it's too salty, add water. Bring it to a boil. Meanwhile, cut up the broccoli, cutting the flowers into bite-sized pieces with as much (or little) stalk as you like.

[If you've never tasted seawater, try this: gradually add salt to a small bowl of water, fully dissolving the salt and tasting it as you go. The salinity is right when the water tastes quite salty, almost but not quite unpleasantly so - too salty to drink, but in small drops on the tongue, still pleasant. Get used to that flavor - that's what you're shooting for.]

Drop the broccoli into the water, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until beginning to soften but still firm. Watch it carefully! Another mark of a good chef is proper cooking of veggies. Mushy broccoli is not good - better to be a bit on the al dente side. Plus, it will retain heat and cook a bit more after you remove it from the stove. Drain immediately in a colander and place in serving bowl.

Broiled Walleye
1 lb. walleye fillets, de-boned and cut into 3-4" pieces
1/4 c. salted butter, melted
1/2 of a fresh lemon
Seasoning Salt, such as Morton's Nature's Seasonings, or Lawrey's
Paprika
Salt

I go old school on Walleye, ever since eating it at the Tavern on Grand in St. Paul. Good old fashioned seasoning salt and paprika, plus butter and lemon - it just doesn't get any better.

The trick to cooking any fish is getting it done without over-cooking. When I prepare this meal, I get the fish ready while the potatoes are cooking, then switch the oven from bake to broil immediately after removing the potatoes. I keep the oven rack in the middle - not too close to the broiler.

Again, I line a sheet pan with foil (easier clean-up), drizzle a little butter on the foil, arrange the fish, drizzle the remaining butter over the fish, followed by a squirt of fresh lemon juice, a light sprinkle of the seasoning salt and paprika, and on the thicker pieces, I sprinkle a bit more plain salt - not too much...there's salt in the butter, too.

Put them in the hot oven under the broiler and close the door - that way they bake and broil simultaneously. This will brown them slightly on top and cook them through beautifully. Typically, they take about 4-6 minutes - again, watch them. Walleye is done when the fish easily flakes apart and is white all the way through. Test a piece you'll serve to yourself, chef. Remember, the thicker pieces will cook slower.

Timing
Timing is almost always a challenge when cooking. You get better at this with lots of practice. For this meal, I do the potatoes first and get them in the oven. Then I trim the broccoli and put the water on to boil. While the water's heating up, I prep the walleye and let it sit until the potatoes come out. I put the broccoli in the water just before I put the fish in. Total time start to finish: 40 minutes.

Technique
You'll notice that this dinner is very simple in terms of ingredients and most of the technique. Which dish did I talk about the most? The broccoli...with only two ingredients (plus water) - it's almost 100% technique. The two techniques that matter in this meal are: proper seasoning, and proper cooking time - not over or under-done. These are the two most important techniques to master in all of cooking. Every ingredient will have slightly different requirements for proper seasoning and proper cooking. Mostly, just paying close attention will guide you to the right outcome.