Kale to the Chef

I recently made a dish that I couldn't get out of my head. I kept boring my friends about it and so I decided to make enough of it that I would become sick of it and be left with no choice other than to give it a rest. The dish? Braised Kale with Pancetta.

I browned the Pancetta and Danish Bacon with the shallots and half of a white onion. To that I added the chanterelles and cooked until they browned. I then added a little chicken stock to scrape the fond off of the bottom of the dutch oven. I then added the Kale and hot peppers and covered with chicken stock. I cranked it up to high for about 10 minutes and added the cannelinni's at the end to finish.

Tuna 3 Ways

Last week I bought Tuna for the first time in over 2 years. Although it is one of my favorite meats, I am just not convinced that it is sustainable and after watching a documentary on how they catch the tuna, I decided to stop eating it....Until last week. I was in the restaurant depot and they had a whole side of sushi grade yellowfin tuna. It was a ridiculously low price ($10/lb), so I got some. When I got home I noticed that it still had the skin on it, which was rough and kind of like a cats tongue. I decided to serve it three ways.

I rubbed a little mirin on the fish and rolled it in black sesame then seared it on the cast iron skillet. The inside was still cold when I served it. We had a mix of Bok Choy and Eggplant with a sweet chili sauce on the side.

For the main course, I made my favorite nagiri with two slices of a semi-hot thai pepper on the top. I also put wasabi under the fish to add a little kick. The rice was sushi rice with rice vinegar on it and fanned to cool it and make sure it would stick. I also made a tartar with a little chili sauce, fresh ginger, and scallions.

Rock Lobster Dinner

So I went to a restaurant wholesaler the other day with Sean (who had to fib and tell them that he worked at a restaurant, but they gave us the one day pass anyway). It's amazing to see how restaurants purchase in bulk. They had everything you could ever want and then some (6 gallons of A1? No.). We had been there once before so we knew our way around. I ended up buying a 3 lb brick roll of pancetta, but what really caught my eye was the seafood. Along with the tuna from my next post, I bought two fresh lobsters for......get this......$5.99/lb! So, in total I spent $18 for two 1.5lb live lobsters. I ended up grilling them and covering them with butter/parsley/garlic/shallots. I even cracked the claws to get some of the flavor in there. The meat was incredibly tender, especially for being grilled which usually toughens it up.

I'm a little disappointed in how the picture turned out, but they sure tasted damn good.

Caprese Supreme

I caught the last farmers market of the year last week and was lucky enough to catch some great tomatoes, including some Chocolate Cherry Tomatoes. Unfortunatley, they do not taste like chocolate, but they were great. I added some balsamic and olive oil and some freshly pulled Mozz.

Here is a picture of one of the cherry tomatoes without any lighting enhancements: 

Porktober Continues: Rib Stickin'

While still working our way through the pork loin I bought yesterday, I thought that we would take a turn for the rib stickin', midwestern comfort food. I sliced some thin cutlets and soaked them in milk. Then I breaded them in flour and panko and fried them up in the cast iron skillet. From there, I added them on top of mashed potatoes and peas. Oh, and I made a little milk gravy too.

It really hit the spot with the wind blowing at 50 mph today, not to mention it getting dark around 4:30.

Dinner: Pork Loin over Spinach with Pancetta and Feta

Occasionally I buy a large pork loin and make pork dishes all week from it. Since it is officially the end of Porktober, I thought it was only appropriate to pay homage. The key to cooking pork loin is cooking it slow. If you cook it on too hot of heat, the juices all run out and you end up with a dry piece of meat. I cooked this on medium low in my cast iron skillet and then finished it in the oven.

After cooking the pork, I made a simple mustard sauce with the fond on the bottom of the pan. I added some whole milk, grainy dijon mustard and regular dijon mustard. I then sprinkled on pistachio nuts, which added nice flavor and texture to the dish. I sliced the pork and put it on top of sauteed spinach, which I had added to cubed pancetta. I finished the spinach with feta, which added a necessary tang.

I've got an App for that

This past Christmas I was given three (yes, three) mushroom related gifts. Black truffles, truffle salt, and grow your own crimini's. It caused me to reflect on not only who I was, but who people thought I was. It turns out, there isn't much hiding behind my love of mushrooms. I used the chanterelles two nights ago for one of the best apps I have ever made.

I split the mushrooms in half and sauteed them in butter and added a pinch of salt at the end. I then plated them with one of my favorite cheeses, Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog. I added lavender for a touch of freshness (which really elevated the dish) and dotted some of my good and thick aged balsamic. I'll be making this again soon...

Mushroom Disection: Chanterelles

I made a couple of nice Ribeyes last night in my cast iron skillet. The steaks were good as usual, but the addition of a nice big batch of chanterelles really made it taste like fall. I got a jumbo package of them yesterday and cooked them down with butter and a touch of Olive Oil and sprinkled them with salt. I was tempted to add a little more flavor, but opted against it because they looked so good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanterelle

I thought this was interesting: Chanterelles are usually associated with conifers, although they are often found with oaks in California and Texas. In Scotland, chanterelles grow in mixed forests of silver birch and scots pine, especially when the forest has plenty of moist, mossy undergrowth. In Fife they are common under beech. They are usually (but not always) found in the same places as wild blueberries. In Spain they associate with sweet chestnut. A walk in the woods after rain should prove fruitful from late July through the Autumn.

Dean Ween's Sunday Gravy Recipe

I have never really experienced a true Sunday gravy. I've heard a lot about them, but never made one of my own. Someday soon...

I know a couple of you are big Ween fans and thought you would enjoy this:

http://www.chocodog.com/chocodog/sauce2.htm

Dinner: Salt Cave Snapper with Quinoa Cucumber Salad

I've done a few salt cave fish in my day, but this was a first for the Yellow-Eyed Snapper. Typically I get Red Snapper or Yellow-Tail Snapper, but this was a really nice looking fish. It weighed about 2.5 pounds and was said to be caught within 36 hours before I bought it, but they didn't know specifically when.

To make the salt mixture, I use 6 pounds of salt and just add cold water to bind it so that it sticks together. I then lay the fish on top of it (after stuffing with lemon, lavender, rosemary and thyme). Finally, I pack the salt tightly over the top of the fish and bake it at 340 for 35 minutes or so. It came out as delicate as lump crab meat, but with more flavor. Pretty nice and light meal.

 As for the Quinoa salad, I made sure that it had a lot of fresh flavor. Before cooking the Quinoa, I added fresh mint, ginger, cucumber and a pinch of salt to a large bowl. I then boiled water and cooked the Quinoa (after soaking and rinsing it in cold water). It doesn't need any dressing and balances the succulent fish well.

Porgy Orgy

My default settings have been programmed to Asian. When I am going to invest the time into making a delicious dinner, I find myself thinking, "what kind of asian food am I going to make?" This week I cooked with a friend who also has an obsession with all things Asian. We made a steamed porgy (cheap Atlantic white fish) with ginger scallion sauce. This scallion ginger sauce is so good and versatile that this week I found its just as good on steamed porgy as it is on homefries. Here's the recipe.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107204574473292205193888.html

The best part about this dish was obviously eating it. A steamed fish in a bowl of its own fish broth is best served whole and shared by the table instead of cutting it up and passing it around. It brings a whole new dimension to sharing a meal with someone. Here we served with some bok choy and snap peas cooked in a little hoison. Thanks Asia.

Goat: It's what's for dinner

I love this idea in every way. It's pretty much what we're here to do, right?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/magazine/10dinner-t.html?_r=1&ref=dining

Stuffed Smoked Chicken Breast

I have been smoking chicken a lot lately and I was looking to take it a step further so I came up with this lovely dish. I met a guy at the farmers market that has his own home grown cherry wood so I bought a bucket of fresh chips. It is amazing how much of a difference you can notice when you use a fresh wood rather then the store bought bagged alternative. After setting the Big Green Egg to 325 degrees of indirect heat I placed the chicken and let it hang out in the cherry smoke for 30 minutes. Earlier that morning I used some roma tomatoes, black garlic, and onion from the market and whipped up a nice organic red sauce. I wanted to make a chunky hardy sauce that packed a nice punch of heat so I added a generous amount of red pepper flake. I stuffed these breasts with a creamy goat cheese mixture that countered the heat from the pepper flake. I used some fresh French Loire Valley goat cheese and mixed it with some homemade pesto and added chunks of Gold River Orchard walnuts. After the chicken was nicely smoked I cranked up the heat to 375 degrees and finished them off with some grill marks.

What I am Known For

My brother likes to say that nothing in my recipe box is good enough to be "known for it." Its hard to say this dish is anything but a home run everytime. First discovering it at a food ghetto in North Berkeley and making it a regular lunch for the rest of college, Korean BBQ chicken has never let me down. Grill it. Carmelize it. Love it.

Marinade:

Soy Sauce - 1/2 cup

Sesame Oil - 1 tsb

Brown sugar - 2 tsb

Rice Wine Vinegar - 1 tsb

Mirin - 1 tsb

Pepper - healthy amount

Green onions - add more when you think you're done

Sesame seeds - yes please

Garlic

Ginger

Siracha - if youre not afraid of spice

Here I served it with a carrot ginger salad and white rice with Furikake. If you don't have this in your pantry, I highly recommend it. Learned about spicing up white rice like this while staying in Kaui.

Last Night's Dinner: Osso Bucco

I made a nice slow cooked Osso Bucco last night. It was the first time I have cooked with shanks, but I was really impressed with the texture of the meat after it was braised for only 2 hours. After browning the shanks and sweating the mirepoix, I added red wine and tomatoes to the chicken stock, creating a succulent braising liquid. After 2 hours of simmering I placed the shanks on top of a long cooked polenta, which I enriched with Cypress Grove Truffle Tremor cheese. Cypress grove makes Humboldt Fog, which is one of my favorite cheeses, but I hadn't tried this truffle tremor. It's pretty ridiculous. The addition of the cheese to the polenta really took the dish over the top. I added a fresh gremolata to the plate (garlic/parsley/lemon zest) which helped cut through the richness.

Photo: Alice Waters Home Kitchen

More from Vanity Fair. I usually find it really interesting when they profile desks of famous people, but this seemed a little more relevant and interesting. 

Aritcle: Fernan Adrià + El Bulli

Good read about El Bulli and Fernan Adrià. It touches on some of the cornerstones of their perspective of creativity, including:

In the early days the menu at El Bulli reflected both French traditions and the innovations of nouvelle cuisine, but in 1987—the same year that Adrià became sole chef de cuisine—he decided after listening to a lecture by Chantecler chef Jacques Maximin to try to invent his own cuisine. “Creativity means not copying,” Maximin declared in answer to a question. “This simple sentence was what brought about a change in approach in our cooking,” Adrià wrote later, “and was the cut-off point between ‘re-creation’ and a firm decision to become involved in creativity.” That year Adrià decided to close the restaurant for five months in the winter—a period later extended to six months—to devote the hiatus to experimentation and creation.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/10/el-bulli-201010

Gravity Fills

Fall. The changing of the season is marked by the turning of leaves and the retreating daylight hours. But it is also a good reminder to occasionally look straight up, in hopes that something delicious may fall and smack you in the face. While some people begin to hunker down for the impending winter, I prefer to venture out and see what sort of ripe fruits (and accompanying nuts) are crashing to the earth.

Living in Chicago makes it difficult to scavenge for these items on my own so I put a lot of faith in a small assortment of local markets to offer me the best of the season. On a trip out last week, I found a few Red Bartlett Pears and Granny Smiths that looked to be Right at the peak of their pickin'.

Around the same time, I was also tasked with watching Murphy, Dylan's seven pound Jack Russell Terrier. Naturally, for my service to Murph and my diligence in picking up his poop, Dylan had me over for a nice dinner to give thanks.

Not wanting to show up empty-handed, my first thought was to simply take the fruits of fall along with some walnuts and a few cheeses as a starter. While searching for some cheese in the South Loops Pannozo's Italian Grocery, I also came across some amazing (life-altering) speck. The Eckhouse family was in from Iowa and giving out samples of their La Quercia cured porks. Of the three items I tried, the speck was the hands down winner, though all of the products that these two foodies from my home state are making were outstanding.

With fruits, meats, nuts, and cheeses in hand, I went home and went to work. Rather than take the separate items and put them on a plate, I wanted to make a little wrap that encompassed all of these great items into one or two bites. With that, the Harvest Wrap was born.

The appetizer includes:

-A Parmigiana cracker, baked with Thyme and Rosemary

-Sliced Apples & Pears

-A Candied Walnut secured with some Bleu Cheese

-Wrapped in that addictive Speck

-Garnished with Thyme and Rosemary sprigs

We also made a cutting block where you could pick and choose from the individual components or grab one of the wraps. Dig it.

Wine: Montinore Estate Whites

Sean and I enjoyed some of this bio-dynamic wine last Thursday with a roasted chicken dinner and both thought it was pretty impressive. Bing a big fan of Oregon wines, I thought I would give them a try. The first bottle we tried was their Muller-Thurgau (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/muller-thurgau ), which is a white that closely resembles a Riesling, and is a cross between Riesling and Silvaner. The second was a little more dry and complex which paired better with our dinner. Their Borealis which is tagged as 'northern whites' is a nice blend of 45% Muller-Thurgau, 24% Gerwurztraminer, 18% Pinot Gris and 13% Riesling. Here is their website: http://www.montinore.com/wines.php

Last Night's Dinner: Spaghetti w/Chicken Sausage & Squash Blossoms

I kept it pretty simple without much use of Olive Oil so you could really focus on the fresh ingredients rather than have an oily mess. Sauteed Fresh Chicken Sausage from WF with button mushrooms and onion, then added the squash blossoms just before serving. Topped with Parm and basil.