Last night in Burlington

This morning, I woke up at the crack of dawn. Having raced a half-marathon on Sunday and struggled with sleep the past couple of nights, I ended up with a craving for fried chicken and waffles. I’m not sure if I can attribute this craving to feeling rundown. Whether it was the race or the insomnia causing the craving, I knew that Sneakers Bistro in Winooski, VT served some of the best breakfast/brunch in the area, so I checked out their menu. To my delight, Chicken and Waffles was on the menu, so my brother and I made it over there for lunch.

My brother ordered the BBQ pulled pork sandwich. The sandwich was enormous. The proportions were a little off, but it’s hard to complain when they pile too much meat onto a sandwich. A heaping pile of pulled pork came in a slightly sweet barbecue sauce with a little bit of red cabbage slaw on a fluffy, light roll. The meat was juicy. The sauce and meat might have benefited from some smokiness, and the bun did not hold up well, quickly becoming soggy. I tried the dish, and it was definitely something that can be enjoyed in spite of any flaws I may have found.

The dish placed in front of me was a fried chicken breast on top of a sweet potato waffle smothered in a country gravy studded with bits of sausage.  Served in two small dishes alongside this gorgeous pile were some grits and two poached eggs. The grits were slightly bland and lacked any creaminess. They certainly would have benefited from even just a little cream or butter and some salt. They were slightly elevated by some Cholula hot sauce and some yolk from the poached eggs. Lucky for me, I did not come here for grits and eggs. I came here for the chicken and waffles, and it was great. The chicken was moist and flavorful and was pleasantly crispy. The waffle was not dry at all, slightly crispy where not covered in gravy, and provided a wonderful sweetness to complement the rest of the dish. The gravy was rich and rounded out the entire meal. There was even some extra that I soaked up with some of my brother’s leftover french fries. The chicken and waffles at Sneakers bistro is my new favorite brunch dish, and it will be the one I look forward to having when I visit Burlington in the future.

Yesterday was my step-dad’s birthday, and since I was away last night, I wanted to make dinner tonight. I picked up some lamb at a local coop as it is definitely a favorite of my step-dad’s. There were also some boneless country style pork ribs that looked great. When I got home, I was in the mood to make tacos. I had a mole sauce in the fridge that I made the other week. It was heavy on the chiles with notes of sweetness from bananas and some dried fruit in addition to some bitterness from a rich dark chocolate. I wanted to serve this with the pork, and I wasn’t sure what I would be doing with the lamb…

I was going to braise the pork in the oven, then finish it on the grill. In an oven proof dish, I put onions, garlic, celery, and carrots with a quality dark ale. I brushed the mole onto the pork ribs and placed them on top of the vegetables. I covered it all in foil and put it in the oven at 325 degrees. They cooked for a few hours until tender, then I removed the ribs, still lightly sauced, and finished them on the grill to give them a nice char. I served the pork in warm homemade flour tortillas with a little bit more of the mole, cilantro, and raw red onion.

With the lamb, I knew I would not be cooking with Mexican ingredients, but I did not know exactly the direction I would head. I began by searing the lamb, removing it, then sauteing onions, garlic, celery, and carrots in some olive oil. When they had cooked down a bit, I deglazed with red wine and some beef stock and added dried chile, bay leaf, and cinnamon. I added the lamb back to the pot. I let this cook for a couple of hours until the lamb was nice and tender. I had some avocado that I found ripe at the coop this afternoon, and I decided to make an avocado-basil crema. In a food processor, I combined avocado, basil, olive oil, lime juice, cumin, paprika, salt, black pepper, and a touch of water and cream. With this creamy condiment and a somewhat rich stew, I knew I had to cut through this with some acidity and maybe a little sweetness. I had some more red onion, and I found some dried California yellow cherries in my kitchen. I decided to pickle them together. In a small sauce pot, I brought to a boil rice vinegar, mirin, salt, pomegranate molasses, and a number of spices including allspice, juniper berries, clove, cinnamon, bay leaf, and mustard seed. I poured the hot liquid and spices over sliced red onion and the dried cherries and added some water. After about two hours in the refrigerator, the onions and cherries had reached a nice pickled state. I was excited how it all came together, and some toasted marcona almonds brought a little more texture and some welcome nuttiness to the taco. My favorite part of it was definitely the avocado-basil crema, and I found myself eating small spoonfuls of it before we even sat down to eat…

Today was fun, and as I have said before, I love cooking without a recipe. There are certainly aspects of the taco fillings that can be improved upon, but for an afternoon/evening of cooking on a whim, I was very happy with how the food came out.

One Offal Sandwich

So after a fair amount of schoolwork, traveling, and other less than legitimate reasons not to write, I have some catching up to do. I want to write about so much of the food I have eaten and traveling I have done recently, and after I learn the in’s and out’s of my new camera, I will get to that. Over this past weekend, I had a fair amount of time at home, and I found some beef tongue at the local coop that could fill some of that time in its preparation. As I do much of the time when cooking beef tongue, I started by simmering it for four hours in a pot with water, salt, onions, garlic, dried chiles, thyme, parsley stems, peppercorns, bay leaf, and dried chiles. Then I allowed it to cool some and put it in the refrigerator, covered, overnight. Doing this allows the now tender meat to firm up and hold its shape.

While at the coop, I also picked up some fresh chicken livers. I rinsed them a few times under cold water, then submerged them in milk and allowed them to soak for about six hours. After six hours, I removed them, gave them a rinse, cleaned them up a little, and drained them on some paper towels. When the livers were ready to be cooked, I started sauteing some shallots, garlic, thyme, sage, and just a few shitakes in butter and olive oil. I allowed them to soften up a bit then added a small amount of chopped green apple. Soon after, I added the livers. I cooked them for about two minutes on one side and 90 seconds on the other before adding some port to deglaze the pan. I cooked this for a minute to allow the alcohol to cook out, then threw everything in the food processor. I seasoned everything with salt and pepper and began to puree it all. I added a couple small chunks of butter to round out the flavor, and I added a splash of white wine vinegar and some parsley to brighten it a little. I then put the mixture in the refrigerator to cool a bit while I got the rest of the sandwich ready.

I sliced some hearty bread that I picked up at the Great Harvest Bread Company and began to toast it. Then I sliced the beef tongue. I cut about half inch slices, seasoned them with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and began to grill them. They needed only to be heated through and given a little char on the outside.

When the bread was a golden brown, I spread some honey truffle mustard on one side. On the other, I spread some of the chicken liver mousse. I took a couple pieces of beef tongue and sandwiched them in the middle, then put the whole thing in the panini press for a minute or two so that the sandwich would come together. I was very happy with how the sandwich came out. The creamy mousse offered a nice livery flavor, the mustard offered a kick of dijon, a subtle earthy flavor of truffle, and some sweetness from the honey, and the beef tongue was extremely tender after being heated through while offering its superbly beefy flavor. The sandwich came together on a whim, and it is by no means a perfected dish. I do like the idea, and I think that I can have some fun with the idea in the future, looking to improve on something I already enjoy.

Homemade Falafel with a Twist

Israeli Salad

Tonight for dinner, I had two friends over (one being my roommate) and made falafel. My roommate gotmean ebelskiver pan as a gift, and had tried making falafel in it once before. My family thought it turned out fairly well, and my roommate wanted to try it. So I planned falafel for dinner, but I decided not to make the traditional style that I do on most occasions. I started yesterday making some Israeli salad. To do this, I finely diced red and yellow bell pepper, red onion, tomato, cucumber, pasrley, mint, and very finely diced four cloves of garlic and three habanero peppers. I added the zest and juice of a lemon, a touch of olive oil, and seasoned it with salt and pepper.

Miso Tahini Hummus

Next I made a large batch of the hummus that I planned to put in the pitas. I made extra so that we could have some during the day and so that there would be leftovers for later snacking. I started with rinsed and drained canned chickpeas in a food processor. I added a couple tablespoons each of olive oil and tahini, miso, sriracha, salt, and enough water to reach the smooth consistency I was looking for.

Egg Sliced for the Sandwiches

This afternoon, I decided to prepare some additions for the sandwiches that would allow for some variation. On my last trip to New York City, I had an excellent Sabich sandwich at Taim Falafel. There was hard boiled egg and fried eggplant slices in the sanwich. To make the hardboiled eggs, I started with eggs submerged in cold water with a teaspoon each of salt and vinegar. I brought the water up to a boil, reduced the heat so the water was at a simmer for one minute, then removed the pot from the heat and covered it. After ten minutes, I put the eggs in an ice bath to stop the cooking. I later peeled and sliced them for the sandiwches.

Homemade Whole Wheat Pita

I wasn’t sure if I would end up making the pita at home, but yesterday I whipped up a whole wheat dough and it kind of worked out today… To make the dough, I added some warm water and about a tablespoon of honey to a packet of instant yeast. After about five minutes, the yeast was activated, and this was very apparent by the yeasty smell and layer of foam that had developed. In a large bowl, I put whole wheat flour and a few teaspoons of salt. I added the yeast and water mixture to the flour and mixe it in. The consistency was about that of cake batter. At this point, I continued to add flour until everything came together in a ball of what I thought might be the right consistency. I kneaded the dough for a few minutes, then put it into an oiled bowl and covered it with a damp towel. I let it rise for a few hours, then punched it down, wrapped it in plastic, and put it in the fridge overnight.

A few hours before dinner today, I took the dough out and let it sit at room temperature in a covered bowl until it starte to rise again. When the dough was almost ready, I put a pizza stone in the oven and set the oven to broil. After about 30 minutes, the stone was hot enough, and I left the oven on broil. I pulled portions of the dough from the large ball and rolled them out to circles about a quarter inch thick. After rolling them out, I would place them on the stone about 90 seconds on the first side, and another 60 seconds after flipping. The dough puffed up nicely, creating a pocket for the sandwiches to be built.

Pita Sliced and Open

In making the falafel, I wanted to stick with the theme I had established in the hummus, adding a bit more of a Far East twist in flavor. I started with rinsed and rained canned chickpeas in a food processor. I them added a couple roasted red peppers, a handful of cilantro, a couple teaspoons of tamarind concentrate, lime juice, salt, and black pepper. I pulsed the mixture, adding some baking powder, then adding buckwheat flour untilit reached the desired consistency.

Falafel in the Ebelskiver Pan...

I then heated the pan, sprayed each semi-circle with canola oil spray, and added enough falafel mixture to them most of the way. I cooked them at a relatively low heat until one side browned, then I would flip them and let them finish cooking on the other side. I tried one when they had finished, and I still am fairly surprised at the quality of the falafel that one can end up with using this healthy alternative to deep frying. The flavor is slightly different without sucha thick, crispy crust. It tastes less like a fried product, but I think that in a sandwich with supporting flavors and textures, the overall quality is excellent.

Falafel and Pan Fried Eggplant Slices

The eggplant was done very simply. I sliced them into circles and salted them to draw out a fair amount of the water. I then ground some black pepper on them an pan fried them in olive oil until browned on both sides.

After constructing the sanwiches, I was very pleased with the results. The red pepper, cilantro, and tamarind in the falafel went very well with the miso-tahini hummus, and I made my version of a Sabich sandwich. I started with slices of hard boiled egg adding a meaty quality and a flavor that goes surprisingly well with the fried eggplant and hummus that I piled on. I then added the Israeli salad which brought a quality of freshness and some acid  to the experience. It was all held together by the fliffy homemade pita. It was my own take on what I had experienced somewhere else, and I am happy to say that it satisfied a craving that was starting to get to me…

San Antonio and Coming Home

This weekend was my first trip to San Antonio. I heard it was something like the seventh largest metropolitan area in the country. My brother was playing in a soccer tournament, so on top of that, I wanted to find some good food. Upon arriving, I found that the hotel I was staying in was a mile away from a Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives destination. I had never been to one of the Guy Fieri visited establishments before, so I figured we could try The Cove. I went with my mom and step-dad. We walked in and it certainly looked like a dive. There were old signs on the walls, picnic tables both outside and in, and a bike parked right in front of the drum set at the far end. The dining area was separate from where you ordered food, in the same room as the bar. They had an extensive selection of beers in bottles. Many from the southern and western parts of the country, as well as a few Mexican beers and other imports. There was nothing on tap which was too bad. My step-dad ended up getting a relatively light, malty wheat beer brewed about 30 miles away.

For lunch, we ordered a chicken-poblano soup, sweet potato fries, and seafood tacos. One thing that I noticed in San Antonio was the extraordinarily large amount of soups like this, some kind of chicken and mild chile soup with or without crisp tortilla chips. The soup was okay, and I thought the seasoning was fine, but everyone at the table tried it and thought it was missing something. There was a certain brightness missing, maybe it could have used some fresh herbs or to have been sitting around a little less. With the fish tacos, there was also something missing. The fish was mild and did not contribute in terms of flavor. The tortilla was fine, and it was served with a cilantro cabbage slaw. The whole thing was missing something, and this was where it could have been helped in my opinion. The slaw was relatively bland, and the cilantro in it had lost all freshness. An addition of some of the house made salsa that they had brought out with the tortilla chips actually helped some. I did not try the sweet potato fries. My mom and step-dad had ordered them and I did not feel compelled to try them as they were pretty soggy.

So our first meal in San Antonio could have been better, and I had less hope for that evening’s dinner. It was a banquet for the soccer teams and their families. I ended up eating food from Whole Foods that I had picked up on the way and not eating the meal that was served. The next day consisted of breakfast at the hotel with team parents, oatmeal and a standard omelette. Lunch was again from Whole Foods after a long run, and we had dinner at a restaurant after the soccer game hosted by Williams College Alumni. It was standard Tex Mex, and we had salad, chicken fajitas, and chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

The next day we again had breakfast with the parents. For lunch, we went to a local grocery store. It was a chain of five or six in Texas, and it was fun to go. It definitely made me wish I had a kitchen, because they had a lot of quality products. The produce section was good, they had fresh fish, including a fair amount whole, and I was very impressed by the meat selection. All of the meat (chicken, beef, veal, buffalo, and maybe some other) looked high quality and fresh. They also had an impressive wine section, a decent sized cheese section, and some good prepared foods, including fresh made tortillas (white flour, whole wheat, and butter flavored). For lunch, I had a beet salad with an orange and rasberry vinaigrette, a salad, and pastrami and turkey with chipotle mustard in a warm whole wheat tortilla. Unfortunately, this would be the best meal I would have on the trip. I had planned on going out for dinner later that evening, but had to run a workout on a track. I had a lot of trouble finding a track, it got very late, and I ate leftover groceries and frozen yogurt from a local, Pinkberry-like place.

We left the next morning, picking up breakfast from Jamba Juice on the way to the airport, and this was the best breakfast I would have on the trip. Jamba Juice consistently produces quality, fresh tasting smoothies with a great consistency, and I am a loyal fan.

Tonight was the first night back that I was able to cook, and it was a relief. I made a trip to the Great Harvest Bread Company for a free loaf of bread as I had filled my frequent customer card. I made an asparagus leak soup with garlic, shallots, thyme, and stock. It was simple but very flavorful, was a bright, vibrant green, and did not take much time to cook at all. The loaf of bread I got earlier had spinach, parmesan, and roasted red pepper in it and was perfect toasted and dipped in the soup. I also made buffalo burgers with number of different pantry ingredients mixed in. I added chopped garlic and shallots, capers, olives, miso, and horseradish. After struggling through a weekend of food searching, trying to make my way past all of the Tex Mex that was being thrown at me, it was nice to be home.

Thanksgiving Dinner

I was cooking for five. On Thanksgiving, there are many dishes to be cooked, and I knew there was no way we were going to get through all of the food. Instead of worry about this, I just planned on eating leftover side dishes for a week. In my last post, I laid out a plan, and stuck to the plan in many cases. When the shopping was over, after three or four trips to the coop, there was a lot to deal with.

This was at least close to everything...

We were going to start with a fennel and white bean soup. I started with diced onions, garlic, carrots, and celery sauteeing in some olive oil. I added a couple cups of fennel and let that sweat out with the other veggies. I added some thyme, two cans of drained white beans, and a few cups of homemade chicken stock.

At this point, I let it cook for 20 minutes or so so the flavors could come together, then used an immersion blender to puree the soup. The stock I used was unsalted, so I seasoned the puree with salt and pepper, and added a little more stock and a splash of white wine vinegar to thin the soup out and brighten up the flavor a bit. During all of this, I cubed up some butternut squash and roasted it with olive oil, salt, and pepper in the oven for 45 minutes until tender, adding some balsamic vinegar and during the roasting. In the end, I served the soup with the pieces of butternut squash in the middle. Here we are at the dinner table, soups ready to be eaten.

Soup Course

This was only the beginning. Along with the soup, we started with a Snowden Sauvignon Blanc from northern California. It was subtle, not too sweet, and the acidity of the wine was a great way to open the meal. The soup was excellent. It was creamy with a nice fennel flavor, and the sweetness of the roasted butternut squash brought and excellent sweetness that I had hoped for.

After this course, I loaded up my plate.

Turkey and Sides, Minus the Stuffing

I’ll start with the turkey and move clockwise. The turkey went into a brine on Wednesday and was refridgerated in the brine for 24 hours. The brine was a mixture of water, salt, honey, bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon stick, black peppercorns, the juice of two oranges, and the skin of one of the oranges. I had originally planned on a roulade with stuffing. After taking the turkey out of the brine and beginning the stuffing, I decided to change the plan. I turned on the grill and let it get hot, then created a rub of olive oil, rosemary, thyme, sage, garlic, and allspice. When the grill was hot, the turkey hit the grill.

Turkey on the Grill

It would remain there until the internal temperature reached 137 degrees in the thickest part of the breast. Yes, this may seem a little low, but I assure you that by the time the turkey was sliced twenty minutes later, it was cooked through, moist, and delicious. The brine added a lot of flavorandacidity, and the rub brought the flavors of the herbs to the nice charred outside and crispy skin.

I had my turkey with cranberry sauce. Cranberry sauce is so simple to make. I don’t really understand the canned stuff. I started with some frash local cranberries in a pot with some ginger ale. The cranberries stewed and began to pop. I added some honey, orange zest and juice, a touch of salt, a cinnamon stick, and a few cloves. I let it thicken up a little, and it was done.

Cooking Cranberry Sauce

I did not add too much sugar, so it was a bit sweet but kept the tartness of the cranberries. Their was also a nice clove flavor which I enjoy.

The orange pile on the plate there are the mashed sweet potatoes. I started by simply roasting them. This would soften them up and bring out some of their natural sweetness.

Pumpkin/Sweet Potatoes in the Oven

The pumpkins are for the dessert. After the sweet potatoes were roasted, I scooped out the flesh and mashed them up with some buttermilk, salt, pepper, grated ginger, orange juice and zest, and some vanila extract. The buttermilk made the mixture creamy, and the other ingredients brought their own flavors and provided something very unique. It was a nice twist on a classic mash.

The braised cabbage was the same “recipe” that I had cooked the previous week. I sauteed onions, garlic, leaks, and carrots in some olive oil, then added a large amount of cabbage. I also added about 3/4 of a pint of hard cider, a cinnamon stick, a few cloves, some chile piquin forsome heat, a bay leaf, and then covered it until the cabbage had wilted and cooked for about 40 minutes. At this point, I removed the top and allowed the liquid to reduce until it had almost disappeared.

Braised Cabbage

The cabbage was great. I have eaten each night since Thanksgiving, and I enjoy the sweetness, the flavor of the cabbage, the spicy kick from the chiles, and the fall flavors of apple, cinnamon, and cloves.

The beets I did very simply. I boiled them in their skins until tender. I removed the skins and diced them into fairly large chunks. Before dinner, I put some olive oil in a pan and sauteed onions, garlic, and thyme, then added the bits at a fairly high heat to caramelize the ouside. A minute or two before they were finished, I added a splash of white wine vinegar and a tablespoon or two of honey. I love the earthy flavor of beets, and the sweet and sour preparation definitely brightened the flavor.

Sauteeing the Beets

The cauliflower puree was also pretty simple. I steamed the cauliflower to cook it through. I then put it into the food processor with some Vermont Butter and Cheese Fromage Blanc, a head of roasted garlic, chopped rosemary, salt, and pepper. There was a strong rosemary flavor that went along with the very creamy cauliflower. It was a hit at dinner, and I was excitedly surprised to hear that my brother liked the dish a lot.

Cauliflower Puree in the Food Processor

Not on the final picture of my plate was the stuffing. It got its own plate as there was no room at all for it.

Okay, so That Isn't my Plate

To start the stuffing, I made some sausage. I did a buffalo sausage, starting with some ground buffalo I got at work. I added chopped garlic, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and some fennel seed. I let this sit in the fridge overnight and the day of, I browned it in some olive oil to start the stuffing. When it was browned, i removed it from the pan and added onions, crimini mushrooms, garlic, carrots, celery, and leeks. I let these sweat and I added rosemary, sage, and thyme. I let this cool while I toasted up cubes a a cranberry orange loaf I got from the Great Harvest Bread Company that I thought would make a great stuffing. At this point, I combined the sautee with the bread, added two eggs, and some chicken stock. I baked it until the top was a bit crispy and it had cooked through. The flavor of the stuffing was very good. There was a lot of flavor, and i know my brother thought it was a little too far from tradition. I also was in the mood for a fairly breadlike stuffing, so it was a little less moist than my mom might have liked. My dad thought it was great, and I really enjoyed the flavor of the stuffing with the sausage and mushrooms. When eating the leftovers the next two nights, I agreed with my mom and would have preferred a more moist stuffing.

After the sauvignon blanc was finished, we opened up an Arcadian Sleepy Hollow Pinot Noir. This was an excellent fall wine with a fair amount of spice and a long finish. Although I believed it to be a great fall wine, I didn’t find that it was the perfect pairing for our meal. Perhaps we could have used something different to counteract the spices in the meal…

For dessert I made a pumpkin souffle. I started by roasting a couple of local fresh pumpkins.

Pumpkin After Roasting

I then scooped out the flesh into the food processor and blended it with cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, fromage blanc, a touch of milk, sugar, and some molasses. I whipped up five egg whites and gently folded these into the mixture. At this point, I put portions of the fluffy mixture into individual ramekins and baked them at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. This was the first time I had every made a souffle, and I was happy to see them rise and come out light and airy. I added a a cream on top that I made from melted marshmellow, heavy creamy, and vanilla ice cream. I then sprinkled some crumbled graham crackers over the top. The souffle had a strong pumpkin flavor complimented by the spices, and it was brought into a full dessert category with the sweetness of the cream. Along with this, we had a light and sweet sparkling wine from Italy. It was fruity and not very complex, but served as an excellent palate cleanser.

Overall, it was a great meal. I had some fun cooking some new things. I was not too stressed out as my mom and I did a great job with prepping everything. I ate until I was stuffed, and most importantly, it was great to spend time with my family. There weren’t many of us which made for an intimate meal that I will remember for a long time.

First Draft, Thanksgiving Menu

In the past week, I have been completely unable to avoid thinking about Thanksgiving, even if I tried. There are hundreds of turkeys for sale at work, my twitter feed is being barraged by others’ menu ideas, and holiday advertising is nearing its peak. I have been convinced by my family to keep things somewhat traditional, but I also want to try and get a little creative with some things. So here are my initial thoughts. The menu will of course develop in the next couple days, and I hope the end result will be deemed a success.

- Fennel and white bean soup with balsamic and thyme roasted butternut squash

I have made a simlilar soup to this before, and I hope to add to it some traditional Thanksgiving flavors. The butternut squash should give it a touch of fall, and maybe some nutmeg might add something to the overall flavor as well.

- Garlic and rosemary cauliflower puree

I plan on serving sweet potato, and I hope to bring some flavors of a classic mashed potato without doubling up on potatoes.

- Mesculin salad with apples, walnuts, bleu cheese, and maple balsamic vinaigrette

My mom requested a mesculin salad, and some local bleu cheese and apples will add a lot to this salad, dressed with a vinaigrette starring Vermont maple syrup.

- Turkey roulade with crimini mushroom cranberry buffalo sausage stuffing, and extra stuffing…

This one might need some tasting and tweaking between now and Thursday as I have never attempted many aspectsof the dish. I have never cooked a turkey roulade, and I plan to make my own cranberry buffalo sausage. The extra stuffing will be necessary. My brother will be able to polish off the stuffing in the roulade himself I imagine.

- Sweet potato mash/puree (sweet potato, fromage blanc, balsamic, molasses, nutmeg)

Sweet potatoes remind me so much of fall, and I love a good sweet potato puree.

- Braised cabbage, carrot, and leeks with cider, cumin, clove, ginger, thyme

This was actually the first dish that I tested, mostly because I wanted to eat it last week. It was the first time I had made it, and it turned out very well. I used a local hard cider with local cabbage, carrots, and leeks. I may look to tweek it a little, but I am also not sure if it needs it. Here it is…

- Golden beets prepared agrodolce w/thyme

I love beets, and I think that some pre-cooked golden beets couldbe finished off well in the pan with a sweet and sour praparation.

- Pumpkin soufflé with graham cracker crumble and marshmallow whipped cream

For dessert, I want to finish things on a light note. I think a pumpkin soufflé will achieve this perfectly. This is also a fun twist on a pumpkin pie. The graham cracker crumble will take the place of the crust, and I hope that a cool marshmellow whipped cream (or maybe a homemade ice cream) might add some richness to make it feel like a complete dessert.

So that is what I’ve got so far. It is by no means written in stone. I think I am finally ready and excited enough to get through a few days of holiday cooking. I also hope to keep good records of the process with pictures. Hopefully I can get everything done and nothing major goes wrong in the kitchen…

Emptying the Fridge with Friends

This past weekend, I invited a couple friends from college to make the 45 minute trip from Middlebury to Burlington for dinner at my house. They said that Wednesday worked great, but that they would have to find a car. They asked around, and come Wednesday afternoon, I hadn’t heard anything final. So I didn’t end up making a trip to the grocery store. At about 5 o’clock I got the final word that three of them were coming up after going for a short run. They would arrive around 7:00. I thought for a second that I might be in trouble, until I looked in the fridge. Working with a butcher leaves me with an abundance of meat products, so the proteins would not be a problem. I had two NY Strip steaks, three and a half chicken breasts, two house made veal and apple bratwursts, a half pound of shrimp, and two very fresh-looking whole mackerel.

The easy solution to me seemed to be the grill. I readied the meats for the grill, seasoning the steaks with salt and pepper, and the chicken with a dry rub consisting of salt, cayenne, garlic powder, cumin, coriander, and paprika. I cleaned up the shrimp, gutted the mackerel, and seasoned them with salt and pepper as well. Everything was ready for the grill, but I was still unsure about what else we would be eating. I looked around and found the kitchen staples: onions, garlic, and carrots. I also had bought a couple of fairly large leaks earlier that day.

So I started with chopping up a few strips of local applewood smoked bacon. I rendered the fat out of these in the pan, and removed the crispy bacon pieces. I diced up the onions and garlic. I sliced the carrots into thin rounds, and chopped up the leaks pretty finely so that they would become tender relatively quickly. I started sweating the onions, garlic, and carrots in the bacon fat and a bit of extra virgin olive oil. Shortly after, the leaks entered the pan as well along with a couple tablespoons of chopped fresh thyme. I seasoned as I went along, and threw some fettuccine in a pot of boiling water because I knew a group of cross country runners would need it…

The pasta was cooking and before I knew it, the sautee of the vegetables had turned into a braise (through the addition of about 2/3 of a bottle of a local Oktoberfest) with aspirations of turning into a hearty “condimento” for the pasta. While the alcohol cooked off, the pasta finished cooking. Well, I drained it just shy of being done as I wanted it to finish cooking in the sauce. The vegetables were now nice and tender, and the alcohol had cooked out of the beer. I added a tablespoon or two of honey, a handful of grated parmegiano reggiano, some salt and pepper, then added the fettuccine. I turned the pasta around in the pan, covering each strand with the beer, honey, cheese, and vegetables. After a minute, I removed everything to a large bowl, drizzled a few tablespoons of olive oil over the top, and the dish was finished.

My friends, realizing I had not used a recipe, decided they would fittingly name the dish "beer noodles"

While all of this was happening, I had filled the grill with a variety of meats. The chicken came off just cooked through and juicy. One steak I took off at medium rare, and the second I let cook a bit longer than i would have par the request of a guest. The bratwurst had started to release some of its juices into the grill, causing some excellent flare-ups to occur. They came off with the smaller chicken breast and the medium rare steak.

First of three plates of meat to come off the grill

The meat was all charred and delicious. I served the chicken with a homemade barbecue sauce I had in the fridge. The mackerel was flaky and flavorful; full of bones, but I didn’t mind eating around them. The pasta was excellent, with the crispy bacon bits served in a bowl on the side. My friends slowly but surely made their way through the absurdly large bowl of past, and by the time my parents were home, it was gone. The “beer noodles” definitely held the malty flavor of the beer, and this was complimented well by the sweetness of the honey and the fruitiness of the olive oil. An equally successful dish may have evolved from a local hard cider braise (holding the honey might be necessary in this case).

At the end of the night, we had each eaten beyond our heart’s content. My mother, returning from a trip the New York City for work, was very grateful to see empty space in the fridge. I guess I need to find ways to get friends over to the house more for dinner. It certainly helps diminish the ever growing stock of meat that we have, thanks to my work with Frank the butcher at Healthy Living Market.

Seafood dinner

A couple pounds of fresh sardines from Portugal that I was lucky enough to take home from work

Tonight I was inspired by the seafood that I was given at work. When I got off yesterday afternoon, my boss sent me home with a package of fresh sardines from Portugal, and I also was able to take home about a pound and a half of Nantucket Bay scallops. My recently acquired job is paying off more than I could have imagined. The seafood I took home yesterday alone would have racked up a bill of $50-60 for the average customer.

With the sardines, I played it safe. I drizzled them with olive oil, put on some salt and fresh cracked pepper, then threw them on the grill for a couple minutes on each side. I juiced half a lemon on top when I took them off the grilled and drizzled a bitmore olive oil. These were some fine looking sardines, so this simple preparation paid off. A couple of the fish even had roe sacks that I found when we started eating this “appetizer.” These little pockets were even more flavorful than the rest of this fish. They had a slightly more oceany taste that I appreciated finding as an unexpected surprise.

Another reason for the simple preparation was the plan I had for the scallops. I went out on a limb, looking to make scallop dumplings. This would be my first shot at making seafood dumplings, or any dumpling for that matter. I hadn’t looked at any recipes, but believed that I would have fun experimenting with this. I had actually never done anything like it, so I also thought the chances of failure would be a little higher than usual… I started with some dried morels, blending them to a fine powder. I then added a few tablespoons of grated parmigiano reggiano and the bay scallops to a food processor with the morel powder, a clove of minced garlic, and a touch of salt. When this was completely smooth, I took it out and added a couple tablespoons of corn starch, mixing it in thoroughly. While doing this, I also whipped up three egg whites to a fairly stiff peak. I folded the egg whites into the wet scallop mixture, which lightened the whole thing significantly.

The finished scallop mixture before cooking

Before I started with the food processor, I poured some ponzu sauce, soy sauce, white wine, sake, and water into a small pot with some red pepper flakes and two bay leaves. When the batter was ready, this liquid was at a simmer, and I was ready to make the dumplings. I found a spoon that I believed to be the right size, then dolloped a spoonful of the mixture into the pot. I was happy to see that the wet batter stayed together, bobbing slightly up and down while floating atop the simmering liquid. After a minute or two, I flipped them over. The underside had picked up a light brown hue from the ponzu and soy.

Dumplings during the cooking process

I allowed the dumplings to cook for another couple minutes on this side, then removed them from the pot.

Removing the cooked dumplings

So I finished, moved the first three completed dumplings to a plate, and tasted them. The texture was beyond what I thought I would be able to achieve with this being my first attempt at the dish. They were, as Tyler Florence might say, “light as a cloud,” little pillows with the sweet flavor of the scallops, the earthiness of the morels, and the saltiness of the grated cheese and soy sauce. They were actually a little saltier than I was aiming for, and this was easily fixed. I added some more water to the pot, and let it come back up to a simmer.

A few dumplings pre-plating

Overall, my two friends and I finished all of the dumplings, just about 20 of them, the last 17 with the perfect balance of an oceanic sweetness, earthiness, and salt. High quality scallops led to great flavor, but the texture was the biggest surprise of all. Imagine something as light as a marshmallow, but less chewy.

Mid-meal my roommate actually called up a friend who was on his way home for the night to come help us out, as he knew he hadn’t had dinner and might appreciate a home cooked meal. The three of us sat haphazardly around the island in the middle of my kitchen. There was a pile of dirty dishes in the sink, but we did not notice. Good company and good food were the only things on our minds. I was still riding the high of cooking something new and different. It was a night that I appreciated very much, and I now have a new cooking technique to use and refine in the future.

Thanksgiving is around the corner…

…And the idea of spending a couple days in the kitchen with a fifteen pound turkey and its companions does not have me too excited. Maybe it’s the long days at work combined with going to school, or maybe I just want to do something new. Either way, I think it would be much more enjoyable to take the expanded budget of a Thanksgiving dinner and do some culinary experimenting. My mom seemed a bit hesitant when I told her this, and my brother told me pretty bluntly, “Dude, we have to make turkey and stuffing. It’s Thanksgiving.” So I am stuck in the middle of my family’s appreciation for a certain tradition and my own desire to do something unique.

The first thing I brought up in a conversation with my mom was sushi and fresh fish that we could order to have delivered the day before the feast. This may have not been the best way to introduce my idea. My mom is not a fan of eating raw or barely cooked foods… Thoughts of what I could do with fresh uni, live spot prawns, abalone, tuna, or halibut danced through my head. Don’t get me wrong. I want my family to be behind the endeavor, so this may have to wait for another occasion. Perhaps my birthday might be more appropriate.

In the past couple of days, I have made more of an attempt to take a traditional Thanksgiving and put my own twist on it. Game birds are available in Vermont, right? I may have to put in an order at work for pheasant along with the turkey that my brother insists be a part of the meal. Maybe I don’t even need anything new. Does my brother need to eat a whole roasted bird? I know he needs stuffing or dressing, and last year he even strayed from his go-to Stove Top to try my homemade dressing. He liked it too. It was difficult to convince my mom to keep the bag of dried bread cubes and seasoning shut, but I managed to do it. My brother was still happy. Would he be as happy with some kind of turkey roulade? Would I be able to make a reinvented cheesecake desert? Cheesecake ice cream with a white chocolate and graham cracker ganache and blackberry whipped cream? That one may take some more thought and practice, but why can’t I have fun with tradition?

I guess the way I’m thinking about it is that Thanksgiving dinner just might not have to look the way it always has to satisfy tradition. Introducing new flavors or just presenting the old flavors in a new way might get the job done. Obviously this is how I have fun. I am almost certain that my family would be skeptical of anything different I do, but they are usually not disappointed. It will be a challenge to take a meal with so many courses and deliver on each one. In spite of this, I am more than willing to present one dish that is not entirely successful. This will be my attempt to get through the overwhelming feeling of redundancy that has taken over me. Sure, the meal is only made once a year, but I want to do something different, and I will definitely post about the experience, however positive or negative the result.

Rabbit: Another White Meat

Rabbit is well known in the culinary world, but it cannot come close to being called so in the home kitchen. Personally, I enjoy cooking with rabbit. It is as lean as can be and I enjoy the flavor of the meat. No, I don’t think it tastes like chicken. It has a nice gamey flavor when you get quality rabbit, and there is almost no animal out there more healthy to eat. That being said, I have very little experience cooking it. For the average home cook, it is not the easiest to find. For me, I come in contact with it everyday. So why don’t I cook with it regularly? I can’t afford it.

I find this unfortunate, because I would love to consistently have it in my kitchen. It is not the easiest to cook most parts of the rabbit, as they tend to dry out. I find this aspect fun. I welcome a challenge in the kitchen. Not too long ago, I made a rabbit stew. This was one way to help keep the rabbit moist. I cooked it in a red wine and tomato based braise with onions, carrots, and celery. I added herbs during the cooking process and had a comforting stew after a couple hours.

Right now, I am watching the end of an Iron Chef episode. The secret ingredient? Rabbit. With my little experience cooking rabbit and the way I saw it dealt with on the show, it is clear that rabbit is a vehicle for a tremendous variety of flavors. The challenger utilized many different flavors from all over Asia. He cooked the rabbit with Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, and Indian flavors. Each one complimented the rabbit in a different way, from Indian curry and tumeric flavors to the different miso flavors of Korean cooking.

The Iron Chef focused on his specialty, Mediterranean cooking, but made a point of using the whole animal. From the kidneys, to the hearts, to the loin, the entire rabbit was being utilized. This is something that I appreciate when working with any animal, and it is something that the meat department where I work also focuses on.

A couple weeks ago at work, we made a rabbit terrine. I learned how to break down a rabbit, removing the limbs, the tenderloins, and then removing the meat from the bones. We made a mousseline out all of the meat excluding the tenderloins, hearts, kidneys, and livers. The mousseline consisted of the ground rabbit and heavy cream. The tenderloins were seared whole, and the hearts, kidneys, and livers were sauteed with garlic and thyme. They were then roughly chopped and mixed in with the mousseline. We lined a loaf pan with bacon, put in half of the ground rabbit mixture, placed the seared tenderloins in the middle, then added the rest of the mixture on top. After cooking the whole thing at a low temperature in the oven and allowing it to cool and set overnight in the walk-in, the terrine was unmolded.

It looked like a nice paté with some slightly crispy bacon on the outside and two little surpises dotting the center. These pearly white circles were the tenderloins. In this form, It was difficult to tell you were eating rabbit. With the added fat of the cream, the flavor of the herbs, and the distracting layer of bacon surrounding the whole thing, the rabbit flavor was somewhat lost. Don’t get me wrong. It was a tasty paté.

So why isn’t rabbit cooked more often? Well, it isn’t as available. Farmers who raise rabbits do so at a higher cost, and the consumer is forced to pay the higher price per pound. And quite frankly, it may just not be worth it. The flavor is not quite unique enough and there are other healthy alternatives that come without the high price tag. It is unfortunate, and one might hope to see the price of rabbit go down while its availability increased, but that trend has yet to reach the horizon. I may cook with it again, and I hope that I do. It might have to wait for a somewhat special occasion, or a night when a visitor makes a request to try something new.

11/12/12009