Posted by Anita on 08.14.06 11:13 PM
One of the lessons that shopping at the Ferry Building Farmers Market is reinforcing: When you buy good food, you don’t need to do a lot to it to make it taste fabulous.
Sure enough, tonight Cameron made an amazing meal out of many of our Saturday finds, sans recipes: He roasted up some freshly dug Yellow Finn potatoes, grilled the Fatted Calf Toulouse sausage, and tossed together a salad of Little Gem lettuces, red shallots, queso añejo, Bariani olive oil, and sherry vinegar. Served with a little Maille dijon and a bottle of Aussie shiraz, it made the perfect late-evening meal after a too-long day at the office.
cooking, farmers markets, shopping
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Posted by Cameron on 08.14.06 4:32 PM
I get a little goofy when it comes to braising, and a lot goofy around variety meats. So when I saw oxtails on sale at our local pan-Asian supermarket for $2.50 a pound on Saturday, I grabbed an armload of whole, skinned tails out of the butcher’s case and ran up and down the aisles cackling like Vincent Price while blood dripped on the floor and everyone stared at the crazy gweilo.
At least, that’s what I wish I did. The staring part was true, but that happens whenever I go to 99 Ranch because I’m the only bald white guy in there.
I like Mario Batali’s oxtail ragu recipe out of The Babbo Cookbook. The picture is of my five pounds salted, peppered oxtails ready to be dredged lightly in flour and thoroughly browned in olive oil in a dutch oven on the stovetop. When the meat was seared, I set it aside on a platter and dumped some thickly sliced onions into the hot oil. When they were brown, the meat went back in with some red wine, Basic Tomato Sauce (Mario again), chicken stock, and thyme. Cover tightly and into the oven at 300 degrees for four hours or so. The cookbook says 375 degrees for 90 minutes, but that’s too hot and not near long enough.
When all was loosey-goosey and falling apart, I pulled out the oxtails and picked off the meat. At every moment I was attended by my faithful dogs, overcome as they were by love and devotion for me. The loose meat went back into the cooking liquid and thence into the fridge. Tuesday I’ll boil it down and freeze it for low-impact dinners.
cookbooks, cooking, Italian, meat, recipes, shopping
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Posted by Anita on 08.11.06 8:34 AM
This post has been brewing for a while. Originally it was going to be called “What’s wrong with my custard?” or “Gourmet gone bad” or something along those lines.
Early in the week, I attempted to make this luscious-sounding caramel ice cream with flaky sea salt from the July 2006 issue of Gourmet magazine. I made a deep caramel, I added it to a custard that I thickened to a precise 175 degrees and then strained through my finest seive. I cooled it in a metal bowl over an ice bath, then moved the chilled custard to the fridge overnight to temper.
The next night, I hauled out the trusty Cuisinart ice-cream maker, and poured in the custard to freeze during dinner. I can’t even remember what we ate… I was so distracted by the thought of this dessert. So you can imagine my disappointment when I peeked into the freezer bowl 30 minutes later and found nothing more than some very chilly custard. Hmm…
I let it keep on spinning for another half hour, until the chiller bowl started to be not very chilly. I spatula’d the whole thing back into the storage container, and vowed to try again tomorrow.
Two nights ago, I tried it again, with identical results. I decided that this was as frozen as it would get in the ice-cream maker, scraped the contents into the storage toot, and put it into the freezer to try and firm it up.
Last night: Ta-dah! It wasn’t really ice cream, but it definitely was frozen to a desserty consistency. And really, the serving shown in the photo was probably excessive — Cameron even said that one scoop would be plenty for a dinner party. And that’s probably good, since it didn’t make very much ice cream.
cooking, dessert, recipes
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Posted by Anita on 08.09.06 8:27 AM
Steve’s comment on the hash post got me thinking of chilaquiles, one of my favorite foods. I love ’em so much, I’ll eat them in just about any way they’re prepared, from haute to humble, rojos or verdes.
As I nodded off to sleep last night, I remembered that I had some leftover Flor de Junio beans in the fridge, and probably a small handful of good, thick tortilla chips. This morning, with no time to make salsa from scratch, I reached for a small can of the pretty-good stuff: Embasa salsa verde. I like it better than jarred salsas because it actually tastes like tomatillos, not citric acid, and you can see chunks of white onion in it. Alas, no crema on hand, but luckily a new round of queso fresco.
If you love chilaquiles but don’t ever make them at home, you should start. It’s a really simple process: For a single serving, put about a quarter cup of smooth-ish salsa in the bottom of a medium skillet — red or green, as you like it. Let it heat until it’s warmed through and sizzling, then add a handful of chips. Depending on their size and flatness (or lack thereof) you may need to break them up a little, and possibly add some more sauce. You don’t want them dripping, but you do want a good coating on all surfaces. Toss the chips with the salsa until heated through, then top with cheese: Queso fresco is good, as is any Mexican melting cheese, or even Monterey Jack in a pinch. Drizzle with crema, or a little sour cream thinned with milk, and cover for a couple of minutes until the cheese melts and the crema settles. (You can also wait and add the crema when you plate them; Chilaquiles is really an idea more than a recipe, and even in Mexico there are as many ways to make ’em as there are cooks.) Take them to the plate, consider topping with some chopped white onion, a little chopped cilantro, or nothing at all. I like ’em served with soft-scrambled eggs, or a side of homemade refritos.
UPDATE: As if this post wasn’t already enough of a Rancho Gordo advertisement… I sit down to eat my chilaquiles, and who do I find in Chron’s food section? Yup, Steve himself, waxing eloquent about heirloom beans. Talk about your synchronicity…
breakfast, cooking, Mexican, recipes
2 Comments »
Posted by Cameron on 08.06.06 7:01 PM
Hash is one of those dishes for which there is both one recipe and a million recipes. Most folks will nod along for the first couple of ingredients (cooked meat and cooked potatoes) and the method (cut up together and fried in oil). But after that, you’re on your own and buddy, you can call that pile in the pan whatever you want but it ain’t hash back where I come from.
The keen-eyed will notice that first picture is actually not hash. It’s summer succotash, graced with a skewer full of Prather Ranch pork. The hash of which I am about to speak came from the leftover pork and potatoes that accompanied the succotash.
When I’m making hash, I start with roughly equal amounts of onion, meat, and potato, all diced medium. Corned beef is my favorite, but any leftover meat will do. Onion goes in pan with salt and fat, which could be a butter and olive oil combo or bacon fat, depending on my mood. Saute until translucent and a bit soft, but don’t brown ’em (a little on the edges is okay) or they’ll burn later. I don’t bother with herbs if I have corned beef, but a little thyme here is good with plain pork. Black pepper also works.
Add the potato and meat, stir it up and get it warm, then add enough heavy cream to bring it all together. Don’t go overboard. You’re making hash, not sloppy joes. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Press the hash into a single layer and cook until the bottom is brown and crisp: 10 or 15 minutes depending on the stove, the pan, and the ingredients. Here’s where you’re going to get in trouble if you really browned your onions. In any event, go easy on the flame and watch carefully, because there are few things sadder in the morning than burned hash.
At this point, most recipes will breezily say something like, “Flip the hash over and brown the other side.” But I’m not like them and I’m not going to lie to you. You can try the flip thing and if you manage it then you’re a better man than I am. I usually just scrape it all up, give it a mix, and then pat it flat again. Cook until crispy, and serve with eggs, poached if you’re feeling orthodox.
breakfast, cooking, meat
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Posted by Anita on 04.24.06 4:41 PM
In honor of spring finally springing in my hometown, and also Arbor Day (April 28) and Green Day (no, not the band — Japan’s Midori no hi, April 29), let’s investigate all manner of green soups.
Here are a few I came up with, off the top of my head:
– cucumber gazpacho
– new mexico green chile soup
– avocado soup
– pea soup (fresh spring peas or split peas)
– posole verde
– cream of asparagus
– fava bean & artichoke
– herb soups like sorrel, watercress, etc.
– cream of spinach or broccoli
You could even do a chilled melon dessert soup.
But, in the end, I decided to make my friend Jan’s Creamy
Pea, Lettuce & Leek Soup with Lemon Crème Fraiche and Chive Oil.
Not only did I forget to take a photo, but neither did anyone at the Seattle party where this soup made its debut… so I can’t even poach one! Trust me, it was gorgeous. I’m so glad I was making it for a dinner party, or I might not have bothered with the creme fraiche or the chive oil — and they definitely made the dish much better.
cooking, recipes, Seattle, Soup o' the Fortnight
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Posted by Anita on 04.06.06 4:36 PM
In honor of Passover, I decided to make the Russ & Daughters Mushroom-Barley soup from the NYT Jewish Cookbook.
(Yes, it’s shown with a decidely un-Jewish grilled bacon-and-cheese sandwich.)
If I made this soup again, I think I would use a LOT less barley than the recipe calls for. I kept adding more and more liquid, and still it was a bit too much like porridge. I finally gave up — realizing I was going to throw the balance off even more. And it needed a LOT more salt than called for.
cookbooks, cooking, Soup o' the Fortnight
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Posted by Anita on 03.31.06 4:33 PM
I made the Cream of Cailiflower and Stilton Soup from Epicurious, replacing the stilton with Irish blue cheese. (I had found other Irish cauliflower-cheese soups elsewhere, but they didn’t sound as good.)
We served it with corned beef sandwiches.
It was delicious, and I can’t wait to have the leftovers for lunch!
cooking, recipes, Soup o' the Fortnight
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Posted by Anita on 03.20.06 3:22 PM
(links updated 1/2010)
I made a huge batch of posole verde yesterday, with Rancho Gordo hominy, and pig parts from Prather Ranch. I am drooling as I think of eating the leftovers for lunch.
The recipe was from the Williams-Sonoma Mexican book, which I still have checked out from the library, with some reality-checking of quantities from Rick Bayless. Tausend calls for 3 pounds of posole for a single batch, which would have been an amazingly awful mistake. I also used Bayless’s larger ratios of meat (2 pounds) and bones (3+ pounds, and substituting water for the chicken stock accordingly) and his suggestion of adding a pig foot for broth texture. I did use the W-S recipe’s sauce components, although I don’t think I’d bother with the pumpkin seeds again — a lot of effort and expense for very little payoff.
Dessert was a nearly flourless chocolate-almond cake frosted with with ancho whipped cream — from the same cookbook — which I liked very much.
cookbooks, cooking, Mexican
1 Comment »
Posted by Anita on 03.17.06 4:31 PM
For my second attempt at Italian soups for the fortnight, I made tortellini en brodo. Actually, I made about 100 tortellini, and now I have LOTS in the freezer…
cooking, Italian, Soup o' the Fortnight
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