Apologies for the last week or two, we had an amazing convergence of misfortunes. Mette was all set to cook a fantastic Valentine's Day meal for me on the 14th when we ran out of liquid propane for cooking (!). The propane company came out ro refill the tank at the farm only to inform us that the line had a leak, and they locked the tank (!). The leak was due to a bad weld, which was repaired, but it took 7 days before the line was pressure tested again and the gas was restored. In the meantime we were relegated to what we could get out of the microwave and the rice cooker. Which, mind you, wasn't bad, but wouldn't quite be bloggable.
When we got the range back we cooked some glorious steaks, but that's another subject. Tonight we're talking about breaded, fried flounder, Danish style. We buy frozen, wild-caught flounder filets, bread them in FEC, fry them in butter, and serve them with lemon slices. Tonight we made a couple of sides of bacon-fortified Brussels sprouts and some Texmati Royal Blend rice out of the Zojirushi. Recipes follow:
Fresh or frozen wild-caught flounder filets
flour
egg
bread crumbs, panko, or equivalent
unsalted butter
lemon for garnish
1 lb Burssels sprouts, cut in half
4 rashers good thick bacon
3 Tbsp parmesan cheese, finely grated
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
salt and pepper to taste
Thaw the filets if frozen, rinse and dry well in paper towels. Dip in flour, then egg wash (beaten egg plus a Tbsp water), then crumbs. Let filets sit on a plate until ready to fry.
Heat 3 Tbsp butter in a large skillet until melted. Add cut Brussels sprouts and cook until browned slightly, about 4 minutes. Add bacon and cook until bacon is cooked through and beginning to crisp up. Add cheese and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Heat butter in a large skillet until the foam subsides. Place breaded filets carefully in the skillet and fry until golden on one side. Flip over carefully and fry. When they are golden on both sides, remove from the heat and plate. Slice a lemon very thinly and place a whole lemon slice on each filet. Add a side of Brussels sprouts and a good scoop of brown rice.
This meal is an instant classic and one of the best recipes in Danish cuisine. A sauce is not needed, but if you happen upon an excellent sauce for this combination, please let us know.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Cheese Crisps
When I was a kid, I mean really little, I must have been 6, I visited my cousins in Arizona. They were (and still are) much older. One afternoon they set out to make something they called "cheese crisps." My six-year-old brain saw them take a corn tortilla and melt some cheese on it, then they cut it up and ate it.
That was the first time I had seen this food. Now, all my life I had remembered that vignette and thought it was strange my cousins didn't know the word "nacho" which is a pretty common word in the Southwest. Now flash forward several decades. I live in the Northeast USA, New Jersey to be more precise, and good Tex-Mex or Mexican food is more rare than a piebald deer. We hear about a "good" Mexican place in High Bridge, NJ and we decide to check it out. One of their signature apps is something called a "crispy cheese tortilla" and so I have to order that. I'm thinking, was that some kind of authentic Mexican food all these years ago? What comes to our table, and I must say I was very impressed with the restaurant, was a deep-fried flour tortilla topped with Mexican cheeses, jalapenos, and sesame seeds. Absolutely delicious. Mette was hooked on this from bite one and she has begged me to approximate the recipe at home. After many iterations on this one I am proud to post it here:
2-3 cups (500-750 mL) oil for deep frying, canola or peanut
1 large (burrito-size) flour tortilla
shredded Mexican cheese
fresh or pickled sliced jalapenos
sesame seeds
Heat the oil in a large straight-sided skillet that will accommodate your tortilla. When the oil is hot, fry the tortilla until well browned on one side and flip it over to finish. Drain on a stack of paper towels.
Sprinkle the tortilla like a pizza all over with the shredded cheese. Place jalapeno slices all around the tortilla on top of the cheese and finish with a sprinkle of sesame seeds.
Broil briefly under a high broiler or Salamander, just to melt the cheese. I have a commercial Salamander and I find that these tend to burn after about 30-45 seconds, so watch it very carefully. Remove from the heat and cut into eighths with a pizza cutter. Serve at once.
I am not ashamed to say that we have occasionally eaten nothing but these for dinner. They are that good. And I think my cousins in and around Arizona would approve, though I very much doubt they rememember my visit in the early 70's.
That was the first time I had seen this food. Now, all my life I had remembered that vignette and thought it was strange my cousins didn't know the word "nacho" which is a pretty common word in the Southwest. Now flash forward several decades. I live in the Northeast USA, New Jersey to be more precise, and good Tex-Mex or Mexican food is more rare than a piebald deer. We hear about a "good" Mexican place in High Bridge, NJ and we decide to check it out. One of their signature apps is something called a "crispy cheese tortilla" and so I have to order that. I'm thinking, was that some kind of authentic Mexican food all these years ago? What comes to our table, and I must say I was very impressed with the restaurant, was a deep-fried flour tortilla topped with Mexican cheeses, jalapenos, and sesame seeds. Absolutely delicious. Mette was hooked on this from bite one and she has begged me to approximate the recipe at home. After many iterations on this one I am proud to post it here:
2-3 cups (500-750 mL) oil for deep frying, canola or peanut
1 large (burrito-size) flour tortilla
shredded Mexican cheese
fresh or pickled sliced jalapenos
sesame seeds
Heat the oil in a large straight-sided skillet that will accommodate your tortilla. When the oil is hot, fry the tortilla until well browned on one side and flip it over to finish. Drain on a stack of paper towels.
Sprinkle the tortilla like a pizza all over with the shredded cheese. Place jalapeno slices all around the tortilla on top of the cheese and finish with a sprinkle of sesame seeds.
Broil briefly under a high broiler or Salamander, just to melt the cheese. I have a commercial Salamander and I find that these tend to burn after about 30-45 seconds, so watch it very carefully. Remove from the heat and cut into eighths with a pizza cutter. Serve at once.
I am not ashamed to say that we have occasionally eaten nothing but these for dinner. They are that good. And I think my cousins in and around Arizona would approve, though I very much doubt they rememember my visit in the early 70's.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Sunday morning. Bloody Marys.
Superbowl Sunday in the USA is really not all about football; it is more about having a reason to throw a party and to make some very un-healthful but delicious food. To kickoff the day, it's only fitting that we start with a Bloody Mary. The original recipe was devised by our dear friend Cheri and, mixed with care, it is the best one we've ever found. One fine Sunday morning, after a long walk in a nearby park, we all came back to my kitchen and made these Bloody Marys. Later that day, Mette and I were due for a potluck dinner party, and we needed something to make. What was forged in the hot kitchen that morning was unforgettable: Bloody Mary Salad. I'm a bit hazy on the specifics of the salad but it entailed diced tomato, lemon and lime juice, horseradish, worcestershire, some onion and black pepper, also a little vodka! I can't say it was a huge hit at the party but we all sure loved it.
The spicyness of this drink can be ramped up using more hot sauce, but my friend Quentin swears by a hot pepper-infused vinegar. If you go this route, use slightly less lemon and lime to moderate the acid. Recipe:
32 oz (quart; about a liter) of tomato juice or V8 (Campbell's is good)
3 Tbsp finely ground horseradish
4 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
16 shakes Cholula or other red pepper sauce
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Juice of 1/2 lime
salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
celery stalks for garnish and stirring
Vodka to taste
Mix tomato juice, horseradish, worcestershire, hot sauce, lemon, and lime together well, add about a cup (250 mL) vodka and stir. It's less important to use a really good vodka in a Bloody Mary since it's so highly flavored. Adjust for salt and pepper; you may not need to add any salt at all, but some black pepper adds a nice dimension. Fill glasses with ice and serve with celery stalks.
The spicyness of this drink can be ramped up using more hot sauce, but my friend Quentin swears by a hot pepper-infused vinegar. If you go this route, use slightly less lemon and lime to moderate the acid. Recipe:
32 oz (quart; about a liter) of tomato juice or V8 (Campbell's is good)
3 Tbsp finely ground horseradish
4 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
16 shakes Cholula or other red pepper sauce
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Juice of 1/2 lime
salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
celery stalks for garnish and stirring
Vodka to taste
Mix tomato juice, horseradish, worcestershire, hot sauce, lemon, and lime together well, add about a cup (250 mL) vodka and stir. It's less important to use a really good vodka in a Bloody Mary since it's so highly flavored. Adjust for salt and pepper; you may not need to add any salt at all, but some black pepper adds a nice dimension. Fill glasses with ice and serve with celery stalks.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Wings!
We played around with some chicken wings on the day before the Super Bowl, and I think we've got a winner. In our opinions, you want wings that are very crispy and flavorful while coated in a rich and spicy wing sauce. Here's our secret for that.
Buy a package of wings and go through them, using a very sharp cook's knife to cut them at each of the two joints per wing. Take the wing tips and toss them into a stock for later with some of the Trinity (carrot, onion, celery) and some relevant spices. Now your wing pieces are ready for breading and deep frying, which is the best way to get them super-flavorful and super-crispy. Now, I don't generally counsel cooking all your food in a deep fryer, but for some things it seems essential, and this is one of them. So fill your deep fryer with peanut oil and set it on 375 F (170 C).
While the oil is heating, bread the wings. The key to successful breading is a mnemonic I think of as "FEC;" as in, "I know what the FEC I'm doing." FEC stands for flour, egg, crumbs. Dust each wing with flour, dip it in beaten egg, and roll it in bread crumbs. You can get creative with the crumbs, use crumbs from your own sourdough, from garlic bread, from graham crakers, corn flakes, whatever you have. Place them in the fryer basket until it is full in one layer.
Drop the basket and fry the breaded wings for about 10 minutes. While they are frying, prepare the wing sauce, using equal parts butter, honey, and red pepper sauce. In the Northeast and in Buffalo they use Frank's Red Hot sauce, but you can use anything. I love a Mexican hot sauce called Cholula. Heat this mixture until liquid, and toss the freshly fried and drained wings in it. After the wings are coated, remove them from the sauce with tongs and place on a serving platter. Serve immediately, and continue processing additional batches. If you make enough sauce at the beginning you can re-heat it to coat each batch of wings as they come out of the fryer and are drained for a minute or two.
This recipe is quite simple when you read it through and it is delicious. Mette is no fan of chicken wings, having grown up in a non-Superbowl-loving country, but she pronounced these the best she has ever eaten, and she loves them. Our friend Sharon, who has not missed a Super Bowl since she was four, and is a huge fan of wings, pronounced these "killer" and said I have to post them. So good luck and enjoy.
Buy a package of wings and go through them, using a very sharp cook's knife to cut them at each of the two joints per wing. Take the wing tips and toss them into a stock for later with some of the Trinity (carrot, onion, celery) and some relevant spices. Now your wing pieces are ready for breading and deep frying, which is the best way to get them super-flavorful and super-crispy. Now, I don't generally counsel cooking all your food in a deep fryer, but for some things it seems essential, and this is one of them. So fill your deep fryer with peanut oil and set it on 375 F (170 C).
While the oil is heating, bread the wings. The key to successful breading is a mnemonic I think of as "FEC;" as in, "I know what the FEC I'm doing." FEC stands for flour, egg, crumbs. Dust each wing with flour, dip it in beaten egg, and roll it in bread crumbs. You can get creative with the crumbs, use crumbs from your own sourdough, from garlic bread, from graham crakers, corn flakes, whatever you have. Place them in the fryer basket until it is full in one layer.
Drop the basket and fry the breaded wings for about 10 minutes. While they are frying, prepare the wing sauce, using equal parts butter, honey, and red pepper sauce. In the Northeast and in Buffalo they use Frank's Red Hot sauce, but you can use anything. I love a Mexican hot sauce called Cholula. Heat this mixture until liquid, and toss the freshly fried and drained wings in it. After the wings are coated, remove them from the sauce with tongs and place on a serving platter. Serve immediately, and continue processing additional batches. If you make enough sauce at the beginning you can re-heat it to coat each batch of wings as they come out of the fryer and are drained for a minute or two.
This recipe is quite simple when you read it through and it is delicious. Mette is no fan of chicken wings, having grown up in a non-Superbowl-loving country, but she pronounced these the best she has ever eaten, and she loves them. Our friend Sharon, who has not missed a Super Bowl since she was four, and is a huge fan of wings, pronounced these "killer" and said I have to post them. So good luck and enjoy.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Friday night. Bone marrow. Bourbon.
Ahh another fantastic Friday night, the best night of the week. I almost got destroyed by a criminal on the New York Thruway this morning (http://www.lohud.com/article/20120203/NEWS03/302030055/UPDATED-Rockland-hit-run-chase-suspect-distraught-after-girlfriend-dumped-him-cops-say) but the drive home was smooth. Now for one of my favorite drinks and one of my favorite appetizers.
Bourbon is basically the American version of Cognac. It is distilled in a very specific way with at least 50% American corn mash, and it is aged in toasted oak barrels. One of the most American of all the Bourbon drinks is the Julep. The simplest Julep, also the most delicious, involves cooking up a simple 1:1 syrup of 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from the heat and add a couple of large sprigs of mint. Allow to sit for at least a half hour, preferably overnight, and you will have a wonderfully mint-infused, pale green syrup. Fill a tall glass with ice. Add a jigger of Bourbon and an equal quantity of your green syrup. Fill the balance with soda water or "seltzer" as they call it here. No need to garnish if you're at home. Be careful, these are dangerously good.
Now for a nice appetizer. In many supermarkets they sell beef marrow bones as (Egads!) dog food. These can make amazing, and amazingly cheap, appetizers. Take the cut beef bones and spread them out into a single layer in an oven-proof skillet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with your best salt (no iodized salt please). Bake in a 325 F (150 C) oven for about 30 minutes or until the smell is too wonderful to resist. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for exactly five minutes, and, using a very small spoon, spread some roasted salted marrow onto a toasted, buttered slice of baguette and enjoy. Repeat until you are no longer hungry for the real dinner.
When I first made this (based on a wonderful experience at Craigie's on Main, Cambridge, Mass.) our daughter rushed into the kitchen and said, "No! Those were for the dogs!"
Bourbon is basically the American version of Cognac. It is distilled in a very specific way with at least 50% American corn mash, and it is aged in toasted oak barrels. One of the most American of all the Bourbon drinks is the Julep. The simplest Julep, also the most delicious, involves cooking up a simple 1:1 syrup of 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from the heat and add a couple of large sprigs of mint. Allow to sit for at least a half hour, preferably overnight, and you will have a wonderfully mint-infused, pale green syrup. Fill a tall glass with ice. Add a jigger of Bourbon and an equal quantity of your green syrup. Fill the balance with soda water or "seltzer" as they call it here. No need to garnish if you're at home. Be careful, these are dangerously good.
Now for a nice appetizer. In many supermarkets they sell beef marrow bones as (Egads!) dog food. These can make amazing, and amazingly cheap, appetizers. Take the cut beef bones and spread them out into a single layer in an oven-proof skillet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with your best salt (no iodized salt please). Bake in a 325 F (150 C) oven for about 30 minutes or until the smell is too wonderful to resist. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for exactly five minutes, and, using a very small spoon, spread some roasted salted marrow onto a toasted, buttered slice of baguette and enjoy. Repeat until you are no longer hungry for the real dinner.
When I first made this (based on a wonderful experience at Craigie's on Main, Cambridge, Mass.) our daughter rushed into the kitchen and said, "No! Those were for the dogs!"
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Chorizo
Chorizo is a Mexican sausage that is beloved in Texas for its versatility. It is a fabulous base meat for chili, and it is excellent when mixed with eggs in an omelet or burrito, and it is fantastic as a fortifier for chili con queso. I remember Mexican chorizo to be a very cheap sausage in Texas. In fact, I remember that the first three ingredients were, "pork lymph nodes, salivary glands, and fat." That's not very nutritious. Now Mark Miller of the famous Coyote Cafe in Santa Fe published a chorizo recipe that you can make at home, and I have always remembered it, if not verbatim at least in spirit.
Use a mixture of ground meats, pork of course, plus maybe some beef and veal, called "meat loaf" here in the Northeast. About a pound and a half. But before you do anything, gather your spices. Salt and pepper, cumin seed, coriander seed, cinnamon, Mexican oregano, and lots and lots of red chile powder. Chile from Chimayo, New Mexico is incredible, but any red pepper powder will do, even Hungarian paprika. N.B. this is not the so-called "chili powder" that you find in the McCormick rack, which contains salt and garlic and other adulterants. If you don't have some of these spices, leave them out, no problem, as long as you have some chile. Start with a dry skillet, preferably cast iron, heated over a medium to high flame. Add some whole coriander seed and shake occasionally until it begins to smoke, a wonderful spiced smoke. Roll the coriander around to brown it slightly. Throw in some black peppercorns. Throw in some cumin and watch it dance. Throw in some Mexican oregano and/or epazote and be careful not to burn it. Now get a very clean spice grinder (I have an electric coffee grinder set aside for spices only) and dump all the roasted spices into it. Add a cinnamon stick and some kosher salt. Grind everything up well and you're ready.
Cook the ground meat until just cooked through, not browned, as it will become tough. Add all the wonderful roasted spices and about 4 Tablespoons of red chile. Stir well and add a cup of water. Stir again and BTBRTS, bring to boil, reduce to simmer. Simmer until the meat has dried out a little, you can hardly see the liquid. Add another cup of water. Repeat. Add a third cup and repeat, this time allowing the water to cook out until your chorizo is of the right consistency for its downstream application.
The keys here are in building layers of flavor by cooking gently and roasting many of the ingredients to bring out their best flavors. Your finished chorizo is ready for tacos, chili, breakfast with eggs, many things. It is truly wonderful stuff and, once made at home, much healthier. Done properly, I realize this is not a quick preparation. If time is a problem you can add 1 1/2 cups of water and cook it down one time, but I suppose this recipe is best executed lovingly on a lazy Sunday, and it will make a couple of weekday meals extra-special.
Use a mixture of ground meats, pork of course, plus maybe some beef and veal, called "meat loaf" here in the Northeast. About a pound and a half. But before you do anything, gather your spices. Salt and pepper, cumin seed, coriander seed, cinnamon, Mexican oregano, and lots and lots of red chile powder. Chile from Chimayo, New Mexico is incredible, but any red pepper powder will do, even Hungarian paprika. N.B. this is not the so-called "chili powder" that you find in the McCormick rack, which contains salt and garlic and other adulterants. If you don't have some of these spices, leave them out, no problem, as long as you have some chile. Start with a dry skillet, preferably cast iron, heated over a medium to high flame. Add some whole coriander seed and shake occasionally until it begins to smoke, a wonderful spiced smoke. Roll the coriander around to brown it slightly. Throw in some black peppercorns. Throw in some cumin and watch it dance. Throw in some Mexican oregano and/or epazote and be careful not to burn it. Now get a very clean spice grinder (I have an electric coffee grinder set aside for spices only) and dump all the roasted spices into it. Add a cinnamon stick and some kosher salt. Grind everything up well and you're ready.
Cook the ground meat until just cooked through, not browned, as it will become tough. Add all the wonderful roasted spices and about 4 Tablespoons of red chile. Stir well and add a cup of water. Stir again and BTBRTS, bring to boil, reduce to simmer. Simmer until the meat has dried out a little, you can hardly see the liquid. Add another cup of water. Repeat. Add a third cup and repeat, this time allowing the water to cook out until your chorizo is of the right consistency for its downstream application.
The keys here are in building layers of flavor by cooking gently and roasting many of the ingredients to bring out their best flavors. Your finished chorizo is ready for tacos, chili, breakfast with eggs, many things. It is truly wonderful stuff and, once made at home, much healthier. Done properly, I realize this is not a quick preparation. If time is a problem you can add 1 1/2 cups of water and cook it down one time, but I suppose this recipe is best executed lovingly on a lazy Sunday, and it will make a couple of weekday meals extra-special.
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