Julia – Page 21 – Grow. Cook. Eat.

February 12, 2010

Comfort (and Joy)

Cultures around the world have tricks for re-purposing leftovers into something delicious… The British recycle Sunday dinner into Bubble and Squeak – potato and cabbage patties with leftover mashers and braised cabbage. The Chinese fry day-old rice to refresh it with scraps of meats and vegetables. And Americans mix together all the Thanksgiving leftovers to come up with pot pie.

Is it coincidence that these dishes represent comfort food?

Of course, I didn’t make pot pie at Thanksgiving – though it would have been perfect with leftover pie dough scraps, creamed mushrooms, turkey, green beans and gravy all mixed together. Instead, I waited until a weekend when I hunkered down to cook.

I was cooking for a friend who recently lost her husband after a long battle of with MS.

I sensed she hadn’t been eating well, so I devised a strategy to provide both nourishment and a restorative. A nice meal always lifts my spirits, so I opted for my new favorite lobster dish that she could enjoy on the evening I stopped by. I made a quart of chicken soup to feed the soul, and a few pot pies to offer a little comfort.

Pot pie is the perfect freezer food as it can be made in individual ramekins and baked without defrosting. I was able to use up broccoli stems, some carrots and a few random mushrooms. You can use whatever vegetables you like. Once assembled, I put them in the freezer so they can be baked whenever you’re in need of a little comfort.

Chicken Pot Pie
This isn’t so much a recipe as it is a suggestion.
1 – 2 potatoes
3 tbs. butter
3 tbs. flour
¼ cup white wine
3 cups liquid – a combination of chicken broth, cream and/or milk.
Cooked chicken, cut into ½ bite size pieces
Diced carrots
Broccoli or peas
Mushrooms
Pie dough – frozen or use your favorite recipe
Salt and pepper
Fresh herbs like parsley, thyme or basil

1. Cut potatoes into ½ inch dice. Put in a pot of cold water. Add salt. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Drain.
2. In a medium pot over medium heat, melt butter. Whisk in flour and cook for two minutes or until butter bubbles up again. Add wine first then the liquid slowly, whisking constantly.
3. When liquid is incorporated, bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to simmer.
4. Add vegetables and chicken. Check the seasoning for salt and pepper. Add fresh herbs.
5. Put filing in ramekins.
6. Cut pie dough to match the ramekins in size. Top each ramekin with dough.
7. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until tops are golden brown and the filling is bubbling.
8. Serve with a salad.

February 10, 2010

Persimmons Unpuckered

Most of my childhood food memories are good ones. I remember the first dish I ever made on my own: chicken simmered in wine and seasoned salt. I remember my mom taking me for sushi lunch on the day before my Bat Mitzah. And I remember making a gingerbread house that required a late-night bicycle run to get marshmallow fluff.

And there were a few bad ones… mostly involving foods which had that astringent aftertaste reminiscent of overly tannic wines (though growing up I couldn’t have defined that). Pecans were the first, and I later discovered I was allergic anyways, and the other was persimmons. Those sweet, creamy winter fruits can be lusciously rich. But if they’re under-ripe they can make you pucker like you’ve been sucking on lemons.

I don’t scare easily, but I’ve shied away from them ever since… they can be expensive and didn’t want to open the persimmon only to discover it was astringently under ripe. When I was at the market last week, a little bird whispered in my ear, reminding me that Fuyu persimmons don’t have that problem and I decided to give them another whirl.

When I got home, I tentatively cut it open and gingerly nibbled at the meat. The flavor was somewhat cloying but no sign of tannins. It was tasty, but didn’t feel like a snacking fruit. Maybe it was just too sweet for me? It needed something to balance it.

As luck would have it, I had a perfectly ripe avocado at the same time. A quick Google search revealed that the two would pair beautifully along with a little miso, ginger and lemon. And into the kitchen I went to prepare dinner.

This was a quick and delicious dinner. But it requires careful planning to have a ripe avocado *and* a ripe persimmon at the same time. If you can do it, it’s well worth it!

Fuyu Persimmon and Avocado Salad with Roast Chicken
I served this on a bed of wilted spinach.

2 chicken breasts
1 ½ tbs. miso
1 tbs. chopped ginger
1 tsp. chopped garlic
¼ tsp. chili flakes
1 tsp. canola oil
Salt and pepper

1. Mix miso, ginger, garlic, chili and oil.
2. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Schmear miso all over chicken and let marinate for 20 minutes or more.
3. Bake chicken in a 350 oven for 20 minutes, flipping once after 10 minutes of cooking. While chcicken is cooking, prepare the salad
Salad
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons miso paste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup olive oil
1 ripe avocado
1 ripe Fuyu persimmons, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together lemon juice, miso, and olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. This dressing should be a bit more acidic than you typically prefer as it will soften with the avocado and persimmon.
Halve, pit, and peel avocados, then thinly slice crosswise. Gently toss together avocados, persimmons, and dressing.

Serve salad with chicken.

February 8, 2010

What Would Mother Nature Do?

Mother Nature is brilliant – she stealthily tells us what foods to pair with what and when. Tomatoes and basil, the classic flavor marriage born in southern Italy: we don’t even think about it now, but the fact that they grow next to each other in the hot Mediterranean sun tells us. Similarly, dill, potatoes and salmon from the cooler northwestern region of Europe taste great together too, and by no coincidence they hail from the same region.

We can also be guided by the seasons. Asparagus and Morels are quintessential spring and pair beautifully. Apples and cabbage peak in flavor in the fall and elevate each other’s flavors. I hadn’t really thought about it previously, but Brussels sprouts and tomatoes just don’t work together. Let's suffice it to say, I have the pictures to prove it.

When unsure about pairing flavors together, if I don’t reference The Flavor Bible, I think about the seasons and the origins.

The other night, I was cooking dinner and thinking about how to cook the beets I had in the fridge. I had more clementines and recalled that orange and beets are a classic combination. But as I thought further, I was confounded… beets grow in the summer: I know this about beets because I see them at the Farmers’ markets and also grew them myself. But citrus are native to the winter. How could this be? This flavor pairing couldn’t be a classic if Mother Nature hadn’t intended it, could it?

Interestingly, the root vegetables like beets and potatoes tend to be considered winter vegetables even though they are grown in the summer and fall. They get this reputation because they store well through the colder months in the *root* cellar. When I think about it like this, it’s not surprising that the root vegetables also pair well with the winter flavors.

See, she had it figured out all along… Mother Nature is brilliant!

Beet and Clementine Salad
3 beets
2 clementines or 1 large orange
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground coriander
salt and pepper to taste
torn mint to garnish

1. Wash beets. Toss them with 1 tbs. olive oil and put them in a 375F oven (in a pan) for 30 minutes or until a knife easily pierces through.
2. Meanwhile, peel the clementines and cut into sections. See Helen's blog for a great photo montage of how to do it.
3. When beets are tender, let them cool slightly. Peel them with a peeler or paring knife. Cut them into wedges, and place them in a heat proof bowl.
4. Heat remaining olive oil in a small skillet. Add cumin and coriander and cook over medium heat until fragrant. Pour over beets and toss. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Add the clementines. Garnish with mint just before serving.

February 5, 2010

Rice Paper

I arrived in Hong Kong at 6pm, bleary-eyed from a 24 hour flight but also fully aware that I should get a bite to eat and try to stay awake until 9pm. I headed down Wanchai Road in search of food and adventure.

I was intrigued since I had never seen such culinary action in the US. And so the quest began to learn how to make these two dishes. The la mein has been a long saga without a happy ending, so I won’t regale the details here. The rice noodles on the other hand…

I took two cooking classes during my trip to mainland China, but had to wait until my trip to Vietnam to see the rice paper/noodle in action. As I explored various cooking school options, I focused on a course that would teach me had to steam rice paper or rice noodles.

A woman in the Mekong Delta making rice paper

In the class at The Red Bridge Cooking School, we learned how to steam the rice paper for fresh summer rolls. The chef gave us instructions for making the batter… soaking raw white rice in water over night and then pureeing it with 4 parts water for 7 minutes. The batter was already made for the students to then steam on the steamer-contraption they had set up. Imagine a tambourine (without the jingle) with a taut, translucent fabric set over a steamer. The batter is poured onto the drum and smoothed out with a ladle; I made one rather successfully. As I started to make a second, the instructor stopped me… “No, no, no. Only make one.” I was disappointed but also felt I had enough resources to try again when I returned home.

Attempt #1 was an unmitigated disaster. I tried to fashion a steamer-drum using a cotton napkin and an extra-large rubber-band. I soaked the rice overnight and then put it in the blender to puree. And puree. And puree. The batter never became smooth enough to make the thin crepe-like batters, but I tried cooking a few anyway. The napkin smoldered around the burner, the batter seeped through the napkin leaving the grainy rice on top. I was defeated and didn’t think about it again until I saw the recipe for steamed rice rolls on Ravenous Couple’s blog.

For their batter, they used rice flour and tapioca starch. This seemed doable to me. So I set out again to make the rice paper. Making a steaming device remained the unresolved challenge. But then the flash of brilliance passed before me just long enough to realize that a silk screen (typically used for making art and t-shirts) might also work.

Did you know that silk is flame-proof? I learned this in the Arab markets in Jerusalem. If the salesperson claims the fabric is pure silk, ask if you can take a match to it. If they say okay, they know that the silk won’t catch fire. If they say no, then fabric is probably made of polyester or other flammable material. This was a useful factoid to remember as the silk of the steamer dangled precariously above the burner.

At the local craft store, I bought a sheet of silk (though I could have also bought the whole silk screen set up, the size didn’t seem right for me) and a large rubber band. I wrapped the silk around the bamboo steamer. Success #1.

I then made a filling of pork and mushrooms to go inside the eventual rice papers. Pretty straightforward, and another check in the success column.

Batter… Easy. I measured out the flours and mixed with water. Check.

Cooking the batter was a bit of challenge, but after a few attempts I was able to successful ladle the batter onto my steamer-drum, fill it with the pork and roll it up.

As I was photographing the final dish, I thought to myself, “Self, this was good, but I don’t think it’s good enough to go through the effort. Glad I tried it.” And then I tasted it and thought, “Well, okay. That was pretty damn tasty. Let me think of an occasion when it would be appropriate.”

And then I started to clean the kitchen….

Steamed Rice Noodle Rolls with Ground Pork

4 oz. rice flour
3 1/2 oz. tapioca flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups water
plain oil
filling (see recipe below)
dipping sauce (see recipe below)

1. Mix together flours, salt and water.
2. Put silk-steamer over a water bath. Bring water to a boil.
3. Brush oil over silk. Brush oil over cookie sheet. Brush oil over spatula that will be used to turn noodle.
4. Ladle a scant quarter cup over silk-drum. Spread the batter so it's very thin. Cook for 2 minutes, or until it begins to look translucent.
5. Sprinkle pork on top of noodle, and use the spatula to roll it up, starting from the edges.
6. Gently remove from steamer and placed on greased cookie sheet until ready to serve.
7. Serve with dipping sauce, garnish with scallions and fried shallots.

Filling

1/2 lb ground pork
8 shiitake mushrooms, steams removed, caps chopped
1 shallot, peeled and diced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and diced
1 tbs fish sauce
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. oil
pinch salt and pepper

1. Heat a medium skillet over high heat. Add the oil. When oil is hot, add shallots and garlic.

2. Season pork with salt, pepper and sugar. Add to the pan, breaking up the meat. Cook until there is no more pink.

3. Drain excess fat. Season with fish sauce.

Dipping Sauce
2 tbs. sugar
2 tbs. fish sauce
2 tbs. mirin
2 tbs. rice vinegar
1 garlic clove, smashed
1/4 lime juiced

Mix Everything together.

February 3, 2010

The Stars Aligned (Recipe: Pompano with Clementine Ginger Relish)

Picture Credit: Land Big Fish

Now that I’m a food blogger, I view meal-time differently – no longer is it about nourishing myself nor gathering with friends for an engaging repast; it’s an occasion to tell a story. And as I prepare my dinner, I think about what that story might be, whether it’s the vegetables from the garden, a trip to Asia or the fish I’m cooking.

Dinner the other night was brimming with stories.

I was driving home my milking experience and stopped en route at my favorite fish store. As I scanned the case, I noticed whole pompano. It’s a fish I’ve only eaten once, and probably 25 years ago. The recipe came from the Time-Life Cookbooks; I served it with kiwi and Jerusalem artichoke. The memory is etched in my mind of one of my favorite fish, though I’ve never eaten it since. I had to purchase it and remind myself what so enticed me.

When I got home, the ground had thawed again, allowing me to harvest more Brussels sprouts. These prized jewels would make a lovely accompaniment to the fish. Trying to get out of my bacon-rut, I opted instead for a relish of clementines and ginger. I still had a few citrus left in the case I bought, and they were on the verge of rotting… a relish would be a quick and easy way to use them up.

And, of course, I had to use the milk – fresh from the cow, only hours old. The dairy manifested itself into wonderfully light and buttery spaetzle.

The story of my dinner may be incoherent, but the meal was eloquent and divine!

Broiled Pompano with Clementine Relish and Roasted Brussels Sprouts
(spaetzle recipe coming soon…….)
1 whole pompano, filleted
3 clementines
1 shallot, peeled and diced fine
1 tbs. minced ginger
1/4 cup Chinese Rice Wine
2 tbs. butter
1 sprig fresh tarragon, or 1/2 tsp. dried
olive oil
canola oil

salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut Brussels sprouts in half. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place them on a cookie sheet in a single layer, cut side down. Roast in a 400F oven for 20 minutes, or until crusty brown on the bottom.
2. Meanwhile, section the clementines, removing the white membrane.
3. Heat a large skillet over high heat. Season fish with salt and pepper. Add a thin layer of canola oil to the pan. Gently place fish in the pan, skin side up. Cook over high heat for 5 minutes, or until brown edges are visible around the fillets. Flip the fillets, and cook for two minutes more. Remove fish from pan, and set aside in a warm place.
4. To the fish pan, add the shallots and ginger, and cook for 2 minutes or until they soften. Deglaze the pan with the wine, and reduce. Remove from heat and swirl in butter. Stir in the clementines and tarrgagon.

Serve fish with Brussels sprouts and clementines drizzled on top.

January 30, 2010

Raw Milk and Cookies

As the sun begins to peer through the trees, Chris is out in his yard tending to his animals – two horses, 4 cows, 2 pigs and a dozen chickens. With the exception of two cows (who were born on his farm), they were all rescued from neglectful owners.

I visited the farm early last Sunday hoping for a chance to milk Melissa, the 6 year-old Jersey cow. Chris made no promises:

You're welcome to visit the animals any time. They do love visitors, and I like showing them off. Getting the opportunity to milk my cow is a whole 'nother kettle of fish.

Melissa allows me to milk her because she knows and trusts me. We've developed a routine, and she knows that I'm going to look out for her well being, and am going to be kind and gentle with her. If a strange person attempts to handle her udder, she's probably going to be upset. She's going to walk away, and might even kick. It's likely that she won't "let down her milk" as well, and will be disturbed for the rest of the morning. Let me put it this way: how comfortable would you be allowing a stranger to put his hands on your body? Jersey cows have personalities and feelings. They really are unique creatures. They aren't milk machines that plod through life (although the food industry typically assumes such a thing).

On the other hand, Melissa is an amazing cow. While most cows would not allow themselves to be milked by anyone if a stranger walked into the barn, Melissa tolerates visits from the oil truck, the propane guy, and various and sundry visitors. She will tolerate noises, distractions and changes to the routine better than most. She just might get fussy about touches from strangers.

If you'd like to visit, and watch, you're more than welcome. You might get lucky, and she'll allow you to milk her. Just don't set your heart on it.

When I arrived, the animals were roaming around the yard, with minimal fencing to keep them at bay. They had barns where they could retreat from rain, snow and wind. Otherwise they walk around, unfazed by the sub-freezing temperatures.

Chris finished his chores, and led Melissa to the front driveway where she’s fed and milked. First he brushed her coat. This helps rid her of loose hair that might otherwise fall into the milk. Then he sanitizes her udders with a vinegar and water solution. Finally, he rinses the “line” by pulling a few ounces of milk out of each udder.

He milks by hand: pinching the top of the udder with the base of his thumb and first finger, and then squeezing out the milk with a firm tug. The milk flows out in a steady, rhythmic stream.

After the first two udders are drained, he lets me take a turn. I pet Melissa, showering her with affection in hopes that she will let me also milk her.

Indeed, I’m able to milk her. I have a few false starts with handling the udders, trying to squeeze the milk. I’m timid — fearful that I will hurt her, I don’t tug hard enough. I get the hang of it and the milk starts to flow, though not as vigorously as when Chris did.

In the end we Chris got about ½ gallon of fresh milk. The milk is poured through a coffee filter to strain out any hair which may have fallen in.

In its natural state, the milk is about 5% fat. Since it is not homogenized, the cream rises to the top, and after 24 hours, I can separate low-fat milk from the cream. I poked a whole in the bottom of the milk jug and let the lighter milk, which had settled on the bottom strain out.

Raw milk is not readily available. State health boards fear that the naturally occurring bacteria are harmful. In Massachusetts, dairy farms need a special license to sell raw milk and are inspected monthly. Nonetheless, farmers often choose this option because tends to be a economically more viable option for them than selling to dairy conglomerates like Gaerelick. Consumers prefer it because the enzymes and probotics in raw milk have been shown to have many health benefits and actually tend to be safer than pasteurized milk. And folks that have lactose intolerance fair better with raw milk because of the increased lactase.

For more details about raw milk, you can read here.

And what better way to enjoy the sweet, creamy, fresh taste of raw milk than with a plate of cookies!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is adapted from Bo Friberg, my pastry instructor in culinary school.

4 1/2 oz. unsalted butter, room temperature
3 oz. brown sugar
3 oz. white sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
6 1/2 oz. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
6 oz. chocolate chips

1. Using the paddle attachment of a mixer, cream the butter and the sugars at medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and mix to combine.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the butter mixture and mix over low speed until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
3. Using a spoon, measure out about 2 tbs. of dough. Use your hands to shape into a ball and place on a cookie sheet. Continue until all the dough is formed into cookie balls. At this point you can freeze the balls to bake later or bake all immediately. Make sure you properyly space them so there's about 2 inches between them.
4. Bake at 375F for 10 minutes, or until the edges are lightly brown and the middle still looks a bit sticky.

January 22, 2010

A Point of Clarification

Most cooking techniques involve some form of fat or oil. Marinades have oil, sautés and stir-fries require a thin layer of fat in the bottom of the pan, and broiling works better if the food has a thin sheen to protect and also help brown the exterior. Steaming and poaching are low-fat methods that usually require no added fat.

But back to the fat…the question becomes, which fat do you use when? And how can you effectively substitute if you do not have the required ingredient on-hand?

There are three ways that fat/oil is used in recipes: as a cooking medium, as a flavor enhancer and as a moisture additive (I just made up that term). Each way requires a different way of looking at the issue.

Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire
Most of you have heard of smoke points, right? This is the temperature that oil begins to smoke… not to be confused with the flash-point, the temperature when oil will catch fire. So when choosing oil for sautéing, frying or other high heat cooking you want to choose an oil with a high smoke point – oils with lower smoke points turn bitter and lose their lubricating qualities when over-heated.

In general, refined oils have a higher smoke point than unrefined. This holds true for olive oils as well. What does this mean for your cooking? Using extra-virgin olive oil for high heat cooking destroys the flavor. It’s a waste of a high-priced, high-flavor oil. Better to use 100% pure olive oil, which is from the second or third pressing and has a higher smoke point.

Many people use olive oil for cooking because of its purported health properties. It’s ratio of mono and polyunsaturated fats make it a better choice for raising HDLs and lowering LDLs. Canola oil is rivals olive oil in this area.

Similarly, butter has a higher smoke point when it’s clarified. The milk solids in butter (which make up 5%-15%) burn at a much lower temperature than the butterfat. By removing the milk solids, butters smoke point increases to 400F.

Oils for High Heat Cooking
Peanut, Canola, 100% Pure Olive, Clarified Butter, Grapeseed.

I use canola oil when I don’t want any flavor from the oil. When I’m frying banana spring-rolls, or another dish where I know it will absorb the flavor of the oil, I use clarified butter. I avoid peanut oil because (1) I’m allergic to nuts and (2) lots of other people are too, and it becomes a hidden allergen.

I save the extra-virgin olive oil for salad dressings and low-heat cooking where I want that distinctive flavor.

Photo Credit: Ellen Callaway

Banana Spring Rolls with a Drizzle of Chocolate and Ginger

Spring Rolls
3 bananas
6 tbs. brown sugar
¼ cup clarified butter or plain oil
12 spring roll wrappers
melted dark chocolate

1. Cut banana in half lengthwise, and then in ½ again width-wise
2. Lay a spring roll wrapper on a work surface with a point facing towards you. Put a piece of banana on the wrapper a little bit off center, and ½ tbs. brown sugar on top. Roll the spring roll like a burrito – pull the sides over and then roll it up.
3. Repeat process to make 11 more spring rolls
4. Heat oil or butter in a large skillet to medium high. Cook spring rolls until brown and crispy on all sides. Serve with crème anglaise and a drizzle of melted chocolate.

Crème Anglaise
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup half -n- half
3 slices of fresh ginger

Scald half -n- half with ginger. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and sugar. Slowly add half -n- half, stirring constantly. Return to heat and continue cooking over low heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula until the custard thickens. Remove from heat immediately. Strain out ginger.

January 20, 2010

Winter Break (Recipe: Brussels Sprouts ” Carbonara ” )

Perhaps my biggest gardening challenge is that I want to grow more vegetables than I have room for in my tiny little patch. The upshot is that I crowd my plants, trying to squeeze as much in as possible, and my vegetables tend to be smaller since they don’t have as much room to spread out and grow.

So my plants are smaller than the “supermarket size” benchmark. As I harvest throughout the season, I try to thin the plants so that the survivors will have more room to grow. And I try to hold out and wait until the vegetables get bigger. With Brussels sprouts, I have an additional challenge: the weather. I want them to get decent sized, but also survive a few day frost to help sweeten these petite cabbages.

This year, winter arrived with a vengeance, and I didn’t have a chance to harvest all the Brussels sprouts before they were buried in a layer of snow. And while the snow melted off the plants, they never fully defrosted so that I could cut them off the stock… until this weekend.

I had about a 5 hour window on Saturday, after the temperatures had been above freezing for 2 days and the plants had thawed, and before the next cold front passed through. I harvested enough for a delightful meal. The rest will wait until the next thaw.

Brussels Sprouts “Carbonara”
I had intended to make a carbonara style pasta dish, substituting Brussels Sprouts for the spring peas. But as I rummaged through the refrigerator, I discovered I had run out of bacon. I did have smoked chicken in the freezer, so I added that instead – giving the dish a meaty, smoky, rich flavor. And in an attempt to keep my diet healthy, I added just a few tablespoons of cream to keep the pasta moist, but didn’t make it rich and gooey as is more traditional.

½ pound pasta
2 chicken thighs, smoked, or two slices of bacon, diced
Brussel sprouts
2 tbs. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, ch
Pinch chili flakes
3 tbs. cream
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese – at least 1/4 cup, but use more if you’d like.
Salt and pepper to taste.

1. Preheat the oven to 425F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season generously with salt.
2. Meanwhile, cut Brussels in half. Toss them with olive oil (or bacon if using), salt and pepper. But them in the oven to roast for 15 minutes.
3. Boil pasta for 1 minute less than the package instructions.
4. After the Brussels have roasted 15 minutes, toss them with garlic and chili flakes. Return to oven for an additional 5 minutes to toast the garlic.
5. Drain pasta. Toss with cream, Parmesan. Add chicken and Brussels. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper (and lemon juice)

I'm submitting this to January's "Grow Your Own" round-up. Originally, started by Andrea of Andrea's Recipes, Nate and Annie have picked up hosting responsibilities.

January 18, 2010

Discovering My Palate

Photo Credit: Kevin Eats

We sat down for dinner, with three wine glasses lined up at each plate. Per the suggestion of my favorite wine guru, I roasted duck and paired it with a chile rellano picadillo to accompany the 1982 Chateau Pichon Lalande. My uncle Janusz filled the wine glasses with the ’82 Bordeaux, a second Bordeaux of less auspicious background and a $10 Bordeaux-style bottle purchased from Costco.

My uncle began collecting wines in the early 1980s when he was just establishing himself in his career and finally had a few extra dollars to spend on little luxuries. Over the next 10 years he amassed a collection of over 200 cases of wine, mostly from the premium vintages in Bordeaux. All the wines in his collection are of the style that improves with age. As Janusz puts says, it takes “strength of character” to sit on this much wine and not be able to drink it while it matures in the bottle.

By now, many of the vintages are ready to drink. Whenever I visit, we go “rooting” in the cellar to find something special and interesting. Janusz will open the bottle 8 hours in advance to let it breath, tastes it throughout the day to see how the flavors open and develop, and then takes copious notes so he’ll know how to handle the same wine the next time he opens a bottle.

He would swirl, slurp and sip, discerning all the fine characteristics of the wine, comparing his thoughts with Robert Parker, the eminent source of wine ratings and reviews. I would mimic Janusz’s gestures and parrot back his sentiments. Truthfully, to me, the wines tasted dusty.

Robert Parker had given the 1982 Pichon Lalande a rating of 100, a perfect score. The second Bordeaux (which neither Janusz nor I can recall by name) scored 91, still considered a very fine ranking. The third bottle didn’t even warrant a review by Parker.

Even though my palate was not refined enough to appreciate the “100” wine, my intellect told me to drink it first while my palate was fresh. I took a sip, nodded as if to say, “Yes, of course this is a fine wine,” and then moved onto the second wine, the “91.” It was then that I realized I could indeed taste the difference. Wow! The layers of flavor, the earthiness, the fruit, the softened tannins… they were all there. The “91” seemed flat by comparison, and the “$10” was downright insipid. I felt sorry for the “91”. I know in its own right, it would have been a fine wine, and I would have been quite pleased to drink it. But it suffered shamefully standing next to the “100.”

Last night, I opened a 1985 Lafite Rothschild, a gift from dear Janusz. An idle Sunday night, perhaps, but if you wait for just the right special occasion to present itself, you may wait a very long time.

Thank you, Janusz, for making life a special occasion!

January 15, 2010

The Economics of Cooking

If I recall correctly from my micro-economics class, pricing in a competitive marketplace is set by “supply and demand”. A greater demand for a product will command a higher price. And by contrast, a greater supply will lower the price. The supply and demand model finds the equilibrium between these two forces to set the price. Whole Foods is defying all models by selling beef tenderloin for $28 (!!) a pound. How could there possibly be any demand at that price??

Certainly no demand from me, despite a craving for the buttery texture and flavor from this prime cut.

Instead, I found an alternative source for beef tenderloin (a local place like Costco). The only hitch is that I have to purchase the full cut and trim it myself. At $10.50 per pound, it seemed worth the “extra” effort. It doesn’t take much to trim a beef tenderloin – I need to pull of the chain (a side muscle that is not as tender, but plenty flavorful), and trim off the silver skin – a thin, shiny membrane that covers the muscle. When it’s cleaned, I cut it into individual portions. And now that I’ve cleaned out the freezer a bit, I have room for more “leftovers.”

photo credit: Scott Phillips

The silver skin goes into the dog-bowl, and the chain goes into the meat grinder. In the end, it cost me $15 per pound for fully trimmed beef tenderloin, with a bonus pound of ground beef.

The beef tenderloin was used for the Beef En Rollo. I added the ground beef to a jar of tomato sauce for a quick Bolognese.

If you look closely at the photo, you may notice two kinds of pasta in the bowl – fusilli and orecchiette. I had about a half serving of pasta in each box. In the spirit of using up leftovers, I combined the two. Of course, they didn’t cook at the same rate… the orecchiette required 14 minutes, and the fusilli 12. So I put the orecchiette in the boiling water, set the timer for 2 minutes, and then added the fusilli. From there, I cooked it 11 minutes more. Yes, that’s one minute less than the recommended cooking time. I like to finish cooking the pasta in its destination sauce – I find the pasta absorbs more of the flavor and the sauce clings better.