The Clever Chef

Excuse the mess

2008-12-07T08:16:11Z

I'm going to be and I have been updating a few things over here. I've found the layout and design of TCC.net to be quite boring for a while, so in an effort to spruce things up a bit, I've been spending long nights coding CSS and PHP (okay, so like 2 nights, and they weren't school nights, but still). So, if you come here and things look way wonky, don't be afraid to come back later. Due to lots of stuff happening tomorrow (erm, later today), such as picking up a badly long-needed chest freezer and going to a concert, I might not get everything done that needs to be done, but rest assured, fair reader, that TheCleverChef.net will be up and working properly (like, really properly, none of this can't-read-what-messages-are-saying b.s. that's been broken since inception) by this weekend and certainly before I take off on holiday again to flounder about before picking up the food writing biz.

This has all been a long paragraph to say, "please don't stop coming because it looks fucked up for now. It will be fixed soon."

Okay? 'Kay.

xox

Ultimate Bready Dressing

2008-12-04T19:32:02Z

So I mentioned I went a little nuts with the Making Everything From Scratch for Thanksgiving? This, however, this was the most complicated dish I completed, and I just finished the leftovers with lunch today. This was my first time making dressing without at least some kind of roadmap. Hell, I didn't even look up what kind of spices to use, I just winged everything, and it turned out oh so good. I could eat this every night for dinner. Oh, wait... I have. This is the first in the awesomelicious but Thanksgiving Day instructional, so expect more later.

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Don't let the prep involved scare you away from this recipe - it's all well worth it, and in the end, you're only dirtying 3 pans (2 of which are pretty clean when they're done), and only one part of this is very 'technical' - the rest just takes time. I cut my bread up into about 3/4" cubes, because I like 'em that way, and let it sit out for a couple of days to get dry. I, however, live in Portland, Oregon, and it's fall, so there's really not a whole lot of 'dry' around here. To finish up the job, I piled the cubes oh so carefully onto a cookie sheet and put them in the oven to dry on low for a couple of hours. They were perfect after that.

Ultimate Bready Dressing

Feeds 8-10 carb-hungry Americans

650g Sourdough Bread, cubed
85g Whole-wheat Bread, cubed

1 1/2 Tb Rubbed Sage
2 Tb Bragg's Mixed spice (or similar)
4 Tb Kosher or Sea Salt
1/2 Tb Ground Black Pepper
3 cloves Garlic, minced
3Tb Olive Oil (good stuff, please)

2 Tb Rendered Bacon Fat (or butter, but bacon fat is just that much awesomer)
3/4 lb Yellow Onion, chopped
5 Celery Stalks, halved lengthwise and chopped

2/3 lb Andouille Sausage, casing removed
2Tb Unsalted Butter
1lb Crimini Mushrooms, quartered (or preferred cut) and dried t
1/2C White Wine or Dry Vermouth

1qt Chicken or Turkey Stock (more for wetter dressing)

1. Dry breadcubes. They don't need to be 100% dry, but they will take in much more stock flavor if they're thoroughly dried. Add the spices and garlic to a massive mixing bowl (I used the largest size I have, which I think is 6qt). Top with the olive oil and combine. Add the breadcubes and toss well.

2. Fry sausage on medium in a large saute pan until no longer pink - remove to a bowl, trying to keep a good bit of the rendered fat in the pan.

3. Increase the heat under said pan to medium-hot and add the butter. Wait until the foaming subsides, then add the mushrooms - try to keep them all on the same level. Pour yourself a glass of wine and stare at the mushrooms for a full 2 minutes before shaking the pan. Make sure to brown the 'shrooms on all sides; this usually takes 5-7 minutes or so. Remove to the sausage bowl.

4. Deglaze the pan with the white wine or vermouth, scrape up all the lovely bits (add more water if necessary), and add to the stock pot.

5. With the same pan back on medium heat, add the bacon fat or butter, and allow it to get right hot, then add the celery and onions, saute until translucent. Remove to the breadcube bowl.

6. Toss the breadcubes with the onions and celery, then add the sausage and mushrooms and toss again.

7. Slowly add the boiling stock in 3 batches and carefully fold the cubes well with the stock until incorporated. Add more water or stock if necessary. Once homogenized, pour into a greased or nonstick pan and cover well with foil. Bake at 350-400 degrees for 30 minutes - 1 hour. The longer (and higher) cooking times will render a more crunchy dressing, less heat and fewer minutes for a more toothsome dish. Take the foil off and quickly broil the top to get crunchy bits.

*Aside: some people really like to add eggs to the dressing to make it more like a bread pudding. I'm not a fan of this, but if you are, then add the eggs after the stock and mix well.

**Aside 2: This is really incredibly awesome when formed into a patty and pan-fried, then topped with a yolky egg. Than again, what isn't awesome when pan-fried and topped with an egg?

Sourdough Bread

2008-11-25T16:50:16Z

So I made some sourdough bread. I created my starter sometime in August, when it was actually warm, and have miraculously not killed it yet, even after being on vacation for 16 days and forgetting about it completely for at least 2 weeks in fridge. I have 2 starters now, one at 100% hydration, and one at 50% hydration. Watch me be all baking-geeky now. I used Susan's recipe for her favorite Norwich Sourdough. I took the suggestion of the recipe the original time to let the second fermentation after the shaping take place in the fridge, which yielded a very sour bread with a splendidly crunchy crust, just the way it should be. I'm tempted to shape these into small boules next time to fill with some fondue or clam chowder. I actually made some more of the same just yesterday, half of which I took out too early. No biggie, though, as it's cut and getting stale now, and will soon be cut up even smaller and dried even more, then will be made into the dressing we'll be eating with our Thanksgiving dinner. The batch I made this weekend was mucked up by me (I didn't allow the dough to rise for 1.5H before putting them into the fridge, which I totally blame on the other 2 batches of dough I was focusing on), so I allowed the dough to ferment for about 2.5 hours outside of the fridge before chucking them in the oven. This batch isn't as sour as the first, and I had weird issues with the tension of the shape, but otherwise the crumb and crust are good.

I'm getting much more into baking and just this last weekend made some 100% whole wheat bread (doorstop, but tasty anyhow), Pane al Cioccolato, and the aforementioned sourdough. I think my stash of baker's yeast is dead, if not nearly so, as I didn't get hardly any rise out of the biga for the WW bread, nor did the dough itself get very large. I've been not using a whole lot of it, since I've been using a lot more natural yeast, so I think I'll try it again sometime with a whole wheat starter instead of the instant yeast, and we'll see how that works.

The Pane al Cioccolato was an attempt to recreate the Chocolate Panini bread made by the Pearl Bakery, which I am in love with, but would much rather have on my terms. The proportions given by Jude are really close to the panini, so I'll be working with it more to create a more appropriate bread - something a bit airier, but with less vanilla and more of the nutty chocolate flavor. I'll let you know what I come up with.

And that's all for now. I haven't been taking photos of anything, since my iPhone already has had flour, egg, and other miscellany spilled on it, and it would be much more expensive to replace my Canon. I'll likely have the boyfriend take photos of the Thanksgiving turkey and the like - I'm still debating on whether to slow-roast (tested and certified, this is a guaranteed Perfectly Juicy and Tasty Bird) or to deep-fry (which I've only done with a chicken and wasn't all that impressed). Until this weekend...

Placating

2008-08-21T15:47:42Z

I've been moving for over a week now, and am working on the sourdough post, but until then, here's this to waste one's time:
From verygoodtaste.co.uk, The Omnivore's 100:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you've eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat's milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald's Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S'mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs' legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake (all of them)
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
~~75. Roadkill~~
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Embarking on a new adventure

2008-08-11T21:59:28Z

I found, a few months ago, that I really missed baking bread nearly weekly. The bread I baked wasn't really daily-eating bread, but it was fun and there's nothing like the smell of dough in the oven, being transformed into something supremely delicious. I've been working on my breadmaking skills, and I think I'm getting better. I've made a series of doorstop-style loaves, which I believe had fallen due to over-proofing. I've been studying the chemistry of bread, from the way that gluten forms and how yeast eats all the bits of sugar its fed. Reading, however, doesn't seem to really be helping in and of itself. I'm dealing with a crap oven in a rental apartment, the wildly varying temperature of Portland's summer, and craziness in the moisture. Despite this all, I started a culture about 7 days ago which has become a proper sourdough starter (using Susan's awesome instructions), and it's happily eating whatever I give it with great abandon. And thus, this, dear readers, is what I'll be using tonight to make my first sourdough loaves. The bf and I went down to Bob's Red Mill last Saturday and purchased a ton of flours (well, okay, so maybe 30#), and I have a feeling I'll be baking up a storm this fall and winter. I am going to track this sourdough bread with photos to show you my triumph (or utter failure to bake bread that looks like bread)! Hopefully with more tomorrow... wish me luck!

Best Ever Chicken Salad

2008-06-23T06:23:51Z

In this house, we like chicken salad. Did I say like? Nay, we adore our chicken salad. It's right up there with Awesome Fish Tacos and Roast Chicken in the major rotation of standard meals. In fact, the aforementioned roasted chicken regularly makes its second (and third) appearance at the dining room table as this mixture. We put it atop mixed greens, between slices of bread, on crackers, and stuffed into fresh pita. It just goes with everything.

]]> If you don't have roast chicken leftovers, you can use chicken breast (best brined and steamed), but you may need to add more mayo because of the dryness that ensues.

Best Ever Chicken Salad

Good for 4-6 sandwiches

3C shredded then chopped chicken
1/2C mayonnaise*
2 ts lemon juice*
2Tb curry powder
2 ts garam masala
1/4C chopped hazelnuts
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4C red onion chopped small
1 ts celery salt
1/2 C plump raisins
3Tb Dijon mustard

Mix all together, cover, and let sit for at least 2 hours, but it's best left overnight.

* I use either Kewpie mayonnaise or homemade mayo in chicken salad, because both taste better than "normal" mayonnaise, with a more eggy, lemony flavor. If you use either one of these, go light on the lemon juice. We don't want the salad to be lemony, we just want the acid to cut through a little bit of the sweetness of the rest of the ingredients.

This is also fantastic with other misc. veggies and nuts thrown in. I've done it with toasted almonds and green onions for a bit more spice, or with less curry powder and the addition of pine nuts, feta, and olives. This is especially fantastic in homemade pitas (so incredibly easy and tasty). Shown in the photo, it is served on homemade whole-wheat olive oil bread with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella with cracked black pepper.

Lamburger and Fishwich Double-Feature!

2008-06-23T01:36:29Z

So I'm putting these both into one entry not only because I am lazy, but because the most cookingest part of both of these is the meat, and you can really add whatever and eat these in any way. The lamburger is a standard recipe I use for most any kind of ground meat (with at least 16% fat), and it is fantastic with most any stuffing, especially bleu cheese. The fishwich is another standard recipe that I use for not only large fish patties but homemade fish fingers/fish sticks, and can be applied to any good thick piece of fish with ease. I'll add my recipe for mayonnaise, which is the base for the aioli on the lamburger (while the aioli is the base of the "tartar sauce" I use on the fishwiches) in another post (sorry! it's a ton more writing! ^_^ ).

]]> Stuffed Lamburger FTW

Plenty for 4 burger patties

1lb ground Lamb
3Tbs minced Shallots
1 clove Garlic, minced
Freshly ground nutmeg (just a touch)
Pepper
{Filling:}
6oz. crumbled Bleu Cheese
(optional, to taste, and exchangeable)

Hand-mix the lamb with top ingredients, then set aside for 10 minutes before forming burgers. If using a stuffing, form 4 equal balls from the meat, push a divot in the middle of the ball, forming (as best as you can) a hollow sphere. Fill the opening with the stuffing mixture, form a patty shape around it (try to make it as flattish as possible), and set aside to rest for 10 more minutes.

If grilling over an open flame or charcoal, make sure the grill is hot before cooking these suckers. Same if you're frying these or otherwise cooking indoors - you want a caramelized exterior. The burger should be done to medium, with just enough heat in the middle to get the cheese soft (though likely not really melty). I did mine on a stove-top grill, heated to high-medium (damned electric stoves). Salt both sides of the patty right before cooking.

Our Stuffed Lamburgers were served with house-made aioli and Dijon mustard on ciabatta rolls with a slice of thick-cut bacon and lettuce, and washed down with Laurelwood Organic Green Elephant IPA.

Fishwich Patties

Recipe for 2 patties or fish-fingers for 2 people

2 6oz thick-cut fillets of Cod or similar fish
{Marinade the fish for a half-hour in:}
1/2C Ponzu (soy-free) or Lime juice with a dash of sugar
{For the crispy coating:}
1/2C Flour
1Tbs Salt
2ts crushed Red Pepper
1 Egg
1C Panko

Set up the 3-coating bowls or trays in a row and mix the flour, salt, and pepper in the first, whisk the egg with a dash of water in the second, and the panko in the third. These are best when pan-fried, but they would work well under the broiler or in a very hot oven if the panko are lightly sprayed with oil before cooking.

Rinse the fish and pat mostly dry before dredging in the flour, then the egg (make sure to remove any excess egg!), and then into the panko. When pan-frying, cook on each side until dark golden brown (usually 6-8 minutes per side, if the oil is at the proper temperature).

We served our Fishwich patties on toasted homemade whole-wheat rolls slathered with house-made dill-tartar sauce, and layered with cheddar cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes, served with a slice of lemon.

Savory Pain Perdu with Strawberries

2008-06-23T00:45:38Z

I know, I need to get the recipes up for the Stuffed Lamburger, Fishwich, and Stuffed Chicken Thighs Wrapped in Prosciutto, but what I ate this morning was incredibly fantastic, and since all of the ingredients are in season right now (at least in Oregon), so I wanted to get the recipe up post-haste. The idea for this recipe was thought up when the boyfriend and I were in Canada a few weeks ago and making the most out of having a television in our hostel room by watching Food Network and the Discovery Channel whenever we were stagnant. We picked up an episode of Iron Chef: America in which the "battle food" was breakfast. I remember skipping this episode on the boyfriend's TiVo way back in the day, because I was morally opposed to "breakfast" being the "secret ingredient" in IC:A. Breakfast? Ridiculous. We ended up watching the whole thing and I took as many notes as possible. There was a point where I was trying to figure out how some certain ingredients were going to work together: marscarpone, garlic, basil, and strawberries. It made me think back to the days when my mom and I would go to the garlic festival in Gilroy, California - I had had a strawebrry shortcake with garlic cream that was fantastic. But that was over 15 years ago, and who knows how my tongue was working back in those days.

The ingredients on IC:A ended up going to 2 different dishes, but the idea was already rooted into my psyche, and I couldn't think of anything better to put together for Sunday breakfast.

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Just as a side note for 2 of the ingredients: I ended up using a cheese that was on sale and delicious at Whole Foods - Snøfrisk. Since Snøfrisk is made from goat cheese and cow's cream, it has a tang that wouldn't be matched with just marscarpone itself. It will probably taste fantastic with marscarpone, but I suggest trying Snøfrisk if it's available (double-plus on sale) in your area. For the bread, I used 3/4" slices from a leftover loaf of Piccolo Como from Grand Central Bakery, which is a chain in the great NW USA. This would work well with a soft/chewy-crumb, chewy crust bread like baguette or a slightly sour bread. Okay, onto the food:

Savory Pain Perdu with Strawberries

Feeds 2-3 hungry Americans

6-3/4" Slices of Bread

{Whisk together}
4 Eggs
3ts Salt
2ts dried Thyme
2ts dried Paprika
1ts rubbed Sage
Dash of freshly-ground pepper

{Thouroughly mix together the following and set aside:}
125g Snøfrisk, marscarpone, or similar cheese
2 Tbs Minced fresh garlic
S&P to taste

{Toppings:}
1/2 pint Strawberries, sliced
6 large Basil leaves cut in chiffonade, more whole for decoration

Dip bread in the egg mixture - allow them plenty of time to soak up the liquid on both sides. Cook in either a pan on the stove set to a "low-medium heat" or on a griddle set to 325 degrees. Lightly spray/coat the cooking implement with olive oil. Allow the bread to cook on the first side for about 7 minutes - it should be golden brown before flipping. The second side usually takes 4-5 minutes.

Top the Pain Perdu evenly with the garlic-cheese mixture and layer with strawberry slices with basil on top. Serve with bacon, smoked salmon or whatever meat is at your mercy, and fresh juice (or iced coffee - yarm!).

Next time I'm going to try the cheese mixture with bacon mixed in, which would lend a fantastic smoky/sweet flavor to the savoriness of cheese and garlic (depending what kind of bacon one is using, of course ^_^ ). Like I said before, all of the ingredients are currently in season here in Portland - I can't go a mile without seeing some market with massive amounts of strawberries. Just remember - quality ingredients help make quality food.

Next up: Lamburger and Fishwich double-feature!

Dinner tonight

2008-06-12T05:24:15Z

Well, that was an epic fail. See how I set myself up to do something I'm not sure I can do and see where it gets me. So let's start over again. I made a really tasty fish dish tonight (alliteration!) that I took no photos of, but I can sure write it down. For the porn part of the food blog, take a look at these photos, and maybe I'll grace the site with recipes for them soon as well.

(more after the link-jump)

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Ah, and onto fish:

Mahi-Mahi with Shallot-Ginger compote

Feeds 2 "normally" hungry Americans

2 Shallots, minced (approx 3Tbs)
1" Ginger, minced (approx 2Tbs)
2 cloves Young Garlic (approx 2Tbs, or 1Tbs normal garlic)
1 Tbs butter
2 Tbs Mango-Pepper Chutney
6-8oz Mahi-Mahi

Prep your broiler (mine takes something like 30 minutes to get up to temperature) and set the top rack to the low-middle spot. Place the first 4 ingredients into a small saucier and sauté until the garlic is a light brown. Add the chutney (I use a local brand - likely any jelly/chutney that's slightly sweet and spicy would be good) and stir until everything's coated and turn off the heat.

Prep a pan for the Mahi-Mahi, dust the fish with salt and pepper, and coat with half of the compotey-mixture. Place under the broiler for approximately 11 minutes or until done, depending on thickness of the fish. Plate with the rest of the compote under the fish.

I served this with some steamed white rice and lovely heated pickled beets with crumbled bleu cheese atop. Fan-diddly-tastic. Maybe I'll take photos next time instead of just wolfing it down.

Okonomiyaki, fuck yeah

2008-05-06T06:23:25Z

There's not a whole helluva lot I can say about okonomiyaki besides it is the ultimate awesome-leftover killer. With a base of the disgusting-sounding batter with cabbage (added to flour, baking soda, dashi, water), this stuff is really quite amazingly good. Of course, at the end, it's covered in sauce and mayo, so who doesn't like that? Some important stuff to remember: the dashi really does make this stuff work. I had some homemade stock I made from leftover yellowtail tuna, bonito, and seaweed. My house stank for 3 days, but the stock is indispensible in Japanese cooking. You can pick up tiny bottles of the dry stuff, but I can't vouch for it (though that's what I do use for my tamagoyaki). I have not used the mountain yam, which is supposed to make this stuff extra-good, because I have been too lazy to have someone pick it up for me at one of the myriad of Asian food markets within a 2-mile radius my my house.

]]> Back on track, if you like Japanese food, especially fried Japanese food, such as takoyaki or sukiyaki, you will like this. Plus sides? This is so easy to make, there is no reason not to make it. Anything you might have left over from weekly meals that would be yummy - extra sliced veggies, ground or sliced meat, probably not fruit, lovely little pickled things (like ginger), and misc (leftover mochi - yum!) will likely work well on top of the base. Round One at my house last week included (made especially for the okonomiyaki) matchstick carrots, lots of spring onions (fresh from the farmers' market), leftover ground meat (pork, lamb, and elk with fennel and 5-spice), caramelized purple onions, and sprinkles of panko on top. Second round had mushrooms and the bulb-ends of spring onions, caramelized on the griddle. Oh, that's another thing - I made these on my electric non-stick griddle at 425F - I had to use very little oil, but got the crispiness around the perimeter and the middle as I liked from using my misto. If you need to use a stove-top pan, I suggest a non-stick unless you want to use a lot of oil to keep the batter from being a pain in the arse. Once you have this down, feel free to work with it - the batter is still a little too thick for me, so next time I'll thin it down a bit.

Okonomiyaki (base)

Feeds 2 hungry Americans

(The measures here are approximate, as this is somewhere between baking and cooking, so feel free to add liquid if the batter feels too thick - it should be slightly thicker than crepe batter, just enough to keep the cabbage together, but spread out)

~Heat griddle/pan to med-hot stage~

200g Flour
110ml Dashi
1g Baking powder
1 egg
2C thinly sliced/shredded green cabbage

Mix first 3 ingredients together until pasty. Feel free to grate some mountain yam in at this point. Add 1/2 the cabbage, and then increment to the point where the cabbage is well-coated by the batter, but not drippy. Spray or pour some oil on your preferred method of conduction and divvy the cabbage mixture into two rounds, and flatten with your hand. Don't burn your hand.

*This is the way I have found most easy for the okonomiyaki-making. If you prefer flipping a cabbage-pancake with toppings with 2 turners, feel free.*

These take a little while to make - you don't want the okonomiyaki to be doughy in the middle, so wait until the bottoms of the rounds are a good golden brown, then stack your "toppings" in your pan next to the cabbage rounds. Once the cabbage rounds are dark brown on the bottom, flip them on top of the "topping rounds" and press them down so they sizzle. Cook another 5-10 minutes, depending on your toppings (they should be a lovely dark brown as well) and flip them back topside carefully. Top with okonomiyaki sauce (or takoyaki sauce - it's very similar) and Kewpie mayonnaise (more eggy and lemony than normal store-bought mayo). Eat hot with a fork, or feel free to slice into triangles.

Some other "traditionally Japanese" toppings include:

Bonito flakes/katsuboushi

Seaweed flakes/aonori (I added these - yarm!)

Green onion (These are fantastic)

Corn (Yes indeed)

Mochi squares (can't wait to try this one)

Virginia Cafe*, and current musings

2008-04-28T05:20:13Z

I've been trying to figure out what to include on this site. Seems rather silly, doesn't it, for a so-called cooking site. The Clever Chef. The issue with that is that I am certainly not a chef. And clever? Not unless you catch me somewhere between 4pm and dinnertime.

There are some days when I cook up a storm - from bread to bagels and lunch and dinner all from scratch - and other days, nil (tonight, sushi!). I experiment far too much to feel comfortable printing recipes, really - there's always something to be improved upon.

Lately, however, I've been reading a lot about food - I've just finished Evan Jones' "American Food", a stoic 400+ page history and recipe archive rolled into one. I made the baked beans - fantastic. But it doesn't take a cook to figure beans + salt pork + molasses + maple syrup + heat + time = fabulous. Besides that, I'm still making a ton of Japanese food (okonomiyaki this weekend), and after a trip to Fubonn, making no less than 3 lotus root recipes, sesame noodles (based upon Deb's recipe, the dressing lacking in "oomph"), a sweet chili-sauce purchase, and coriander use (an ignored herb for the most part).

It's been food, food, food for the past... well, ever, and I've nothing to write? Can't be possible, can it? Yet somehow I'm stuck and you end up with this drivel.

Thus - at least a post per week - a promise. I can't ensure goodness, quality, or completeness. And god help me if I just start spouting off Michael Polan inspired rhetoric. But maybe I can make this work. Oh, and if I state what I'll be writing about next and the end of each post, I'll remember to take photos.

So, next post? Okonomiyaki. See you then!

*Tonight's post was written 4/25/2008, long-hand at Virginia Cafe, downtown Portland, after a very long day at work.

Corned Beef Hash

2008-03-24T15:20:32Z

So I said, "I need to start blogging this shit again," and here I am. Nearly 2 years since I got just too damned lazy to blog about food, I'm starting it back up again. Moreso because I'm having a lot of fun actually making different recipes and baking. Yes, baking, something I'd been so scared to really experiment with, due to pretty much what happens nearly every time I bake - I end up disappointed. However, that is a tale for another post. This tale is about corned beef.

]]> In honor of St. Patrick's Day (please note that I am neither Irish nor Catholic, so whatever), I picked up a roast to make on the 16th. Shuffling through the pre-seasoned roasts at Wild Oats (Mini-Whole Foods), the butcheress behind me shouted out something about the roasts she was sliding back into the case were known to be the best corned beef in town. I had to take her up on the claim. Since I was only feeding the 2 of us (perhaps more introductions later), I had her cut off a 2.3lb portion of a larger roast and pack it up with extra pickling herbs. Since it was already salted, seasoned, and soaked, I just did the generic braise with potatoes and cabbage on Sunday night. With only a measly 5oz chunk left over on Monday, however, I was reticent to use the rest of the meat, since it didn't seem like much would come of it.

When searching in the fridge and cupboards for any other suitable dinner alternative came up dry, I decided to make corned beef hash and set about cutting up every root vegetable I had into 1/8" cubes and frying them in goose fat (leftover from New Year's goose). Served with some spicy-sweet mustard, this was incredibly good with a perfectly fried egg on top (also done up in goose fat - yum!!), with the yolk oh so gently flowing over chunks of potato and carrot. So, here you go:

Corned Beef Hash with (optional) Fried Egg:

5-6oz. Cooked Corned Beef
6oz. Carrots (2 large)
6oz. New or Small Red Potatoes (2 medium)
3Tb Schmaltz (goose or chicken)
Handful of Cherry Tomatoes
2 Spring Onions
2 eggs

Cube the first 3 ingredients into bitty cubes (1/8") and fry in half the schmaltz on medium-high until the potatoes start to brown. Turn the heat down to just below medium and let fry for about 7 minutes, or until the carrots are soft, stirring once in a while to keep from sticking. Toss the tomatoes with some salt and pepper and throw under the broiler on a piece of aluminum foil or similar until they start to get wrinkly, then pull them out. Once the rest of the goods in the pan look done, carefully stir in the tomatoes and add salt and pepper to taste. Heavily sprinkle with the green onions and slow-fry some eggs in the leftover schmaltz until the whites are just set (or however you like 'em) and slide atop the pile and eat. Serve with damned good mustard (below).

Damned Good Mustard

Fantastic on most anything. Mix together:

2 parts Dijon (I'm using up a Costco bucket of Grey Poupon)
2 parts Beet Horseradish (I'm using hot-prepared Beaver brand)
1 part Honey (Another local brand here - just to take the "gaaahhh!" factor down a step

72 Hours for Gravlax: a journey

2006-06-30T23:37:24Z

That's right: a journey. A journey of self-discovery. A journey of learning. A journey of patience. A journey of thrift. And at last, a destination of sweet salty tasty melt-in-your-mouth salmon.

Gravlax, much like it's cousin lox, is good on thing such as crackers, bagels & cream cheese, and plain by itself. However, unlike lox, gravlax is simply cured salmon, and can be made at home. I suppose one could make lox at home, too, if one had a smoker, and this one doesn't have a smoker.

It takes 72 hours to make gravlax. It could take longer, but I'm impatient. My first batch of gravlax cost me a total of about $4.50 for approximately 4 servings. As you may see, gravlax is much cheaper than lox, which was the main reasoning behind making it. I <3 me the lox, but can't afford the massive Costco package every 2 weeks. Plus, the Costco package? Is too big for one person to eat. So here we go.

Gravlax (center) presented with hummus (left) and ajvar (right).

]]> After searching online for good gravlax recipes, I ended up not using any of them, but found one in my "Helen Corbitt Cooks For Company" cookbook. Seriously, if you can find one of these at a used bookstore or online, grab it. So good.

You can click on the photo of the recipe above to read it... Helen's rather verbose. As you can see, I used pre-packaged pre-frozen salmon from Costco. It's the only fresh-type salmon I can get here that's kosher, and half of the reason I wanted to make sure the gravlax would turn out alright before attempting to serve it to people. I just thawed it out in the fridge like normal before putting everything together. Now, Helen's recipe calls for 3-3.5 lbs of salmon, and I wasn't all that into making that much gravlax, so while the "picking" mixture and everything else I put together was according to the recipe, I just eyed it when adding the ingredients to the salmon - therefore I have quite a bit of the salt/sugar/pepper stuff left I have stored in a jar for the next batch.

I also put everything in a ziplock bag, as it just made things easier. Too bad Helen didn't think of that. Oh, and just as an aside, before sealing up the bag, I added a glug of vodka, as that seemed to be the thing to do - many of the gravlax recipes online use vodka to help cure the fish.

After putting everything together, I placed the salmon-sandwich in a bottom of a bowl and put another flat-bottomed bowl on top with my pie weights in it, otherwise known as dry pink beans. I used this weight system for about a day and a half until I realized I wasn't getting the compression I wanted, so I switched the pie weight bowl with just a cheeseboard that was slightly larger than the samon and placed the weights directly atop that. That worked rather well, I think.

After all was said and done and the 72 hours had passed, I pulled the salmon out, scraped the pickling junk off, and sliced it up, tasting from each side, middle, and end of the fish to check of consistency. I noticed that the fattier fish tasted the best, while the less fatty fish got more rubbery. The flavor was consistent throughout, and was really really quite good.

After I had sliced it all up, I added just a little lemon juice to the fish. While any acid sears the edges of the salmon, I like the taste of it, so I don't let it ruin the presentation (which, by the way, was all for myself). Dotted with some sriracha/"cock sauce" and eaten with some hummus and ajvar, it was a lovely little snack for someone who is as ill-prepared as I, not having crackers, bagels, or cheese in the house with which to eat it. It was awesome being able to eat something like that that was cured by me. Being the first curing/pickling I've ever done by myself, it turned out very well. The only thing I would change was how I cut it, and that had more to do with the cutting surface than the fish. Gravlax = good. Now I have to work on getting the rest of the scandanavian dishes down...

Sorry....

2006-06-28T16:25:34Z

I got back from Montana over Memorial Day weekend, I couldn't find my camera battery charger. While my battery was drained dry, I made many amazing things. However, I found the battery charger last Friday, and, with the help of Helen Corbitt, started making Gravlax. Since Gravlax is a 48-72 hour process, it should be done this evening, and once it's sliced, diced, and tasted, there will be a new entry up here.

A return from haitus: Chicken Gumbo

2006-06-09T01:54:45Z

My mom made gumbo every once in a while while I was growing up, and I still think that her gumbo is better than any I've ever had at any restaurant, no matter where that restaurant may be. Mom lived in the Virgin Islands for a while before I was born, which is where she learned this recipe. She gave me the info for the base, and I just added into it some southernish greens and made a couple of changes to make it kosher. The recipe is relatively simple, but takes time. Making the roux itself takes almost 40 minutes and should not be attempted by someone who has lack of stamina, heart palpatations, or is less than 50' tall, as it must be stirred constantly.

That warning aside, this gumbo will knock your southern socks off:

]]> What you need for the gumbo:
1 Whole chicken
3 Large onions (I used 2 humungoid onions)
1 Large bunch of celery
6 Cloves of garlic
1 Leek
1 Bunch of kale
2-3 Sausages (I use the Sinai 54 kosher Polish dogs from Costco)
12C Chicken or vegetable broth
3 Tbsp Cajun spice (see below)
Hot rice to serve the gumbo over

For the roux:
About 1 Â½C plain white flour
About Â¾C Oil (not olive - I used safflower - you need an oil that can withstand high heat without burning)

Cajun Spice mix:
(I grind this up with a morter & pestle, and it comes out perfectly uniform. If you want to do a larger batch, you can use a blender or food processor - can be stored in an airtight jar, etc. etc.)
1 tsp Dry mustard
1 tsp Onion powder
Â½ tsp Paprika
1 tsp Thyme
1 tsp Basil
Â½ tsp Ground cloves
1 Â½ tsp cayenne Pepper
1 tsp Black Pepper
Â½ tsp White pepper
1 Tbsp salt

Putting it together:
If you're using a whole uncooked chicken, put it in a large pot with all of the broth. Add chopped onion, celery, and garlic. Boil the heck out of it until the meat is falling off of the bone. Let cool and remove the unedible stuff from the soup.

I personally don't like doing something like that unless I'm saving the stock, so I picked a chicken clean that I had roasted the night before. I already have a good chicken stock (which I make and then freeze in leftover glass jars whenever I roast a chicken), so I let that defrost in the sink while I was shredding the chicken.

If doing my method, chop up the onions, celery, and garlic, and throw it all into a large pot over medium heat with a splash of oil. Stir it around for about 5 minutes, then add the shredded chicken. Stir that around for another 5 minutes, then add all of the stock and up the heat to high.

While waiting for the soup to come to a boil, thuroughly clean the kale and the leek. Both are somewhat sandy, so rest them in a bowl filled with water and gently massage the vegetables at the top of the water. Once they're ready to give you a good tip, lift them out of the water and shake away the extra moisture. Kale stems are very fibrous, so when chopping up the kale, make sure to discard the bottom 2-3" of the leaf. The rest is perfectly edible. Slice the leek into rounds - they'll come apart in the gumbo into little circles.

Once the soup is boiling, add the leek and the kale. Cover and lower the heat to medium. At this point, you can slice up the sausage (if you're using it), but it doesn't need to be added for another half hour or so. Let the soup simmer, stirring occaisionally for a half-hour, then get started on the roux:

Roux:
This is a base recipe for roux and can be used in any recipe. You'll need a large sautee pan to start off with. Pour in enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan, and put on the stove on medium-low (you may need to adjust for your stove, as my burner â‰ your burner â‰ anyone else's burner. Wait for the oil to heat up for about 5 minutes, then start adding in the flour, a handful at a time. During this entire process, you must stir constantly and consistently. Between each flour add, stir until it is well-incorparated. You want the consistency to be a bit thinner than Elmer's school glue. Once that consistency is reached, do not add any more flour. All of the flour adding should be done within the first 10 minutes of cooking, as it is important that the roux have consistency in flavor.

This process, as said before, can take anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. Make sure that when stirring, you are scraping the entire bottom of the pan. The color you are looking to achieve is a light cocoa brown. Don't let the roux thicken too much and become dry, and don't let it burn (that's why the stirring is important). Here's what mine looked like from beginning to end (photos taken approx 10 minutes apart):

When the correct color is achieved, take the pan off of the heat, but continue stirring for another 3-5 minutes, or until the roux has cooled.

Once that's done, you're on the home stretch!! Let the roux cool for another 5 minutes, then stir it all into the soupy stuff. Turn the gumbo up to high again and wait for a boil. Boil for 5 minutes, remove from heat, and serve!

Before adding the roux

After adding the roux

You can serve the gumbo over rice or just as a stew... it freezes and refridgerates well. For an extra kick of spicyness, drizzle some hot pepper oil or some sriracha on top. Try to not burn your face off, though, unless you're like me, and can bloody take it. Enjoy!